Caley Thistle will aim for a Happy New Year when they lock horns with north rivals Cove Rangers on Monday in a Scottish Championship showdown.
The first fixtures of the year are always keenly anticipated and there have been plenty of fiery clashes and derbies to look back on.
However, the goalless draw at Arbroath 12 months ago won’t live long in the memory, with the game destroyed by the wind – as is often the case at Gayfield.
Here, we look back at three of the best first-of-the-year matches Caley Thistle have contested since 2013.
Caley Thistle 3 Aberdeen 0 in 2013
January 19, 2013 – Inverness were a top-flight club at this point under Terry Butcher and actually went into the New Year disappointed a 0-0 draw at St Johnstone left them within six points of leaders Celtic rather than four.
An outstanding 2012 had seen ICT lose just one of their previous 19 matches and outscore all teams in the top three tiers to boot.
Former Caley Jags star Jonny Hayes was now in Aberdeen colours and he was the main menace for the visitors early on.
Home goalkeeper Antonio Reguero was called into action as he kept out a free-kick from Niall McGinn.
Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield then kept the scores blank when he tipped away a net-bound header from Richie Foran.
Reguero then saved a long-range effort from Hayes and a Graeme Shinnie cross just missed the boot of in-rushing ICT forward Billy Mckay.
The floodgates opened for Inverness in the second half, though, and the breakthrough came when Andrew Shinnie cut in from the left and steered a terrific shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
It got even better for Inverness just after the hour mark when a Ross Draper pass led to a lethal shot by Mckay past Langfield.
With 12 minutes to go, ICT added a third when Andrew Shinnie became the man to line up Mckay and he crashed home a classy finish to cap a brilliant display.
A quite brilliant season for the Highlanders ended in heartbreak when a last-day 1-0 defeat in Dingwall denied them a European spot, with St Johnstone edging them out of fourth spot.
Two years later, Inverness did finish third in the Premiership and won the Scottish Cup to earn a shot in Europa League qualifying, which saw them lose 1-0 against Romanians Astra Giurgiu.
Ross County 1 Caley Thistle 3 in 2015
Thursday, January 1, 2015 – Still in the Premiership, Inverness always loved their tussles with Highland rivals Ross County.
This Victoria Park victory took John Hughes’ ICT into fifth position, with the Staggies remaining rooted to the foot of the table.
Goalkeeper Antonio Reguero was now at Ross County and he was beaten by a low drive by Aaron Doran on 27 minutes after being teed up by now-Aberdeen winger Marley Watkins.
Billy Mckay was denied a penalty appeal as ICT piled on the pressure, but Doran doubled the Inverness advantage on 58 minutes when a deflected strike had enough on it to outfox Reguero.
The 2-0 lead was halved two minutes later when current Australian international Jackson Irvine headed home to beat keeper Dean Brill when he connected with a corner, which he won.
Inverness knew a win would put them within two points of third-placed Dundee United and a third goal ensured no way back for County when Billy Mckay pounced to score after Gary Warren headed the ball across the face of goal.
Four months later, ICT secured third spot in the league and their historic Scottish Cup triumph against Falkirk at Hampden.
Dundee 0 Caley Thistle 2 in 2020
Saturday, January 4, 2020 – The year the Covid pandemic stopped football – but before that Caley Thistle looked strong contenders to be competing in the play-offs.
This positive performance from John Robertson’s men had all the signs of a team capable of finishing behind title-winners Dundee United.
The pandemic meant the season was cut to just 27 games, but at this stage when Covid was not in the UK, Inverness opened up a four-point lead over Ayr United in second spot.
Although United were 14 points clear of Inverness, this result was a real boost to Robbo’s side, who were looking like the runners-up all the way.
Aaron Doran was at it again for ICT as he fired the visitors ahead on 17 minutes.
The Irishman gathered a pass from Sean Rooney, who had been superbly picked out by a long-range ball from Kevin McHattie and Doran lashed his shot into the net beyond keeper Jack Hamilton.
Seven minutes later, a swift counter-attack ended with James Keatings sliding the ball home to crush the home hopes on Tayside.
Dundee came more into it in the second half, but keeper Mark Ridgers was equal to efforts from Jordan Marshall and Paul McGowan.
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