Rankin and Bayne drop to the bench and Black and Wyness come in ... has Charlie been reading the suggestions of some people on here ???

ICT

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HEARTS

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I heard a certain Mr Mackenzie flying the flag for ICT on Radio Scotland 10 mins ago  :021:

:004:

I heard it as well

I have a good feeling about a win today

0-0 FT.

2 points dropped?

A hard shift but not a bad result considering Hearts had their "First choice squad???" out

sounds like we were both lucky and unlucky ....

we were lucky that the 'first choice' Hearts side lacked match fitness but unlucky that they played better than the other first choice team that has played the last few weeks .....

we were lucky that Mark Brown, Darren Dods and the defence had great games but unlucky that our strikers couldn't seem to hit a coo's erse with a banjo despite bunches of chances.

Richie Hart seemed to do well after coming on - he must surely be close to getting a starting spot ? Ian Black got booked yet again ... now this wouldn't be so bad if it was like last year when he was getting booked for hard tackles, but from my listening this season, it sounds like most of his bookings have been for petulance .... I am sorry, skillful though he is, he needs to be dropped (maybe for Hart ?) until he learns to stop being an erse. As for the strikers, maybe McSwegan should be given a try ? no-one else seems capable of getting goals so what would be the problem.

However, it does show - despite the grumblings - that we are definitely progressing when I am ranting about 'dropping 2 points' against Hearts !!!!

Dods outshone his illustrious international counterpart, Pressley...

Worthy MoM....

Just back, here's my take on things...

Mediocre first half, but open and entertaining second 45.  It was all us in the last 25 minutes but we just couldn't find the spark to score.  Dods was magnificent, one goal-saving tackle in the first half, then throwing himself in front of a shot from the same player later on.  Munro was great as usual, while Dargo and Wyness did well with the scraps available.

How Gordon managed to save Black's header I have no idea - looking forward to seeing that again.  Hearts looked nothing like contenders for Europe, and Hartley only really had an influence when he came deeper, bringing a super stop out of Brown with a dipping volley. 

Kudos to Charlie today as I thought he got his tactics spot on.  Black covered every inch of the pitch and harried Aguiar and Brellier well.  The introduction of Hart gave us an extra edge late on, and bringing on Bayne for a tiring Wyness unsettled the Hearts defence further.

It's a pity we didn't win this in the end, but we'll play worse than this on occasions this season and get three points.

Dire first half, marked improvement in the second though.

Unlucky not to get the 3 points but then again maybe a draw was the fairer result.

Somehow managed to miss Black & Dargo getting booked. Thats Dargo suspended now isn't it??

Think the Mother well game is a MUST win match

Motherwell should be a cracker next week.

And on a lighter note, I have to say Iain Brines had a very good match today.

Craig Gordon once again stopped us winning - the big question is not whether one of our players will score the 5,000th - that sadly went to the diving Skippy - but who will score our next goal after three blanks.

Our long ball game worked well today. I noticed that when Brown had ball in hand, Bazza and McBain pushed right up so we were effectively playing 4-2-4 when the ball was launched, going man for man with Hearts back 4, they didn't adjust at all. I'm not a professional statistician, but that's a pretty good ratio when you're attacking. A few times the ball broke to us in and around the box, and but for poor final balls and finishing we could easily have had 2 or 3.

Also, their defenders tended to hoof the long balls out, for us to send the big men up for Munro's throw ins (must have had half a dozen in the second half). Hearts only chances came when we tried to knock it around in our own half and carelessly gave the ball away.

Hastings should have got MOTM today, he was outstanding. His runs up the flank had their defenders at sixes and sevens. And once again Richie Hart, one careless slip in his own half apart, provided the composure and creativity we'd been lacking in the final third after he came on.

Russel Duncan's passing was awful again today, but he did his job defensivly - Hartley was kept pretty subdued. All in all, a good performance against difficult opponents. On another day it'd have been enough for a comfortable victory. We certainly didn't miss Rankin, just a pity that Sutherland didn't get a chance to run at their back 4. Particularly with the one-on-one, man-to-man ratio I mentioned earlier. I think he could have caused Nielson some problems.

As has been said already it was a poor first half with neither team coming out top, but hey we sure made up for it in the second and we were unlucky not to get the win, good performance all round and I have no player I would criticise, some snappy moves lads and stay with it.

Well done Cherlie for benching Bayne and Rankin, never easy decisions but they were the right ones, game definately came alight when Hart and Bayne came on so it may well be that this a good formula but maybe next time lets sub maybe 5 mins earlier.

After this we can easily go into the Mothernotwell game with high hopes.

Long ball game worked well today?  :015:

We barely played long ball today and it was a delight to see us get the ball down and pass it - and look how good a performance we got. Brown kicking the ball out can hardly be classed as playing a long ball game!

Hearts had some chances but ours were better and we had more of them. It's a shame we couldn't put them away but hopefully that can be put right against Motherwell next weekend. I think if we play like we did today we will destroy Motherwell. I was left feeling a bit down that we never got the 3 points but very, very impressed with the performance.

No one had a bad game - though Duncans passing was iffy in the 1st half - he was much better in the 2nd and worked his socks off. Black must have covered every inch of grass today. Dargo looked sharp up front and can't believe he was taken off as we tried to press for the win. Wyness had a few neat touches as well, the rest of the midfield worked well and Wilson put in another excellent shift I thought.

At the back we looked solid. For long periods of time we never looked like giving anything away with Dods and Munro again excellent at the back.

Hearts are dreadful and their diving was getting right on my tits. Especially that number 16 and 27. Pair of planks. Brines was sometimes taken in but other times he was spot on in telling them to get up but he should have booked them.

So overall - no complaints at all (shocking eh?  :015:) - well done to ICT just a shame we never got that vital goal.

Pish weather but cracking macaroni pie. Just the thing to nurse the hangover  :007:

For next week - same team and same tactics please  :003:

There is no doubt we are a solid team " hard to break down " as the media and opposition managers keep saying, this might not be enough. We desperately need someone to really run at defences and create some magic, without this I can see more hard fought draws and no progress into the top six.

Do we have someone in the squad who can rise to this challenge?

Lets score three next weekend!!!

Barry Wilson and Craig Dargo gave it a good go today. Dargo was excellent and he gave Pressley and Berra a torrid time. He nearly scored a wonder goal as well today from a quick counter attack.

I would like it if we scored 7 next week myself but a 1 - 0 win would do me  :004:

The Craig Gordon save from Blackie's header was unbelievable.

Some much needed changes made by Charlie today although I'm not sure he got them all right.

I think the call to replace Bayne with Wyness was a good one. Bayne although a trier will never be a prolific goal scorer or creater of goals. Although in saying that I must admit Bayne for once was rather effective coming on for a 15 minute cameo at the end.

Rankin who as yet hasn't set the heather on fire must feel a bit hard done by to be dropped whilst the invisible man that is Roy Mcbain keeps his place. He offers nothing in attack or defence yet week in week out he's in the team. Even more galling is the fact that Black gets taken off today (albeit perhaps to stop him getting sent off) and Hart gets brought on wide left so that McBain can move into the middle!! What is the point in that. I'm no fan of Hart but he isn't a left winger!!

So November has brought us 2 points in 12. There were folk on here expecting us to have 7 or 8 points lets hope they have had a bit of a reality check

We MUST beat Motherwell - simple as??

Is Dargo suspended for that game or Dundee United??

Some much needed changes made by Charlie today although I'm not sure he got them all right.

I think the call to replace Bayne with Wyness was a good one. Bayne although a trier will never be a prolific goal scorer or creater of goals. Although in saying that I must admit Bayne for once was rather effective coming on for a 15 minute cameo at the end.

You're right, I doubt Bayne will ever be prolific, but he gives us something that we otherwise don't have,

That being the target man option. Some folks don't fancy it, personally I do.

Joe Jordan, to use one example was anything but prolific, but a fantastic striker nonetheless, creating endless chances for his partner and other team mates.

..........and exactly how many goals did Wyness score yesterday...................hold on till I count them........oh dear, none.

Stop the sniping guys. 

It's all been said already and I can only endorse most of the comments. Ken, I had thought we were more than capable of gaining seven points from these games which would have been beating Dons and Hearts at home and drawing with Hibs away whilst getting humped by Celtic, not unrealistic I thought.  Anyway yesterday was a decent performance all round and agree with all thats been said.  Duncan once again gave the ball away cheaply in the first half but looked better later in the game and the "invisible man" is a pretty apt description of Royboy at the moment.  He is a neat and tidy ball player, but for me there is no end product....baffling. Thought Black did Ok but seemed to run out of steam.  Wyness did not get the best service and Dargo ran like Forest Gump.  Still, we had the better of the game which could have gone either way really, but we deserved it more than a grim Hearts eleven.  Well done Richie Hart, stick with it, you deserve a chance to start.  Things seem to happen once he comes on, just a pity he never connected properly with one of the half chances that came his way, Gordon would struggle to keep them out.

Overall, enjoyable game and probably two points went a begging, however, chin up.

Good enough game but where are the goals gonna come from, again no support from the midfield coming forward , worrying that between the four of them they have scored less than 2 goals in 16 matches.

Good enough game but where are the goals gonna come from, again no support from the midfield coming forward , worrying that between the four of them they have scored less than 2 goals in 16 matches.

We created several chances yesterday, it's just the finishing we have to brush up on a bit. :003:

What a bunch of whimps!!!!

Berra, 21, is becoming used to the weather in the Highlands after a similar goalless encounter in March.

He said: "Inverness is always a difficult place to go.

"They are a hard-working side and no team in the country is going to get it easy.

"We kept a clean-sheet and that was positive after the things which have been going on and it is something to build on.

"I remember last season when it was 0-0 and the conditions were terrible - it was like playing in a hurricane.

"There was good weather in the first half on Saturday, perfect for football.

"But, in the second period, it started to get rainy and windy - I think they turned the wind machine on against us.

"However, we kept a clean-sheet and that is a positive."

I really wonder if some of you were at the same game as me  :008: :008:

If you don't have something to moan about after a game your not happy...  the 2nd half was the best performance I've seen from us all season, all that was missing was a goal.

First half was a bit scrappy for both sides and was desperate for one of the teams to take the iniative, still we had the better chances hitting the bar and McBain driving towards goal after a fine move only to see his effort smack back off the post.  Apart from that there wasn't much to take from the first 45.

2nd half we were excellent, defence was solid and midfield and attack went for it.  I'm not sure what the stats were but we must have had over 10 attempts at goal.  What a difference it is to have a manager that uses his subs effectively, Hart and Bayne were introduced at a perfect time and gave Hearts no chance of getting the upper hand.  I don't think Hearts are as bad as everyone is making out, bunch of diving ba5tards... yes, but they will beat the majority of teams they play this season now they seem to be sorting things behind the scene.

Brown  :003: :003: :003: :003:

Wasn't too busy, dealt with everything well and the save from Hartley was top drawer.  His kicking wasn't too bad but still seems to be the part of his game that needs some work.

Tokely  :003: :003: :003: :003:

Say what you like about him, he may not be the most talented player in the team but he knows his job and plays to his strengths.  I think he was one of the only players in defence that was managing to get the ball to Wyness' feet and with his heading ability it's almost like having another centre half when we need to defend a freekick or corner.

Dods :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

One of his best performance in an ICT shirt.  We'llhave a hard time replacing him when he leaves

Munro  :003: :003: :003: :003:

Solid as ever

Hastings :003: :003: :003:

Defended well but gave away the ball too easily on occasion

Wilson  :003: :003: :003: :003:

Player of the season is in the bag if his 2nd half of the season is a strong as his first, Fysass ended up being replaced by Wallace because he couldn't keep Barry under wraps... nuff said!

Black :003: :003: :003: :003:

Back to the Black that finished so well last season, chased everything, composed and out played Hartley.  He would have been my MOTM if he didn't get another stupid yellow card (could have quite easily have been a red)

Duncan  :003: :003: :003:

Kept any threat from midfield quiet but LEARN TO PASS!!!

McBain :003: :003: :003:

Great shot in the first half and unlucky it didn't go in off the post but for me he is not a winger, our best spell of the game was when Hart came on and McBain sat in the centre of the park. I'd like to see McBain and Black in the centre next week

Wyness :003: :003: :003:

Looks as though his spell on the bench has done him some good, missed a chance to win the game but linked midfield and attack well.  Given Charlie something to think about

Dargo :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

Deserved a goal for all the work he put in, superb performance

Subs

Hart :003: :003: :003:

He may not like the title but he is a super sub, great cross for Black's header (even though I thought it was Dargo at the time)

Bayne :003: :003: :003:

Don't think he deserved to be dropped think if given more time he could have got us a goal yesterday

McCalister  :003:

Didn't have time to do anything

Sorry there Mr Chibber but I was at the ICT v Hearts match what game where you at ?? because I must have missed Barry Wilson taking the left back to the cleaners.

All our attacks came from the right side  :017: