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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.

Esson :lol: Wasn't kept particularly busy for a side with 10 men. Only mistake was to guess the wrong way at the penalty! Raven :lol: OK but I preferred Meekings when he came on King :lol: :lol: Pretty impressed with his defending. Harshly penalised for the penalty. Warren :lol: :lol: Commanding presence. Decides he's going to win the ball and then wins it. My MotM. G Shinnie :lol: Excellent going foward, a real threat with runs and crosses. But beaten too easily in defence a few times, costing him a smiley. Foran :lol: Played well enough in his first game of the season, until he saw red. Draper :lol: :lol: Close runner up for MotM. Solid tackles, good driving forward, tidy passing. Looks like he's going to be a big player for us on this showing. Sutherland :lol: Still not a winger! A frustrating player, who blazes every shooting opportunity high and wide. Did much better defensively than I've seen before. Doran :lol: Bit out of sorts, not really in the game enough. A Shinnie :lol: :lol: Class. Just needed to find the killer final ball (but see Mackay below) Mackay :lol: Sorry, but the more I see, the more convinced I am that he's not good enough for the this level. Please prove me wrong because we don't have many options up front. Tries hard enough, but there was a major lack of intelligent and incisive runs to have any chance of getting the right ball fed through. Subs. 3 very successful changes from Butcher. Ross - very good in the centre, made an impact. MUST start soon, surely. Meekings - surprisingly useful going forward. Pepper - an exciting prospect who brought a bit of pace to our attack and obviously ran into in the right place to slam it home. Yes!

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.

I'm goin To miss a the game on Saturday. The first time I've missed back to back games for over 2 years. And I'm gutted. What's that say about how the team have played? I'm seriously considering going to Arbroath I need my fix. Can't wait for Motherwell. Going to try get a large group heading down on the bus.

I actually thought you were going to explode when pepper scored lol

You need to get your facts straight before you go accusing anyone of anything. I blocked nothing, but if you want to get down off your high horse for just a moment I'll explain to you what likely happened. The moment the SPL upload the match footage to the central channel and claim rights to it (whether they put that footage live or not), then any/all other videos on YouTube which match that, or part of that, are automatically flagged as being copyright infringement. There's a few options open to the original owner of the footage (The SPL...not me, not ICT). As the media agreements prevent the showing of highlights online in the UK before 6:00pm on Sunday (for Saturday 3pm games), then the only one of those options which would have kicked in is to block it in the UK....hence the "not available in your country" message. If you had engaged your brain for just a second, and taken into consideration the information I provided to you via PM the other week in regards the clubs position on videos which breach copyright then you might have realised their was more at play here and it wasn't anyone being over zealous in the management of the situation. At the very least you could have asked the question before spouting off.

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

Just seen the post match interviews with Conor Pepper and Billy Mackay. Good stuff being produced for YouTube by our media team. Special mention to Davie for the good interviews this week and last. Very professional.

There's definately a 'togetherness' in the team which was lacking last year. Our players were the hungrier of the two teams. Many thanks also to the person who organised the Gorgie Lounge too.

I will take a 10 man determined, comitted performance lIke Saturdays game any day, over a lacklustre 11 man no desire display. It proves to me that with the correct motivation and all the team available, we have as much ability as any SPL team.

Sure....but do we need 101 threads about it? All from the same bunch of people who seem to be so concerned about finding things to snipe about that they're showing next to no appreciation for the good stuff. There's 11+ players who represent us in each match....where's all the threads praising the performance of the rest of the team? Fully expect the..."well these players are overshadowing the performance of the rest....blah blah blah"...but that's bs and only the case if people make it that way.

Has it crossed anyone's mind that one of the reasons we kept going and got a result yesterday could be because of the total commitment and never say die attitude instilled in the team by the captain? Just a thought.

Ok, so he screwed up and people can be angry at that if they wish...but it makes no sense cutting off your nose to spite your face by benching him purely for the sake of it. What good does that do anyone?

There is nobody immediately behind him away from home giving him feckin jip

I just don't get this Richie bashing. He made a mistake. It happens. As fans we expect, and demand, 100% commitment, as well as leadership on the park. We get bagloads of both from Foran. One foolish challenge, perhaps unlucky to be given a straight red from a ref whose competence is highly questionable, and he's getting as much stick on here as OTJ did for an act of mindless aggression.

It was his first game back after a suspension and he goes and does it again. Obviously not learnt to shut that mouth then etc etc. This is not the way a captain should behave.

reckon the ref lost control of the game for two periods (one per half) For their pen, there were two players offside for the ball in, and king is adjuged to have held sutton back. He's miles off him. Foran's red was right. He missed the guy with his leading foot but caught him with the other, it was a naughty wee challenge and was never going to get less than a yellow. But all of that pales by comparison to the fight and spirit shown by thi side. Make no mistake, this is a game we would have lost last year. Brilliant.

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.

You appear to be making excuses for him but my point is that it is precisely in these sort of situations where refs make poor decisions and where opponents commit fouls that a clear head is needed. The captain needs to keep his head and ensure his team mates retain their focus. Today he was a very poor example to his team and it is to their huge credit that they kept their composure and directed their agression constructively in salvaging a draw. I hope Foran has learnt a lot from the youngsters today.

The second goal was brilliant, the ball from Shane the work from shinnie and an easy finish from pepper, class goal

At half time we were obviously pretty despondent, 2-0 down and Foran off, so I jokingly said to the guys "Don't worry, we never lose when we're on Alba......."

Pepper pops it in Shinnie is our wonderman this season - get him tied up on a new deal now....

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?

With respect OCG this is not so. If you re-read my post you will notice I said "our team played a fabulous opening 20 minutes and showed some urgency after the break." and "penalty (brilliantly saved by Ryan)" and "some of our new guys look promising". This team will come good in time - but we have to acknowledge that the disciplinary record over the last year (especially at home) has cost us dear in terms of results. My second point (as above) was about doing something about discipline. My first point is that - while there are many positives about our club's treatment of supporters - there are still some niggles that need to be addressed when it comes to relations with supporters. Making it easier for a man and a boy to get through the Main Stand turnstiles when paying cash was a problem on Saturday. It needs fixed. But one of the other major niggles has been stewarding. As mentioned by someone else on another post, I also saw the stewards being OTT on Saturday in the way they dispossessed a harmless looking older lady of a small juice bottle as if she was about to cause mayhem, bloodshed and carnage in the North Stand. Yeah, I know 'rules are rules' but this was a harsh application of the rules. I well recall the last time we had really good atmosphere at a home match - versus Dunfermline some seasons ago. A good sized group of fans had gathered on the uncovered section of the Main Stand. They were fantastic - great singing, good natured banter and really getting behind the team. But they were standing, so the men in yellow weighed in heavy-handedly, ejected poor old Immortal Howdenender and snuffed out the atmosphere. Meanwhile, ever since then, away fans can stand and do whatever they like and are left alone by the stewards. I have faithfully followed ICT for many seasons and if you check my earlier posts you will see that I have always endeavoured to be positive. But the reason I have made my original comments on this post is in the hope that maybe someone in a position of influence in our club might read what I have written and take note of what an ordinary supporter has to say. Maybe its a vain hope - but you never know. My main concern is that we get the missing fans back at the stadium supporting their team and helping with the club's finances. What can be more positive than that? Apologies A96 prehaps on retrospect I was a little harsh. As a mum who takes her kids to games I know how expensive it is and as for stewarding well dont get me started!!!! I like the start of the season personally. I like the optomistic feeling it has but reality soon sets in. It just seems that a lot of folk are being negitive at the moment sometimes about things that cant be sorted. However it would be a boring old world if we all stuck to the party line so all opinions should be welcome. I dont know what the answer is to getting the missing fams back. It seems to me that the club is working hard for the fans at this time and the only way I can see that we would be able to employ more staff/players is to get more money in. The problem is that theres not a lot of money about. As for customer service well I think the club probably does its best given the resources it has. If more people could maybe volunteer to help then maybe things would get better. if you have specific ideas for instance re the turnstiles why not contact the club and discuss them. I am certain you would get a hearing.

When London was announced as the host city in 2005, the UK leaders all thought the economy was hunky dory. I like the Olympics. It's a great sportig event. However there's a few things I don't like: First of all, I would prefer a Team Scotland instead of an amalgamation of 3.5 countries.. I don't like how Lord Coe et al have hi-jacked the Olympics to turn it into some sort of Royalist, aristocracal, Diamond Jubilee propganda. This whole carrying the flame malarky. It's a good idea on paper - but not at a cost of millions of pound of tax payers money so that Princess Anne, David Beckham and Will.I.am / W.I.ll.Iam / William / Willy or what ever his name is can strutt their stuff. Football is not an Olympic sport. Tennis is not an Olympic sport. Finally, ordering the Saltire flag to be removed from the roof of Hampden because 'Flags of countries not competing cannot be displayed' for me is highly offensive. So, to sum it all up........