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LINEUPS

HIBERNIAN

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ICT

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Difficult to know what to make of that game. After 10 mins it was tempting to go away to the pub. Both goals were one on one and Shiels could have got another but he tried to nutmeg Mikey when he had the whole goal to aim at. It looked as if the team were not a team at all and all Johndo's rumours were spot on.

However we came on to a game as Hibs sat back. We had loads of corners and plenty scrambles on the goal line but somehow we always needed a touch too many and none of us really believed we would ever score. Delivery was dreadful from dead balls, usually overhit.

It's worth mentioning the wind (Imrie tried to take a corner and the ball kept rolling away) and the pitch, which cut up early and caused bobbles everywhere. Hibs were just as bad as us a lot of the time and their fans got restless in the second half, there were even a few boos.

But Hibs just had more quality than us. Those wee shouts you heard were Bayne asking if somebody could get him out of Jones' back pocket. If Marius had Fletcher or even Nish alongside him instead of Bayners we would probably have won it. That's without mentioning Shiels, Beuzelin and Zemmama.

Have to say Niculae was our best player. Put in a good shift and chased back. I would give Rossco, Black and Mikey pass marks. Cowie did OK too but a couple of times he was wide in space and screaming for it and nobody had the vision, or maybe he's got leprosy. Marcus did OK too when he came on. Imrie looked like he's off the pace for the SPl, though I must say against St Mirren he looked star quality. Would like to see Proctor back in place of McGuire. Still puzzled why Ross doesn't get played at centre half and Bambi at right back.

We did have plenty of chances but they always fell to the wrong man, the ball bouncing about in a crowded penalty box. Russell will have to hope no big Scandinavians were at the game. Did a lot of chasing and mopping up as usual, but his passes went even more wrong than usual. Just sign it Russell, while it's still on the table.

Best moment for us was the chant of 'there's only one John Rankin' after he nearly sliced it into his own net.

To the young blonde lassie who got a surprise comp in her hand at 5 to 3, I know you were trying to pass me your mobile no but it's OK, really  :015: :015: :015: :015:

That may well have been me Mantis, missed your chance there!

Have to agree with you on Rosko and centre half.

Have to disagree with you on Marius? display; your conclusion just doesn?t fit the trend!

Have to be happy that he has been able to bounce back though.

Radio watch for me today Mantis, but your summary seems to concur with the views of the commentary team.  Oh for a bit of class in front of goal.  We seemed to have thousands of corners, well, maybe more than that, but all came to nothing.  Surely something to work on there, and free kicks and crosses into the box.  Still, one or two positives possibly from the game.

Which confirms my belief that brew is creating a team of grafters.  :rolleyes02:

Second game in succession where we've been caught cold just after the kick-off. To give the team their due it really was a game of two halves - Hibs were better in the first half on the whole but in the second half we really gave them a game. One thing that struck me both today and to a certain extent on Wednesday was how poor our balls into the box from open play, corners and free kicks were - the wind today can't have helped and it's all too easy to criticise when you're sitting on you btm in the stand but this is one aspect of our game that must be sharpened up if we're to score, particularly from set pieces.

This was actually a good game of entertaining football.

Heard on the radio that Marius was BBC Scotland's Man of the Match. No argument at all with that - he and Ian Black really put themselves about this afternoon.

Just confirms my belief in the lack of quality... why have Imrie there when we have Barry Wilson doing feck all.

Was also at the game today.

Mantis your assessment was spot on.  The only thing I would take issue with was your comment on Imrie.  Thought he looked up for it, keen to get involved and showed some very nice touches.  Think Cowie and Imrie are both better than they showed today because when they get the ball in space they should be a bit greedier and drive forward themselves as opposed to looking for a square or backwards pass.  All about confidence because they have the ability. 

Marius would be top drawer if he had a right foot and a bit more pace.  He worked a number of opportunities today but needed too many touches.

Caley 100 - agree about Barry though.  Still a match winner who can turn games.  Don't know what is going on at ITC

I think Imrie's strength will be running at people. Today he was too quick to get rid of it, especially in the first half. Some of his passes and crosses were woeful, but the wind can take the blame for some of it. Also he had one banzai challenge which gave a clue as to why he gets so many yellows. Still can't fathom how we can buy a player from those tattie howkers  :015: :015: :015: :015:

That may well have been me Mantis, missed your chance there

Nah, she definitely wouldn't remember the seventies as well as you  :023:

Wee chuckle - can't seem to work the smilies/icons  :015:

And Peter Paul's like a dug wi two tails now he's got a new Canon D1, he insisted I take a shot  :001:

Niculae MotM? Not a chance. Aside from a nice wee spin in the 2nd half he was wasteful in shooting, distribution was poor and he collided with team mates at various stages of the game. No way a candidate for MotM. Indeed I wouldn't say any ICT players covered themselves in glory aside from perhaps Black who looked like one of the few players, along with Cowie, of taking the ball down and passing it. We miss Rankin a lot. Disappointing to see him booed by some of our fans when he took a corner.

Our long ball game was all to evident and Bayne battled hard against Jones and won some of the never ending aerial balls up to the forwards but also lost out on a fair share. We were so predictable today it was hard to watch. Some of the passing from midfield was actually hurting to watch.

The game was over after 5 minutes. Nish does what he does best - scores against us. Hibs 2nd goal was superb. Niculae (I think) lost the ball and Hibs played it round our lot who seemed to just watch them double their lead. Shields should have made it three but a weak shot allowed Fraser to save.

We were a bit better in the 2nd half but still created little in the way of clear cut chances with some of the best efforts coming in the last 10 minutes but by that stage, and even before then, the game was over and it seemed the players knew it as well. Worst of all I think the majority of ICT fans thought that as well.

You seem to be in the minority in saying Niculae wasn't our best player but I do agree with you when you say we miss Rankin. We haven't won a game since he left :029:

Someone commented elsewhere that selling him was a good piece of business buy our manager when it's painfully obvious it wasn't. We made ?17,500 profit on one of our best players :029:

  Sad

You seem to be in the minority in saying Niculae wasn't our best player but I do agree with you when you say we miss Rankin. We haven't won a game since he left :029:

Niculae, and pretty much the entire team were anonymous in the first half with only Bayne doing much of note and perhaps Imrie. All Niculae did was give away the ball for the 2nd goal (not Bayne as they said on the radio post match) and he got a bollocking from Munro about it*.

In the 2nd half we improved but there is no way that Niculae improved to the extent of warranting MotM. He had one nice turn by the corner flag but that was it. The rest of the 2nd half was spent moaning at/getting moaned at by Blackie which was funny to watch or colliding with his own players. He didn't really fashion any chances and lost the ball far too often. To be honest I am very surprised that folk are even thinking about him for MotM when the two best candidates were easily Blackie and Bayne. Niculae could learn a thing or two from Bayne about not giving up on the ball and putting in a decent shift. Blackie also played well in midfield and sent in some very good crosses in the 2nd half.

Rankin seems to have integrated very well into the Hibs team but he did seem willing to help us out by scoring an o.g.! Was nice to see him get hearty congratulations from a lot of the ICT players who clearly showed there is no ill feeling towards him since he moved.

*Just watched the highlights and it was indeed Bayne that lost out in the tussle for the ball that led to Hibs second. Apologies to Marius. Boo Bayne!  :016:

Difficult to know what to make of that game. After 10 mins it was tempting to go away to the pub. Both goals were one on one and Shiels could have got another but he tried to nutmeg Mikey when he had the whole goal to aim at. It looked as if the team were not a team at all and all Johndo's rumours were spot on.

However we came on to a game as Hibs sat back. We had loads of corners and plenty scrambles on the goal line but somehow we always needed a touch too many and none of us really believed we would ever score. Delivery was dreadful from dead balls, usually overhit.

It's worth mentioning the wind (Imrie tried to take a corner and the ball kept rolling away) and the pitch, which cut up early and caused bobbles everywhere. Hibs were just as bad as us a lot of the time and their fans got restless in the second half, there were even a few boos.

But Hibs just had more quality than us. Those wee shouts you heard were Bayne asking if somebody could get him out of Jones' back pocket. If Marius had Fletcher or even Nish alongside him instead of Bayners we would probably have won it. That's without mentioning Shiels, Beuzelin and Zemmama.

Have to say Niculae was our best player. Put in a good shift and chased back. I would give Rossco, Black and Mikey pass marks. Cowie did OK too but a couple of times he was wide in space and screaming for it and nobody had the vision, or maybe he's got leprosy. Marcus did OK too when he came on. Imrie looked like he's off the pace for the SPl, though I must say against St Mirren he looked star quality. Would like to see Proctor back in place of McGuire. Still puzzled why Ross doesn't get played at centre half and Bambi at right back.

We did have plenty of chances but they always fell to the wrong man, the ball bouncing about in a crowded penalty box. Russell will have to hope no big Scandinavians were at the game. Did a lot of chasing and mopping up as usual, but his passes went even more wrong than usual. Just sign it Russell, while it's still on the table.

Best moment for us was the chant of 'there's only one John Rankin' after he nearly sliced it into his own net.

To the young blonde lassie who got a surprise comp in her hand at 5 to 3, I know you were trying to pass me your mobile no but it's OK, really  :015: :015: :015: :015:

A good summary, although I thought Bayne did a bit better than you say.  he won a few headers and chased well.

Thought Bayne did better than I expected him to do against the man mountain that is Jones. Better than MacDonald did in January anyway  :004:

bit of a late post but been cowering since sat (live with a hibee). Thought niculae was class, flatmate also thought he was best player on the park. thought it was one of the worst performances i've seen from cowie, his final ball was so inconsistent. Felt a bit sorry for imrie, he seemed realy up for it but the state of the pitch made running at people almost impossible, allthough again his final ball was abysmal. I would definatley drop mguire asap. another good cameo from markus, should have had a penalty. on the whole i thought we were pretty unlucky not to get something from the game, the penalty(s) decison was costly, as well as the crap start.

Unbelieviable first ten minutes, because other than that there was nothing in the game. Nicalue missed a couple of free efforts on goal and Shiels with his one on one effort blocked by Fraser, true bavidge style. Rankin was quiet, and all in all a dull game, however with a sequence of 3 home games coming up soon i'd hope for pointage on the board and a steady climb back into a top six position.

However brew needs to get his finger oot his ar5e and try to sort out this player in one week rotational thing as not playing niculae or black one week then the next ain't good for these guys motivation/confidence in the manager areas.

Welcome back BL

:021:

Aye its all thumbs up from you LG but then you dont have to sit through 90 minutes of refereeing on a Saturday afternoon  :017:

Aye its all thumbs up from you LG but then you dont have to sit through 90 minutes of refereeing on a Saturday afternoon  :017:

:015: :015: :015: