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Chairman Resigns

Teaser Paragraph:
ICTFC’s Alan Savage has advised the Club’s Board of Directors that he is unable to take the helm next season and thus will be standing down as Chairman. Alan said “I am sad to be stepping down as I have enjoyed being Chairman of Caley Thistle. However the enormous growth in my company, The Orion Group means that I feel that I cannot devote the time and energy to lead the Club for another season.
My business is very much about the relationships with our clients and this requires me to travel extensively.
There have been many highlights during my time with the Club but one that sticks in my mind is the win over Celtic last December. I wish club every success for the future and will continue to be a keen supporter.” Graeme Bennett, Vice-Chairman and Director of Football said “Alan has been a hands on leader and I have enjoyed working with him immensely. Obviously losing Alan is a major disappointment. The Board will take stock of the situation over the remaining weeks of the season and we will announce a successor in due course.”
Guest
By Guest in News 2007-08 ·

Gretna 1-2 Inverness CT - SPL

Caley Thistle ended their run of defeats with a 2-1 victory over Gretna but it was heavy going. Wyness, Imrie, Paatelainen and Wilson all had numerous chances before Caley Thistle scored in the 71st minute and when the goals came, they weren't strikers' goal but scored by midfielder Roy McBain who got the first and fellow midfielder Don Cowie two minutes later.
In 80 minutes, Gretna - who were actually playing without a recognised striker - scored their first ever goal against the mediocre Caley Jags but ICT managed to hang on for the final 10 minutes to grab a valuable win.
05/04/08 Fir Park, Motherwell GRETNA 1 Barr (80) Team: Fleming, Barr, Griffiths, Meynell, McGill, Osman, Murray (Wilkinson 78), Skelton, Deverdics (Hogg 78), Kissock, Naughton SUBS: Fisher, Taylor, Sharples, Robinson, Schultz-Eklund
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 2 McBain (71), Cowie (73) Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Proctor, Hastings, Wilson, McBain, Cowie, Paatelainen (Hart 82), Imrie, Wyness (McAllister 82) SUBS: Vigurs, Gillespie, Duff, Kerr, Malkowski
Referee Mike Tumilty Attendance 431 Alternative Maryhill:
Just back from a riveting performance, where a lot of the game consisted of Mikey punting the ball up the field to Imrie, where it would generally be won by Gretna. For the five minutes surrounding the two goals we looked like a team with a bit of fight and confidence again, and then it all just drained away again. Why?? Having said that, there were plenty of chances, but these were epitomised by a lovely cross along the goalmouth behind the keeper which Patti and AN Other (can't remember who) somehow magically failed to convert even though the ball was about a foot from the line and no Gretna players were close. Best players on the field were Kissock and Naughton from Gretna. Patti should have been subbed at half time for Hart, just seemed too lightweight today. Most depressing three points I've ever seen. Bayne, Duncan and Munro were all in the stands with us, so I hoped they enjoyed the show...
Caley Stan:
 
Although this fixture was a meaningless joke, it's still nice to see us win at last.
We made hard work of though. Brewster went back to 4-4-2, with Wyness and Imrie up front, Wilson on the right and Markus on the left. Strange then that we spent most of the game punting high balls up to our wee strikers.
There was a general lack of confidence and composure throughout the team - most of the players seemed to panic and hoof as soon as they received the ball instead of looking around for a simple pass. In spite of this, we managed to carve out a fair few chances, especially in the first half when Dennis could've had a hat-trick. Gretna came into the game more in the second half, with our defence looking as shaky as ever. McBain and Cowie deserved their goals, they worked well together in the middle of the park and were probably our best players today.
 
Guest
By Guest in Reports 2007-08 ·

Inverness 3-4 Aberdeen - SPL

Aberdeen only went and did it again didn't they!!!! 4 minutes into second half injury time Chris Maguire scored Aberdeen's 4th goal in a 4-3 win to keep their top 6 dreams alive and make it 17 games without a win against the Dons for ICT.
This was a sickener for Caley Thistle in a game where the effort seemed to return to the players. This game had it all - 7 goals, 10 players booked, 2 sent off for off the pitch actions, and yet some excellent entertainment.
Its been doom and gloom for the last few weeks but today's game, despite the last minute goal might have contained a glimmer of hope. Its bad for the defence to lose 4 goals, but there was effort, there were ICT goals, and there was entertainment... all things that had been missing in recent weeks.
29/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 3 Bus (21 o.g.), Duncan (40), McBain (58) Team: Fraser, Tokely (Paatelainen 82), McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Proctor, Cowie, Duncan, McBain, Imrie (Hart 75), Niculae SUBS: Wyness, McAllister, Vigurs, Kerr, Malkowski
ABERDEEN 4 Aluko (7), Nicholson (45), Miller (54), McGuire (94) Team: Soutar, Maybury, Considine, Bus (Maguire 46), McNamara, Foster, Nicholson, Severin, Aluko, Mackie (Duff 73), Miller SUBS: Pawlett, Walker, Touzani, Mair, Langfield
Referee Dougie McDonald Attendance 5655 RIG: 
Just going to list various things I noticed or thought of during/after the game:
Overall the game was poor in terms of the football played. Aberdeen seemed more likely to try and pass it but we were too reliant on hoofing the ball up the park as usual. However, there was some nice passing in places I felt.
Our line up was odd. Not sure about Tokely in midfield really. He was caught out a lot by Aluko but stuck to his job well on most occasions. However, in our system the right midfielder needs to help cover back with our right sided full back and this he couldn't to due to this lack of pace and Proctor was often left exposed.
The first Aberdeen goal was abysmal defending from Proctor, Tokely, Munro and McGuire. Far too easy for the lad to cut inside and stroke the ball past Fraser.
Niculae being ball greedy! Why oh why did he not pick out Cowie all alone with an empty net in front if him? Worst decision by anyone of the entire 90 minutes.
Odd goal to level with but we'll take it. I thought it was going to head out of play till Bus(s) arrived to smash a header into his own net.
Duncans finish was a sweet strike and I believe his yellow for his celebration was incorrect however the highlights might clear this up as to what happened. Seemed that it was the reaction of Aberdeen players and fans that got him booked.
Especially when you consider Nicholson celebrating in front of/baiting the ICT fans. Personally I think both should have been allowed but if MacDonald was to book Duncan then he should book Nicholson. It was a fantastic goal they equalised with but Hastings was too slow to close down and allowed Foster (?) too much time and space to pick out the runner into the box with McGuire static as Nicholson rose. Could Ikey have come for it? Cracking goal nonetheless but we made it easy.
Duncans sending off - will be interesting to see just what he does with regards to "kicking the ball away" from MacDonald. Can't help but feel that there wasn't too much in it but we'll see (hopefully) in the highlights. Put us on the back foot for the 2nd half but we coped well under intense pressure at times though on other occasions we were falling apart.
Seemed to galvanise the effort from the lads so that was appreciated given recent performances showing so little enthusiasm.
Munro had a spectacular goal line clearance from Miller or Mackie I think it was. Miller then went on to miss an open goal as he sidefooted wide. More dodgy defending from us allowed this opportunity.
Our free kicks at the edge of the box were atrocious. We had a horror one from Duncan against "Team X" but Imrie topped that yesterday with his one. Something we need to work on clearly. Any chance of Rankin giving the lads some pointers?
Subs were interesting. I actually think the players he brought on were good - Hart added fresh legs and plenty of effort in the midfield and putting Marcus on retained our balance. However we could have used another pair of fresh legs in there to help us hold the ball up away from the goal. That's where Wyness came in. Players like McBain and Cowie were tiring badly although that's too be expected.
We still looked a threat on the counter. Forced some corners and had a few reasonable efforts e.g. Marcus going for glory and I think Hart and Tokely both had breaks into the box that just failed to result in anything.
Killer goal at the end where we just couldn't clear our lines and up popped Maguire to steal in to get the winner.
Positives
The sheer effort from the team was a huge positive and something we haven't seen in a long time.
Some of the goals we scored were excellent I felt. I thought McBains goal was a great finish as it could so easily have got stuck under his feet (see Brown in the Rangers v Celtic game)
Niculae was brilliant in holding the ball up and looking for the clever pass into space - no long ball mince here!
Negatives
The result obviously
The possible lack of discipline from Duncan and Munro that resulted in the red cards
The defence still needs a lot of work
The fact that we were crying out for another pair of fresh legs to help take some of the heat off the lads towards the end was ignored
 
FROM CTO
Just back...traffic was shocking, much like our defending!  However, I've been moaning about being bored at the last few games, and even though we lost that was an absolutely magnificent football match.  We feared the worst after the Aberdeen opener, and at 3-2, but for the first time in months we had players out there who were sweating blood.  Hundreds of fans stayed behind at the end to applaud the players off and they deserved it.  Our third goal was a work of art as well - Niculae's one touch flick releases Cowie down the right, and his first time cross picks out McBain striding through the centre to score.  Magic.
 
POSITIVES
Rossco - I was horrified by the decision to stick him on the right wing, and it took a while for him to settle there.  But in the second half he was incredible.  Had to be subbed because he looked like he would collapse from exhaustion.
Roy McBain - also put in a magnificent shift second half, capped with a goal.
Marius - simply a class act.  Held up play well and set up so many of our attacks with clever flick on's.
Hart - did well off the bench
Brew - not his fault we lost.  Tactically we were a bit better today, and the players gave everything second half.
 
NEGATIVES
Russell b***** Duncan - I think it is reasonable that your teammates receive a public apology.  Whatever you got sent off for, you are an absolute moron.  We're running out of central midfielders fast.  Mind you, in his absence we looked twice the team we were.
Phil McGuire - a wheelie bin would be more useful at centre-half.  Utterly hopeless and a liability.
Grant Munro - I don't care if the referee and standside linesman were completely incompetent (which they were) - if you were sent off after the game then you are a total idiot.
Ian Black (or the absence of)- was apparently in the Heathmount while we were playing.
Anyway, the best we've played in ages.  At 3-3 we had at least as much chance of nicking it
Guest
By Guest in Reports 2007-08 ·

Kilmarnock 4-1 Inverness CT - SPL

A humiliating 4-1 defeat today against Kilmarnock makes it 6 defeats in a row and 10 games without a win. The solitary win in 2008 came against freefalling Gretna in early January.
Its time for changes at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium but will anyone have the balls to step up and make them......
22/03/08 Rugby Park, Kilmarnock KILMARNOCK 4 Wright (38), Bryson (50, 56), Flannigan (64) Team: Combe, Lilley, Hay, Wright, Clancy, Fowler, Bryson, Flannigan, Taouil, Invincible, Fernandez SUBS: Di Giacamo, Wales, Hamill, Morgan, Johnston, O'Leary, Harpur
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 1 Black (14pen) Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Munro, Proctor, Vigurs (Hart 62), Black, Duncan, McBain (Imrie 73), Bayne, Niculae (McAllister 77) SUBS: Cowie, Kerr, Hastings, Malkowski
Referee Stephen Finnie Attendance 5100 tm4tj said:
I did some hoovering, washed some dishes, picked the wife up from the shops, sat down and we had gone from 0-1 to 4-1. I almost left early, then I realised I was already at home....
From CTO: That long trip up the M77/A9 in the snow seems an awful lot harder when your team has just had a 4-1 pasting!
I can't fault the team for effort. They tried but there was a big hole in front of the defenders which allowed Killie to run riot in the second half. Also, there seems to be an understandable lack of confidence with all the recent defeats and this was obvious in the last third of the field. Bursting forward from the halfway line didn't seem a problem but as soon as there was any pressure from the Killie defence, ideas would run out and the ball would be given away cheaply - again and again. My usual moan is that they are afraid to have a shot from distance but I couldn't fault them for that on this occasion (not that it happened often).
There was a clear lack of cohesion today, set-pieces were wasted, second-half passing was atrocious and our team look like a mid-table First Division outfit struggling against better quality players in a genuine SPL team. As someone said above, we have made a habit of signing lower league players who will never be SPL standard. Can't fault the effort - just the quality is not there with a number of them. Our first half performance was reasonable though and I thought David Proctor had a very good first 45 minutes.
We were doing fine before Christmas but I genuinely think all this contract signing hoo-haa has seriously affected team spirit and individual performances and has allowed certain players to think they are an awful lot better than they actually are. When these players have 26 caps for their country then I will understand why they should be holding out for a similar deal to the one Marius Niculae has.
On the positive side - I was really impressed with the Rugby Park stadium (my first visit there). I thought the Killie folk (including the stewards) were really friendly. And the Killie pies ARE indeed as good as they are hyped up to be. I also had a chat with Jim Jeffries when he stopped to give my wee fella an autograph. He most definitely rates as one of the nicest and most pleasant guys I have ever met in football - a real gentleman!!
Resident analyst Alternative Maryhill said:
Amazed A96 managed to draw any positives out of that at all. It was deeply humiliating. We were just about passable in the first half, but having said that, we looked like we were playing a team even lower in confidence than us. Killie looked tentative whenever they had the ball. There was a bit of luck about their equaliser, but the moment their second went in it just felt like that they, their fans and our fans knew we were there for the taking. After 4 it looked like it was going to be 6 or 7. I have to disagree with the comment about not being able to fault the players for effort too - I didn't see too many throwing themselves into tackles, chasing every 50-50 and looking determined to rescue the game. McBain seemed to be hiding and I don't recall Bayne, surprisingly, doing much chasing back. Duncan set himself new standards for the ineptitude of his passing. Niculae and Black, as usual, started brightly and looked inventive but by half time had been dragged into the mediocrity of it all. Still wouldn't have subbed Niculae, but as the whole occasion was characterised by tactical idiocy from Mr Brewster, at least he was being consistent when he hooked Marius. Just three examples of Brewster's cretinous tactics:
1. If anyone can explain to me the wisdom of dropping Cowie and forcing Tokely, in effect, to have to run the entire length of the touchline for the whole game, I'd be happy to listen. Tokely did fight for the shirt yesterday, but he's too one-dimensional going forward to bring any real invention, and we did look exposed at the back. This 3-5-2 thing stops working when you're behind and both having to defend and trying to get goals back - all you end up with is knackered wide players who are neither fish nor fowl.
2. Why put Vigurs into a team which is already so low on confidence? There's no way he was going to make a significant difference. At times yesterday he looked quite classy on the ball and certainly looked like he was trying to make passes, but there didn't seem to be anyone really looking for it. Hiding, as I said earlier. If we had to change things, and we did, yesterday was surely a day for players with some experience but something to prove - Hart (who at least showed the right attitude when he did get on), Markus, Dennis.
3. Can anyone point to an occasion when the Bayne - Niculae partnership has been an unqualified success? I've not been to any home games this season so I may have missed occasions when they looked good together, but I've never seen it and it certainly isn't working now. The best performances I've seen this season have all, to my recollecton, had Marius partnering Wyness up front and Rankin wide left. So why not go back to tha... oh, I forgot. We can't. Because you sold Rankin and you've effectively pushed Wyness out of the club. Nice one.
The second half was, I think, in 12 or 13 years of attending games, the most spineless and depressing performance I've witnessed from a Caley side, and that includes the Morton and Airdrie circuses mentioned by Arbroath Awayday.  That bad. Don't know if there's any point in getting shot of CB now, purely because I don't see a replacement and it would be folly to panic and stick any old applicant in, but  the thought of him still being here next season makes me shudder and relegation, on yesterday's evidence and given the recent travesties in man-management, would be highly likely.
Guest
By Guest in Reports 2007-08 ·

Inverness CT 0-1 Falkirk - SPL

Caley Thistle lose to an 86th minute Billy Clarke goal in a game that could certainly not be described as a classic.
That's still only 1 win in 2008 for the Caley Jags and if Gretna go to the wall before the end of the season, that solitary win might even be expunged from the records !!!
15/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CT 0 Team: Fraser, Tokely, Munro, McGuire, Hastings, Duncan, Black, Cowie (McAllister 80), McBain (Imrie 80), Niculae, Wyness (Bayne 53) Subs: Proctor, Kerr, Vigurs, Malkowski
FALKIRK 1 Clarke (86) Team: Olejnik, Aafjes, Scobbie, Barr, Milne, Cregg (Riera 57), McBride, Arfield, Moutinho (Clarke 70), Barrett, Finnigan (Latapy 57)
Subs: Bradley, Stewert, Ross, Supple
Referee Calum Murray Attendance 4012  
ICT’s wretched run of form continued unabated as Billy Clarke‘s late strike gave visitors Falkirk a deserved win. The visitors had to work rather harder for a victory than Hearts did a fortnight ago, but otherwise there were few positives for Craig Brewster to find after yet another lukewarm, passionless performance. Caley had only a single victory, against Gretna, to show for their first ten matches of 2008 and Brewster reverted to a 4-4-2 after the defeat to the Jambos two weeks previously.  Dennis Wyness and Roy McBain were recalled, with Dougie Imrie dropped to the bench and Markus Paatelainen left out of the matchday squad altogether.  Falkirk, meanwhile, continued with the same eleven that drew with Motherwell in their last match, with John Hughes continuing to go with an attacking triumvirate of Moutinho, Barrett and Finnigan.
Under the backdrop of a clear blue sky and some unseasonable warmth, it was the Bairns who dominated possession throughout the opening period, with Hughes clearly upset that his side, clearly missing the injured Michael Higdon, had few chances to show for it.  Carl Finnigan had the best of them, but his stabbed effort from six yards was blocked by a spread-eagled Michael Fraser when a corner caused chaos in Caley’s box.  The first forty-five minutes followed a familiar pattern, with Falkirk given licence to knock the ball about and Inverness happy to sit deep and soak up pressure.  Robert Olejnik was briefly called into action to turn a Niculae shot round the post, though the shot was drifting wide anyway.  That was the exception, though, as the Austrian keeper saw very little action in a first half best described as uninspiring.  The only thing the sides had to show for their stalemate was a bit of a suntan.
Half Time: 0-0
Unfortunately for the increasingly frustrated home support, there was little change in proceedings after the break, leading both managers to make early substitutions; Caley hooking Wyness for Graham Bayne and Falkirk replacing Cregg and Finnigan with Latapy and Riera.  Caley finally found some impetus, with Bayne inches away from reaching McBain’s ball across goal, then somehow managing to head wide from six yards while unmarked. Ultimately, though, it was the introduction by Falkirk of their veteran Trinidadian schemer that decided the game.  Caley threw on McAllister and Imrie as they looked to nick the win, but instead got caught on the break.  Receiving the ball in the centre circle, Latapy waltzed through the Caley defence, dummied Phil McGuire with a lovely body swerve, and squared the ball for another substitute, Billy Clarke to tap home for his first goal for Falkirk.  Clarke was booked for over celebrating, but his delight was understandable with the three points keeping his side in the driving seat for a top six place. In the remaining four minutes Caley never looked like grabbing an unlikely equaliser, and the home support vented their fury at another dour, pointless performance with a cacophony of boos at the final whistle. 
Full Time: 0-1
They now head to Rugby Park next week with any hopes of finishing in the top half well and truly extinguished, and aware that their campaign is now increasingly in freefall. 
Guest
By Guest in Reports 2007-08 ·

ICT v Falkirk - Preview

Teaser Paragraph:
It has been 7 games since Inverness CT last tasted victory (in other words 1 win in 2008) and it is important we start picking up points sooner rather than later. All of a sudden 11th place is in sight instead of the 6th place which could mathematically still be possible. However to do that, Saturday is a must win with Falkirk currently occupying 6th spot. Lets just hope a 2 week break will work wonders after a dreadful home performance against Hearts on the 1st March. With Marius Niculae called up to the International squad, and Ian Black and Dougie Imrie running a mile with Radio 1 for Sport Relief since our last outing, surely we are ready for the big match with the Bairns.
 
DETAILS
 
Inverness CT v Falkirk
Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Saturday 15th March @ 3pm
SPL
Referee: Calum Murray


FIXTURES  

Saturday 29th September:  
Aberdeen v Gretna
Hibernian v Kilmarnock
Inverness CT v Falkirk
Motherwell v Celtic (Setanta, 12:30pm)
St Mirren v Hearts

Sunday 30th September:  
Rangers v Dundee Utd (CIS Cup final, 3pm)


SPL RECENT RESULTS  

Saturday 1st March:
Falkirk 0-0 Motherwell
Hibernian 0-2 Celtic
Inverness CT 0-3 Hearts
Kilmarnock 1-0 St Mirren
Rangers 3-1 Aberdeen

Thursday 6th March:
Gretna 0-3 Dundee Utd

Wednesday 12th March:
Celtic 0-0 Dundee Utd
Hibernian 1-0 Motherwell


PAST MEETINGS  
The teams have played a total of 31 times (30 League, 1 Cup) with 97 goals (
46 Inverness CT, 51 Falkirk ) between them. Inverness CT: 9 wins (9 League, 0 Cup)
Draws: 7 (7 League, 0 Cup)
Falkirk : 15 wins (14 League, 1 Cup)



FACTS BETWEEN THE TEAMS  
There have been 20 1st Division games and 10 SPL games between the teams. There has only been 1 cup game between the teams, which took place last season in Inverness with Falkirk winning 1-0. The teams average 3.2 goals a game in the fixtures between these two teams. The biggest win in the fixture was when Inverness CT beat the Bairns 4-1 at the Falkirk Stadium on the 21/01/2006. Goals from Wilson , Wyness, Dargo and Tokely gave Caley Thistle a comfortable victory. Ireland scored a consolation for Falkirk . The last meeting between the sides took place on boxing day of 2007 with Falkirk making home advantage count winning 1-0. Inverness CT won the other fixture between the teams 4-2 in October. In the last 7 league meetings, the away team has failed to win. It has been 47 games since Inverness CT drew 0-0. 7 games without a win and 7 games without a clean sheet.

PLAYERS TO WATCH  

Marius Niculae (Inverness CT): The Romanian has 9 goals to his name this season, but this week was probably the best news he has heard this season. He has been re-called to the international squad for the friendly against Russia on the 26th March. This can only boost his confidence which will hopefully show on Saturday with a couple of goals.

Carl Finnigan ( Falkirk ): Former Newcastle reserve player, Carl Finnigan has just extended his contract with the Bairns by an extra year to 2009. He has scored 7 goals in 38 appearances for Falkirk and a major part of the team. Now been in Scotland for 13 months, and he is obviously happy to stay for longer.
Guest
By Guest in Previews 2007-08 ·

Inverness CT 0-3 Hearts - SPL

Inverness Caledonian Thistle were deserving losers in what has to be one of the worst performances they have ever put together since joining the SPL. The display on the park today was so bad it was verging on the comical and at times it was hard to know whether to laugh or cry. 0-3 going on 0-6 and we had nothing to respond with.
01/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CT 0 Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Cowie (McAllister 83), Black (Proctor 73), Paatelainen (Wyness 46), Duncan, Imrie, Niculae Subs: Vigurs, McBain, Kerr, Malkowski
HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN 3 Karipidis (22), Elliot (33, 47) Team: Banks, Neilson, Karipidis, Berra, Wallace, Jonsson, Palazuelos, Driver (Ivaskevicius 64), Mikoliunas (Screpis 72), Nade (Beniusis 84), Elliot Subs: Glen, Tall, Zalukas, Ridgers
Referee Alan Freeland Attendance 4489   With only one win under our belt since Craig Brewster and Marius Niculae picked up Manager and Player of the month awards you could be forgiven for thinking that our demise is some kind of sick conspiracy. ICT seem to be on self-destruct and nobody seems to know what to do other than watch as the clock tics away!!! Recent results against Hibs and Celtic weren’t the best, but at least the team showed some willingness to fight and attempt to battle back in those matches, but against Hearts it was an entirely different kettle of fish.   We got off to not too bad a start and were the ones applying pressure to Hearts in the first 20 minutes, albeit it phases and without much in the way of an end product. The only shot I can remember going in the direction of the goal was Duncan around the 15 minute mark, but even that sailed harmlessly high over the bar. We weren’t playing brilliant football, but we seemed to be edging it over what looked like an equally mediocre Hearts team….that was until the 22nd minute. Hearts won a corner and Driver delivered a high ball in to the middle of the box which Fraser looked to be coming to collect with ease, but for some reason he stopped and decided to back pedal towards his line giving Karipidis all the time in the world to pick his spot and head the ball in to the back of the net. This was the moment when the wheels really fell off for ICT, our midfield started to sit so deep they had the defence in their back pockets and even when we did manage to avoid tripping over each other and get the ball up the park, we had nobody to keep it there and it came straight back at us. The only time our midfield seemed willing to cross the half way line was when Fraser was taking a goal kick. To rub salt in the wounds, Referee (I use the word in it’s loosest form) Alan Freeland seemed to be making it up as he was going along. Despite Mikoliunas diving about like the Sugar Plum Faerie for most of the game it wasn’t until he tried to break the legs of Hastings that he caught the refs attention…and even then he got a yellow card for what was clearly a dangerous challenge and would have seen any other ref give a red without hesitation. On the few occasions we did push forward we were slow to get back and defend once we gave up possession and that was a regular occurrence during this match. Hearts second goal, and the first for Elliot in 2 years came when ICT were caught napping. We had lost possession on the left and failed to break down a run on the right before the ball was played down the line to Nade. Nade then made it look like he was out for a stroll in the park as he nutmegged Munro, stepped over a fresh air challenge by Duncan and then cut the ball back past McGuire who had left Elliot standing alone in the middle of the box….0-2 Hearts. The best efforts for Caley Thistle came towards the end of the first half when Niculae was unfortunate not to have stuck 2 half efforts away to level the scoring. The first chance came from a cross ball deep in to the box, but it was a little too high for Niculae to get above it to head it done and he nodded it over. The second chance saw Niculae again make a break deep in to the box as Tokely crossed the ball from the right. Niculae stuck out a leg, but the ball took a bounce and even at full stretch he couldn’t get enough on it to put it in to the net. 2 Goals down at half-time, but a glimmer of hope that we could actually create something up front and might be able to come back in to this if we could send out the real Caley Thistle team for the second half. For the first time I can remember in long enough, we actually made a tactically sound substitution at half time.   Half Time: 0-2   Paatelainen made way for Wyness to give us 2 strikers up front. It wasn’t long before all hopes of a comeback were dashed though and on 47 minutes Black made the biggest error of the game. He attempted to pass the ball back through a crowd of players to Fraser, but he failed to get enough on the ball and it forced the Caley Jags goalkeeper to come out to the edge of his area to make the challenge. He was first to the ball but failed to clear it and was slow to get back to his line….this gave Elliot time to pick himself up off the ground and float the ball over the sauntering Fraser to make it 0-3 for Hearts. At this stage most of the team seemed to give up, even those who might have been accused of putting in some effort just weren’t bothering and the only people who seemed to be playing with any passion were Niculae and Tokely…we hadn’t exactly been peppering the Hearts goal, but for the bulk of the second half nobody seemed to be interested in having a go, even from distance. Freeland’s catalogue of ridiculous decisions continued to grow when he failed to book Mikolionas for diving, even after gesturing that is what he had done and telling him to get up. He also produced his card from his pocket in another tussle, but seemed to change his mind after much remonstrating from the Hearts players. The most bizarre decision of all came when the nearside linesman made what felt like the first correct decision of the game in awarding ICT a corner, only for Freeland to overrule it and give the goal kick. In all honesty, the poor refereeing had no effect on the outcome, but it’s no wonder other teams don’t want Freeland officiating their matches when you see such a poor and incompetent display as that…it really was a performance of the lowest order. Rory McAllister replaced Don Cowie on 83 minutes and showed that he was at least hungry to prove himself and win a starting place in the team on a more regular basis. A late drive from 25 yards would have had the Hearts Keeper beaten but it inched narrowly over the bar to put an end to what should have been a more comprehensive loss.   Full Time: 0-3   “I Believe” is the adopted motto of the ICT fans, and they tried their hardest to lift the team throughout the match, but it becomes difficult when it is obvious to all that the team have lost belief and that the Manager and ICT Board are making decisions which are having a serious negative effect on the performances on the park.
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By Guest in Reports 2007-08 ·

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