Leaderboard

I noticed a giant Wick banner in the Celtic end on Saturday afternoon. Quite amazing that Wick Academy were playing in their first ever cup final at Clach park on the same day, and a bunch of dirty Weekers chose to go watch Celtic at TCS instead. Sums up so much of what's wrong with Scottish football IMO.

Top six looks like 5 teams North of Perth and 1 Glasgow side Balance of power and all that - I wish !

Watching back SKYs coverage of the game - another Christie who performed well yesterday was Charlie, in the studio! He comes across very well and 'talks us up' - for example, when the presenter, slightly patronisingly suggested that next week would be 'a great day out' for ICT. Would he have used that expression if it was Dundee United or Aberdeen or even Hearts or Hibs? Maybe my hangover's making me overly sensitive, this morning! Was odd to see Hughes' downbeat demeanour in his post-match interview - "we're better than that" - but it's likely he'd literally just been informed of the severity of Brill's injury and was naturally disappointed and frustrated. Big occasion for young Cammy Mackay - probably best avoid playing him in the Development League game tomorrow - ironically against Celtic....bubble-wrap for Esson, too, this week! Edit: It's Steven McLean refereeing our game on Sunday.

Gutted for Brill, but was pleased to see Mackay-Steven checking and re-checking on him during the stoppage, the stretchering off, and apparently later too. He was not at fault, it was one of those things, but not all players would show as much concern or empathy. Fair play to the lad ... and best wishes to Deano for a quick recovery. Managed to watch the game on TV today and thought we could have snatched it. Actually felt disappointed with just a point. Referee was absolutely terrible for both sides ... it was not a 7 yellow card game.

I suppose it is possible that the said "Durrty Weekurs" having travelled "doon ee rodd" to Inverness felt they could get two for the price of one and nip over to Grant Street after they had watched the only member of the Top Six from south of Perth at the Caledonian Stadium. But Alex... I take your point about what is wrong with Scottish football. Two clubs which have acquired much of their critical mass as a result of West Central Scottish sectarian divisions are as a result acting like footballing black holes and using their inflated gravitational fields to suck in far too much cash and support from far too far away from where they are based.

The announcement can't be too far away as the 1st post split match is 25/4 then 2/5,9/5,16/5 then 23&24/5.There aren't any mid week fixtures booked in so we can really play united any time. I hope they can give fans as much notice as possible but they will prob consult the TV comps 1st.

Daniel Hoban is the other U20's keeper....and he's already been on the first team bench this season.

Obviously traffic management isn't the clubs responsibility but I can't for the life of me understand why the police don't switch off the lights and direct traffic as the traffic flow vastly different than normal. That's what they do in other places at major junctions when there's a large event on. I totally avoid the roundabout when I drive to the games. Seen a good number of Celtic fans complaining on FB they missed the kick off due to traffic partly but also due to excessive queues at the ground.

Great to be able to watch the whole match down here tghanks to Sky.....in many respects a great result Brill very unfortunate, and not Mackay-Smiths fault at all, he had every right to go for the ball, and barely touched him, I think his knee jarred in the turf, but credit to M-S that he showed so much concern....Esson looked pretty safe, bar a nearly fluffed clearance, he made two or three good saves. Ofere was excellent in his physical presence and ball control, if a little slow and tired later.....I felt he he had been playing more regularly one or two of our players would have got closer to him to pick up knock-ons/passes.....also Christie played a couple of through balls in to space for him, that he was never going to get, ball to feet will be the better option. However the Celtic CB's certainly knew they had been in a game, which bodes well for next week. Largely very impressed with Christie, he did so much closing down to help keep Cetic under pressure and allow others to close down their man....one of our best options Watkins a bit quiet but he was doing alot of defensive work...I wamt him to peak next week not this! Although Celtic were dominant for periods, there were good sections of play for Caley too. Some nice stuff from Tansey and Shinnie especially, and our CB's weren't over-run Overall a solid game for Caley, a well earned point, and we avoided what Celtic did to Dundee U before their cup matches, which was morale damage along with getting suspensions Can't wait for next week! Great result for Palace as well, so I have had a great weekend football-wise

A much better performance today than I was expecting given the recent form and am now looking forward to the game next week

For a supposed top ref Thompson was shocking, totally useless, a lot of the tackles were never cards, if he used some sense and talked to players instead of flashing cards he would get a bit of respect. Anyway, a far better performance by the team, good to see Yogi have a wee bit sense and change the team, bit more composure and we might have sneaked a goal near the end. Thought the players did very well but I'm a bit concerned with Ryan Christie, he's def gone off the boil lately, made a lot of poor passes today and at times ran about like a headless chicken, maybe needs a rest or a spell on the bench to get his head back together.

Like the SPFL give a toss about that!

Oh and on today's referee. That made Gollum look world class. Scott Brown was getting away with murder and Drapes was being targeted by their players and respect to him for keeping his cool. One thing I didn't like was a blatant dive by Ryan Christie. I know other teams do it but I don't want ICT to become a Divedee United.

More than happy to admit I got this one wrong but have to say playing with a centre forward was a big plus today and Eddies first touch is excellent and he brought players into the game well. Some saying he faded after 60 mins but the fact the wind hemmed us back made his job very hard. I now travel south to the semi-final with some expectation to go with my hope.