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Just a C n P from P & B

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Thought ICT did very well up until CC decided to take off one of the best performers on the park. We lost that game as soon as Ian Black went off the pitch. He was bossing the Celtic midfield and while they might have had a lot of the ball, we were very well drilled and organised and they did very little with it. By taking Black off and putting McSwegan on we lost the shape that had served us so well for the previous portion of the game.

And then for some odd reason we take off another midfielder and stick another striker on. I know attack is the best form of defence but we needed cool heads there at the end. Not an inexperienced headless chicken who was no help to us whatsoever.

Personally I would have put Caff on to try and shore up the defence as Celtic were going to lay everything on us in the final few minutes but with having 3 strikers on it meant that our midfield was being over run by Celtic and they were getting much more space and time on the ball and they punished us severely.

Our goal was fantastic. Black was instrumental in setting the move up. A few neat turns and a slick pass found Wilson who cut the ball back for Bayne to finish. A really fantastic goal. No doubt the County fans still think he is shite though  :015: He had an excellent game, holding the ball up well and really roughing up Pressley.

Duncan, McBain and Black were playing really well in the midfield. Holding the ball up at times and using it well. Some desperate long ball crept in towards the end of the first half but on the whole I thought we were well worth our lead.

Thought we did well for the majority of the 2nd half as well but the subs changed the rhythm of the game and we all saw what happened. Charlie has said himself that McSwegan was not match fit - why did he bring him on? Ian Black was instrumental in getting us into the position we found ourselves in and I don't know why we took him off. Wilson might have been tiring but he was still finding the energy to chase everything down. Quite why he was getting abuse from the idiot next to me f'ck knows. He would certainly have been more use than MacAlliser as he has experience of these types of games.

Really hard one to take as I thought we did so well but that's the reason why Celtic are 80 points clear at the top of the league.

Bayne and Duncan were excellent for us today but Ian Black was MOTM for me. His passing and control were excellent and he was ghosting past players in the midfield. Yet again we showed we can play so much better when we pass the ball so why we have decided to go back to the awful long ball rubbish is beyond me.

Not overly impressed with most of the Celtic players but I thought Sno was excellent. There was one piece of skill in the 2nd half where we went past 4 ICT players in the same movement. He played really well. Oh and Nakamura is a diving shitebag.

Special mention to the fanny that is Dougie Macdonald. Your inconsistency was baffling and yet again you showed why you are one of the worst referees in Scotland. Well done  :003:

I was later told Black asked to come off because he was shattered. A shame because had he (and Wilson) stayed on I think we would have won today.

I actually thought we got what we deserved today, (perhaps with the exception of our back 4 who were individually and collectively outstanding) for the majority of the 90 minutes, the technical side of our play was very poor. We gave possesion away far too cheaply, there was no composure or class on the ball. Most of the time we resorted to aimless scuffs up the park that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Highland league.

Bazza did OK up front, but again, he's far more effective out on the right.

I agree with the bit about giving possession away at times but I think you could be a bit more positive about Barry... He did more than OK, he was feckin tremendous!!  He skinned Mark Wilson to set up Bayne in what can only be described as a class move - he showed both class and composure to do that.  Had we held out those extra few minutes then Charlie would have been hailed a tactical genius for playing him in behind Bayne as Strachan would've expected him to be out on the right wing.

Also, Blacky was fantastic in midfield and showed the class and composure that you said was non-existant.  He ripped Celtic's midfield a new ersehole on several occasions and looked extremely comfortable on the ball at all times.

I was watching the game at work and had to miss the 10 minutes or so during which McSwegan and McAllister came on - when I came back in with about 5 mins to go I was fecked if I could work out why we suddenly had these two on plus Bayne up front and a huge hole in midfield !!!

I'm not usually one to criticise a managers tactics, but those were astonishing when we were sitting 1-0 up with 10 mins to go. I could've understood it if we'd been 1-0 down.

I'm sick about the result and bemused by the substitutions. :007:

I was watching the game at work and had to miss the 10 minutes or so during which McSwegan and McAllister came on - when I came back in with about 5 mins to go I was fecked if I could work out why we suddenly had these two on plus Bayne up front and a huge hole in midfield !!!

I'm not usually one to criticise a managers tactics, but those were astonishing when we were sitting 1-0 up with 10 mins to go. I could've understood it if we'd been 1-0 down.

I'm sick about the result and bemused by the substitutions. :007:

When Black was taken off Barry dropped to wide left and McSwegan went up front - still 4-4-2

Wilson off - McAllister wide left still 4-4-2

I really don't think the substitutions can in any way be blamed for us conceding the goals

When Black was taken off Barry dropped to wide left and McSwegan went up front - still 4-4-2

I noticed that when Black had gone off Wilson was pushed up right alongside Graham Bayne.

When Black was taken off Barry dropped to wide left and McSwegan went up front - still 4-4-2

I noticed that when Black had gone off Wilson was pushed up right alongside Graham Bayne.

Perhaps we were at different games then?  :004:

To me it seemed Barry was up front pretty much all the game or maybe playing just in behind Bayne. 

He didn't play up front when Black came off though although he did lead one counter attack probably cos he was too knackered to come back !!  He was wide left as Rankin ended up in central midfield for his 3rd position of the day

I was watching the game at work and had to miss the 10 minutes or so during which McSwegan and McAllister came on - when I came back in with about 5 mins to go I was fecked if I could work out why we suddenly had these two on plus Bayne up front and a huge hole in midfield !!!

I'm not usually one to criticise a managers tactics, but those were astonishing when we were sitting 1-0 up with 10 mins to go. I could've understood it if we'd been 1-0 down.

I'm sick about the result and bemused by the substitutions. :007:

When Black was taken off Barry dropped to wide left and McSwegan went up front - still 4-4-2

Wilson off - McAllister wide left still 4-4-2

I really don't think the substitutions can in any way be blamed for us conceding the goals

Why not? Barry is not a defensive midfielder, neither is Rory, these players were in no way going to help the defensive situation were they, Caff was the obvious choice, Black could have lasted another 10 minutes if he was fit.

Would ICT run out of puff if Brew was in charge?

Here's hoping that Black was indeed just too shattered to carry on.  He had a great game.  I also thought Wilson and Bayne were tremendous.  When Barry did come off he had a huge ice pack round his calf, which means what?  A strain rather than cramp, I suppose.  It's just a shame these guys aren't machines who can carry on at the same pace throughout.  Bayne was too knackered to stand up when he went sprinting upfield just before the Celtic winner.  He could have done with some support then - what happened to trying to keep the ball in the Celtic half, especially with our record of inviting trouble in the dying minutes of every game?

Subs-wise, I thought Ritchie Hart played well, although he was guilty of giving the ball away a couple of times (as was Hastings).  But if Caff had come on instead of Rory, would that have saved us?  Perhaps, since Rory gave the free kick away which led to Miller's goal!  But both Celtic goals came from set-pieces, and so we had time to pick up our men.  Unfortunately we were outjumped by Pressley, and the passing for Miller's goal was too quick.  That was the only bit of quality from Celtic, and it undid us. 

"Would ICT run out of puff if Brew was in charge?"

Question of the season  - and the answer in No.

I make it six points lost in the last 5 mins of various games, and yesterdays semi-final place.

We worked a lot harder than Celtic, and deservedly should have been more tired, but that is a reason rather than an excuse.

Totally gutted. 

I thought Bayne, Wilson, Duncan, Black were all outstanding, and everyone else played pretty well too. For me, the subs didn't help but I'm not sure bringing anyone else on would have made much difference. Celtic looked sharp at the beginning but less so as the game wore on and I don't think their subs made much difference either. That's part of what made it so hard to take - with 10 minutes left Celtic looked like they might be losing belief, errors crept in, some duff cross/shots, letting the ball slip out of play etc. I started to think it might be our day. In the end, I guess what the Celtic fans sung was (sadly) true - "that's why [they're] champions."

What a sickener.

I thought we were set up superbly yesterday, Wilson almost had a free role beside Bayne and we countered whenever we got the chance. 

Fraser :003: :003: :003: :003:

Made an excellent save from Miller at the start of the game and collected almost everything that came into the box.  What a difference it was having a keeper that can kick the ball.  Thought he could have got Miller's shot but the replays show he was unlucky.

Tokely :003: :003: :003: :003:

Was excellent for the majority of the game was given a hard time when McGeady came on the pitch though.  Think he has had a hard time this season but is looking back to his best (shame it's taken the whole season)

Hastings  :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

Top, top performance.  I don't think there have been many left backs better than him all season, he sent back anything that came his way and worked his *** off.

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

Superb also (apart from his "challenge" on McGeady) made a couple of great tackles, was a machine!

Munro :003: :003: :003: :003:

Solid performance but never really looked comfortable when he had the ball at his feet and wasted possession on a couple of occasions.

Duncan  :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

Has he finally learnt how to pass?? Had a cracking performance in the centre, cleaned up everything in midfield and used possession well, there was one pass in particular near the start of the game, where he stunned the ball and it hovered 30 yrds straight to the feet of McBain.  Beckham would have been proud of it.

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

It's a toss up between Black and Bayne for MOTM IMO.  If he can cut out the stupid tackles he could be a great player for ICT, so much raw talent and his confidence is evident whenever he gets the ball.  I dont think he would have looked uncomfortable in any team with that performance yesterday, he was everywhere on the pitch but looked shafted when he was brougt off.

McBain :003: :003: :003:

Don't think he was playing in his best position but worked as hard as ever.  Shame he had to go off at half time

Rankin :003: :003: :003:

Not his best performance, lost the ball too easily at times but started the move for the goal.  Wish he had tested Boruc more over the 90 mins.

Wilson  :003: :003: :003: :003:

Wish could turn back time 5 years and bottle Bazza, he showed flashes of brilliance and was excellent in setting up Bayne's goal but looked absolutely shattered with half an hour still on the clock.

Bayne :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

Immense... says it all really

Subs

Hart :003: :003: :003:

Wish he had got more crosses into the box but would have been hard playing his first game since coming back from injury in that situation

McSwegan :003:

Let the oppertunity pass him by

MacAllister  :003:

Did nothing

More than deserved at least a reply... **** happens :019:

We were sooperbly set up before somebody fecked it all up.

Love the Smileys and agree - cept Rankin was forced to play on the rite fer the first 45.

Great performance summary Harry Chibber. Spot on assessment, IMHO - except I might have given Barry  :003: :003: :003: :003: :003:

Rankin :003: :003: :003:

Not his best performance, lost the ball too easily at times but started the move for the goal.  Wish he had tested Boruc more over the 90 mins.

Was it not Tokely?  Tokely to Black to Wilson to Bayne?

Was it not Tokely?  Tokely to Black to Wilson to Bayne?

Yup. Maybe Rankin played it to Rosscoe?

Rankin cut in from the right and played it to Black if I remember correctly, Black to Wilson, Wilson to Bayne and Bayne to Gooooaaaallll :024:

From BBC site and tm4tj memory:-

But Celtic's new line-up fell behind following a superb move started by Ross Tokely.

Black swept the ball wide to Wilson, who ghosted past Mark Wilson and sent in a low cross that was steered home by Bayne from six yards.

Toklers slid the ball forward from the corner of his box to Black in the inside right position on halfway, he sold the defender a dummy big style, then fed Wilson on the left, he cut inside then turned the defender inside out before delivering a low cross into the box where Bayne met the ball perfectly from six yards to complete the move.