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When we got the teamsheets in the bar pre-match there was some discussion about whether we would go with two up front, Foran and McKay. It turned out that we stuck with the 4-2-3-1 that we have used so far this season, with Foran sitting deep alongside Draper and McKay on his own up front. Pepper stayed in the XI following his first start at Easter Road and Graeme Shinnie dropped back to left-back, for the presumably injured Blackman. The game started in terrible conditions, with pouring rain and swirling wind. Stenny looked bright, moving the ball well in midfield and looking solid. ICT also did well on the ball but in terms of creating chances we were somewhat lacking. Most of our attacks were based around playing balls into channels for Billy McKay to chase and, while he did well and worked hard, nothing much seemed to come of them. I'd have liked to have seen our wide men getting more time on the ball and trying to create something from those positions. We also misjudged the pitch on a number of occasions, hitting balls for players to chase but then seeing the ball skid off out of play. We made the breakthrough midway through the half when Richie Foran hit a through ball for McKay, the pass took a deflection which took some of the pace of it and allowed McKay to nip in before the keeper and nod it home. It was a decent goal, well taken from McKay who, as usual, was a willing worker up front. Stenny hit back just before half-time when Raven gave away a penalty and was booked, Brown Ferguson crashing home the spot-kick. I was in the terracing behind the opposite goal so couldn't really see what it had been given for but Raven again looked shaky and it wasn't surprising to see him at fault. We don't have another option at the moment at right back so we're going to have to persist and hope he improves. To add to our nervousness, Stenny hit the bar just after they scored with a looping shot. The second half wasn't great from our point of view, we lacked ideas and when we did manage to get into decent positions we didn't pull the trigger. Eventually Pepper was withdrawn for Morrison, who slotted into central midfield while Foran went up front. We looked a bit more dangerous after this, with Foran forcing the Stenny keeper into a good save from a header. Raven also had a chance, a difficult shot that he put just wide. The best opportunity came in injury time when Stenny had a man over on the left, clean through on Esson, only to put the shot wide. It was a real opportunity and you sensed that perhaps that was their best chance of a win. Extra time wasn't great with the introduction of Philip Roberts generating the only excitement. The on-loan Arsenal forward had a couple of nibbles at goal and showed good pace to get free from his marker. It wasn't enough though and we went to penalties. Richie Foran, fresh from scoring from the spot against ABerdeen, stepped up confidently for the first penalty but struck the post. The next three were scored until Bryan Hodge, who had a good game, sent his effort well over the bar. Neither keeper really came close following that with all penalties being well taken. It wasn't until sudden death that Ryan Esson made a good save, diving to his left to deny Darren Smith and send us through.

Not strictly ICT related, but as the Matchday Thread encompasses all games from a particular day, and there is a link to an ICT supporter, I just have to mention it and give a big shoutout to Luvgravy from this site .... A few of you probably met him when he was in Inverness a couple of years ago, and most have read his posts, but I see him a little more often as he lives a couple of hours west of Toronto and comes to a lot of TFC games, and has done since day 1 in 2007 ... Well last night he was famous all over Canadian TV along with a couple of pals ... He was one of three TFC supporters who made the 2200 mile journey, in midweek, from Toronto to El Salvador for a pretty much meaningless** (Concacaf) Champions League match (TFC won 0-3) .... now THAT is an away trip !!! The three of them also outsung the 300 or 400 CD Aguila fans that were there too !!!! ** meaningless because to qualify for the QFs, TFC have to go to Torreon, Mexico and beat one of their top teams, Santos Laguna, by 3 clear goals (or by 2 if TFC score 4 or more), at altitude, and with all three 'designated players' out through injury.

In fact, after 120 minutes and 7 penalties, the decisive moment came when Esson made his first save of the entire night. We might not have been great, but there was only ever one team going to win this. We made a reasonably bright start, but the goal came out of nothing. Defelcted forward ball took a nice bounce, Mackay ran on to it and nodded it over the advancing keeper. The equalising penalty came out of nowhere, with Raven seeming to make a needless and clumsy foul. He has his critics, but I would add that otherwise he played well defensively and made a couple of superb interventions. The second half and extra time just fizzled out, we huffed and puffed but did little in the final 3rd. A Shinnie was the only creative source but nothing was coming off for him. Stenny had several long range efforts going high and wide, and one good chance going into the side netting. We created little until the final moments of the 90, with a Foran bullet header well saved and a Raven effort being blocked. We then dominated ET against tired opponents. I thought the sub Roberts looked much more of a handful than Mackay, and I'd like to him get more opportunities. He surely will. Onto penalties, and a bad start when captain marvel stepped up first and cracked his off the inside of the post, but that was to be our only miss. G Shinnie, Morrison, Doran, A Shinnie, Draper and Roberts all put them away, with Morrison's the only one that could be described as unstoppable. It has to be added that the conditions tonight were atrocious - strong wind and driving rain. And without making excuses, the home side clearly had the measure of the plastic pitch. There were so many frustrating moments when ICT moves broke down because an easy pass whizzed out for a throw on the fast surface. But hey, it was never in doubt.

One is full of dodgy natives, criminals, anti-social types! And one is in Central America!

Just a suggestion but would this not be a more appropiate target ?

The investigation being undertaken by Nimmo and his cronies on behalf of the SPL has nothing whatsoever to do with Tax Dodging. It's looking at dual contracts and whether or not Rangers were in breach of SFA/SPL rules by not declaring that some players were receiving larger salaries than had been registered. The legality of the EBT's has no baring on the investigation and is being pursued separately by HMRC.

Some amount of Greenesque logic there.

Got to wonder what the SPL hope to gain by continuing to pursue this and paying out the vast sums of money these people will be commanding for their services. We're not arguing a point of law, they won't be able to enforce any fines and stripping titles means what exactly??? Would be far better if they put the money, time and other resources into sorting out the mess Scottish Football is in instead of trying to save a bit of face from the disaster that occurred because they were operating a system which allowed such things to happen in the first place. Nobody came out of the summer fiasco looking good and the more they drag it out the more damage that will be done and everyone will just look even worse. Time to draw the line and move on with stuff that matters instead of further lining the pockets of solicitors etc.