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And so much fer the "they will all be offski" following the Butcher debacle. Perhaps - just perhaps - we have a squad who realise that there is summat big on the horizon and possibly have faith in the management team.

No fan of Yogi as a manager and have made it clear that I don't think he is up to the job but 'retard' is wholly unjustified and outrageous. Whether a decent manager or not, he seems a decent man and doesn't deserve such abuse even if we don't win another game all season.

I would like to put on record a huge vote of thanks to all those who worked so hard over the past few weeks to make our first Final appearance such a success. I don't personally know these individuals but everyone I encountered was top class. All the people from CaleyJags Together who gave many hours of their own time to sell tickets, organise transport, distribute travel vouchers, collect payment, etc etc, well done. Big thanks to the bloke who phoned me in Glasgow to let me know where Bus 6 was parked. Huge thanks to all volunteer stewards who gave their time to help folk on buses and trains. Massive thanks to the girls in the ICT portacabin who seemed under so much pressure but came through smiling. I even met a bloke from Edinburgh who had been promised a ticket in Glasgow from one if the ticket girls at the very last minute. He was on absolute tender hooks until the special train appeared and he got his tickets. I am sure there are loads of similar stories of togetherNess and generosity from those involved in our Final preparations. Sunday was a huge day for ICT and Inverness, well done everyone.

Ross Draper has just signed a two year deal!

Oh I know plenty folk don't use the buses as have been on many half full, if that, this season. However, for a lot of people the buses are a safe, comfortable, stress free way of getting right to the ground without having to revert to public transport or their own vehicles. The lesson here is probably that anyone who wants to go on the supporters bus should let the organisers know well in advance. Cmon Inverness.

Were you booked on the supporters bus for Wednesday and every other away game this season? Absolutely.

I like the way Yogi conducts himself, I like his enthusiasm, I like his defensive setup but I'm still waiting to see how he is going to create GOALS. Give the man a chance, he seems a nice guy and deserves it.

Whilst I don't think it was a penalty either I hardly think that the view of a failed manager and terrible pundit should be taken as the final word on the matter.

Pretty sure they will know on the system who bought tickets................ just a thought.

I was thinking that. Very few of the fans who will want to go on Saturday wouldn't have been at Glasgow anyway. Why not simply make it a straight one off gesture across the board to reward fans for their loyalty and support throughout the season and not just on Sunday. If a few take up the offer who weren't there on Sunday or haven't even been all season then so what. Aren't they the very ones we are trying our hardest to attract ? Great offer, great gesture but I agree with RIG, forget about requiring ticket stubs. Throw the offer open to everyone.

And moving completely off topic - midweek games should just be abolished. It is harder to find a reason to go to a Tuesday/Wednesday match than not (poor transport options, A9, school night, crap weather, Champions league, Alba "nearly live", pub, sports activities etc etc). I know these are re-arranged matches and there's no space in the schedule for a team as successful as ICT , but there has to be a recognition of these issues, which are more acute for us, but relevant to all the clubs. Anyone ever thought of increasing the league to 16 and only playing each other twice? Plenty of time to fit the cup games on Saturdays and allow for poor weather! So, I take my hat off to all supporters (ICT or other) who manage to get to any games midweek - I can't and won't be able to until children are off the books (does that ever happen?) SPFL needs to recognise that they are competing for our time and cash......in midweek the competition is too strong!

ICT have now played for 7 hours without scoring a goal. And it's not as if we are faced with keepers making miraculous saves, we just aren't cutting through or making chances like we used to. It may well be that fatigue is taking its toll in the midst of a long run of weekend and midweek games, and at times like this the decision to release our 2 back-up strikers and not replace either of them seems to have been the wrong one. Anyway, some stats for you. Since Watkins sealed our victory in Dingwall, we have currently gone 402 minutes (plus however much injury time there was in our last 5 matches, which would get you to 7 hours) without a goal. I've looked back and found that only once have we had a longer drought - the record was set in March 2002 and stands at 426 minutes (again plus any injury time). That run started with a painful cup QF defeat to Partick and ended with a Tokely equaliser v County. It's not as if we were short of goalscorers or creativity back then, as we had Wyness, Ritchie, Christie and Robson. So, the upshot is that we need to score in the first 24 minutes v Motherwell to avoid setting an unwanted record. More importantly, we know that when we score first, we always win!

With three minutes left of normal time a roar went up from the Inverness end that would have curdled the blood of every Don at Celtic Park. When Andrew Considine wrestled Richie Foran in the Aberdeen box there was an expectation of a penalty. It happened down the end of the ground where the Inverness fans were housed. Under their noses. They could smell victory. Penalty! GOAL ! Final whistle! Inverness's glory. Aberdeen's pain. Again. The collective howl fell on deaf ears. Steven McLean waved play on. Foran screeched in protest but to no avail. Foran was right, McLean was wrong. It should have been a penalty. It should have been an opportunity for Inverness to go a goal up with time almost done. It should have been, but it wasn't. Football is a cruel, bloody game.

Oh God... were're back to the People's Front of Caledonia versus the bloody Romans again In 1997 when 56 of the 72 Scottish MPs were Labour, the Labour Government delivered on their manifesto promise to hold a referendum on devolution. Devolution was duly delivered and has been a great success. Between 2007 and 2013 the Highlands and Islands has received 122 million Euros of funding from the European Regional Development fund which represents 1.1% of the total EU investment earmarked for the UK under the EU Cohesion Policy for 2007 -13. Given that the Highlands and Islands has approximately 0.5% of the UK population that is funding at 2 x the per capita rate for the rest of the UK. Arguing that Scotland gets no benefit from the UK Government or the EU through being part of the UK is simply ridiculous. It clearly gets some very significant benefit. I'm not saying that these points above are an argument for a no vote, I simply make a plea for the case for independence to be placed on a rather more constructive basis that this blind, fanatical hatred of all things Westminster. Think I'll give this thread a miss for a bit as its doing my head in. I note Oddquine posted a lengthy reply to Charles at 2.39pm on Sunday - er wasn't something else happening in Glasgow at that time?

2 year extension. Great news

You have indeed

Wonderful. And I can't believe I actually agree with every single word in a post by IHE

Well done for getting him signed up.

I wish that Doran had just put the ball in the box, it could have gone anywhere and maybe somebody could have stabbed it home. To punt it over the bar so wildly was just gutting, it was the last minutes of extra time, I was so sure it was our chance to nab it at the death!

I think you're lucky just to read his comments rather than hear his voice. He really has the most bunged up adenoidal drone you're ever likely to hear.

Draper has signed a 2 year deal, Ross Draper ‏@rdraper08 10m Buzzing to have signed 2yr extension with the club! Big 11 games left now..

Plenty of folk don‘t use the buses. I‘ll be meeting other central belt based fans late Wednesday afternoon and heading through to Motherwell. I don‘t go to midweek home games though. Not taking a day off work for it. I‘d imagine this is the same with most Inverness based fans regarding midweek away games. Thats my problem tbh. I dont miss may awaydays but this is my busy time at work and just cant get off tomorrow. Hoping to be able to make Tannadice tho...

Very true if the tackle is deemed to be dangerous...taking man and ball...studs showing....two footed, etc. Not so true if it is a clear attempt to get the ball first (and does) regardless if there is contact with the opposing player, which by definition, in a tackle, even in this namby pamby day and age, there inevitably will be. Football? A contact sport? Get thee to a nunnery...

Without wishing to comment directly on specific incidents in the game, the most enduring, common misperception amongst fans is the 'he got the ball first' fallacy. Getting to the ball first does not mean a foul has not been committed.

What I find disappointing is that out of 7800 fans who turned up on Sunday only 6 were prepared to make the effort to go and support the team against Motherwell. This game is really important as far as getting into Europe is concerned. Must be very frustrating for those who organise supporters buses.

There will always be an imbalance with the fixtures with the current set-up. Even getting to the split at 33 games means half the teams have more home games than away fixtures. And the scenario of playing a team 3 times at home and just once away does happen! I'd prefer to see the split after 22 games with a further 10 games post-split. That ensures equal home-and-away games against clubs for all. Or even better, I'd like for the 'top tier' to be a 16 team, 32 game league - but that's a whole different can of worms, and the SPFL can never please everybody. However, I'm really pleased about the implementation of the beginnings of a pyramid system, from next season and also the 'Premiership' play-off spot in place now. With Hearts effectively doomed from the off, there would've been so many dead-games in the bottom half of the table this season but instead, teams like County, Killie, St. Mirren, Partick and even Hibs have a lot to play for over the next few weeks.

Good offer but... ...wouldn't it have made more sense to announce it before the game? I bet there's a fair few fans who dispensed with their tickets straight after Sundays game.

I do have my doubts about Yogi but then again I had my doubts about Butcher when he arrived, the very least he deserves is a chance and not to be personally abused.

If you read his name backwards, he is sniffing glue! Why would anyone want to be so ungracious, on such a day's outing, to two hard-working, deserving teams frae the "heelins"? Answer: JEALOUSY.

Nice touch from the club .

Don't like the negative comments on this thread about Polworth. He is a very young lad who apparently is a model professional and just learning his trade. During the limited opportunities he has had he has been at least the equal of any of the other midfielders. For example against Hibs he probably worked as hard as anyone on the park constantly breaking up the Hibs play. He may not be the finished article but well worth a few starts before the end if the season. When you look at the so called tremendous young talent that Dundee United supposedly have then we need to 'big up' our local young boys not slag them off. Young players seldom play consistently well in the early years. I say let Polworth, Christie, Pepper and Evans have a decent run now, it will pay dividends in the long run.

I am absolutely heartbroken at the result. It's nearly 24 hours later and I am still downbeat at what happened yesterday. I've been through break ups that have been easier to stomach than the loss yesterday. When I heard that Pawlett was out and then when Hayes went off injured I thought that we would have a real chance to have a go at Aberdeen. Instead we retained the 4-1-4-1 that we used v Hibs which created almost nothing in 90 minutes and bettered it by creating nothing in 120 minutes yesterday. I think Hughes was right to stifle Aberdeen the way we did but in doing so we essentially conceded any attacking ability. Vincent was solid defensively on the left with Shinnie but seldom got forward. On the right the highlight of the day, if you can all it that, was Watkins drifting infield before falling over himself trying to shoot. Mckay got absolutely no service aside from hooked balls and lumps towards the corner.In the middle Draper, Foran and Tansey shielded the back line well and just let Aberdeen have the ball as much as they wanted and challenged them to create chances which they, more often than not, failed to do. I thought our best players were Shinnie, Meekings and Devine. Raven was decent enough and Brill less shakey than he has been recently but the other three were our best performers by far. We've gone from one of the most creative and attacking teams in the league to one that is struggling to get anywhere near the goal now. I can barely remember a chance we had in the match and whilst Aberdeen didn't create a number of clear cut chances they definitely came closer to scoring than we did with the chance for Anderson perhaps being their best opportunity along with McGinn I think getting a nice break of the ball in the box but luckily he missed. I thought that, especially towards the end, Aberdeen were there for the taking if we wanted to have a go but we lacked the guile to create anything of note to see us nick it. Not sure about this supposed stone wall penalty that Foran has been talking about. Wasn't convinced at the time about the claim by Rooney for his shout but I haven't seen a replay so I could be wrong. Langfield had clearly done his homework on how Mckay takes his spot kicks. Low and left every time (except from a couple at the end of last season when he went high and right and missed). It was a good save. Tansey - oh dear. What else can you say? Ross and Doran finished well under pressure but every one of Aberdeens spot kicks were unstoppable. Sickening when I saw Rooneys strike hit the back of the net. Whilst all the Dons celebrated Scott Vernon was straight over to the ICT guys shaking their hands. Fair play to him because I can't say I would have been doing that if I was in his boots. Congratulations to Aberdeen then and I hope they enjoyed their day. Can't say I will be anywhere near the city centre next weekend though when they have the cup procession. I will be sitting in my flat sobbing into my ICT top wondering what could have been if we were a bit more positive and tried to test Aberdeen a bit more. EDIT: Just had a thought. In the Semi Final our kids beat the Hearts kids in the half time shoot out. ICT of course went on to win at penalties. Yesterday, the Aberdeen kids won the shoot out and went on to win on penalties. It's a sign.

Rebelwithoutaclue you should have come and stood up the back of 113 with me! Was bouncing the whole game! High Keevens is a dick pure and simple!

Unfortunately, I can recognise the comments made on the ICT support, because I was complaining throughout the game and after that I was disappointed that most around me were happy sitting (lots of kids though). How our whole support behaved as an 8000 strong group was pitiful. We couldn't get though 2 lines of stand up for thd caley jags before folk were flipping down their chairs to get back down again. Even when the pleyers were trying to rowse something extra from us, As an 8000 strong group of ICT fans we offered little more than some clapping and cheering. We just didn't give them 12th man inspiration IMO, to push that tiny bit harder etc. - As for keevins comment on the footy team- nothing I can write without expletives safe to say I disagree.

I was sat in 113, i did't sit down for 120mins + pens. I started Some of the INVERNESS (x11) chants. Personal I would of said we as much noise of maybe even more than Aberdeen, not bad considering we were outnumbered 6/1

I think Yogi should now give Draper an ultimatum. We not only need a good finish to the season, we need to know who is here next season. If Draper is moving lets forget about him, I would even go as far as offering to cancel his contract if he is moving. That would save us his salary and let him find another club before the season ends - that will show how good an agent he has!. Christie looks to be the future so lets start him and see how he does. I'm not convinced about Polworth. Ross has a lot of good attributes but he really does need to toughen up and put himself about - then we really do have a player! I don't think we should be despondent, we have a very good choice from 2 decent keepers, 6 proven defenders and a good choice of midfielders to fit various shapes. Our problem is up front. We have a striker who can score goals but we have absolutely no options. I honestly think the future looks good but now is the time that Yogi and Latapy have to show how creative they are.

Perception is everything. Memories are short. In the 11 leagues games before Butcher left we were averaging 10 attempts on target per game and in the last 11 games Hughes has been in charge we are averaging 9.5. There really is not much difference in that respect. I would concede that we have lost a bit of zip and I'm not quite sure why but one thing that frustrates me now and which frustrated me before is how few players seem to look to take a shot. Obviously Billy does when he gets half a chance but of the rest, the only two who seem to be looking to shoot are Doran and on occasions when he is forward, Shinnie. Draper, Vincent, Foran, Ross and Tansey rarely take a pop at goal and time and time again the ball is moved across the width of the park and none of them ever seems to look to take the initiative to either drive forward themselves or create the space for a shot. The tactic seems to be to either manipulate the chance for an overlap down the wing and a cross or a more intricate exchange through the defence to walk the ball into the net. Doing this often leads to us getting pushed back when the long ball up to a small striker is resorted to. When he takes responsibility for a shot and it goes wrong Doran is accused by some here as being selfish, so it seems you just can't win. Tansey's strike in the semi at Easter Road will live long in the memory and I just don't know why he and the others seem so reluctant to have a go. In Billy Mckay we have a very sharp instinctive striker and I am sure that even if our midfilelders didn't score too often with shots there would be times when the keeper couldn't hold the shots and there would be scraps for Billy to feed off. It's all very well having possession of the ball but it's no use unless you do something with it. Players need to take responsibility upfront to make things happen. At the moment, it seems only Doran is doing that. I don't know whether this is a confidence thing but it needs to change. We have an absolutely crucial period coming up with 6 games in 18 days. Given the huge emotional drain of losing the final in the cruellest way it will not be easy to lift the players but lift them we must. Aberdeen must be favourites for 2nd and therefore this weeks game against Motherwell becomes a 6 pointer for third place. We need to build on the solid defencive work on Sunday and start to be more decisive in an attacking sense. We need to get back to scoring ways and we will not do that if players do not have the confidence to do anything but pass the ball (and the responsibility) to the team mate standing next to them. The fact is that we have got to the final of one cup, the quarter final of another and have secured a top 6 finish with 6 games still to play. This has been a very successful season for us and whilst that may not be good enough for some on this forum, it is something that the team should be proud of. They are a very good team with the potential to be ever better. They shouldn't be downhearted - rather, they should be proud of what they have acheived so far and have the confidence that having acheived this, they can now express themselves and develop further as a team. Hopefully a win at Motherwell will be the signal for a storming end to the season.

Just back from Glasgow. Reflecting on the event, I had great weekend with my team at a cup final, we lost and that's really disappointing having got there, but even playing well below the levels we have reached earlier this season, we were within a couple of penalties of an historic win. We lost a long term manager middle season and that's often tough, yet have managed to stay top six and reach our first ever major final. (Most) of the Aberdeen fans I met were fine folk and weren't taking us lightly. One nice touch was a 51,000 crowd in Glasgow and no-one was singing about their 'beliefs' and 'culture' just football.

Doran looked really dangerous when he came on. But I'm not sure he would have if he'd been on at the start. The tactics were a return to what we looked so good at: i.e. counter-attacking. In the run-up, I'd said Foran and Tansey as the holding midfielders, with Draper playing behind the striker. I was wrong. I'd dissed Tansey for not having the pace to play that role (he hasn't) but I think he should have been pushed forward for the long shot. Not too far forward but enough for the ball to come back to him, then pow! It's over the bar! (but maybe in the back of the net occassionally). Watkins looked good (not so much yesterday but decent enough). I'd like to see a Ross-Watkins-Doran tried, with Watkins in the hole. Maybe that would give us a better chance of a goal, rather than the more midfield Vincent/Foran/Ross in there. All-in-all, we more than matched the team everyone has tipped to become the big force in Scottish football outside Celtic. A first cup final is as much an announcement as getting into the SFL or being promoted to the SPL. We are now very much a top six team. We challenge for Europe. We challenge for cups. They're not easy things to win (ask Aberdeen, Hibs etc.) but, for the first time in our history, we deserve to be spoken about in the same breath as the New Firm and more feared than the Edinburgh clubs. How far we've come.

We matched them man for man, but we were set up too defensively. I suppose the 5-0 drubbings were the thinking behind that. I don't know why Hughes doesn't stick to the system that brought Butcher so much success - but he hasn't used it once. Still, could have gone either way at the end - and we had a good spell for 25 minutes early 2nd half. Back 4 were superb - especially Meekings and Devine. Foran was clear penalty, as shown on highlights. We need to work on set pieces, and get one specialist free kick taker - practice, practice, practice! Those were real chances.

Just watched the highlights. Didn't realise at the time, watching it live, how obvious a penalty that was when Foran was being held back. Unlucky, that might have made all the difference.

Absolutely shocking stuff. How can professional footballers fail, in numerous attempts, to get the ball anywhere near the vicinity of the goal?

Feck me there seems to be so many on here that think they would have got the tactics right and team choice right. Hind sight is great guys. I'm happy that we had a go, stopped them from scoring for 120mins and on another day they might have missed 2 pens. Considering their budget and fan base are both 3-4 times ours. We should be proud of our team and move on to the league.

I went to the game expecting a drubbing to be honest after our performances in the previous couple of weeks. So I can understand Yogi setting the side up so negatively to some extent. But it wasn't pretty to watch. I think Aberdeen were there for the taking if we'd been a bit more creative. Doran had some good runs down the left when he came on spoiled only by his final cross. Unsurprisingly our best players were at the back with Meekings and Devine superb. When are we going to get the message that Mckay is not a penalty taker? But a good day out all the same. Lost a lot of drinking time queueing to get into the London Road Tavern! Oh, by the way, I thought our flag was ok, but completely outshone by Aberdeen's magnificent display at the start. That must have taken some organising!

As soon as I saw your name at the top of the post, I knew exactly what would be said, and that it was going to be pretty negative stuff.

I'm here...with me Caley scarf on, Cafe Nero, just outside Queen Street Station, let's have a great day regardless of the outcome..... 'Come on you Caley'

You amaze me Charles. Its all tedium and you've no interest yet you've nearly typed as many words as Oddquine. I'll answer your points though. Fire, Police. These have been taken out of the realms of local government for a couple of reasons. The first being the mess they were making of running such services. More important though. Why do we need so many Chief constables and all the other hangers on that made up the top brass of each Police region. Why did we need all the gold braid and the local call centres when, in this modern day of technology I can go onto a website and pinpoint my own house right down to the curtains on the window. Each police force, each fire station still has its leaders. Its just the overpaid fatcats and the multitude of call centres that are changing. The savings put more police and Emergency response personell on the front line. To your second point.......did you even bother to vote cos half the voting population couldn't be ersed. Third point...... Under International law every country has a twelve mile protection zone around its coast and a 200 mile mineral and fishing (unless you've been scuppered by Brussels) rights, unless there is a clash with other countries. (as UK/Norway) But Charles, and heres where I cut you down for your stupid statements and lack of knowledge of the wealth of minerals across the whole of Britian, What is within our legal zone is ours but if you insist its Britians oil then we'll take no more than our fair share. Then we'll also demand our share of the vast gas reserves of the east and south coast of England as well as the oil fields of Morecombe Bay. Once we've got that then we,ll take our share of the shale mines and the onshore oil development in the south east of England. Perhaps we can even negotiate the vast coal reserves that are still under the English countryside. And the lead and the tin. Finally Charles, you keep mentioning Britian as if we will no longer be a part of it. Sorry to disappoint but we've no intention of cutting loose and sailing away. The island that is Britian, made up of Scotland Wales and England, will always be Britian. There may not be a United Kingdom but there'll always be a Britian

Frequently... especially when I come across some of these hairy eejits who wrap themselves up in swathes of tartan, wave saltires and generally have delusions that they are latter day victims of English oppression. They are the sort of nationalist equivalent of these Celtic fans who spend their lives hanging about Parkhead. The Battle of Culloden must be one of the most misunderstood episodes in British history which time and again finds itself hijacked by ultra-Nationalist cranks who are probably an embarrassment to the SNP if they haven't already been chucked out, and rightly so. It's people like this who bring me closest to any feeling of sympathy with tge SNP For instance when you look at photos of the recent protest about housebuilding near the battle site, here are the ever present saltire-waving hairies in caricature gear acting out their delusions of grievance against the English. I was also at a charity run at Culloden last October, and again here was a squad of ultra-Nat nutters doing the run in the teeshirts of some kind of off the wall, chip on both shoulders organisation. Two of the things that worry me most about Scotland are the manner in which it has allowed its history to be subverted for political purposes and the embarrassing way in which it has connived at the caricature of itself which is all too often presented on a global scale.

Pepper is massively determined. Greenhalgh has got talent.