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All our expectations are naturally high as a result of our great season. So disappointment at 'only drawing' with Kilmarnock is a natural first reaction. However don't forget Killie have been playing really well recently and have beaten other top six sides.. They may surprise one or two others before the end of the season. Even County who we also dropped points to seem to have found some form. So there is no such thing as an easy game and we will have to concentrate hard for the rest of the season to maintain 3rd place and have a chance of Europe. I'm still confident that we can do it, barring significant injuries. So lets do our bit and get behind the team without calling for players to be dropped if they have one poorish game. We are still unbeaten this year! Its in our hands. Believe!

Dave the Rave's having an excellent season. One below par performance against tricky attacking players and you want to punt him, glad you're not my manager!

I like this. Playing 16 players should give us the edge in most games!

I found that game more frustrating to watch than entertaining. Being ahead 3 times and not winning is frustrating to me tbh. Our usually solid defence seemed to lack communication on several occasions. Good to bag 3 goals though and Christie was great. Ref, particularly in the second half was utterly tragic. Massive game on Tuesday!

Had utd won as expected and we won as expected then it would have been status quo, as it is they lost a game many feel was winnable and we took 1 point thus are plus 1 from pre-match expectations. Still unbeaten in 2015, 3rd in the league, cup QF, still scoring goals even after losing our top striker. Why such negative posts?

Like a lot of folk I was properly fizzing with frustration at full-time - at our players for blowing the lead three times, at their players for kicking us (and, in Magennis' case, shoving) and at the referee for a performance best described as 'inconsistent'. On reflection, though, it was just one of those days. We dominated for long spells. We played some decent stuff. And of the three goals that we conceded, two were really very unlucky - Eccleston gets a hugely fortunate break of the ball for the first, and the second was a great free kick that goes in via the post and Esson. The third equalizer was the most hard to stomach. We're far more vulnerable at set pieces than we used to be, and I think it's crazy that we keep three players up when defending corners. It just means there's more space in the box, which is one of the reasons why Obadeyi got a clear shot away. A lot of criticism for Esson from the folk who sit around me, but I thought it was harsh. He was unlucky for the second, and he'd have been struggling to fight through a scrum of players in the six yard box to get to the cross for the third. As stated elsewhere, Christie was absolutely magnificent today. He floated in between their defence in midfield and caused havoc. On a lot of occasions, I thought he was let down by less talented teammates who weren't on the same wavelength! Call me a pessimist, but I've never really believed that a second place finish was going to happen. However, today is the first day I've ever really thought that third place was on the cards, thanks to Dundee United's result. So let's look back on it as a point gained.

That was some game. Three good goals from us, and Killie scrapped like hell - as said above, they are a far more motivated side under Locke than they ever were under Johnston. There was an an element of luck about two of their goals, but it would be churlish to grudge them the draw. We are more suited to going away from home against teams that come out and attack but we scored enough today to put most teams away - roll on tuesday night. Just finished watching man City demolish Newcastle in the EPL, wasn't half the entertainment that you saw at TCS. Sure it's a higher standard but only one team was ever going to win - money talks. I just didn't fancy listening, give me Caley Thistle above that any day.

It might have slipped under the radar of many, but we officially cannot be automatically relegated: St Mirren could only reach 51 points with straight victories until the end of the season. Given that this has the potential of being a record-breaking season, it might be worth tallying notable achievements starting with: 1. Avoiding automatic relegation spot (earliest ever for us in top flight)

I think a lot of the comments stem from an earlier comment about it being dull for a 3-3 draw and perhaps it should be seen in that context. From an entertainment perspective I have seen far worse at TCS this season but I've also seen far better. Match stats show that between the 2 sides there were 16 attempts on goal which is pretty average. 6 goals is clearly a plus point entertainment wise but apart from Williams goal and arguably Slater's free kick the goals were more down to sloppy defending or good luck than good attacking play. But rather than judging the game by my own subjective opinion, folk might be better to reflect on the response of the crowd as a whole rather than applauding the players. The game never really got the crowd going and at the end most folk moved quickly for the exits. I know there was a big element of disappointment but I have been to games where a hatful of goals have been scored and fans of the losing side have stood at the end to applaud the entertainment provided by both sides. That was never going to happen yesterday. It wasn't a bad game but it was not as exciting as the scoreline would suggest.

They're hardly 'old fashioned' positions. 'Old fashioned' ones are terms like half-back, outside-left and inside-right etc.

In my experience as you travel up the A9 you leave the pollution of the cental belt behind. everything becomes much clearer, you can see for miles, the air is good so can anyone explain to me why referee's appear to loose their ability to see things happening when they step on to caley park. Yesterday we had a man mountain running round the pitch clattering anything in a blue shirt which was apparent to all but the referee. I have to say this not the first time this has happened which makes me think it must be somthing in the air uphere. having said that we were not at our best yesterday

Obviously it is the overspill from our lights making the navigation lights in the Firth harder to see. This confused the referee who is a dodgy old sailor. We had been warned about this sort of thing in the past.

Football is the great game it is because form fluctuates and sometimes the better team doesn't win. So on the day that Chelsea drew with Burnley at home and Dundee United lost to St J at home, we failed to win against Kilmarnock in a game many thought we'd win. We weren't at our best and they're on the up. We can't expect to win every game from now until May. This is a small setback that would be forgotten if we beat United and Motherwell this week, which would likely take us above Aberdeen into second. So, on form maybe we should have won this but on the day we didn't deserve to. Next!

What on earth have these factors got to do with anyone's opinion on the entertainment value of the game itself? The game is what it is. If it's a dull draw it's a dull draw whether you happen to be top of the table or bottom. Suggest you go back and read these posts again on this thread rather than bite back at me. Not that many comments about entertainment but plenty about the team, us having a poor right back and missing mckay still. If the game wasnt deemed to be high value entertainment to you then thats fine but you could easily go to a theatre or cinema and see a poor product there too. My point is that if fans on here expect that with our small budget and playing squad we can provide barcelona style football every week and win every game then they need to get real snd stop assessing every game through their rose tinted championship manager computer glasses. Win, loose or draw its becoming increasingly hard to find many positive threads or posts on this site demonstrating an appreciation and acknowledgement of what is being achieved.

Whats wrong with good old fashioned positions? Keeper Sweeper Centre Back-----Centre Back Right FullBack-----Stopper-----Left FullBack Defensive MidFielder Right MidFielder-----Centre MidFielder-----Left MidFielder Attacking MidFielder Right Forward-----Second Striker-----Left Forward Striker

Hamilton have now got just 2 points from their last 8 games and scored only 1 goal in their last 7. Today they only had one shot at goal in the entire match. With Dundee and St Johnstone both with games in hand I would be really surprised if they finished in the top 6. They played some really good football earlier in the year and it is a bit of a shame to see them fall apart like this.

Mckay....small "k" Caley D small minded CaleyD.....no space.

I never like the fancy terms that are used to define players these days. The extent to which someone who lines up toward the back of the team joins the attack will be dependent on the game plan and the way the game develops. As far as I'm concerned, Raven is a Right Back and Shinnie and Tremarco are Left Backs. I think they are all good going forward and personally I would like them to press forward more positively more often. By the way, where did the term "Fullback" come from? what is wrong with simply a Left Back and Right Back? After all, you have Centre Backs and not Centre Fullbacks.

I think its great being 26 games in and still hitting a 2 points a game average.

Agree with much of this, but can I check one thing? When you said the ref was inconsistent, you meant clueless and gutless, right? Yup, pretty much!

Not the worst point ever considering that St Johnstone did us a massive favour but we could gain some major ground on United on Tuesday in what has turned out to an even bigger game now for both sides than it was on Friday. Though Killie played well in the 1st half and were well worth going in level however we dominated most of the second half and can feel unlucky not to have won the game. Killie are the best side in the league when it comes to goals from set pieces they had 9 goals from them before the match started and now can add another 2 to that total. Christie was decent, looks like his extended break in side was worthwhile but Marley was poor and I thought Yogi was going sub for Ferguson him but instead Ross came off and we changed our shape. When we went 4-4-2 we didn't create much of note and Ferguson is quick but didn't make a real impact. Killie's Chris Johnston impress me today, similar type to Christie as he was easy on the eye and created chances. On Esson, agree that Brill comes straight back in for him whenever he's back. Felt he could have made himself bigger for first goal but obviously don't blame him for the actual conceding of the goal. Brill a more commanding keeper who is just better overall, will be very happy whenever he returns. Great strike by Williams, who made the Sky Sport News goal of the day list, one of the goals of the season for sure. (Sidenote- small minority of people who booed Shinnie after he scored bother me, doesn't seem right)

You high bud, raven has been fantastic this season

Jeez. Guy who has had a pretty decent season is a bit below par, so should be punted? And what exactly has Esson done wrong? Lot less bomb scare back passes since he's been in net.

Do I feel robbed? No, we should have been able to defend a bit better. I do feel hard done by however. The first Killie goal was as the result of a speculative shot that took a deflection. The defence didn't track back and left their striker one-on-one with Esson. The free kick that led to the second equaliser was a bit soft I felt, and followed a head shot on Nick Ross that should have been dealt with by the referee but wasn't Killie then got another lucky break when the ball came back off the post and hit Esson on the back and went in. The third came about from some sloppy attacking - that would be my main gripe with us today, we gave the ball away when we had them under pressure too many times - unfortunately we gave the ball away on the halfway line and they scored from the header. Difficult to judge our first two goals as I was at the other end, but the third by Williams was a beauty. That nob Rob Maclean was spouting some pish about it being deflected - dream on no Killie player got near it, including the keeper. And now we come to the waste of a skin that was the referee. WTF did Macgennis have to do to get booked? Every jump that he had no chance of winning was either a barge or an elbow into the defender (in fact all the Killie forwards were guilty of that). The last "challenge" that led to his final warning looked like a clear elbow into Warren. A yellow on its own at the least. That the treatment handed out to Nick Ross went unpunished was appalling. And why did he not need to use his vanishing spray for free kicks on the stand side, but did need to on the far side? His "I'm in charge" talk to Pascali when he was shoving Warren at the free kick they scored from was pointless, considering he then proceeded to do nothing. And what was the added time at the end of the match about? 1 minute which was taken up by the Killie defender rolling about after Meekings was booked. And why was Pascali pulling his own player's shirt at a set piece in the second half? Clumsy attempt to con the ref?

Had a youngster there today for his first ever live game. He went away delighted with the fare on show - we were the better team in terms of possession and smooth football but from a neutral's point of view this would have been an excellent game to watch - lots of attacking play, meaty challenges, bizzare refereeing, etc. The lad has signed up to Caley Jags Together and I am sure will be at more matches pretty soon.

Does anybody think that we didn't actually have a contingency plan ?