Inverness CT v Dunfermline
Football : Scottish Cup
Saturday 07/01/2012 - Kickoff 15.00 (local)

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Inverness CT

Inverness should come into this cup game raring to go having had last weekend off due to the postponement of their home game to St Johnstone because of an unplayable pitch due to the adverse weather conditions.

A break is sometimes not ideal preparations but at this time of year the week off was probably a good thing and it also allowed both A.Shinnie and Tokeley to properly shake off their niggles so I expect the pair to start for sure.

There is a bit of uncertainty about David Davis though, who has announced he will be returning to Wolves following the end of his loan spell but I reckon Terry Butcher will give him one last run out. Bit of a pity as Davis has been a top performer for Caly in the heart of their midfield and the fans had really taken to him.

I'm sure everybody would have been hoping he would have stayed until the end of the season. The good news is Inverness have secured the services of Roman Golobart until the end of the season.

Long term absentees Chippendale, Proctor, Tudur Jones remain out but apart from that Inverness are at full strength.

Possible Inverness CT lineup : (4-4-2)
Esson, G. Shinnie, Tokeley, Golobart, Piermayr, Tansey, Hayes, Davies, A.Shinnie, Foran, Tade,

Dunfermline

Dunfermline are really not in a good way. They sit bottom of the league and have gone on a run of 1 win in their last 17 games, including 13 defeats.

Normally you would say that the squad might be looking forward to the cup as a bit of a distraction from their dismal league form but I'm not so sure here as at this time of year a trip up north to the highlands can be less than appealing.

Also, they can't avoid not having their next league fixture on their mind as it is against relegation rivals Hibs in a massive 6 pointer next week. With this in mind it would not surprise me if manager Jim McIntyre might actually save a few key players for that fixture.

Things dont really get much better for them on the injury front either with the news that goalkeeper Paul Gallacher has now been ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury leaving Chris Bell the ONLY keeper at the club, and in my opinion he's not not really a reliable set of hands.

Austin McCann, Nick Phinn and Steven Bell remain on the injury list.

Possible Dunfermline lineup : (4-4-2)
Smith, Boyle, Dowie, Keddie, Potter, Cardle, Hardie, Burns, Willis, Barrowman, Graham

THE BETTING VERDICT

There is no hiding the fact that both these teams have been really poor this season so far. However, I would suggest recently the results are hiding the actual performances that Inverness are putting in each week on the pitch.

When I look back at their games in December I note they took 7pts from the 15 available but that doesn't reflect the cracking performances like the one at Ibrox that on another day almost certainly would have been a shock win for them.

I contrast this with Dunfermline's form and can only conclude that they have been woeful and have deserved nothing more than they have got and that is nil point. This is mainly due to the small squad they have that has been injury ravaged all season.


Inverness have the midfield players like Foran, Shinnie and Tansey that are capable of completely controlling this game and also added support to the powerful Tade upfront. It is very difficult to see how Dunfermline are going to cope.


There are massive differences in the quality of squad these two teams have and I think with the added factor that Dunfermline will certainly have one eye on the relegation battle next week with Hibs there can be only one winner in this game and that will be Inverness.

I'm backing Inverness with confidence to win this game and will take the HOME Win with the -0.75 Asain Handicap

The Pick :

Inverness 2-0 Dunfermline

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

Inverness 60% - Draw 25% - Dunfermline 15%

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Inverness to win at odds of 1.73

HANDICAP BETTING :

Main Bet:
Take Inverness to beat the -0.75 Asian Handicap at odds of 1.93 (bet365)