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

 

1 minute ago, RiG said:

And 12 points dropped from a winning position as well.

12 points would've come in handy.

Speaks volumes. 12 draws and if we'd won half of those games we'd have finished second.

Edited April 30, 20215 yr by Row S

 

I thought that in the first half we showed a lot of good movement up front giving options for Welsh and Allan They won a lot of possession and rarely wasted it.  It was Welsh who played a peach of a pass to MacKay for the opener.  When MacKay and Sutherland were subbed we were a lot more static up front and we resorted to balls going square and back too often.  Young Lyall looked a talent and it is a shame he hasn't had a bit more game time in his spell here.

It was a game we should have won but I guess that with nothing particular at stake, it is inevitable there wasn't quite the edge to the motivation.  A draw was a fair result at the end of the day.

Just a word on Robbie Deas who put in another excellent performance today.  Robbie has been ever present in the team this season.  He only turned 21 earlier this year but has put in some  mature performances alongside the more experienced Danny Devine.  They have formed a solid partnership and it is worth noting that the final table shows that only Champions Hearts have conceded less goals than us.  Robbie, as a defender, may not get the accolades that the attacking players get, but he has been a real star for us this season.  Well done Robbie!

 

I agree DD and we should credit Devine too. Some questioned us signing him, but he has been the leader at the back and become the mainstay of our defence. 

I’m sorry but I feel ever so let down.  ICT could have gone out on a high but, no, just again an uninspiring draw.   Now we have to wait nearly three months before another game and, even then will we be allowed to be actually there.   The lockdown is easing, I felt so safe at the Stadium last December when allowed to see the game, so why couldn’t we have been there tonight?  It could have made a difference to the performance.  The easing of lockdown seems to be aimed at pubs etc instead of fans wanting to see our teams.   Sorry, on hindsight, maybe I should be sending this to the Scottish Government and not this forum but I just wanted to vent my spleen as the saying goes.  Sorry again.  Don’t castigate this old fan.  

Well said Lizi!!

Some very encouraging comments from McCann:

https://ictfc.com/post-match-neil-mccann-ictfc-2-2-ayr-utd

 

The club’s report on the game:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-2-2-ayr-utd

Sounds like Deas was the player unfairly (?) judged to have conceded the penalty. 

I hope that's not the last goal we see from Daniel Mackay after reading the other thread!