Can't see much discussion about the actually game, maybe to do with having to watch it via a streaming services (which seemed to have it's hiccups)

I wonder how many actually used the streaming service?

Anyway on reflection getting a draw yesterday seems an OK result given that we put out every fit player we had on the pitch or bench and were still 2 short

Comparing our starting 11 to last year this time, and only Ridgers and Keatings are the same, although Todorov and MacGregor came on as subs, that really is an incredible change, and given that our entire starting back line from last season are even at the club, it's quite alot to cope with. Arguably our starting midfield if fit would certainly include a combo of Carson, Welsh, Vincent and Doran. Some might say that professional footballers should be able to gel quickly, so it doesn't matter who is put out, but the squad has only really been together since what, mid-Sept at the earliest.

From the stats page on BBC Sport it looks to have been a very even game, with roughly equal possession and shots, and corners

Good to see Toddy get on the scoresheet again, we need him to keep it going, just to stay in touch with the top half of the table.

Any one with a streaming view got any comments on how the new guys like Duffy, Deas, Devine and Allardice played (and Kennedy who got 15mins)?

Any ideas on who out of our injured pack might come back soon?

Hearts away in two weeks time already looks a tough one, this was a match I had hoped to get in to watch, back in the heady days of August when I optimistically booked flights up.

1 hour ago, Eagle4Caley said:

Can't see much discussion about the actually game, maybe to do with having to watch it via a streaming services (which seemed to have it's hiccups)

I wonder how many actually used the streaming service?

Anyway on reflection getting a draw yesterday seems an OK result given that we put out every fit player we had on the pitch or bench and were still 2 short

Comparing our starting 11 to last year this time, and only Ridgers and Keatings are the same, although Todorov and MacGregor came on as subs, that really is an incredible change, and given that our entire starting back line from last season are even at the club, it's quite alot to cope with. Arguably our starting midfield if fit would certainly include a combo of Carson, Welsh, Vincent and Doran. Some might say that professional footballers should be able to gel quickly, so it doesn't matter who is put out, but the squad has only really been together since what, mid-Sept at the earliest.

From the stats page on BBC Sport it looks to have been a very even game, with roughly equal possession and shots, and corners

Good to see Toddy get on the scoresheet again, we need him to keep it going, just to stay in touch with the top half of the table.

Any one with a streaming view got any comments on how the new guys like Duffy, Deas, Devine and Allardice played (and Kennedy who got 15mins)?

Any ideas on who out of our injured pack might come back soon?

Hearts away in two weeks time already looks a tough one, this was a match I had hoped to get in to watch, back in the heady days of August when I optimistically booked flights up.

Given the injury situation with our wafer thin squad, I think it is too early to start to despair.

Winning the league is probably beyond us, it probably was for everyone except Hearts even before the season began, but there is all to play for as far as play off places are concerned and we won't know how we stand in that race until we have those currently on the treatment table back on the pitch.

Given the late equaliser, I am choosing to view yesterday as a point gained rather than two points lost.

A draw was a fair result. Ayr started well but we had the best of a pretty even first half and had a few decent chances. On a different day, Todorov and Harper could / should have scored. Toddy also had one that came off the bar onto the goal line which may or may not have crossed the line  

i didn’t get a good view of the Ayr goal and would want to see it again before commenting on whether it was a soft goal to lose. Our equaliser came from a cross from the right by Fyffe that Toddy converted.

We had a couple of close shaves with at least one cleared off the line, and the Ayr keeper had a couple of decent stops so all in all a fair outcome. 

Of the new players, I thought Allardice was the pick. He seemed to be trying to hold our reshaped midfield together.

Duffy had a quiet game, whilst once they settled into the formation, I thought Devine and Deas did fine. Deas in particular could become the mainstay of our defence.

I didn’t see much from Kennedy after he came on but he has scarcely met his team mates so too early to judge.

Of the rest, Ridgers was fine with one double save coming to mind. I understand Mckay has been playing whilst not fully fit, so credit to him and that is probably why he was subbed. Harper got forward a bit but got a nose bleed when through on the keeper.

MacGregor struggled to assert himself whilst Keatings was very quiet. With him being subbed, I’m not sure if he is fully fit either. MacKay was happy to shoot from distance whilst Todorov was busy and could / should have scored more. 

I think we changed formation to a back 4 when Fyffe replaced Mckay and he provided the assist for the goal. From what I could tell he was playing on the right of midfield with Duffy reverting to right back.

If those we are missing, Carson is probably needed most to add steel to our midfield. We also lacked pace yesterday, which Kennedy may give us, or Storey when fit playing wide.

With 8 out, whilst 1 point from 6 is disappointing, we should improve as players return, but we really do need to get a result next week or we will be playing catch up. Interesting to see how Raith Rovers have started, and they are scoring freely so this early it looks like we will be battling Dundee, Ayr, Dunfermline and Raith for a play off place. Hopefully we don’t get sucked into a fight at the wrong end of the table. 

Edited October 25, 20205 yr by Robert

I think a point in the current circumstances was a good one yesterday. The average age of our team that finished the game was 21 and a half. Mark Ridgers was our oldest player at 30. I've no idea but that may be the youngest team to have played a league game for ICT. The guys should get enormous credit for coming back and getting a point against a good and experienced Ayr team.  

The players we had out there did pretty well under the circumstances against a decent side. Without Carson, Vincent and Welsh the midfield had a bit of a soft centre but we still restricted Ayr to a few real chances. Downsides are that our finishing was really poor, and we conceded that goal too easily without putting in a proper challenge from the point we played a poor ball into their box.
 

We know we can be so much better than that, which gives hope for moving up the table by Xmas.

 

Well worth a point. We were better side first 45 a d should have been two up at the break. Disappointing goal to lose. On the attack, aimless ball forward intercepted and poor tracking back led to it opening up for Ayr to stroke the ball home. Equally for our goal great cross from Fyffe and excellent finish from Toddy. Ridgers saved the day in time added on with a tremendous one handed save.

Given our circumstances I'm not disappointed yet.

You cannae win anything with kids..but just watch these boys go.

Danial Mackay was again very dangerous creating chances, moving well and making himself available . Our most dangerous player by a long way.

Harper starting to look more comfortable and dangerous going forward. Made a bad decision to shoot when mackay was free 

Macgregor was a little ineffective for me today but the 343 ? formation probably made it a little hard for him. 

Ryan Fyffe again came on and done very well. Loved his cross for the winner, but loved even more his attitude after the goal which seemed much more focussed on winning the game rather than celebrating a draw. 

We looked dangerous without Storey and Sutherland and with an injured Todorov leading the line and Keatings everywhere coaxing it.

This will be a brilliant team as these guys grow. 

 

Happy clapping supporters club.

 

 

Got to be happy with a draw at such as early stage of the season. With so many players out as well the rest of the squad have done well. Ayr are going to be up there at the end of the season and we’ve done well to ensure they aren’t too far infront.

I enjoyed those highlights, some good action at both ends, two good saves from Ridgers, and a couple of off-the-line clearances. Toddy's effort in the first half was sooo close to being in.

Have to say seeing the ground bathed in sunshine, with blue sky overhead and the sea behind, has certainly made me pine for the time I can come up again.

Good to see Toddy getting another goal and a great strike from Daniel Mackay just before half time.  The goals will come as we play more and as others have said a good effort from a young team!

34 minutes ago, IBM said:

Good to see Toddy getting another goal and a great strike from Daniel Mackay just before half time.  The goals will come as we play more and as others have said a good effort from a young team!

Official membership of the happy clappers fan club IBM.👍

Of the new players I’ve probably been most impressed by Scott Allardice, considering he’s already got a handful of clubs and loans by the age of  22 which never usually augurs well (see Jordan White).
I think Duffy and Deas have had reasonably decent starts and could easily be regular starters given what else we have (Toshney injury prone and McHattie a bit lightweight). I was never a big Devine fan (was anybody?) but I have a warm fuzzy feeling that this is the Second Coming 😂 and once in the team he could be hard to shift. To be fair even Brad wasn’t too bad yesterday and the three at the back did a reasonable job.
Apart from Allardice I thought we were pretty light in midfield without Welsh and getting Doran/Carson back would be massive.
Keatings is a decent finisher but is never going to lead the line so quite interested to see if Shane can step up. I think we’ve got the makings of a side that doesn’t leak goals but what’s going to stop us going up is the same problem as the last 3 years, a 20 goals striker.

Allardice has impressed me also. Given he's just on a one year deal I'd be inclined to extend that already and, controversially, punt Sean Welsh if he continues to miss so many games with injury. He played a little over 10% of the league campaign last season and given we have no money by all accounts can we afford to have an admittedly very good player sitting in the stands every week? Maybe Allardice could be his replacement...

Having watched the highlights that ball appears to have crossed the line fully.

The stream was so bad that it makes passing judgement a bit difficult but.

I thought we looked a bit disjointed, which is to be expected given the circumstances.  There were positives to take from the game, we did create some chances and played some alright stuff at points.  I thougth Allardice played well in the middle, he seems quite a composed player who can use the ball well and is positionally good in the middle of the pitch, which is important for us.  Daniel Mackay was dangerous and seems like he could fit in at this level.  Roddy MacGregor wasn't quite as good as he was against Hearts but he is still a positive contributor.,  Cameron Harper had a decent game I thought, espeically going forward and played some good crosses.  I thought Deas and Devine individually played well enough, as did Duffy.  Ridgers had some excelelnt saves as well, really good performance from him.

What wasn't so good - I thought some of the defensive organisation was poor, we got caught out a few times and looked a bit slapdash.  Given the circumstances (long lay off and then injury disruption causing an unfamiliar formation) that probably isn't surprising but it needs to improve.  Also, Brad Mckay was very poor for their goal, the Ayr player ran past him, his attempt at a tackle was exceptionally poor.  I don't want to be unkind to our players but I just dont' think he has it at this level.  I also thought James Keatings contributions were lacking - he had a couple of good shots but in a team like this with so many young players he should be making himself a focal point and he was fairly anonymous.  I'm also not sold on Todorov as our main striker, \I know it's unfair given he's scored two goals in two games but I would have Storey and Sutherland ahead of him.

I didn’t spot it on Saturday but see Mark Ridgers was captain in the absence of Welsh and Doran. 

Great highlights from Caley Jags TV, which helped me assess what went on in the game compared with watching the crappy live stream. Like others have said above, there are many positives to take heart from that game for the season ahead. Daniel Mackay, Allardice, Ridgers, Deas and Devine were our best performers in what were difficult circumstances with so many players out with injuries.    

Maybe there's nothing in this, but when Todorov scored securing a point for the team in the late stages of the game, only one player congratulated him. Any one else notice this?

 

Possibly because he went off sprinting and sliding towards the dug out. Fyffe seemed to congratulate him on his way past but the others headed back over the half way line. Certainly no team celebration but maybe they are told not to with Covid?

4 minutes ago, Robert said:

Possibly because he went off sprinting and sliding towards the dug out. Fyffe seemed to congratulate him on his way past but the others headed back over the half way line. Certainly no team celebration but maybe they are told not to with Covid?

Maybe they were ambitious to try to get the ball back into play to score a winner.