Welsh Woe

 

A visit to Balmoral Stadium to face Cove Rangers on Tuesday night brings fresh urgency after a lacklustre draw against Stirling Albion ended with the Bino's taking the bonus point after a penalty shoot-out. We will have to do it without the injured Sean Welsh. The Cove game kicks-off at 19:45 with live streaming available from Cove Rangers TV for a tenner.

PPV Stream

Official Preview

Attendance info

Both sides had the wind taken out of their sails at the weekend with Stirling Albion causing an upset at the Caledonian Stadium after winning the bonus point in a penalty shoot out following a 2-2 draw after ninety minutes. Mackin and Moore had given the visitors an early lead before Roddy MacGregor pulled one back before the break. Shane Sutherland quickly restored parity after the break but no further scoring saw the tie being decided on penalties where the Bino's took the bonus point.

Cove surprisingly went down to a rejuvenated Peterhead by 3-1. Brown put Peterhead in front after only three minutes before Megginson levelled ten minutes later. However Cameron and McLean scored either side of the break to give Peterhead their first win of the competition. Surprise surprise; Vigurs and Draper both booked.

Cove starting XI v Peterhead:

McKenzie; Ross, Neill, Higgins, Yule, Vigurs, Draper, Scully, Megginson, McAllister, Leitch

League Cup Group 'A'

Stirling Albion v Hearts Tuesday 7:45pm

		Team	P	GD	Pts
1		Hearts	2	5	6
2		Stirling	2	1	5
3		Inverness CT	2	2	4
4		Peterhead	3	-2	3
5		Cove Rangers	3	-6	0

 

 

Latest team news

Captain Sean Welsh looks likely to be out for at least a month. The often injured midfielder turned his ankle at the weekend and will miss the next few weeks. Leaves the door open for another midfielder to stake a claim for a start, or push David Carson forward and see if Wallace Duffy is ready to fill the right back slot. Still waiting for Billy Mckay and Anthony McDonald to surface, although Mckay could be ready sooner rather than later.

 

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7 minutes ago, Pele_Is_God said:

An absolutely shocking interview. Oh dear!

Not the greatest interview but I believe we should give him a chance to prove he can do the job we expect him to do.

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

I'm stunned with Dodds comment about not working on the back four yet. The foundations of any team is built on not conceding goals. If you dont concede goals you don't lose matches. To be nine days from the season starting and not to have done any work on the back four is unbelievable. If he's not bothered to work on it play Deas and Devine who played for the majority of last season together and get Broadfoot on the bench. 

Whilst I remain firmly in the give him a chance camp, if we have been neglecting the defence to concentrate on the midfield and attack, it's even more of a concern that it took until injury time to get a goal from only our second shot on target against part time Cove.

A must win game Sunday 😂😂

22 hours ago, Satan said:

Wtf does Alison Moyet have to do with it?

Can she play centre back?

When I played with her she was more of a target in front of me when I played out from the back.

Perhaps Dodds was suggesting that the defensive side of the business is more in the realms of Broadfoot ?

Mr Dodds isn't selling it to me. I didn't see any of our three cup ties so I can't really judge, however, reading tweets and reports from those that were there (or watching on live feeds) I'd say we're shite just now. Can we beat Hearts in front of telly box audience? Based on current form - absolutely no chance. so, ICT, prove me wrong. 

Worried

from Coventry Nil

I suggested a couple of times last season that a 3-5-2 formation might work better for the style of play and attributes of Carson (when fit) and Harper. Play them as wing backs with Fyffe, Devine and Deas as the back 3. More support going forward and cover when defending.

Our best defensive performances last season came with Deas at left back providing a natural three at back if Carson ranged forward. 

Duffy looked hopeless on Tuesday, but to be fair so did the rest of the team.

Maybe the answer is  2 from Duffy,Devine Broadfoot, Fyffe  as centre backs and Deas as left back.

 

I like Harper but radical changes required in defence before Saturday.

 

10 hours ago, Gringo said:

Mr Dodds isn't selling it to me. I didn't see any of our three cup ties so I can't really judge, however, reading tweets and reports from those that were there (or watching on live feeds) I'd say we're shite just now. Can we beat Hearts in front of telly box audience? Based on current form - absolutely no chance. so, ICT, prove me wrong. 

Worried

from Coventry Nil

I am pretty sure that I must have something important to do in the early evening on Sunday very far away from the nearest TV screen!

Cove put highlights up yesterday by the way. Parental discretion advised.

 

With apologies for the double post but that defending for the opening goal is awful.

For me it all starts with Harper being sat too far behind Deas and Broadfoot covering McIntosh coming off the right flank. Harper tries to pass him on to Broadfoot and moves out to half heartedly close down Fyvie (which he doesn't need to do as Doran and Allardice could get there quicker) whilst Deas is occupied by a run forward from Megginson, who initially dropped off the front line to receive a short pass pulling Deas out from the back, and then angles his run in behind Harper pulling Deas away from the middle and McIntosh positions himself in between the now massive gap between our two CBs neither of whom can recover in time to block the shot.

Midfield look pretty flaky as well tbh, don't seem very fit and an inability to win the ball through a tackle runs in the whole team.😕

4 hours ago, RiG said:

With apologies for the double post but that defending for the opening goal is awful.

For me it all starts with Harper being sat too far behind Deas and Broadfoot covering McIntosh coming off the right flank. Harper tries to pass him on to Broadfoot and moves out to half heartedly close down Fyvie (which he doesn't need to do as Doran and Allardice could get there quicker) whilst Deas is occupied by a run forward from Megginson, who initially dropped off the front line to receive a short pass pulling Deas out from the back, and then angles his run in behind Harper pulling Deas away from the middle and McIntosh positions himself in between the now massive gap between our two CBs neither of whom can recover in time to block the shot.

I was drawn to the role of Shane at the very start of the move for the 1st goal.  Looks like he was unsure as to whether he should drop in or stay high.  In the end he did nothing and it just looked like a half hearted attempt to move towards the Cove player in possession.

11 minutes ago, Hiro said:

I was drawn to the role of Shane at the very start of the move for the 1st goal.  Looks like he was unsure as to whether he should drop in or stay high.  In the end he did nothing and it just looked like a half hearted attempt to move towards the Cove player in possession.

This looks like a lack of organisation and people not knowing how the new system is meant to work. If people aren’t 100% sure of what they are meant to do then you get half hearted attempts - Your imagine insecurity and uncertainty are easy to fix on the training ground. Think of allardice last season, winning so much ball in midfield - looked lost on Tuesday. Whatever the system is they need it drilled home sharpish 

Maybe we should play our Under 18s on Sunday…… They kept a clean sheet!

https://ictfc.com/wick-academy-0-4-ictfc-u18s

5 minutes ago, Robert said:

Maybe we should play our Under 18s on Sunday…… They kept a clean sheet!

https://ictfc.com/wick-academy-0-4-ictfc-u18s

Remind me, what's a clean sheet ?

Wasn’t it a clean sheet v Peterhead a couple of weeks ago?

Ah, but a week is a long time in politics, so a couple of weeks in football is much longer…

One could argue that the game against Hearts on Sunday is a waste of time - however, if we can imagine their kit colours as identical to Arbroath, it offers a great chance to practice how to start with a league win.