28th March
2012
Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
Inverness Caledonian
Thistle 0 – 1 St Johnstone
Tulloch Caledonian
Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 3,035
Just answer these 5
questions:
- Do you buy a lottery ticket most weeks?
- Are you frustrated that you have only won an occasional £10?
- Would you like the chance to win £100 every day Monday to Saturday?
- Would you like to be the person who wins £1000 in a weekly star prize draw?
- Could you imagine driving off in one of two brand new cars to be won this year?
If you have answered
yes to any of these questions and are now asking “How can I do this
for only £1.50 per week?” the answer is easy...........
Join the Centenary
Club!
The Stadium
(quirkiness and comfort) - 8/10
The
Centenary Club poster is just one of many fantastically quirky signs
up inside the Jock McDonald Stand at the Caledonian Stadium.
For
instance, It's not just two cars or a grand in cash that you can win,
as part of the Centenary Club. You can also win..............a second
hand hot water machine and a used cash register!
...and Bully's Special Prize...... |
That
said, you really should get involved in “THE NORTHS TOP PRIZE
LOTTERY” - you really would be a mug not to!
If
you don't win the big bucks in the Caley lottery....why not try the
in-house bookies for a punt before a match! As everyone knows, many
top flight Scottish clubs now have a bookmaker inside the ground,
But....do they have a bookmaker that is also a First Aid Room?!
In
terms of the pitch-side activity, the ground is dominated by the Main
Stand which runs along one side of the pitch, is all seated and
covered – bizarrely with the exception of a couple of “wings”
at each end that sit out in the open and completely uncovered!
Opposite
is a small open terrace which is unused and at each end are the North
(aka the Bridge) End and the South Stand, which houses the travelling
support.
One
thing that should be said for the Main Stand is that there is plenty
leg room and seats are well-spaced so you aren't more or less
straddling your neighbour, like at Easter Road. The ground also had a
bit more character about it than say, the Falkirk Stadium, even
though it only has three ends. When I entered the Main Stand, for
example, it didn't feel like
a reasonably new built stadium. There was something distinctly
lower-league about it – in a good way! It feels quite
intimate and enjoyable to be in and, when you factor in the
incredible poster offerings, Caley score quite well in this aspect.
Catering (quality
and price) - 6/10
In
terms of the catering, I was a little confused when I discovered that
the pies are actually cheaper than the hot drinks at the Caledonian
Stadium. I then became worried, because I know how inexpensive the
constituent parts of a cup of tea are....and wondered what sort of
horror show of a pie I was going to be offered!
I
need not have worried. The pie at Caley was exceptionally nice. Very
flavoursome. It did cost me £1.90 though, which was steep. With the
tea coming in at £2.00 it certainly isn't cheap to eat inside the
ground.
Fans (scored on both
atmosphere & conduct – sporting behaviour, welcoming nature
etc.) - 19/25
Caley
fans were, for me, textbook Invernesians – extremely polite, very
warm and welcoming and most of all....unbelievably laid back. There
wasn't the intensity from the fans that you get elsewhere in
Scotland. I guess this has its pros and cons as I doubt you'd find
the Caley fans getting particularly raucous and driving their team on
as “12th man”. Nonetheless, I also doubt you'd find
many Caley fans behaving like animals!
Catching up on the Red Tops... |
The
fans do seem to have an impressive “Gregory Tade Machine” that
sits up the back. It sounded like they had one anyway, I might write
to the club to enquire. Basically, they seem to have harnessed the
voice of one fan, stored it in a machine and at almost equal five
minute intervals someone presses the button to release a “Come on
Tade!”
All
round, I rate the Caley fans quite highly. They aren't the most
observant, with a majority not spotting the foul for the penalty, but
they are quick to praise the opposition as and when it's deserved and
do seem to have a wonderful relationship with Terry Butcher and
Maurice Malpas with whom they interact for most of the game.
Entertainment on the
pitch (quite self-explanatory) – 16/25
On
the pitch, ICT were described by Terry Butcher as being like “11
strangers” and at times, it was all very disjointed. The home side
did create a few really decent opportunities, but these came about
more as a result of errors from St Johnstone defenders than by craft.
The midfield struggled to get any sort of passing going with a lot of
ball given away and, defensively, ICT really weren't tight enough –
with the exception of Ross Tokely.
I
suspect it might be quite Jekyll and Hyde from Caley at times as
there are clearly decent ball players in there, powerful boys too.
Looking at ICT's position in the league table though, 10th
is arguably quite fair. I'm not sure they are better than St Mirren,
Aberdeen or Kilmarnock above them and they are certainly not as poor
as Hibs or Dunfermline.
Some
players worth a mention:
Graeme
Shinnie: Tough night for the boy up against Croft, Mackay and Sandaza
(who loves the right channel) but I think he's a good wee player.
Pacey, with an excellent left peg, he offers Caley a solid option
going forward. He reads the game fairly well too, covering for his
centre backs as all good full backs should.
Ross
Tokely: How old is this guy now? What a big beast of a man he is,
though! More or less won everything in the air, is absolutely no
nonsense when under pressure and offers a serious threat from set
pieces. He physically dominated Cilian Sheridan for most of the 90
mins and even did the “big man up top” bit at the end which
caused havoc!
Gregory
Tade: I have to mention him! He had a really strong opening, dropping
deep and taking the ball into feet before powerfully running at the
Saints back-line and causing them some serious problems. Then....the
shambles began. If a miss from 8 yards with the goal gaping wasn’t
bad enough, somehow the big fella thought it was a good idea to
shoulder charge Liam Craig to the ground in the box right in front of
the ref. You know what happened next.
Value for money
(what you get for your buck) - 17/30
It
only cost me £13 to get into this game thanks to a special promotion
from Caley and for that money, I was pretty pleased with what I got.
That said, it would ordinarily be £26 for entry to the Main Stand
and that would not be such good value! More than a standard league
game at Hearts, Dundee United or Motherwell? Even more than St
Mirren? I can't in all honesty say that Caley did enough on the park
for me to recommend someone making a special trip north to see them
if you needed to pay that sort of dosh to enter.
That
said, the stadium is fun, the food is good (although pricey) and the
fans are nice to be around so if you were up in the Highlands and
fancied a trip to football, you could probably do worse than going to
see ICT.
Overall
score for Inverness Caledonian Thistle - 66/100
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