THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Ross County -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 18th May @ 12:00PM, Global Energy Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound LIVE commentary [UK Only] Moray Firth Radio LIVE commentary [UK Only]   TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life   VIDEO SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS

 

Funny how County fans were celebrating news of Saints' goals - which pushed County down a league place and cost them about £80,000 in league prize money!

St Johnstone and Dundee United games are the games we seemed to be losing it a bit. Bottled the big occasions but still a special season. County need to watch out for second season syndrome now!

It is indeed, but we can't let it overshadow a first top six place. Europe could have meant two games yes, but 4th is a bigger achievement and done by some fantastic performances. Terry wouldn't want us to mourn I'm sure. 3rd next season.

For our club 4th is a good finish in any season but following our position at the split to only finish a point above County and to have so many chances to secure a European slot it is mighty disappointing.

Good luck to St.Johnstone though in Europe. Top half looks pretty pleasing from a Northern perspective.

Out of curiosity what is the prize money for the various places i.e. how much money did today's results cost us?

Not sure to make of Terry's interview. For once I wish he was angrier, its almost as if he was already resigned to our fate and didn't really believe we could it.

....and what was the story with Tudor-Jones omission today - is he offski?

Probably, but his omission was due to injury, a knock in training.

Where to from now? Reguero, Shinnie, Hogg away. Mass exodus or nucleus kept?

Did Adams really say "the beach balls are burst today" on the radio???

Well, how disappoining was that?  We could have been out there all day and not scored. Someone on here suggested Fraser's injury would be good for us.  Well, County could have played without a keeper at all for all the work Gallacher had to do. 

 

No midfield at all.  Easy to say we missed Draper, Tudor-Jones, Foran etc but we surely could have been more competitive than we were, even without the stars.

 

A great pity that a really good season has been marred by poor performances at crucial times, ie League Cup semi, and both last week and this week. Have we got the bottle for it when the chips are down? 

 

Oh well, I'll just go off and take solice in a wee dram.

 

No doubt in a few weeks time when next season is just around the corner the pain of the last two weeks will have eased and I'll become optimistic once more.

Pity every time we are on TV we seem to play terrible okay today we have lost an entire midfield due to suspension and injury, but you would still expect better that what we were in the 1st half we just could not pass a ball and we were second to every ball, slightly better performance in 2nd half.

But missing out in Europe does not just come down to this game we have only won 1 game out of 5 since the split so there tells a story an by all accounts we should have wrapped it up last week. Unfortunately living in Spain I do not see many games however what I see is usually rubbish which we obviously have not been all season I think the only good game I saw was The 4-1 win at Dundee and the Cup game against County.

However if you had offered me 4th place at the start of the season I would have taken it - so well done to the team

 

Hopefully we can find good replacements for Shinnie and Reguero with another experieced forward and midfielder we could do okay next season

Gutted

Just wasn't us the day. Long balls going out of play. Cant make a good pass to save ourselfs. Missed 4 key players but surely we should have cover for something like this happening. Pepper just seemed lost in the squad. Taylor and Danny did there best in midfield but i think they can stick in defence. Even looking at the bench the day it wasn't strong.

Top six finish, 4th place, Only lost once to the gypos, Great games 4-4 Dundee United, 4-3 Motherwell, 3-3 gypos

 

Bring on season 2013/14

Edited May 19, 201312 yr by WYNESS101

It's all very well putting a positive spin on our 'great season', but truth be told we should have been miles clear of St Johnstone by this stage. Looking back at all the games we dominated, all the sitters we missed, all the sloppy late goals we've conceded. We will never have a better chance to qualify for Europe, it was there on a plate for us and we totally blew it, allowing a much weaker team to trundle over the line ahead of us.

The fact of the matter is, we were beaten by the better team.  County looked far sharper, far more creative and far more dangerous going forward.  We only had one good chance and even then we wouldn't have deserved to win or even draw.  The two defenders in midfield system didn't work and playing Pepper for the first time in months over Ross was bizarre and also didn't work.  County were better all over the park and the desperate hoof balls towards McKay was dead easy for Boyd to deal with.  Andrew Shinnie wasn't at his best while the aforementioned McKay wasn't in the game.  I've said it before and I'll say it again; Doran is not and never will be a left sided player.  Never.  

 

On our form in 2013 and on today's performance we've been nowhere near as good as we should have been.  To be second for so long and then third, before failing Europe altogether is very galling indeed, but on the whole we have no-one to blame but ourselves.

 

In saying that, the ending with Butcher was class and the fans chanting made it sound like we made it.  Sadly though, we really should have done better.  Life goes on.

Edited May 19, 201312 yr by Renegade

amazing season, best we've ever had, can't complain about anything, bring on next season

Superb season or not for ICT I am absolutely gutted at missing out on Europe. We can have no complaints from today (aside from the glebe who told every one that Motherwell had scored) as County absolutely dominated us in the middle of the pitch both when they had the ball and when we got it. Our players were swamped by blue shirts and the intensity of the pressing from County was incredible. They were clearly up for it. Taylor and Devine in the middle just didn't work and Pepper was being completely torn apart on the County left before he went off in the first half for Nick Ross. Pepper later appeared on crutches but I'm not sure what's happened to him.

 

As you might expect it was a incredibly tight game with the sides separated by a wonder strike by Hainault who got a loose ball ever so sweetly and lashed it back across goal and into the roof of the net. County probably had the better of the first half with ICT seldom threatening. Meekings, I think, turned a cross beyond the post but that seemed to be as close as I can remember us coming to scoring.

 

We seemed a bit more up for it in the second half and had a fair bit of early pressure. McKay nearly scored an audacious equaliser when he turned a wayward Raven effort back towards goal but it spun wide of the post and Raven sent in a good cross that just eluded Andrew Shinnie but in truth we never really worked Gallacher to the extent we could justifiably claim we deserved a goal. From our end of the ground I couldn't see just how close County came to getting another goal but Reguero appeared to pull off a fine save with one hand to deny what looked a certain goal and Vigurs cracked a wicked free kick off the post later in the game.

 

All in all a pretty disastrous day. If you had offered me all of what ICT have achieved this season back in July / August I would obviously have taken it with both hands but it's still a huge wrench to miss out on Europe on the last day of the league campaign especially losing to your Derby rivals in the process. I'm not sure if we'll ever get as good a chance to challenge for Europe again any time soon as you would have to imagine the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hibs etc can't be as hopeless as they have been this season but we'll see.

 

Not really sure what to do with myself on a Saturday (or Sunday as the case may be) afternoon now...

Edited May 19, 201312 yr by RiG

 

Pepper later appeared on crutches but I'm not sure what's happened to him.

 

Terry might know something about that...

Not playing Ross was strange but didnt see him do much when he came on. Ross and Jones? Might just have tilted the balance but we cant have multiple first team midfielders on standby. I felt a draw was realistic with Devine and Taylor in midfield but not much more. Not sure what else we could have done.

Far too many passengers on that pitch today. Again....ICT bottle it on the big stage, and get exactly what they deserved...ie...NOTHING!

What utter rubbish. I could count at least four occasions when ICT players were haranguing their colleagues because passes or shots didn'y come off. There might have been a lack of quality in the important parts of the team or in crucial arteas of the pitch but there was no ICT player who either "bottled it" or didn't care and was a "passenger". Cheap post.

 

 

Pepper later appeared on crutches but I'm not sure what's happened to him.

 

Terry might know something about that...

 

broke his toe

....and what was the story with Tudor-Jones omission today - is he offski?

injured in training

Injured by Draper by all accounts.

"Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Terry Butcher said missing out on Europe may be a blessing in disguise"

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22589505

 

 

I think it is fair to say that our pursuit of European glory was more Bonnie Tyler than Bucks Fizz.

I thought we improved in the second half but overall County probably deserved the win. Doran put in a great shift as did Raven. Dissapointed but still happy with the season in general. We fell short at the last hurdle but thank you Terry, the rest of the management team and all the players for our best ever season! Roll on the next one!!!

I must say thank you to County for allowing the Highland Marchers on to the pitch. We were in the Jail End pre match. Surreal experience but great banter. Thanks to the County fans who made us welcome and the great reception we got from the ICT fans.

I cannot wait for the next Highland Derby. The greatest derby in Scotland!