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My goodness, people standing up, whatever next. I think we should enforce cages in stadiums to control the hordes of unruly scallywags

Racist chanting? I think you are mistaken. I heard no racist chanting but I did hear the Astra players referred to as tipsy because they kept falling over as if they were drunk.

Overall I thought we played reasonably well with the ball, however as others have said absolutely toothless upfront and very little penetration going forward. The goal came from a poor Draper challenge who had the worst game I have seen from him in a long time. However the resulting freekick was a bread and butter save for any goalkeeper, questions have to be asked as to why a rookie was thrown in at the deep end with an unsettled back four when we have such a reliable and experienced keeper in Esson, especially when he looked very shaky from the offset. Never mind, they were not as good as I expected and definitely nothing to fear for the second leg, onwards to Guirgui!

I was disgusted by the racist chants and if we are reported we could end up with a (deserved) hefty fine .

I hear that Esson was fit and not carrying an injury, so having witnessed the game, I think it was an appalling decision not to play him. Honestly, if you had seen one particular moment in the second half when our new keeper played the ball across the goal... I've rarely seen such a lucky escape! Roberts came on and got booked within no time, Foran didn't have the fairytale comeback that we so dearly wished for. Astra lived up to all of the stereotypes of dirty European team - they were falling over like clowns. Mortally wounded clowns, who recovered in no time, I hasten to add. A harsh lesson in international football. Wedderburn looked far better in middle of park than at left back and Williams did a brilliant job at left back, very reminiscent of Shinnie. All to play for next week!

Downinthedumps noted on the Astra match thread that UEFA have allocated the 'groupings' for today's Qualifying Round 3 (Q3) draw... Could all be academic if we don't overturn the first-leg deficit, but nevertheless, will be exciting to see who we could be facing! There are 6 teams we can face: West Ham United (England) or Birkirkara (Malta) Atromitos (Greece) Borussia Dortmund (Germany) Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) Standard Liege (Belgium) Appollon Limassol (Cyprus) or Trakai (Lithuania)

Doubt if there'll be any 'sit down' brigade next week

I thought Astra were very well organised in defence and all our sideways passing came about because a) they pressed us all through the first half b) we had nobody with the skill to make a killer forward pass or take a risk at all. dreadful challenge by Drapes with two more defenders on hand and Naelifts and I were predicting a decent strike from star man Budescu as our new goalie tried to organise the wall. Second half they didn't press us so hard and let us have a lot of the ball as we didn't look likely to do much with it. Somebody at the game, maybe Ymip, said to me at half time he thought they had an extra couple of gears. Difficult to say, no doubt we'll find out next week. I thought they were all physically very strong and often brushed off our players in the tackle using upper body. as I saw it two of their players were booked late on for time wasting. A third took a dive in the box and the ref indicated this but failed to book him. A club with a bit more European experience than us but when will we get another chance to gain more??? Christie MoM by a mile. The dirty tipsy b******s were the guys in the executive boxes who picked Tansey.

Wow, what an incentive to win next week! A possibility of a 'home' match for me down the road in London. Bring it on.

Just got back down south. That was a game that was there to be won. Astra did not look that dangerous, but neither did we. We had lots of possession but mainly side to side in the middle of the park. Only Christie looked as if he had any imagination going forward. Disappointed in Doran. Of the new boys I thought Wederburn did OK. Unimpressed with Fon Williams for the goal. He was very indecisive in setting the wall and then didn't cover his near post adequately. He made a couple of good stops later though. I fall into the 'what had Esson done wrong' camp. I realise we needed to bring in an experienced keeper with Brill seemingly going to be out for months, but I expected it would have been as back up to Esson, not the other way round. Lopez looked slow, although with a decent touch, but clearly lacking the pace of Marley. Roberts was anonymous in the 10 minutes he was on. I assume Vincent and Tremarco were injured? What about Dave the Rave? Although Meekings did OK, I much prefer Raven at RB with Meekings alongside Warren, who had his usual strong game. Tansey MOM? What was that about? I thought he was OK at best. Draper far from his best. Williams Ok, I like him better the more I see him. My worry for next week, and indeed for the season is where the goals will come from. Anyway, onwards and upwards. Good luck to the team and our supporters over in Romania. Sorry i can't be with you.

Partisan atmosphere? Would that not be in Belgrade rather than Bucharest?

Yeah, I actually forgot about them, in my excitement!

Firstly well done the stewards for letting people enjoy themselves. Great job! Would you prefer stewards over telling everyone to sit down constantly? Were the people standing bothering you in any way?

MASSIVE. Have that pre-cup final "what if" tingles again. Surely we can't...? c'mon we can do this. and WH are not firing all cylinders yet!..(oh hang on too many games ahead)

Sometimes I'm disppointed as a group we dont stand more, last years league cup final was great to all be standing as are Scotland games, on occasions like last night standing would have been apt.

I edited my post. You're right.

West Ham United FC /Birkirkara FC (MLT) VS Inverness CT/Astra Giurgu

I thought the crowd was excellent, then they scored. Totally against the run of play and it took the wind out of our sails. We struggled to create a chance and when we did get into good positions we wasted it often. But in saying that, they were very well organised defensively. If we can go at them again like that next week and have another weeks training under our belts we'll have a wee chance maybe, although I expect them to also be much better next week. I didn't think their time wasting was that bad and I thought their diving would be a lot worse. Have a feeling it'll be diving and rolling about all over the place on Thursday though. I also thought the referee was very good and one or two of our officials could learn off him!

The new home kit design has been out there for weeks....it's just that nobody noticed it!!! See here https://www.eticketing.co.uk/ictfc/

According to eufa website we are in pot 4 for draw seeded teams include West Ham and Borussia Dortmund

C*unty introduce £175 10 game season ticket Our friends over the bridge have released details of a 10 game season ticket for £175. To me, this is a brilliant idea and would surely appeal to a lot of our central belt / offshore / shift working fans who cannot commit to a full season ticket. As someone who lives outside the area and works away I know that I would certainly buy one at that price. I did email the club about it a while ago and received a good response, but have heard nothing since. If even 200 people took that up that would be an extra £35,000 in club coffers. An extra player, or a couple of youth players? I'd expect a lot of out of area folk would buy one, even just to support the club, and at £17.50 a game it hardly matters if you miss one or two.

I take it Norburn isn't signing up either then. I thought he looked a player actually. I recollect Yogi saying in an interview that he wanted a keeper, another defender, another midfielder and two strikers. This was after Wedderburn signed. So far then we a keeper (Fon Williams), a midfielder (Jordan Roberts) and one striker (Dani Lopez). Presumably then, he's still looking to bring in another defender (probably a full back) and another striker. I think Lopez has potential, but last night he was crying out for a Mckay/Dargo-esque finisher alongside him IMO.

...if we get tickets!

Thought the crowd around the entire ground was fantastic tonight. The FC Astra guys were being quite complimentary of it as well. Apparently better than they get at most home games, so I'm expecting Caley Away to steal the show over there.

Really disappointed to have missed this, but was a shocked as anyone by the starting line-up. Throwing a brand new keeper in at the deep-end is always a risk - communication with the back 4 is a fundamental role for the keeper and takes time to develop. The only explanation for the Meekings right back decision is that Raven is still recovering from injury and wouldn't have lasted. Lopez starting ahead of Roberts exposes our biggest weakness (recognised by all) - no match-fit strikers. Presumably, Tremarco is also not fit to challenge Wedderburn for left back - there is no point in playing Wedderburn, Tansey and Draper in midfield - too similar. Sounds like Williams is the shout for left back, if you ask me. All of that said, the performance sounded decent and there is still hope, despite committing the cardinal sin of conceding at home. I fear, however, that the away leg could be a very frustrating affair without an effective strikeforce.

Wedderburn looked ok, didnt waste much and fine on the ball with some good chances, unlike Draper who was a liablity and gave another free kick away which cost us, think he will be worried once Wedd gets up to speed. Ryan M.O.M by a mile, Tansey was ok but not MOM, Meekings was pretty poor at RB, we need Rave back there - why did he not start? Still in it, but we need to get into the Romainians next wk, the diving time wasting cheats....

Maybe Yogi has good reason to believe Fon Williams is a better keeper than Esson but I think it was a mistake playing him simply because there will not have been enough time for him and the defenders to get to know each other and develop an understanding. There was poor communication between him and the defence on a few occasions and not just at the crucial free kick. A couple of back passes were played to his left as though instinctively the defender thought it was Esson in goal. Not sure that Lopez offers us a great deal upfront. He seems to have good control and has quick feet, but he won little if anything in the air and his movement was limited. He had one good chance but shot tamely straight at the keeper. Hopefully he will show up better when he gets to know the way the team plays a bit more. Good to see Foran back but did he actually touch the ball? The North Stand gave him a great ovation when he came on but at the end he seemed to storm off the park without acknowledging the crowd in the North Stand and with barely a word for opponents or team mates alike. What was that all about? Overall though we were the better side and for a first game of the season against a different style of opponent and with new faces in the side plus a bit of rearrangement to do, it was a pretty decent performance. Astra are no great shakes and we are still very much in the tie. We do need to get at them though in order to create more chances and we need to strike the ball with conviction when the chances do come our way.

Disappointing result. Don't think we deserved to lose, but we need some bite up front. Seemed a strange decision to throw Fon Wiiliams in for this one, seemed OK, but I think he'd probably like to face the free kick again. He also had a Jamie MacDonald moment in the first half, but fortunately he pushed it away hard enough to beat the on rushing attacker. I thought he'd made a good save near the end, but I think it actually hit the post Warren snd Devine played pretty well together at the back, although Devine gave the keeper a nasty, bouncy back pass to deal with. Meekings seemed off the pace, particularly after his performances at right back at the end of last season. Williams had a decent game at left back. The midfield confused me. Wedderburn, Draper and Tansey are all too similar in style. Thought Wedderburn did ok, Draper had a stinker, not least conceding that cheap free kick. Tansey just did what he does, but slightly further forward, and I'm not sure why he was MoM - certainly wasn't for his ridiculous dive in the first half. Doran was probably our biggest goal threat, with a scuffed shot in the first half, a placed shot that the keeper saved just inside his post and a more powerful shot that I thought the keeper had let go through him for a moment. Christie had a decent game. Up front, Lopez's best work was done outside the box - not what you need from you striker. He had one good chance, but the shot lacked conviction. The subs didn't get long enough to judge, but it was good to see Foran back. On the basis of tonight, we are not out of this tie by any means. With a bit more sharpness we might have done something with some of the balls into the box. However, we need to make more effective use of width, as we spent too much time trying to play through the middle, which isn't going to work. The he one down side was that we reverted to passing the ball sideways for long periods again. It was a bit like the second half of season 2013-14 again at times. At the start of the second half, when we started to move the ball forward with a bit of pace, we looked like we might cause some problems. I thought the ref had a decent game. Certainly not over officious, and didn't buy the worst of the Romanian play acting. Land I reckon there were 25 away fans - I counted them during a bit of dying-swan routine near the end.

Sure Cabrini isnt Nike or Adidas, but to be fair Cabrini is far better quality than Errea! Also Cabrini is a subsidory to JD, just like Puma and Sondico are subsidories to Sports Direct so to be totally honest id rather be alligned to a quality designer store than Mike Ashley! But yes this will sadly mean new home and Away shirts every new season at £45 a pop. Imo that is frankly scandilous and i always hoped our club would not join the fan expolitation bandwagon which has galvanised British Football in the last 10 years but hey ho. If i like the shirt i'll buy it, but will not be pressurised into buying it just because it's 'the new one'. Ps. I do like the new home ;)

To be honest I thought we actually played pretty well. First 15 mins we were excellent. Their goal was certainly against the run of play. Can't decide whether it was a great free kick, or bad goalkeeping. There was certainly only one place the ball was going to go...and it did. Second half we upped the tempo a bit. Doran was unlucky with a shot the keeper somehow managed to scoop up over the bar. And another he curled just past the post. When we went more direct we got them a bit rattled. To many times in the first half we were content to just pass it meaninglessly between midfield and defence. One thing that was very noticeable was that we were pretty toothless up front. Lopez started off ok, but faded badly. There waa to little support for him from midfield as well, and more often than not he was too isolated. We're still in it though. We've certainly nothing to fear over there and if we can grab an early equaliser then..game on. Astra looked neat and tidy on the ball, but were nowhere near as good a team as I was expecting. Not too sure who I'd pick as Motm...certainly not Tansey, the sponsors choice. Christie, or maybe Warren.

They are no better than us shame we lost how we did I've never seen a team up here feigning injuries as much shocking and the ref bought it they were falling down with no one round them this ties not over hopefully we can get a goal next week and see how they respond

I once saw us win a game of football. If we can do it then, we can do it now!

I'll probably get shot down for this but here goes. The OP contains so many assumptions that it makes much of the rest a bit of a fairly scatter-gun rant, which to be fair, he acknowledges. I'd be stunned if the club didn't tell fans where and how to purchase kit when the details are confirmed. As far as information and the imparting of it goes, the club is in a position where it can only go public when it is absolutely sure of the information it has, otherwise the label of "second rate amateurs" gets chucked around by the habitually disgruntled and the marketing of the club gets another on line bashing. As far as timing goes, it's only three weeks after the end of the last season, and in normal circumstances an August launch would be perfectly appropriate and acceptable. If anything, there's probably been an under-estimation of last season's achievements when this deal was set up and given that a fair few on here were predicting a season of middling mediocrity is that surprising? No wonder there's a bit of risk aversion when it comes to publicising things. People on here have moaned for years about the relative inaccessibility of the club shop and its limited opening hours but somehow the retail park is worse. Eh? I fully realise that people want a year round town centre presence for the club but at present (as far as I know) the figures just don't stack up and there are other things that have a more pressing demand on a limited kitty. You simply can't have everything. Except two cracking shirts of which I'll have one of each. Size L.

Ridiculous post!