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To be perfectly honest, I am quite happy for them to ignore us, and then say " how'd that happen" if we have our most successful season ever. I know how well we are playing at the moment, and couldn't give two hoots if the old and new firm obsessed weegia don't notice. Let's be fair, if they couldn't spot the developing train wreck that was Rangers, were unable to work out that "civil unrest" was just a spurious concept cooked up by Regan and Doncaster to shoehorn Rangers "back where they belong" or were unable (or unwilling) to ask what Ashley's agenda is, then you can't possibly be surprised that they haven't noticed what's occurring in the Highlands.

No. I remember we sometimes used to start with Andy Barrowman up front.

In the first half I thought we were excellent. Our passing was quick, crisp and positive. We carved Saint Mirren apart on numerous occasions and, as many have said, could have been out of site by half time. Watkins passed up a couple of good chances. One, similar to those against Partick the other week, where he burst in behind the defence but sent his effort wide. The other he tried to lob Ridgers who blocked his initial effort and then from the follow up Watkins skewed the ball wide. Meekings had a header come off the bar. Some folk said that it might have gone in but even from the normally non conclusive highlights it doesn't look like it's anywhere near going over. Draper also had a good chance as well but his effort was blocked by the backside of a Saint Mirren defender. Luckily we did find a way through and it was from great build up down the left and, more incredibly, from a throw in which we are normally dreadful at. Shinnie played a neat interchange with Christie (I think), receiving the ball back and headed goal wards before cutting the ball back to Tansey who was arriving at the edge of the box and he coolly passed the ball into the net. Great goal from an ICT perspective. As above we dominated the first half but seemed to lose our way in the second half somewhat. Similar to games against Ross County and Partick Thistle in recent weeks it looked like we might pay for not holding a bigger lead. Our passing seemed to become less adventurous and more focused on keeping the ball but minus the attacking intent we had seen in the first half. Saint Mirren looked a lot livelier and more resilient in the second half and we struggled for a time to break them down. Fortunately we did grab a second goal when Raven managed to break down the right and play in Christie who, after what looked like an amazing piece of skilful miscontrol, sent Ridgers the wrong way and doubled our lead. Saints struck back when a corner was met by Goodwin as he out muscled Warren and steered a header past Esson. After that we had our backs to the wall for most of the rest of the game and MccAusland passed up two great opportunities to draw Saint Mirren level. The first, again from a corner, found him free towards the back post but he couldn't quite bring the Buddies back on level terms. The second chance, perhaps the better of the two, came fro ma free kick which evaded everyone and found its way to MccAusland who seemed somewhat taken aback that it had gotten as far as him, and he couldn't adjust his body to get a header on target. A fine result which should have been more emphatic than the scoreline depicts but thankfully we got away with passing up some of those great chances. It will be interesting to see how we rectify the apparent easing off in games after a good start. Hughes seems to be aware of this (based on his post match interview) but we haven't seen any changes yet to stop this from happening. We dropped a vital two points against County because of it so hopefully it won't happen again.

From the Alba highlghts, I took the following: 1. We won heaps of key challenges in our own half - Draper, Tansey, Warren and Meekings were immense. Importantly, when the ball was won, it wasn't just thumped, but was played constructively - transition was excellent. 2. The one touch triangles in tight spaces in the first half were outstanding. Ross and Williams looked like they were key to this part of our game today - I thought Ross looked like he had an excellent game, particularly tracking back. 3. Shinnie and Raven were tremendous on the overlap - setting up both goals. 4. The chances we're creating now are clear-cut ones - we had 5 or 6 one-on-ones or clear shots from inside the box. Watkins, Christie, Ross, Warren all narrowly missed, or the final pass was inches off being perfect. 5. The Midden were restricted to 4 set-piece opportunities - always a good sign that they couldn't get through us in open play. That said, we didn't defend set pieces particularly well yesterday. 6. Yogi is right - we're not great with 2-0 scorelines and haven't yet got that confidence to put teams to the sword when we're up a couple - taking the foot off the gas and not being brave. Hopefully, that will come. Looking back over the above, I think every player (except Esson) gets a mention - which says it all!

Yogi, you are probably the best thing ever to happen to this club! IMO we are playing a style of football I didn't think was possible on the budgets you are restricted to. You have players playing football they didn't think they were capable of so well done to them for adapting to your style. Wonderful.

:lol: Brilliant!

John Hughes take a bow. Tactics great, analysis great and comments regarding our neighbours great.

Watched the Yogi interview and was very impressed with his assessment of the game... I do think we need that option of a big strong player upfront Interesting comments about Ross County, which I agree with (I may be in a minority!) I'd rather they stay up so we can play them and it cements the Highlands as a 'footballing' centre

Final observations on the day: WTF was that fanfare at the beginning all about. Oh the irony of playing that and St Mirren running out. Did any one else notice Blobby Madden pace out 9 (yes 9) yards the first time he used the spray? Only in Scotland! And Goodwin looks even more of a pr1ck than he did before.

The Celtic manager was quoted earlier in the season as saying that ICT played the best football out of the challenging top four teams. So people who actually watch the game, and have some idea, know alright. On the other hand, people who derive their opinions from the media and stale shopworn attitudes just repeat the same old guff. To be fair, a couple of the BBC Scotland radio pundits have talked us up on more than a few occasions, the message finally getting through that things have changed, for the better.

Just enjoyed the highlights again. Some of those passes from Tansey were just exquisite. We're going to give some team a right thumping soon.

Think the players know what goal they think they can reach. They're not sprouting nonsense in the press about it tho like others! In a way I like us being under the radar. Takes a bit of pressure off tbh

Interesting point. I liked what Yogi said in his interview about turning the screw when we are winning. For a large part of the season we tended to sit back in the first half and came good in the second half but it seems to me that recently we are starting with a more attacking mindset. If we can score first and force the opposition to commit players forward then that will create space for Watkins to use his pace. Whilst Mckay seems to be a more natural goal scorer, with a bit of tactical re-jigging you may well be right that we are a better team with Watkins up front. If he can develop the confidence to convert a few more of the chances that are being created we could be a very good team indeed.

Wed 11 Feb SPL Stuart Armstrong (Partick 0 - Celtic 3) Sat 14 Feb SL1 Andy Barrowman (two) (Dunfermline 3 - Stenhousemuir 2) Bryan Prunty (Airdrieonians 3 - Forfar 1) Conf North Robert Eagle ( Oxford City 2 - Lowestoft 1) Highland League Zander Sutherland (two) ( Brora 4 - Strathspey 0) Martin Bavidge (Inverurie 2 - Deveronvale 4) Stuart Leslie (Inverurie 2 - Deveronvale 4)

Just watched the highlights and we were very pleasing on the eye. Watkins has carried on where little k left off by running defences ragged. We will always miss many more than we score that's the nature of football but we are doing what we do beautifully. Long may it continue.

First half was a bit like watching Barcelona! Second half we probably needed a different attacking option to hold the ball up a bit so that we spent a little less time passing around our box Thought Draper and Christie stood out, and the defence not really troubled for the majority of the game, a couple of close shaves I guess....but we should have put the game to bed by then Best I've seen ICT play when I've managed to get to a match

Matthew Lindsay a journalist with the evening times has called us the most attractive footballing team in the country by along way. What a season we have been having

LOL

Show me a team that doesn't time waste. He'd have been gushing about "professional attitude to see out the game" if roles had been reversed. Chick Young is a tw@t.

Lacking a finisher by any chance?

The twitter feed a very fine addition Scotty......... well done

Just a heads up for anyone wanting to go by bus to this game. We must have bookings by 17th February so that we know if there is sufficient demand to run a bus. As it costs just under £600 to hire the bus we need a good number to justify the cost. The likely departure time would have to be 3.30 or 4 p.m. at the latest, and I wouldn't expect to be back in Inverness till around midnight. So get booking now, and we will make a decision next week based on the response - you will not be able to leave it till the last minute to decide if you are going.