THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Alloa Athletic -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 7th March 2020 @ 3pm, Recreation Park, Alloa Follow us on Twitter   Follow us on Facebook Media Coverage   AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only]   LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC    VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW   Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

5 minutes ago, MuirtownJaggy said:

Another disappointing result, just when we should be pushing to consolidate 2nd. 👎

I should say ,cannot use the old and tired excuse of one of the smallest budgets in the league on this one. 

4 hours ago, CaleyD said:

Easy 0-3 Away Win

please please please keep your predictions private for our remaining games.

Looking back over the season, utd haven't stormed the league. Every time they have lost or dropped points we haven't taken advantage. And it always seems to be either alloa, Partick or Arbroath. What's wrong with the team blowing hot and cold? 

3 hours ago, CaleyD said:

I was going to put "Easy 0-5 Away Win" but was trying not to get people's hopes up.

🤔🤔🤔🤔 maybe more pessimism is needed next time.

Dundee Utd drop 14 points in last 7 games, if we had won against the bottom 3 when we met them would have been nearer the lead.. all teams around us dropped points today and that's disappointing that we dropped three.

We are crap there is no sugar coating it Robbo clearly cant change his tactics when things do not work but this is what happens when you dont strengthen the team in January to secure second place Toshney will probally be out for weeks now which leaves us Brad 🙄 I just get the feeling that so many players are away at end of season so dont give a S**T . One other thing has Shane Sutherland scored a goal for Elgin since signing his pre season contract ?  So many chances to  make up ground on DU not taken its really not good enough

Edited March 7, 20205 yr by Polo Chick

Judging by the report on Sportscene we were lucky to only lose 2-0. Their goalie had one good save from White at 1-0 and that seems to have been it. 

The only positive is that with the other four games being draws we have actually gained at least a point over all five teams below us over the midweek games and today’s games. 

I hope Toshney is not badly injured and that we regroup quickly for Tuesday night. 

The games coming thick and fast is showing how we lack depth in the squad. How close to suspensions are the likes of Rooney, Mckay, Carson and Trafford?

Edited March 7, 20205 yr by Robert

1 hour ago, Polo Chick said:

We are crap there is no sugar coating it Robbo clearly cant change his tactics when things do not work but this is what happens when you dont strengthen the team in January to secure second place Toshney will probally be out for weeks now which leaves us Brad 🙄 I just get the feeling that so many players are away at end of season so dont give a S**T . One other thing has Shane Sutherland scored a goal for Elgin since signing his pre season contract ?  So many chances to  make up ground on DU not taken its really not good enough

Absolutely spot on, letting both your first choice centre halves leave half way through the season is totally bizarre. 

Wonder what JR pearls of wisdom will be this time. Usually  comes out with how we need to put a run together to pull clear in 2nd and invariably we never do.

 

I’ll be the first to say it, we weren’t actually that bad. We lost Toshney after 3 minutes. Against a decent, well-organised side like Alloa you don’t want to concede the first goal or there’s likely no way back. A scrappy deflected effort after 12 minutes, and we had the old familiar story where we spent the rest of the game trying to break them down while watching out for the counter attacks. And in Trouten and Banks they had at least a couple of creative players that could take advantage.

We had any number of scrambled clearances in their box and if we had got one back it would probably have turned out differently. I lost count of the number of diagonal balls swung in by Rooney or Tremarco, in addition to Walsh or Doran or Storey, and 99% were headed clear by the Alloa defenders. As Yngwie said to me, it’s a pity we didn’t have a tall striker 😂
When we tried to play through the middle we were crowded out. And I don’t think Robbo can be criticised for not using the subs either. Back in the Wyness/Ritchie days we were a high flying team that would sweep aside teams like Alloa, but under Grant they’re back to being one of the best of the part-time teams, just as they were in the days of Terry Christie then Tom Hendrie, and look like they have a decent chance of staying up, so people will maybe have to get used to it.

 

Edited March 7, 20205 yr by TheMantis
Damn you, autocorrect

Daylight robbery. We should have been absolutely pumped rotten today. I can barely remember troubling Parry until a couple of minutes from the end when Walsh flashed a shot just over / onto the bar. The rest of the game Alloa took us to pieces aided by some lacklustre defending from us. 

There was no one with the entire mountain range of the Ochils to stop Alloa taking the lead with Connelly having far too much time and space to lash a shot beyond Ridgers. Apparently it took a deflection but it was hard to see for sure from the other end of the ground. Not too long later the second arrived. Harsh free kick against White for handball but again we looked shoddy defending the resultant cross which found Trouten at the back post and he tucked the ball in from close range. There didn't look to be any ICT player in close attendance and if there was there were still other Alloa players unmarked in an apparent breakdown of who was marking who. Our only real chance came when White tried to seize on a knock down but from a couple of yards out he couldn't connect with the ball and Parry gathered.

Second half Alloa initially seemed to sit in before quickly realising that a defensive pairing of Brad Mckay and Kevin McHattie can be easily be gotten at and set up utterly destroying us. Star of the show Scott Banks tested Ridgers when he broke free and curled a lovely shot towards goal but Ridgers leapt across to block it. Alloa then missed what looked like an easy chance to get that third goal. Alloa forced Ridgers into a save but, with the ball bobbling just in front of him, he couldn't hold on and the ball broke free to an onrushing Alloa player who rounded Ridgers but then hit the post from a yard or two out. Banks again showed real class as he did spin after spin to dance through the ICT midfield and defence and he was unlucky to see another good effort go over the bar and Alloa had a further chance when they rattled the crossbar. Our only real second half chance came when Walsh sent a half cross half shot onto the bar but we were well and truly gubbed today. A lot to think about in the coming weeks.

Edited March 9, 20205 yr by RiG

Was really impressed with Grant today, constanlty giving his team instructions and encouraging his players. His team play some good football aswell. 

Lets not forget that Alloa are fighting to stay in league. All the teams in the championship have limitations but are all capable of beating each other at some point. A win on Tuesday keeps the boys in pole position for second place. Every dog has it day 😁

I really fear that our squad is too threadbare, especially in defence, to be able to sustain the challenge for promotion. Even if we did make it to the play off with second bottom in the Premier we may be embarrassed. 

Hats off to alloa. They were great today. We just didn't have the craft to break them down. The ball was always slowly and inevitably moved wide.....we got many good crosses in but alloa defended stoutly. No problem with our effort today.......just no guile or invention. We could have played all day and not scored. Banks was outstanding. Well beaten....we move on. Oh and I agree with RIG.....for the second goal alloa were overloaded at the back post and no blue shirts to be seen

10 hours ago, Row S said:

I really fear that our squad is too threadbare, especially in defence, to be able to sustain the challenge for promotion. Even if we did make it to the play off with second bottom in the Premier we may be embarrassed. 

We did alright against top 6 Livingston. The team is capable of achieving promotion through the playoffs even with a makeshift central defence.

From Tuesday night we have 4 games in 11 days, if we come out of these games without dropping to many points and still in 2nd we should be within a hair width of confirming the team in the playoffs while also getting closer to last season's points tally.

 

 

oooft sore 1 that eh no matter onwards and upwards Alloa tbf have a decent manager and are a well organised side Robbo could do with taking notes 

When did people start perceiving that playing twice a week was some kind of negative?  Back in the early years when the fixture calendar was less congested we'd be playing friendlies against teams in order to get extra game time as it was beneficial...Robbo has also said himself recently that it's not a problem...so it's no excuse.  Also, dropping points against teams below us the way we have has been happening all season, even when we've not had as many fixtures, so 🤷‍♂️

Logic would suggest that injuries could decimate a small squad with a congested fixture list - with key players missing more games than they otherwise would have.   Less so with suspensions - if you are suspended for a number of games then you will miss that number of games, regardless of the time period.  Though suspensions could well exacerbate the problems faced by an injury hit squad.  Even the amount of travelling that ICT has to do - compared to a Central Belt club - works against us.

I don't remember the friendlies, but would guess that players would have been less likely to get injured or suspended, and that there wouldn't have been long-distance travel.

Under no circumstance should anyone post the prediction of an easy win against QOS on Tuesday.. ..especially with no hope fixtures against Partick (twice) and Arbroath on the horizon....not to mention the three points we will handover to Dundee United...

That's 9 conceded in the last 3 games, needs sorting and quickly.

16 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Under no circumstance should anyone post the prediction of an easy win against QOS on Tuesday.. ..especially with no hope fixtures against Partick (twice) and Arbroath on the horizon....not to mention the three points we will handover to Dundee United...

I've been doing the 3-0 win thing from day one of Caley Thistle....whether we were playing Strathspey or Celtic.

It'sa bit of fun.  No need for anyone to be getting their knickers in a twist over it 😂

What i didn't realise (scary bit) is that these were the first goals Alloa have scored at home since January,! And its their first win against us in 6 games.

Robertson obviously does not have a plan B, The continual slinging balls into 1/5 Jordan gets a very poor return, Especially if we are up an organised central defence ( other than Morton) .

The same team will be out on Tuesday and the tactics will be the same. 

Our defending for those goals

 

Criminal defending indeed. Think we need to get the ski goggles and ropes out

7 hours ago, CaleyD said:

When did people start perceiving that playing twice a week was some kind of negative?  Back in the early years when the fixture calendar was less congested we'd be playing friendlies against teams in order to get extra game time as it was beneficial...Robbo has also said himself recently that it's not a problem...so it's no excuse.  Also, dropping points against teams below us the way we have has been happening all season, even when we've not had as many fixtures, so 🤷‍♂️

It's not just this week though, there has been a lot of fixture congestion of late with mid-week games. These things can add up when you don't have the depth to rotate your squad. It's more of a psychological thing rather than physiological. 

Anyways it's not really an excuse, if we want to get promoted through the playoffs we should be beating the likes of Alloa. Hope Toshney is back soon, we will really struggle to win play offs with a McHattie and McKay partnership at the back.