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This, and the posts like it are pretty unforgivable and do no credit to the people posting them. It's the easiest thing in the world to miss a penalty, never mind when 16 000 people are screaming at you. Those who are posting this stuff have no idea what pressure is about. Ballooning it, hitting the post, getting too smart - either way it's a miss and the result is the same. Similarly, those who wanted Reguero subbed for the pens - if we had done that, the lad would have been perfectly justified in getting the first plane back to spain and saying stuff you. Can't believe the attitude. I can believe the expectation, the demands etc. but not that attitude. As for the game, Foran should have walked, so should Ngoo. He was brutal. we were sucked into playing Hearts game of pumping up long balls and it suits us even less than it suits them but we so nearly made it. Dust ourselves down, st. mirren on wednesday.

Likely not...but we didn't win and the 18 year old who lost it for us was a Marsella pick, endorsed by Terry,,,and not one of the homegrown youth players. I feel for Roberts because I think that losing a match as a result of his failure is going to do bugger all for his confidence going forward....but I do wonder why he was picked to take the penalty in the first place......I really do! And slating the lad and pinning sole blame is going to boost his confidence? Get a flippin' grip! I really cannot ever come to understand folk who pick the negative out of any situation, good, bad or indifferent! Particularly those who pin blame in such a manor as you have done in the above. For the entire season so far we have been fantastic, and the lads were so so close to making all our dreams of a first major final come true. 4 defeats all season, 2nd in the SPL, still in the Scottish Cup, a chance of Europe, a chance of a top-six finish - and you pick on an 18 year old for missing 1 effort on goal!!? Disgracful...

I live in Edinburgh so have lots of Jambo mates who were at the game so spoke with them afterwards. Not one person mentioned the flare. In fact I, and probably everyone else, forgot it happened until I saw this thread. No one was injured, nor were they going to be. No one remotely cares other than a few folk on here looking to be offended. It doesn't reflect anything on us or our club in any way. Try and enjoy life a bit more. Thanks.

We didn't lose because one person missed a penalty, we lost because we couldn't win over 90 minutes or over 120 minutes, which is a team thing and not down to one person. Singling out one person is just ridiculous and anti-thetic to the whole principle of team sports.

Bit of an over reaction. Why bother even mentioning it. It won't do the club any harm at all. Nothing will happen about it, from the clubs perspective anyway. Not sure who's views you claim to represent cause they aren't mine

The club are aware of the situation.

I have to give a mention to Shane Sutherland when he came on, he played absolutely fantastic, possibly his best sub appearance for us and definitely the best appearance for him this season IMO

may i just remind everyone that a penalty shoot out is not a test of a the goalkeeper but rather a test of the penalty taker at the end of the day if the take hits it well or places it tightly into the corner they arnt gonna be saved, hearts pens were all good. mark brown never saved pens but was down as one of our best keepers. its a one off, regueros been fantastic all season dropping him cause hearts took five good penalties is a tad harsh dont you think?

To those who were responsible for this, you should hear loud and clear that today you did our fans and our club great harm. Just because you got away with it at Dingwall, and were warned against a repeat does not mean that you got away with it this time. Easter road is brimming with CCTV cameras and you were caught on film. It's just a question of whether or not anyone from either club or the police can identify you. I suspect that they can, and if we can help to identify you, we will. It is utterly unacceptable for any ICT fan to throw things on to the field of play. As Caley Jags Together, we are committed to representing fans views, fans perceptions and fans rights. We are about to meet with the Police about chanting at derby games and you, whoever you are, have just made our job ten times harder. Please, we never want to see this again.

I have one question. Why did we let an Englishman take a penalty? Look at Englands records in penalty shoot-outs.

Why oh why did we resorted to the long ball today when Hearts went down to ten men? Absalutely ridiculous! The team have been playing so well this seasom by playing fast flowing football and when the opposition go down to 10 men, all the more reason to keep it on the deck and pass it about.

I think this too. Hearts would be all over this if we had fielded an ineligible player.

The Squirel who works for the Guardian and is claiming ban was served in the Liverpool v Arsenal match in 2010 should really have checked his papers own archives.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/13/squad-sheets-liverpool-arsenal

Okay, yesterday was a massive disappointment. The team underperformed, our star striker was badly off form and we lost out in the lottery of a penalty shoot out. However, we still have a great opportunity of a day in the sun at the National Stadium and that in the biggest domestic cup competition of all. The team are capable, they owe it to themselves and to the fans to make amends and go all the way in the Scottish Cup and crown this special season in style. We have all had the opportunity to have our say on the events at Easter Road but that is done and gone now. Time to get behind the next cup campaign and right yesterday's wrong starting at Rugby Park next week.

We should pursue it, the Jambo's are the biggest con men and cheats in the Scottish game. Go for the jugular and forget our nice guy tags...... As for their keeper 'screaming' at Roberts before his penalty, how pathetic is that.

Ha ha. So when Terry advised Roberts to "put it where the keeper can't get it" he should have perhaps elaborated a bit.

CaleyD, Has CJT ever raised the issue of away fans standing in the stadium? How about songs we find offensive? Do the police have a better answer than we don't treat them as harshly as home fans because we're scared of them.

IMO young Roberts needs to be handed the ball the next time we get a pen, scoring from the spot will do him the world of good.

Ok I'll leave CJT out of this, and address it purely as a caley thistle fan. This is a purely personal reply to the points raised above. This is the second time that kick off has been held up in a game involving us which is televised and is therefore contracted to begin at a certain time. The SFL will be unhappy about this, and can sanction the club. The club is responsible for the conduct of its fans home and away and are in an awkward position with this, and I believe that we were warned after the County game. Yes, local police will deal with it if they can identify anyone at the time but so will Focus, their specialist football unit. This will result in increased surviellance on all ICT fans, increased bag searches (this happened after the County game and people complained - few made the connection) a more controlling approach to us at away grounds and less leeway for standing etc. There are unintended consequences here, but consequences none the less. Because CCTV records crowds at all SPL venues, someone is going to be identified and prosecuted. They will belong to the same group of lads who bring colour and passion to our support (they did again yesterday) and one of them will end up with a criminal record over this. It does involve a group of people - you can't lob a smoke canister over a crowd of people with no one around you seeing it and your mates not knowing you had the thing, and those around you are associated and implicated in what you do. These are the same lads that sing and chant and they will be targetted by association, and that would be a great shame. Can you honestly say hand on heart that they will not sing anything about gypsy travellers at the next game and put themselves at risk with a police force that is already watching them? Even with the intervention of others to clarify what is and isn't acceptable to sing /chant, we know one thing - it is clearly an offence to throw pyrotechnics at a football match. No grey area here. So I'm not concerned by causing guilt by association with a group of our fans, they have effectively done that themselves. I'm not convinced that the police will seperate out the issues, they will simply look to apply whatever legislation when enforcing the law. They will have done that with any others arrested at the game, and I don't want to see them have to do it to more.

Oddquine you are entitled to that opinion but I don't agree with it. If we had won I doubt this would even be getting a mention tbh

Just for the record Davie + caleycalum my post earlier for us to use are last sub for Esson wasnt a joke. I honestly think changing the keepers before a shoot out is as sound a move as making a sub to bring a penalty taker onto the park in the dying minutes, teams do it all the time. You never know it might have put a bit of doubt in the HEarts players minds.

Got to feel for young Philip Roberts. Although I don't think anybody should be to 'blame' either him or Butcher for the miss. We're a fickle bunch - often with short memories. It should be remembered that he stepped up last -and scored- in the penalty shoot-out win over Stenhousemuir to effectively put Inverness through. There might not have been the game today had he not shown the bottle on that occasion!

No point moaning the game is over We had our chances and blew it So all that is left is the double now the treble has gone Onward and upward

I think this was another of the refs many mistakes. Having said that Toni did go through his wee routine of placing his towel and water bottle. He then went to the post and kicked the mud of his boots. And then after that, he stopped to pull each of his his socks up, even though they were up already. I think that was the final straw for the ref. He then got his flask out and had a cup of coffee with a biscuit... He didn't offer a biscuit to the referee. School boy error.

You guys have made my night, a big well done, Its impossible for him to serve his suspension in England it can only apply to the cup in question, as far as Im concerned he shouldnt have played, its now a case of getting the legal eagles involved. W

He's English through and through. Like most Republic players.

I don't recall the Hearts keeper getting near any of our penalties, especially Roberts one.

Being able to, finally, stand at an SPL ground yesterday was one of the day's highlights. Well done to whoever it was who turned a blind eye. Football attendances would multiply 100-fold* if this was the general policy. *I'm exaggerating for effect Wasn't an SPL match so the "you must sit" rule does not apply. Have to say I wasn't aware of that. Maybe my football outings from now on will be restricted to cup matches. So nobody can stop me standing at Killie on Saturday? This season just gets better and better!

Hope they're all hungover like when we were in 2000 after we went ballistic

Unfortunately I totally agree dead ball specialist! Getting booked seemed to knock the stuffing out of him altogether and the only way we we would have needed a hearts player to sky it also for us to win. I take no pleasure in thinking this as Toni has been great for us this season.

The overall subject of fans being dealt with the same at either end of the stadium has been an ongoing topic of discussion for a long while...although surprisingly(?) it's not one that's raised it's head this season to my knowledge!!! It's an argument we will never win, IMO, and nor should we be tackling it in that manner. What sometimes comes from visiting fans does not fall into the same category as what sometimes comes from our fans and we would rather not compare them as being on any kind of equal standing. We are not making a case that the legislation is wrong or that racist/sectarian chanting is acceptable. We are making a case that what is sung/chanted by our fans does not fall within the legislation, is nothing more than banter and that our fans are being wrongly chastised and labelled.

Who are they tarnishing our support with a bad name to? No one seems to care other than a handful of our own support.

Just seen the highlights too, I think Billy's miss in the first half was worse! He's running through with a nice bouncing ball in front and the goalie off his line, how easy should that have been to chip him, oh dear oh dear. Anyway, the bonus is all the watching scouts will have chilled on him and he'll be here for a while.

Clacher, let me make it clear....CJT, nor any of those who will be meeting with the police, believe that these incidents should be "connected" in terms of how they are dealt with or discussed. However, we will have to deal with and be able to defend ourselves on a stance that ICT fans pose little or no risk to the safety of others or are likely to cause a situation which could lead to unrest...and any/all incidents can, in the view of the authorities (whether we agree with it or not), fall into that category. Certain events fell in the club, and persons, favour with regards the smoke bomb that was thrown at Ross County which made it hard to identify the individual and the club got away without sanction because we have such a good record and it was felt that this was likely to have been a one off. The individual does not have to be identified in order for the club to face sanctions, so it could still have happened. What did happen though, and you can call it over zealous if you wish....I agree...but things like bag searches and crowd surveillance were stepped up. CJT have been monitoring that situation, but our hope was that with no repeat incidents it would be short lived and everything would go back to normal fairly quickly. Not spoken to the whole CJT board, but my own personal opinion is that bag searches etc will now continue longer and we have a weakened case to complain about it. On the subject of the smoke bomb, warnings as to the possible consequences after the last one have been ignored and the likelihood of the club being sanctioned are high. In regards to the singing/chanting of "traveller" related words/terms. We have taken advice from several people (legal and otherwise) on the matter and go in to that meeting highly confident that we can clear the matter up and put it to bed once and for all. In fact, legislation stands in our favour and we are not fighting the legislation, but the application of the legislation. No such position exists for us to defend fans in regards to throwing items on to the field of play (smoke bombs or otherwise)...and to be honest, I wouldn't personally seek to try and defend such actions...and find it a little strange that others on here think it's a matter that should just be ignored!!! CJT are working hard with the club to find ways to remove the things that fans perceive/believe are spoiling the matchday experience and stuff like this badly hinders that process. We're happy to be doing these things...it's a large part of why we exist...but the fans also need to realise they have a part to play in helping themselves, us and the club. After the first smoke bomb my thoughts were that I hoped the person didn't get caught and that would be the end of it....a one off silly moment, lessons learned, warnings heeded and we move on. After the one yesterday I find myself hoping that they are caught because these things harm everyone. We've got fans telling us they will not tolerate any more pocket/bag searches or being actively filmed at matches and would rather just not come. Some people might want to call that an overreaction, personally I see it as wanting to nip an issue in the bud before it gets out of hand.

The phrase 'rubbing salt in the wounds' was invented for what I'm just watching on BBC 'tisnow...looks like St. Mirren are going to set up a Final with Hearts! Ach, second rate tournament - Hearts v. St. Mirren - it gets the final it deserves!! Haha

As I mentioned earlier, how many Celtic fans will be arrested for singing offensive songs, standing or being drunk in the stadium in a few weeks time? CJT could raise that with the police.

I agree with Luke that it is a test of the penalty taker and not the keeper. However some keepers have more of a presence than others and this puts added pressure on the taker as they sense they have a little less margin for error. Whilst Reguero has done very well since he's come in I agree with the poster who felt he really didn't fancy it. I think Esson has more presence for a spot kick and is the more likely to stop a penalty. As we had only used 2 of our subs, I think we maybe missed a trick here by not bringing Esson on a couple of minutes before the final whistle. Coming back to Luke's point, this would have placed no particular pressure on Esson as you don't expect a keeper to save a penalty. It would have put pressure on the Hearts players who would know that the reason the substitution was taking place was because Esson was felt to be a better spot stopper.

That is another over reaction. The club will not face consequences. No other club in Scotland have and many have used smoke bombs a lot more than we have. Also being over dramatic again with people around them implicated etc etc. It was a smoke bomb, big deal. If the police want to deal with it they can, let them do that job, it's not a job for you or for your group to even bring up. You also said earlier that your 'job' has been made 10 times harder meeting the police. No it hasn't. Local police might want to talk about singing but so far that is it. Why would they bring up a smoke bomb in Edinburgh that they might not even be aware about. It seems from your posts that you are desperate to go to this meeting and bring it up. There is no reason for you to mention it at all. Just forget about it, it has nothing to do with this 'cjt' group and you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. The police will deal with it if they want to, it is not for you to deal with or bring it up. There was no reasong for you to even start this topic. So stop getting so excited about it

" There are none so blind as those who will not see" This is damaging to the club and supporters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21217804#asset

Fair enjoyed my afternoon down Grant Street,cheers for the heads up Charles. As you say, good atmosphere, bumped into several folk i knew but didn't realise were Clach followers.Football was surprisingly good to watch with Brora playing some good stuff but no end product to show and as you say the Clach keeper pulling off a couple of great stops. Clach probably deserved the points with the better work rate and a well taken goal but were hanging on a wee bit in the later stages. A couple of pints in the Nip Inn rounded off a new experience for me and one which i will definitely be making a more regular occurrence. Plus points.....price,atmosphere,no hassle from stewards/polis,pie and bovril hot and good value,standing at football,3.00 pm Saturday KO negative points......none C'mon the Clach!!!!

Who cares? They're all wonderful

I think it was the nerves myself. ICT looked nervy throughout, which leads to the inevitable hoofs up the park.

McKay didnt stand a chance on winning the ball in the air when he's up against Webster and Zaliukas

We seemed to have saved our worst performance of the season for one of the biggest games. From the off we didn't look in control in midfield, it was akin to the early days of the season where our midfielders were isolated and Hearts played between our lines, so to speak. Draper and Jones didn't push on and dominate the play, allow Hearts to funnel the balls out wide where they had some success. We created some excellent chances, in the first half Shinnie picked up a clearance and sent a hooked pass over to top for McKay to run onto. Away from the defence and one-on-one with McDonald, he came up short, hitting an easily saved shot close to the Hearts keeper. Hearts came back and forced Reguero into a low save and then the new striker Ngoo hit the post with a header. We forced a couple of openings and Foran headed wide from a right hand cross. Overall, Hearts pressed us much more in the first and I was glad to get in goaless. Shinnie scored just at the start of the second half, a great goal. We had the ball forward and McKay's battling knocked it into the path of Shinnie, who took it a couple of yards and then cracked a low shot into the corner of Hearts net. It was a great strike, typical of SHinnie, who is really blossoming into a great player. Sadly, again in a throwback to how we played early in the season, we sat deep following our goal and allowed Hearts into the match. They put pressure on and had some big penalty shouts, which looked pretty hopeful from our end of the ground. Then Ngoo, who was involved in most of Hearts promising play, volleyed in following a knock back across goal, a great finish. In the last 15 minutes Scott Robinson was sent off for a challange on Owain Tudor Jones. It happened pretty quickly and Jones didn't go down but Robinson looked to jump in, which we've seen red cards given for. The Hearts fans didn't see it like this and were furious at the ref for the decision. From our perspective, we couldn't make the extra man advantage count in normal time, which was disappointing. In the first period of extra time, we almost gifted Hears a goal when Novikovas slipped in past Raven, but the ball was knocked wide. Then Sutherland was played in and forced McDonald into a good save, with McKay seemingly caught out he couldn't knock the ball into an empty net. Sutherland followed up the save with an attempt at an overhead kick that sailed over. Andy Shinnie then had a chance in the second half but his effort went over the bar from close range, just getting caught under the ball. All the penalties were excellent, keepers didn't get near to any of them until Roberts followed up another disappointing cameo with a shockingly bad penalty, ballooned way over the bar. Really disappointing end to the match - on performance we didn't really deserve to win but given the chances we had and the fact it was 10v11 for most of the game we really should've done better. I thought the atmosphere was excellent from both sets of fans, the stadium was buzzing. Good luck to Hearts in the final.

Its usually the players that decide spot kicks and having a forward who is there to score as one of the takers is not that surprising. Robertswas not brought on to take a penalty but for young legs against tired to win in extra-time. If Foran or Doran had missed a penalty, fans would have been asking why someone so tired was allowed to stay on, instead of fresh legs getting a chance to win it in open play. . What was the difference was Hearts bringing in a couple of ringers in multi-million pound players from Liverpool. And all those thousands in wages from a club that asked fans to raise over a million, whilst not paying their own staff. That stinks.

The fact that ICT aren't in the final isn't what's disappointed me. What's disappointed me is that the team didn't seem to rise to the occasion at all. It was like going back to last year's team at times. There's no doubt Hearts were the better team. They seemed right up for and fought hard for every ball and retained possession far better than we did. Ngoo also looked extremely dangerous going forward. In saying that, ICT missed some golden chances - McKay's one on one in the first half being one, but how he missed that chance in the first half of extra time with only a forward pass to score, I'll never know. Andrew Shinnie's effort in the second half of extra time was bitterly unlucky. We should have done better on that front. In saying that, why were both Roberts and Sutherland included in the squad. Butcher seems to have his heart set on Sutherland being a winger, but it is something he will never be. And when is Philip Roberts ever going to do anything? He shouldn't have being anywhere near the choices for the penalty takers either, far less taking the most important one. In hindsight, Pepper should've been in the squad instead. We desperately needed an impact player today and he may well have been it. Perhaps also changing Reguero for Esson for the shootout would have changed things, but life goes on. Disappointed by the performance to be honest. 10/10 for the ICT fans though!

All part of the learning curve, we have lost before and come back all the stronger for it. Keep the faith togetherNess will win in the end.

Nothing narrow minded about suggesting that a small group with very stringent requirements has a disproportionate hold on a facility which could otherwise be used to the much greater public good. If there is narrow mindedness here, it's on the part of the cricket club who refuse to make allowances for the bigger picture. In fact I would suggest that putting the case for that bigger picture is actually being rather broad minded!

Do you not realise how damn lucky you are to have what you have? Getting back from Aberdeen to play SPL football in Inverness was yet another example of the brinkmanship upon which ICT has serially developed over the last 20 years! Consider the following highly marginal and indeed at the time improbable situations. * 1993 - vacancies arising in the SFL in the first place. That was VERY marginal! * 1993-94 - after winning the vote, the club existing at all. * 1995-96 - getting a stadium up and running. * 1999-2000 - surviving a £2M+ debt crisis which almost had the receivers in. * 2003-04 - winning the First Division title. * 2004 - overcoming SPL red tape and actually getting into the top league. * 2004-05 - getting the north and south stands funded and built in 47 days to bring SPL football to Inverness. * 2009-10 - after being relegated (which was brinkmanship in the other direction by a single goal), winning the First Division from a position which looked totally impossible. So if ICT are 3-0 down at Easter Road tomorrow with 15 mins to go.... don't panic Captain Mainwaring!!! But take any ONE of these EIGHT marginal situations out of the equation, and there would be no semi final tomorrow nor a second (nor indeed any) place in the SPL.