matchday thread Inverness CT -V- Stirling Albion (replay)

[Caley Mad In Berks]

23 minutes ago, CaleyTom said:

Does anyone know what the attendance was?

1231  according to info on our own fixtures/results page on this forum

[ThorburnGolf]

My thoughts on the game were mainly frustration..... I see a lack of confidence in the squad right now, there were limited passes going forward and 9/10 when the pass was forward it was a long ball which usually tended to be too long and ended up in Stirling goal kick.

Mutombo for me was the bright spark of the night, he was surprisingly good and his first touch was unreal at times... however his decision making and final pass needs a bit of work, but watching the interview after the game and with him stating how hard it has been to get back from injury I think this is a certain watch this space and I would like to see him starting against Partick, the more match sharp he becomes the more I think he could become a key cog for us for the rest of the season.

Disagree with what was said about Storey, thought he played as well as he could of given the poor service and he held the ball up well at times. You could tell he was a frustrated figure.

Disappointed in the Fisher injury, he was chasing down everything while he was on, could do with a pure grafter like that in the side that will force mistakes.

Nice to see Foran back, Roberts looked completely uninterested when he came on which is worrying.

[+Fraz]

44 minutes ago, CaleyTom said:

Does anyone know what the attendance was?

Think it was 1200 odd. 90 or so away fans.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

[+DoofersDad]

2 hours ago, Alex MacLeod said:

What I seen of this game, from TV, was a team of professionals trying to pass, and becoming frustrated by, 11 opposition players and a double decker. Stirling  done what they set out to do. They defended very well and stopped us doing anything. Indeed I'd say they played just like we did in our giant killing days except they didn't get too many chances to break or opportunities to score.

Can't say I agree with that.  Sure we had much more possession but in the first half we gifted them possession at the back on 2 or 3 occasions and they put a fair bit of pressure on us and won several corners in the 2nd half.   Their pressure gave us the opportunity to break with speed but for the most part we did our usual of passing the ball across the back and providing the opposition the opportunity to regroup and maintain a good defensive shape.  Stirling defended well and If it wasn't for the fact that their shooting was so woeful we could have been seriously embarrassed last night.

[bigman]

Don t know what Raven did but took a lot of stick from Hughs. I felt it a bit unfair unless he was supposed to score a hat trick. Storey deprived of any service apart from a great goal from Mutombo who after that spent most of the night turning himself inside out and greating nowhere we had no forward line. All in all lucky to come away with a win. Having said that I suppose we used to do the same as Stirling when in their postion.

Have to say though, not impressed with the performance  at this or some of our previous games need to get some cohesion between back and front. all very well have a good passing side but it needs to be further up the park.

 

[AlexJones]

I think people are getting the wrong end of the stick when they lament our seemingly excessive passages of 'safe' passing in our own half. The problem wasn't a lack of ambition from the likes of Tansey when they picked up possession. The problem was a lack of movement in front of them. Not sure whether it's down to tactics or fatigue, but the forward players seem to be sticking rigidly to their positions for the most part. If they were any more static they'd have balloons sticking to them. The big exception was Draper who drifted into pockets of space all evening, at times he was an anchorman, at times he was a winger, at times he was running in behind. That's the kind of dynamic movement we've been lacking.

Mutombo was very good as an outside left, looks like we've found his best position. Can see him getting a run there. Not a good night for Polworth, think it might be time to rest him. Haven't heard the pundits using the 'burn out' cliché in relation to young players recently, but something to be mindful of. Foran's cameo was encouraging. Hopefully his injury woes are finally over.  

Stirling looked much better than their league position suggests. Particularly their front 2, both of whom I would have ahead of Brian Graham.

[Sneckboy]

League positions don't lie. They're a very limited team. Relegated from the 3rd tier last season, they're mid-table currently in the bottom league. Elgin are better than them!
 

[Alex MacLeod]

Cup games are secret

[PerfICT]

mmm. Just watched the "highlights" - not great. Second goal was a peach, though - Draper's run was fantastic and a clever finish by Vigurs. Mutombo's was a good strike, but I'm not sure aout the keeper.

I agree with some of the earlier posts about a lack of movement, rather than a lack of desire to get the ball forward. The instruction clearly is "if nothing's on, just keep the ball", which I don't have a problem with. What is an issue is that nothing will ever be on if players don't move - either to create a hole or to run into space. If Draper, Vincent and Storey are the only ones making effective runs, the options are limited, so we keep the ball and play it across and back. Take one or two of these players out of the team through injury or suspension and we're really toiling...

[Alex MacLeod]

Not sure that Mutombo is a winger but, going by what was picked up on the touchline mics, I think Hughes is trying to make him into one. A few times he was shouted at to keep on the wing when he looked like turning inside. I do think that given two or three starts he could be someone worth holding on to.

Thought it quite funny that after shouting at the lad Hughes turns his back and misses the goal

[The Mantis]

5 hours ago, CaleyTom said:

Does anyone know what the attendance was?

Just seen the highlights and looks like there were only a few hundred, including the reported 94 away fans.

[old caley girl]

1 hour ago, TheMantis said:

Just seen the highlights and looks like there were only a few hundred, including the reported 94 away fans.

Tbf I was there and think figure quoted was about right. Main stand has more than North stand probably due to price being the same. 

[RiG]

Stirling took more fans to the game last night than we took to Kilmarnock on Saturday (94 v 88).

[12th Man]

Have we recently signed Mutombos twin brother it can't be the same man surely. My man of the match.

The second goal was a good team goal with great movement from Draper, the TV doesn't do Mutombos goal justice as it curved into the top corner leaving the keeper stranded. 

 

[Sneckboy]

31 minutes ago, 12th Man said:

Have we recently signed Mutombos twin brother it can't be the same man surely. My man of the match.

The second goal was a good team goal with great movement from Draper, the TV doesn't do Mutombos goal justice as it curved into the top corner leaving the keeper stranded. 

 

Alternatively, if that had been a speculative strike from a Stirling player, and had found its way into our net, I'd be casting an eye at our 'keeper.

[Yngwie]

1 hour ago, 12th Man said:

Have we recently signed Mutombos twin brother it can't be the same man surely. My man of the match.

And everyone elses.

The funny thing is, when talking about this kind of "luxury" foreign player with tricks and skill, there's a longstanding cliche whereby media pundits invariably ask something like "but what's he gonna be like on a cold Tuesday night in January".

Well now we know. 

 

 

[Renegade]

My MOTM match was the guitar playing Stirling fan in the Main Stand.

*Digs out plastic Barney the Dinosaur ukulele for Saturday*

[Huisdean]

Some interesting views on the game. Personally, while not a great performance from us, the only real chances we gave to Stirling were either as a result of our mistakes or committing too many men forward and then getting caught out by a quick break. Posters have been crying out for width in the team and last night we did try to play with that but often with nobody breaking through to take advantage of this. I think we are really missing Vincent at the moment with the runs he makes and if we can get the width into our play along with this, think this would make a difference.

Reality is though, we needed to win the game and we did. The cup defence continues.