THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Hearts -V- ICT PREVIEW 18th August @ 3:00pm (Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh) Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO Moray Firth Radio Live Commentary [UK Only] BBC "Open All Mics" Live discussion and Goal flashes [UK Only] BBC "Live Commentary" (see links on page) [UK only] TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life VIDEO BBC Match Highlights (online) - [UK only] BBC Sportscene TV programme [UK only] ICT Official Website Highlights [Worldwide - Registration Reqd (free)] TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW

Fantastic end to the game, with mucho jubilation on the pitch and in our stand.

But even before Pepper popped up at the back post, the players had already earned a tremendous ovation for their 2nd half performance. Great spirit and neat passing football.

At half time we were obviously pretty despondent, 2-0 down and Foran off, so I jokingly said to the guys "Don't worry, we never lose when we're on Alba......."

Can anyone claify what the feck the penalty was for..........................in fact what the feck was both penalty's for as the Jambo's one looked soft as well............or was that an evening up of the scores....take the result though.

I thought we played very well and were well deserving of a point. We were caught out with our defenders getting sucked in for their first goal and Novikovas had an easy task to finish it off. The game was relatively even, Hearts probably had a better time in midfield and had more of the ball and more pressure but we looked relatively OK. Utterly bizarre penalty decision, it's rare that you see a spot-kick given that no-one in the stadium appealede for. From what I saw of it, Richie Foran's red card was a stupid swipe, very unprofessional from him. He's our captain and while you can understand being frustrated at the penalty he needs to lead the team and didn't do it.

The second half was a great effort though. Draper really impressed me in the middle, he got about, won the ball and used it intelligently. It was a big performance from him in the second half considering his main partner wasn't there. Andy Shinnie is by far our best player on the ball, he uses it so well and plays clever passes all the time. Very impressive start to the season from him. His brother was also impressive, especially when breaking forward, he was a real threat attacking down the left and helped us with both goals. I was more impressed with Meekings than Raven, I'd prefer Meekings to be first choice at right back. King and Warren were also relatively solid, Warren in particular won every header he went for with King being a bit more mobile.

The main thing that impressed me about the performance was the guts and determination. Tynecastle is a difficult palce to go and with ten men we clearly decided to fight it out. The number of blocked shots from our defenders and midfielders was remarkable and the pressure we put on Hearts when they were in possession was admirable. The work-rate from every player was commendable as well. We've heard a lot said about how we've lost the 'heart' of the club by releasing long serving players, I don't think you could've asked for any more heart or determination than we got today. The togetherness at the end when we scored and at the final whistle was tangible. Very encouraging. We have a tough run of games coming up and we need to capture that feeling if we are going to continue in this vein.

The second goal was brilliant, the ball from Shane the work from shinnie and an easy finish from pepper, class goal

Who got the captain's armband for the second half?

Dunno but my money would be on Esson.

A real game of two halves. The ref was a total clown, throwing cards about at random. But great spirit from Inverness in the second half to keep the pressure on with ten men. I think our penalty was just to make up for the one he gave in the first half but no mistaking the second goal. Some good stuff to build on - and a much more streetwise performance. If only our captain could keep himself in check.

Esson :lol: Wasn't kept particularly busy for a side with 10 men. Only mistake was to guess the wrong way at the penalty!

Raven :lol: OK but I preferred Meekings when he came on

King :lol: :lol: Pretty impressed with his defending. Harshly penalised for the penalty.

Warren :lol: :lol: Commanding presence. Decides he's going to win the ball and then wins it. My MotM.

G Shinnie :lol: Excellent going foward, a real threat with runs and crosses. But beaten too easily in defence a few times, costing him a smiley.

Foran :lol: Played well enough in his first game of the season, until he saw red.

Draper :lol: :lol: Close runner up for MotM. Solid tackles, good driving forward, tidy passing. Looks like he's going to be a big player for us on this showing.

Sutherland :lol: Still not a winger! A frustrating player, who blazes every shooting opportunity high and wide. Did much better defensively than I've seen before.

Doran :lol: Bit out of sorts, not really in the game enough.

A Shinnie :lol: :lol: Class. Just needed to find the killer final ball (but see Mackay below)

Mackay :lol: Sorry, but the more I see, the more convinced I am that he's not good enough for the this level. Please prove me wrong because we don't have many options up front. Tries hard enough, but there was a major lack of intelligent and incisive runs to have any chance of getting the right ball fed through.

Subs. 3 very successful changes from Butcher.

Ross - very good in the centre, made an impact. MUST start soon, surely.

Meekings - surprisingly useful going forward.

Pepper - an exciting prospect who brought a bit of pace to our attack and obviously ran into in the right place to slam it home. Yes!

Edited August 18, 201212 yr by Yngwie

butchers subs have been excellent so far this season,

meekings and nick at midden taken on at the perfect time and almost got us a win

nick against killie very nearly decided the game

then today all three played their part with pepper sealing the draw.

i think terrys subs have been the difference between us being on three points and being on none. :clapping: :clapping: 5/5 for terry.

pepper looks a real live wire, anyone else notice he won the original header that started the move how the feck?

keeping shane on was good to he played his part in the goal with a marvelous ball the shinnie, but the skill and composure from shinnie was stunning. despite many saying he shouldnt be playing as a winger he kept at it and butcher kept faith in him (although he done it from a central position )

not going to say anything about the ref because i think it should be all about the the 15 men who orcustrated this result, terry, mo, the ten who started the first half and the 3 subs

Edited August 18, 201212 yr by lukemackay

By the way, Foran's was never a sending off. I'm not his greatest fan but it was a mis-timed tackle which merited a booking only. The ref had a shocker today for both teams and was one of the worst refereeing performances I have seen for a while.

Great fighting performance today with more positives than this time last year.

reckon the ref lost control of the game for two periods (one per half) For their pen, there were two players offside for the ball in, and king is adjuged to have held sutton back. He's miles off him. Foran's red was right. He missed the guy with his leading foot but caught him with the other, it was a naughty wee challenge and was never going to get less than a yellow. But all of that pales by comparison to the fight and spirit shown by thi side. Make no mistake, this is a game we would have lost last year. Brilliant.

funny watching the hearts penalty and sutton's reaction as he thinks he's about to be booked for a foul, still don't know what madden thinks he's seen to award a pen

Great result, 2 nil down with 10 men, the team spirit must be strong just now. I wonder what the tactics will be for Celtic.

Here is the votes of the Gran Canaria jury

Feckin great afternoon at Mulligans - I fair feckin confused the bar when I yelled out when the Conor Pepper goal was shown on the Sky Sports screen - possibly aided by the happy hour offer of two fer one voddies of which I jumped in fer a couple when the Foran sending off was announced on top of the 2-0 scoreline at half time. It was so nice to score that late equaliser that is usually left to us to concede.

From my chat on the phone with Terry last nite and looking at the match comments I still feel that the only changes that I would make would be Meekings for Raven and Ross for Sutherland but I will be patient and will not push the narcissists button too much. In some ways - to be fair - one of my criticisms of Butcher last season was his regular chopping and changing and you cant say that of him this season.

The pairing of King and Warren can only get better the more that they get to know each other and wouldnt a clean sheet help ?

Doran is really in the frustrating Hayes mode of 1:5 performances and he had better start improving or young Pepper will be on his case. The only surprise to me is that the boy Oswell hasnt had more play time.

So what were the tactics and the line up yesterday - I take it that it was a 4-2-2-1-1 with Andy Shinnie playing slightly deeper - but I also take it that we must have changed the system with the Foran sending off - was that why Doran was hooked - who went central midfield and why was Raven hooked so early again ?

L

Gutted i couldnt make the game, seemed like an absolute thriller, caught the best of it on Alba however. Both pens were a joke and the red card was debatable, saw an identical challenge in the football league show which merited a yellow.

The unity in this team is already clearly evident, this kind of scenario last season would have seen us on the end of a hiding. But once we got ourselves back in it i always had a feeling we would get an equalizer as long as we kept Hearts out and sure enough we did, Billy's not everyone's favourite but that little dink ball he played for Shinnie in injury time was class.

Im glad it was Pepper that got a goal, he looked promising in pre season and has proven that alongside Ross we have some really good impact players, though i think guys like that need to start more but as Terry said this is a sign that we will be hard to beat this season, i totally agree. Thought the defence looked excellent, especially Warren, he is so far proving to be the latest gem.

Edited August 19, 201212 yr by ajsict92

Penalty was for King holding Sutton. If he was holding then it's a pen by the rules - but where is the consistency? If a pen was given every time a defender held a player there would 20 pens every game.

Brilliant effort to come back with 10 men from 2 goals down. I expect there are some choice words on the Hearts forum just now!

I'd agree with you there however the league came out before the start of the season and said they were going to clamp down on it, the ref's official explanation was that he had seen a pull and that is why he gave it however the players and TB were so annoyed with it as part of the clamp down to cut down on the number of penalties possibly given the refs were instructed to give a warning or two before awarding any and yesterday that didn't happen.

It'll be interesting to see of they is any consistency in this regard in any other games or from this ref in the future.

Well, you are right about the number of jersey pulls in the penalty box.

In the North Americam MLS this has become some kind of disease--I am referring to the pulling of opposing players' jerseys in the box.

Personally I think it is stifling innovative play and take a dim view of it. Strangely the refs over here rarely seem to either see it or award a penalty for it if they do.

Still can't stop smiling. Tynecastle is probably my favourite away venue and what our team did yesterday was amazing. This team has loads of guts and has the "togetherness" factor. Not a large support travelled but those that did supported their socks off and theplayers obviously appreciated it.The celebrations at the end reminded me of our 1st division season with terry leading from the pitch.The players worked so hard and got a deserved point which actually felt like a win.

The ref had a 'mare day and actually lost control for periods. Both pens were not pens but I think ours was to even things up tbh. From our seats Forans challenge didn't look like a red but on seeing the tv footage then I think it was deserved. Unless I missed it I don't remember him being booked earlier as another poster mentioned? He seemed really fired up yesterday before the sending off. He had thrown the ball away twice and was absolutely screaming at the ref when hearts got their pen. No one could accuse him of not caring about our team IMO and actually it seemed he was too fired up having been out for the previous two games. He made a mistake so not a hanging offence for me.

Quite happy with our progress so far. Bring on Celtic.

Edited August 19, 201212 yr by old caley girl

Just about to write the match report.

That felt like a win. Great performance and another great day out.

Just about to write the match report.

That felt like a win. Great performance and another great day out.

I actually thought you were going to explode when pepper scored lol

There's definately a 'togetherness' in the team which was lacking last year. Our players were the hungrier of the two teams. Many thanks also to the person who organised the Gorgie Lounge too.

Just about to write the match report.

That felt like a win. Great performance and another great day out.

I actually thought you were going to explode when pepper scored lol

That's why I still have a headache.

Just about to write the match report.

That felt like a win. Great performance and another great day out.

I actually thought you were going to explode when pepper scored lol

That's why I still have a headache.

Aye thats it!

Edited August 19, 201212 yr by old caley girl