The end is nigh

 

For us, it's the final game of the season as we have missed out on the promotion play-offs despite a tremendous last six weeks which saw us go on a six game winning run including a derby Scottish Cup win over Ross County. Unfortunately we left ourselves an uphill task after the first two thirds of our season was decimated by injuries, covid and inclement weather. Ayr United head North with Championship survival high on their agenda as they look to avoid the relegation play-offs with Arbroath and Morton the other contenders. The game is a 19:45 kick-off on Friday night.

Our season ended last Saturday at Tynecastle in an error strewn first half where Hearts scored three times without reply. MotM Gary Mackay-Steven scored twice and McEneff netted the other via a slight deflection. Our misery was exacerbated at the third goal as Robbie Deas ushered the ball back to the advancing Mark Ridgers. Unfortunately, as Ridgers dived down to gather, Deas dropped his guard too early and the ever alert GMS stuck his leg between them to prod the ball into the now unguarded net. Comedy goal, but we were not laughing. It ended at 3-0 and season over with Dunfermline and Dundee consolidating their places in the play-offs. So near, yet so far!

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ICTFC MEDIA SILENCE

CEO Scot Gardiner said: “We very much stand shoulder to shoulder with the other clubs and sports to convey the message that online abuse and discrimination of any kind is completely unacceptable.” 

CTO MEDIA SILENCE

Enough is enough! CTO will join with Scottish football to support a boycott of social media in response to continuing racist and discriminatory abuse online aimed at players, staff, supporters and others associated with the game. It should and will not be tolerated and we will have no social media posts from 3:00pm on Friday through to midnight on 3rd of May.

Ayr United now find themselves in a three way battle for survival after a goalless draw at Queen of the South. Arbroath are sucked into the mire along with Morton, and they meet at the Smokie Dome on Friday night. Ayr are the best placed of the three threatened clubs and a draw will ensure their Championship status. An Arbroath win will also see Ayr safe and relegate Morton. All games kick-off at the same time of 7:45pm.

Table with one game to go before play-offs

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	26	16	6	4	59	24	35	54
2.	Raith Rovers	26	12	7	7	45	32	13	43
3.	Dundee	26	11	9	6	47	40	7	42
4.	Dunfermline	26	10	9	7	38	33	5	39
5.	Inverness CT	26	8	11	7	34	29	5	35
6.	Queen of the South	26	9	5	12	38	49	-11	32
7.	Arbroath	26	7	8	11	28	34	-6	29
8.	Ayr United	26	6	10	10	29	35	-6	28
9.	Morton	26	6	10	10	22	33	-11	28
10.	Alloa Athletic	26	4	7	15	29	60	-31	19

Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Ayr United  ---  Ayr last five games DLDLD --- ICT last five games WWDDL

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

0 - 1 (A)

2 - 0 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (A)

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

Venue (H to H)

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	19	9	9	1	32	18	+14
Away	21	10	4	7	40	26	+14
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	40	19	13	8	72	44	+28

Neither side have won in their last three games with points becoming difficult to claim as the season comes to a climax. We have had some memorable games against Ayr United over the years, this one might have too much tension to go down as a classic and with a point suiting Ayr, that's maybe where the smart money will go.  

***Latest Team News***

Neil McCann has indicated this will be his last game in charge according to this article in the Inverness Courier. I'm sure we are all grateful for his and Billy Dodd's input since coming in to cover for John Robertson. After an iffy start, we almost made it to the play-offs. So cheers guys. 

Last outing of the season and it's a fair bet many will not be back next year with something like 18 players out of contract in the summer. Those that are already contracted to be here next season: 2022: M Ridgers, Duffy, Devine, Harper, MacGregor, D Mackay, Welsh.
2023: Allardice, Deas, 2024 Carson. The rest have not committed themselves yet or may not have been offered a new contract, so some tough talking ahead and none more important than who will be in charge. Brad Mckay is suspended after his red card against Dundee. 

Latest Ayr boss David Hopkin has brought in young Motherwell keeper Peter Morrison since the 3-0 defeat to Dundee as young Finnish keeper Viljami Sinisalo returned to his parent club, Aston Villa, after picking up an injury. Corrie Ndaba missed out against Queen of the South with a knock picked up at Arbroath. Tom Walsh and Joe Chalmers are still on the books and Michael Moffat returned to the starting XI last week.

So, get your old Ayr guitar out one last time...

 

Official Player of the Year voting

 

⭐ Voting is now open for the ICTFC Supporters' Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Season!...

Posted by Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC on Monday, 26 April 2021

 

 

 

View full article

 

Just now, DoofersDad said:

Oh for a stream with replays!

Just use the slider at the bottom of the screen to scroll back...   never a pen..... never

We started well and deserved our lead. We’ve bossed possession and passed pretty well but not created much. Toddy has had a couple of efforts but out of luck so far.

Ayr have been poor and not looking like a team battling relegation. They maybe got lucky with the penalty but as a result it is 1-1.

Our goal was excellent with great vision by Welsh. I thought it was MacGregor who scored as did the commentators but I see the club website is saying Mackay, as are the BBC.

Not the best game, with Welsh and Allan the best for us so far. 

Edited April 30, 20215 yr by Robert

Looked like MacGregor who scored to me...

MacGregor fouled in box. Penalty. Welsh to take it. 

2-1. In the corner. 

Fecks sake Shane!!!   

Great chance for Sutherland there but well off the mark.

Lyall now replacing Sutherland. 

Edited April 30, 20215 yr by Robert

Neil McCann doing a philosophy degree. one question...why? 😛

 

2-2.

Ayr had been pressing but not our best defending.

Doran on for Mackay.

I hope Doofer Dad’s prediction of 3-2 turns out to be right, but Ayr looking the more likely at the moment. 

Edited April 30, 20215 yr by Robert

I’d prefer 5-2

Our season, in a nutshell.

2 minutes ago, Satan said:

Our season, in a nutshell.

Yep...  45 passes and give it away...

Storey’s last appearance? Replacing Toddy who I hope signs a new contract. 

Hope so.

We are looking like a team that is safe. This is a game we should be winning comfortably, but with nothing at stake for us, we are not firing on all cylinders.

Could still go either way, but as Ayr are safe with a draw, it may peter out in the last few minutes.

Welsh commentators’ man of the match. I agree with that. 

Hearts & Dundee showing why they were tipped for 1 & 2. The rest are just fighting for scraps.

Welsh booked. 

Why did they both leave it? Just needed someone to hit it and we’d have scored after great play by Lyall.

Lyall could be worth another loan move next season.

MacGregor booked.

Ayr have parked the bus in the last few minutes and we can’t break them down. 

Nothing at stake for us and it showed, particularly in the second half.

Looking back, we had 12 points in our first 9 games and we ended with 36 points from the 27 games.

That sums it up. Inconsistent, but we dealt with a lot and ended up better than we expected two months ago.

And it blew my chances on Gringo’s NPL big style!

Lets put it behind us and look forward to next season.

What do we do for the next 71 days??

Edited April 30, 20215 yr by Robert

Game just fizzled out, a bit like our season did.

No wins in our last 5 games.

Pysh season faded away to nothing...  Oh a share of a cup??? and a great win in Dungwell..   apart from that mostly pysh.  I'm glad it's over and we need to clear dead wood from the team.

23% win rate at home. Grim.

I have to give credit to the commentary team tonight much improved for the last game which is more than I can say for the streaming service.

Conceding the lead, not once but twice, sums up our season in a nutshell.

There are all sorts of reasons why I am glad that this very odd season is now concluded.

That said, for no logical reason, I find myself both optimistic and enthusiastic about the season to come.

4 minutes ago, RiG said:

23% win rate at home. Grim.

And 12 points dropped from a winning position as well.