Friday night football experiment focuses on Dundee

Dundee and Dundee United are scheduled to play at home on the same day on a number of occasions this season after the Dens Park club replaced Rangers in the SPL once the Ibrox newco application was rejected.

Dundee United will host Ross County at Tannadice on Friday September 14, while Dundee will face Inverness at Dens Park on 19 October.

Both Aberdeen and Motherwell hosted Friday night games last season although the Fir Park clash, against Hibernian, was abandoned at half-time because of a floodlight failure.

Meanwhile, Inverness manager Terry Butcher has challenged his players to produce another “superhuman” performance when they host Celtic tomorrow. Caley Thistle maintained their unbeaten start to the season when they went from two goals down to claim a point against Hearts at Tynecastle, despite captain Richie Foran’s dismissal.

Butcher said: “I called the team ‘the Incredibles’ that day. They weren’t quite wearing masks, but the performance was superhuman.”

Butcher added: “A lot of the boys haven’t played Celtic before, they have only seen them on the TV. We have been telling them what to expect with the pace of the game, how Celtic play, the atmosphere and the TV cameras. It’s going to be brilliant.”

Celtic face their second trip to the Highlands in eight days and had games in the US, against Real Madrid, and in Sweden against Helsingborgs in the Champions League, either side of their draw against Ross County.

Joe Ledley, Thomas Rogne and Beram Kayal are Neil Lennon’s main injury worries. Lennon has been hit with a number of minor injury problems in recent weeks, but Mo Bangura and Paddy McCourt are in contention to play against Caley Thistle after shaking off strains.

Lennon told Celtic TV’s Huddle Online programme: “Joe Ledley has had a scan on his groin and he is a doubt, and Beram and Thomas are doubts with ankle problems.”