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I thought we played very well and were well deserving of a point. We were caught out with our defenders getting sucked in for their first goal and Novikovas had an easy task to finish it off. The game was relatively even, Hearts probably had a better time in midfield and had more of the ball and more pressure but we looked relatively OK. Utterly bizarre penalty decision, it's rare that you see a spot-kick given that no-one in the stadium appealede for. From what I saw of it, Richie Foran's red card was a stupid swipe, very unprofessional from him. He's our captain and while you can understand being frustrated at the penalty he needs to lead the team and didn't do it. The second half was a great effort though. Draper really impressed me in the middle, he got about, won the ball and used it intelligently. It was a big performance from him in the second half considering his main partner wasn't there. Andy Shinnie is by far our best player on the ball, he uses it so well and plays clever passes all the time. Very impressive start to the season from him. His brother was also impressive, especially when breaking forward, he was a real threat attacking down the left and helped us with both goals. I was more impressed with Meekings than Raven, I'd prefer Meekings to be first choice at right back. King and Warren were also relatively solid, Warren in particular won every header he went for with King being a bit more mobile. The main thing that impressed me about the performance was the guts and determination. Tynecastle is a difficult palce to go and with ten men we clearly decided to fight it out. The number of blocked shots from our defenders and midfielders was remarkable and the pressure we put on Hearts when they were in possession was admirable. The work-rate from every player was commendable as well. We've heard a lot said about how we've lost the 'heart' of the club by releasing long serving players, I don't think you could've asked for any more heart or determination than we got today. The togetherness at the end when we scored and at the final whistle was tangible. Very encouraging. We have a tough run of games coming up and we need to capture that feeling if we are going to continue in this vein.

This is the key point. How many Irish people would vote to rejoin the union? How many Jamaicans would want to be ruled again by their colonial masters? The sad thing is we, especially Highlanders, have been colonized so successfully that we don't even realize it.

Absolutely. Q: When is a separatist not a separatist? A: When he wants to con people into believing that voting "Yes" isn't really any great deal so he calls it something else. Basically, if the separatist lobby are saying, as above, "there would still be the same links to England as today"... then why bother with this whole pantomime of a referendum? I mean I know there's been the strong suggestion that a separate Scotland would continue with the pound since no one in their right mind would go into the Euro and a separate Scottish Groat would quickly go the way of the Deutschmark in 1923 so that's their independent monetary policy up the spout from the start. That will continue to be governed by the Bank of England as it is now. Then, for instance, I'm also wondering what they are going to do to achieve the worldwide network of embassies and consular services which we currently, as British people, enjoy. Are you REALLY going to have Scottish embassies with a huge picture of Alex Salmond in the front hall in every country in the world as Britain (but without the Salmond pictures - thank goodness!) currently has. And that's just the start but I'll leave the rest to the Better Together campaign's manifesto which will presumably appear at some point during the mindnumbing two years we still have to suffer of this unsettling distraction. For goodness sake, if things are working fine as they have been for 300 plus years as part of a bigger unit, why bother separating off from that simply to run all the risks which come with being a smaller one just to satisfy some kind of political dogma. Talking of that period of history, we frequently and rightly criticise the Orange Lodge for glorifying battles which took place more than 300 years ago. But now we are going to be confronted with a referendum, the timing of which looks suspiciously manpulated to coincide with (among other things) the anniversary of a battle which took place no less than 700 years ago. How simplistic can you get? You know fine well that seperatist has a very negative connotations. And you mock Scottish history while at the same time lauding the shorter British history. Is there any other nation in the world that would vote for their country to be controlled and run by another nation, which in effect is what happens in Scotland. England is the larger and the large will rule the small. Think of it this way. If Scotland was an independent nation today and not mearly 'North Britain' how many Scots would vote yes to join the union. What would be the benifits in that? A minority in parliament of the Scottish vote, the parliament based miles away in another nation, the interests of that nation placed first, hand over all our revenue, including oil and gas, just to receive a smaller percentage of what we generated back to us in nothing more than pocket money. And you would be foolish to believe the tripe of what ever is going to come out of the better together campaign. What have we had already, england bombing scottish airports, William Hague refusing to promote Whisky, taking the pandas back ffs. We were betrayed before and told that Scotland would be like Bangladesh in the 1970's if we ever had the nerve to become independent while at the same time the people telling us this classified the Mcrone report where they withheld the truth to the people.The truth that the uk govt knew that Scotland would be considerably more wealthy and prosperous that the rest of the uk in the event of independence, but what we were told in public is the same lies that people believe today. I even watched a debate programme on devolution from 1997 recently and the arguments against a Scottish 'parliament' were that Scotland would become poorer, all buissness would leave Scotland etc etc doom and gloom. You would think people would get bored of this negative nonsense by now.

Despite my reservations about McKay,s ability up front, the questionable tactics, the heavy touch of Sutherland, what is not in question is the desire and determination of this team. Shouted myself hoarse today at Tynecastle and very proud of the hard earned point from ICT. Great effort from 10 men determined to succeed

Foran was asking for it today. At least twice he threw the ball away when a kick was given against us. And he was giving the ref some serious verbals. Generally behaving like Black at his most petulant. Might be excusable in a young lad but not good enough for a team captain.

Dunno but my money would be on Esson.

Also despite my reservations about Butcher's tactics, his interaction with the fans after the game finished was excellent. He came on the pitch and hugged some players then turned to the excellent away support and cheered and waved along with us. Happy Highland Homebound.

To celebrate this magnificent recovery I am off to eat the entire contents of my pepper shaker.

Can't wait for it now

Asalt by pepper.

New Manager and Captain required - please apply at stadium before next Saturday ;-)

A month or so ago I sent a sum of money to the club addressed to Mr Cameron. I expressed the wish that they allocate seats to either disabled children or orphans in Inverness for the first game of the season. There were no other rrestrictive requirements. That was it. I rationalised in my mind that at this time the club really needed a financial boost and that doing this would achieve two purposes. a. Give these disadvantaged youngsters a chance, maybe the first chance they have ever had , to sit in the stand and see Caley Thistle first hand and maybe introduce a new dimension into their lives that might stimulate their emotions . b. By doing so, raise the club's profile in the town and suggest that they really are a family and people -orientated club with genuine feeling of compassion for such as these youngsters, The cheque in pounds was cashed, but so far I have not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement and I therefore have no idea whether my request was adopted or not. I am still going to be interested in the team but I can't help wondering if the new management , since George Fraser went, has got much of clue about P.R. -- or has it reached the stage, as in many modern companies nowadays it ppears, where the letters are opened by the receptionists who is the one who decides what has to be done about it , including whether a reply is merited or not-- meaning did the upper echelons of management even see my letter?

You're absolutely right. If County sign Riordan then they will have a bigger c@ck in their squad than us.....

Someone said some local rangers fans who usually give us support have boycotted us. Sod them, we don't need them. Also some of the 'neautrals' are now going to see 'that lot' over the bridge. Sod them and their half hearted loyalty. We don't need these groups and need to forget about them. Our focus and priorities should be the community and youth of Inverness! We should be making sure that the youngsters of inverness are growing up supporting ICT and not the OF or 'that lot'. The club and. CJT need too work very closely on this! £16 for a concession is shocking! It was £3 for me when I was a kid only 10 years ago. I also remember when I was younger my PS used to give out 3 free tickets per year for each home game. This allowed kids who normally wouldn't go to games come more often. The club did under 12 free ST not so long ago, why not now? Lastly, I'm a part time youth worker in hilton and of the 40-50 kids who come to indoor footy on a friday night only 5 go to ICT games. FIVE!!! That's shocking, we are failing the youth of inverness and we need to encourage them along! It might mean losing money for a while giving out free tickets or charging £3 for kids BUT it will repay in the FUTURE when they keep coming back and bring THEIR kids!

Here we go! A coupleof iffy performances and thoughts are turning to the past players. Whatever will we do without them ? Well we had them when they were at their best and there were moans and groans when we had them then. Even though they did give good service to the Club I can't say ICT reached dizzy heights in the SPL or won a lot of silverware. So let's keep them in the past and give the new lads a chance to show what they can do. We are already seeing a better class of football from them and I'm sure with a ferw testing games under their belts things will gell. I don't think they are going to let us down that badly that we should be thinking back to those who MIGHT have have brought us greater glory had they still been with us. Remember they are now past their best. Many of this seasons team are still maturing. Bring on the games!!!