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I really hope they can do it, and somehow stay up! Would miss the derby games. However, Heats coming up would ensure we don't lose too much money from County's demise. But, if it came to a Sevco v County match for the Premiership, I'd be in Dingwall supporting the Staggies with everything I've got , such is my utter contempt for the Glasgow 'club'! Would be gutted to think that any fellow Highlanders would hope that The Rangers and all that baggage, depressing, self-righteousness and sense of entitlement, 'we-arra-people' etc. that comes with them, would achieve their destiny - 'and we'll enjoy the journey!' at the expense of our neighbours. Anybody who still wants County down and Rangers up need only have 5 minutes on 'Bears Den' Forum! Be careful what you wish for!

Missed the draw. Who did C*unty and Aberdeen get?

Our draw was quite predictable - obviously we were destined for the Sevco ball, but they failed to follow the script and got beat and SFA didn't have time to re-jig it! Only surprise was they made the mistake of picking our ball out first so we had a home tie . . .

FT 3-2 Hibs. Lewis Allan hat-trick (12, 46, 75). Ferguson (40) and Brown (80) for us. Hoban C Brown (Rennie) Howarth Horner J.Brown Polworth Maclennan Wilson (Hull) Ferguson Sutherland Baptie Sub n/u Blackett Crowd 110

Without taking anything for Granted, Raith will be tricky opponents, getting this close to the semi final makes me reflect on how far we have come since our last semi finals when we were massive underdogs not only against Dundee but against the mighty Dunfermline.

I believe County are hoping to draw a Highland League team in their next round.

McCaan and Warriros out of ACL to Guangzhou R&F

The answer NOW to the question posed in the OP is Paisley and there can be no feckin statistical, mathematical or any other feckin smart erse response to that. I would prefer to rely on a feckin octopus anyway.

Wow, what did I start when i had a peak in my crystal ball? At least it got the Dundee Utd v Celtic tie spot on, probably the most important one of the lot for us, ensuring that one major rival is knocked out!

That's a very good point. This would be our first Scottish Cup semi as a 'top flight' side. I remember the chants to the Dunfermline fans of "SPL, you're having a laugh!!"

Raith are unbeaten since 27th December 2014. Malpass joined them on the 26th!!!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30604216

I found an interesting article pertinent to the odds discussion. Apparently, in 2008, a punter posted a message on a comments forum prior to the Champions League quarter-final draw - correctly predicting the outcome!!!! A post left on a newspaper's internet forum at 10.28am this morning, 90 minutes before the draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland, correctly predicted the entire quarter-final draw. The poster claimed bookmakers were no longer willing to accept bets on the draw. When all four ties predicted in the post came to fruition it caused fevered internet speculation that some sort of manipulation might have taken place. But a Uefa spokesman said: "It is just a lucky guess." This of course caused media outlets to speculate on what the odds were of 'guessing' the outcome. And as there were clearly no resident statisticians to-hand, various newspapers and websites were publishing all manner of guesses as to what the correct odds would be!!! As it happens, the odds for this punter's prediction were deemed to be 1 in 105. (He had the 4 ties correct, but not in the order they were drawn or with the 'correct' first home team) 1 in 105 explanation the first team drawn can be paired with 7 other teams and for each of these 7 choices the third team drawn can be paired with 5 other teams and for each of these choices the 5th team drawn can be paired with 3 other teams (at this point the last two teams must be paired together). So that makes 7 times 5 times 3 combinations which is 105. So the probability of correctly guessing all four ties is 1 in 105 This is where much of the confusion arises. There are 3 different odds for predicting a quarter-final, it would appear. Predicting the draw exactly as it comes out, ball by ball = 1 in 43,320 Predicting the 4 ties (in any order) but with the correct home/away combination = 1 in 1,680 Predicting the correct 4 pairings (without regard to home/away) = 1 in 105 e.g. (1 in 105) Celtic will play Dundee United Raith will play Inverness Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Celtic-Dundee Utd pairing the 'right way round' would require a multiplication of 2. (1 in 210) Dundee United v Celtic Raith will play Inverness Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Raith-Inverness pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 420) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Berwick/Spartans will play Hibs Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Berwick/Spartans-Hibs pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 840) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Hibs v. Berwick/Spartans Falkirk will play QOS The odds of getting the Falkirk-QOS pairing the 'right way round' would require a further multiplication of 2. (1 in 1,680) Dundee United v Celtic Inverness v Raith Hibs v Berwick/Spartans QOS v Falkirk Which brings us back to the 1,680 figure!!

Thomas Piermayr is on trial at St Mirren! (Daily Express)

I cant remember what the topic was or what the replies were but I remember one poster simply typing a while ago. Fun at parties.

It is 30 years ago today (9th February 1985) during the playing of the 100th Scottish Cup that Inverness Thistle beat Kilmarnock 3-0 at Kingsmills Park in the third round. This is still looked upon by Kille fans as their biggest Scottish Cup defeat and so maybe the club could put a little reminder of it in the programme for the home game against Killie on the 21st February to mark the milestone (for historical purposes only). In a nod to this season's Scottish Cup - that same year in the 2nd Round Thistle beat Spartans 2-1 away after a 1-1 draw at Kingsmills Park. Caley defeated Berwick Rangers 3-0 in a 2nd replay after 1-1 and 3-3 draws. Therefore it would be fiiting that today's Scottish Cup draw paired us against the winners of the Berwick Rangers/Spartans tie. This would allow the club and the media (ok - maybe not the BBC) to reflect on how far we have come in such a short time.

Legendary stuff! That's the first time I've actually seen that famous altercation between Murd and McGrain - who should have had a straight red in my view. But at Celtic Park? Not a chance! By pure coincidence, in this week's Highland News I will be remembering with affection the great Scottish Cup campaigns of that decade before ICT came into being. Apart from Jags beating Kilmarnock and playing at Celtic Park we had Caley beating Airdrie, Clyde, Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion, Berwick and playing Rangers, Hearts, St Johnstone and St Mirren. Correct me if I am wrong, but did all that lot not take place between 1984 and 1992? These were great days for Inverness football at a time when Bobby Wilson's Ross County also had some great results.

Scoring four against Liverpool is quite an achievement for a team from a Morayshire village stuck there between Elgin and Forres.

Typical feckin Jeggie - raises hopes and expectations and ends in a false feckin dawn

Here's the highlights of the Celtic game c/w Murd Urquhart's challenge on McGrain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJQPq5u0v8

Billy has missed a shed load of similar chances to Marley. Billy was not good one on one. Marley worked massively hard against Partick. Billy was latterly a very hard worker. Marley's pace caused Partick hell. Billy was no where near as fast. Marley won a lot of headers. Billy is shorter than him and won less headers. Marley demonstrated some amazing close control against Partick. Like Billy he ran himself into the ground but I suspect he covered a lot more ground than Billy did in his second year with the club. Expect Marley to get a Wales call up if he keeps scoring. Yogi would have been delighted with Marley's performance and in the weeks ahead will work with him to improve his goal return. I suspect Danny Devine has been winding Gary up to get booked more often!! His 6 minutes or so substitute appearance probably did his confidence a lot of good after months of patience on the bench. Out of interest, who was the second 'lunatic' doing cartwheels with Gary behind Greg for the post match video!! Yogi has clearly drummed it into the players 'do as I say, not as I did!!!'

The one and only boast that County have over us is the fact that they have reached the final of the Scottish Cup and we have not. This season presents the perfect opportunity to put that right.....and, for that matter, go one better...

Berwick/ Spartans at home would be ideal but, at this stage, with such an open draw, anyone bar Dundee United or Celtic. Perfect, in fact, if they were pitched against one another,

Statistical analysis thread for this p*sh.

forget CaleyD and his staunch defence .... is this a windup or a serious question? You want the club to divert what scant resources they have so someone can update you on facebook 24/7 just so you can catch a glimpse of Yogi's helmet ? get a feckin grip !

I'm actually surprised at this topic tbh. Considering all media that is aimed at fans is done on a voluntary basis I think we are well served? The youth and community dept have their own FB page btw so if you follow this I think you'll find some of what you're looking for? I'm sure someone from the media team will post in reply in due course but given the small numbers and time constraints I think we are on a par with or better than the rest of the premiership?

It seems to me that this is a tipping point for the club. We are where we are (which is punching above our weight), but do we continue to develop and grow as a team and as a club or do we drop back to what might be seen as a natural level for a club with our resources and fan base? It is also a tipping point for the manager. He took over a team that was 2nd in the league and was fortunate to be able to retain almost the entire squad for this season. He has also been fortunate that with the exception of Foran we have been relatively injury free. This is where he starts getting tested. I've said it before and I will no doubt say it again, but with The Rangers, Hearts and Hibs all out of the picture, this season and probably next offers a unique opportunity for success and a European place. Whilst I am all for sound financial management and adopting policies with the long term viability of the club in mind, I do think we should be seizing the unique combination of having a brilliant squad and weakened opposition to achieve something we may never have the opportunity to again. A European place might not of itself bring in money but it would bring kudos and make this a more attractive proposition for future players. It would, of course, be brilliant for the fans. What concerns me is the lack of information and the generally negative vibes coming from the club at this time of great opportunity. When interviewed after the dismal draw against County it was put to Yogi that we have a number of other players who are capable of scoring and that we might might not miss Billy too much. Yogi responded by saying that we certainly will miss him as he's a natural born goal scorer. From that one can assume that he doesn't see Billy's departure as being something that can be fixed from within. That being the case, what efforts were done to replace him? After all, they knew there was a very high chance he would be going. Yogi has previously stated that he would not be bringing anyone in unless he felt they were better than we already have and would strengthen the team. Yet it seems that the only player we know of who was pursued was a 30 year old squad player from Southend. That hardly sounds like a ringing vote of confidence in the players we currently have. Nor does it sound like a professional effort at replacing a player who they almost certainly knew was off. It does, however, seem like an admission that the club thinks we need to bring a striker in. In the interview Yogi also blamed the pitch and said that they would need to make changes to the way we play to cope with the stickier pitches at this time of year. These days, if the pitch is a mud bath the games gets postponed. If the pitch is deemed playable then it is exactly that - playable, and professional footballers trained in crisp passing of a football should be able to pass the ball on a soft surface. What is the point of completely remodelling the playing style if you then abandon it at the business end of the season because the pitches are soft. Soft pitches in a Scottish winter! Whoever would have thought it! He went on to say that we have been good at keeping clean sheets and that we need to keep doing that and nick the odd goal at the other end. That sounds very much like letting other teams come on to us and then punting it up the field for Marley to chase. A bit like what happened against the bottom team in the league on Saturday. The rest of the season sounds like it could be fun! Of course, if you want to keep clean sheets you need to have a good defence. We have that at the moment, but for how long? We know Shinnie is away next season but what of Meekings and Raven? We understand that Meekings wants a one year contract and the club wants a longer one so it should be something that can be sorted out easily enough. But the longer it goes on unresolved then the more likely it is that other more cash rich clubs will offer Josh a longer contract for more money and, much as he may want to stay for other reasons, he'll be off. As for the David Raven situation I have to confess to being baffled. He has been repeatedly quoted as saying he wants to stay but has not been offered a new contract. I find it almost unbelievable that the club would not have offered him a contract but yet to the best of my knowledge they have not refuted what Raven is saying. It really is imperative to get these two players and others who are out of contract at the end of the season signed up as soon as possible. The money we got from Billy should help as should the money we will get from a decent league position. If we can't do that the position will be looking grim. We have just lost arguably our most important player and will lose our acting club captain at the end of the season. Unless contracts get signed soon we could lose 2 more key defenders who actually want to stay here, and possibly others as well. In the meantime, we did not strengthen in the window and we have no word of anyone coming in for the new season. We have also yet to see anyone come in on a loan basis who does anything to strengthen the team. After over a year, we have yet to see any evidence of Yogi being able to attract players to the club who are as good as any of the current first team squad. Obviously I would not expect the club to make public announcements about the detail of contract negotiations or which players may be being chased with a view to summer signings, but I would expect some general information of what is going on. We may get some good news on contract extensions very soon, we may get news that players have been secured on loan or on pre-contract agreements and we might find that the change of tactics is to press the opposition harder and play football in the opponents half (Greg Tansey thunderbolts and Nick Ross nipping in to pick up the pieces - that sort of thing) but the vibes we are getting suggest otherwise. Which way is the club going to tip? Onward to an early season European campaign and a challenge for honours next season, or back next season to a bottom six survival scrap? Come on ICT - it's time to show the fans that the contingency plan involves a drive for the former and not resigning yourselves to the likelihood of the latter. We have a great squad of players at a time when the league is as weak as it has ever been. It is a time of unprecedented opportunity for the club so please, let's seize this opportunity and let's see some evidence of ambition from the club.