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Disappointing outcome in the end, but I was reasonably encouraged by the performance. In the first half in particular, King impressed far more than he did against Cowdenbeath, and looks like he will cause a lot of defences problems this season, while McNaughton was excellent throughout as a sweeper-style centre half. Polworth looked more comfortable and was more effective when moved into the centre of the park in the second half to accommodate Mulraney, and personally, I'd have him starting there and Mulraney in the starting line-up too, with Vigurs dropping to the bench: Vigurs simply doesn't match the work-rate of the rest of the team, which was excellent for most of the game yesterday. Mulraney looked dangerous again yesterday, as he did against Cowdenbeath, but it also looked like he went down a little too easily at times. Great to see Boden score, but for much of the game he looked a bit static to me, and with Fisher as currently the only alternative, we could do with getting in a more mobile striker who will be able to create more options for our wingers, if we can. In every other area of the park, though, it looks like we have a fair bit of quality.

A slightly disappointing result but a much more entertaining game than we have been used to seeing for the last 2 and a bit years. When we got the ball we are always looking to get forward and pressure the opposition. We created enough chances to have won the game comfortably but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. Polworth and Boden should both have done better with chances they had. The new signings look very promising. As others have said, McNaughton was excellent. He may lack a bit of pace but he more than makes up for it in the way he reads the game and in his execution. King was excellent too. On that performance I am at a loss to know why Hearts have put him out on a season long loan - particularly to a side that might be challenging them for a European place at the end of the season. Boden also did well enough. I don't think he saw a lot of the ball and he appears to lack the movement and sharpness of Mckay, but he holds the ball up well and seems to have good vision. A bit more sharpness and he could be a very good signing. Mulraney also did well on his home debut. He clearly has talent but needs to have a bit more awareness of the options available to him. Richie seemed to have it right at the Q&A session when he said he was a raw talent who needs developing to realise his potential - a bit like Jonny Hayes when he first came here. He's going to excite us at times but he's also going to frustrate us at times. Hopefully fans will give him time and not get on his back on days when it just doesn't work for him. It was good to see Mackay get a start in goal. To be fair, he was never really tested but his distribution was good. It's a shame he had a penalty shoot out to contend with but you can't fault him the outcome of that. Of the established players I don't think any of them had a particularly good or bad game. One real positive was the use of Tremarco's long throw. Now that we don't have to worry that we may lose possession with a long throw, we can use it to create goal scoring opportunities. Our midfield core of Draper, Tansey, Polworth and Vigurs were not as effective as sometimes but give credit to Utd here. I thought they looked a lot sharper than the team that got relegated last season and they will certainly be challenging hard in a very competitive Championship this season. It is difficult to judge much on a single game I know, but the impression I have is that whilst we may not be good enough for top 6 this year, we should be good enough to avoid relegation. What I am far more confident about is that the football on offer at TCS this year is going to be far more entertaining than we have seen in a while. My man of the match? Richie Foran!

Mcnaughton was easily my motm, solid clever player. Make a fantastic addition

Hopefully we're not. Hopefully we win all cup ties at the first attempt.

It's not crowd size that's the important factor, it's the number of people purchasing tickets on the day of the game. On that basis, yesterday was a fairly good test....and a bigger one than it should have been due to short notice on the change of system...every cloud!! In regards to the league; matches against Celtic & Rangers will have no matchday ticket sales for the visiting club so all ticketing sales resource is available to serve home fans (including the potential for 2 additional sales points at the kiosk). Matches against Ross County, Aberdeen & Hearts offer no guarantee of matchday sales for the visiting club and this means the majority of sales are done in advance and matchday sales are no greater than for any other game (if they happen). It's only really a busier cup match that's likely to present a noticeably larger test of the resources and how they are deployed, especially if we were to face a short notice replay. Hopefully we're in a position to test that later in the season.

Pretty much. Why am I not surprised?

1 Dunfermline 2 6 6 2 Dundee Utd 3 5 6 3 Inverness CT 2 1 4 4 Arbroath 2 -3 1 5 Cowdenbeath 3 -9 0 The BBC have made an erse of this table then

This is really no different from the arrangements that operate at most entertainment venues or visitor attraction of any size. If you have bought a ticket before you simply go to the entrance. If you haven't, you go to the ticket office and then go to the entrance when you have your ticket. The general principle is correct but the issue is whether infrastructure designed for a different system will be adaptable enough to cope with what, in principle should be a better system. If it doesn't then the club will need to consider investment to change it. In this day and age, the traditional football turnstile operated by someone in a booth does seem very dated. Electronic systems may require a level of investment but they allow for far quicker flow of people and save on staffing costs. So let's give the new arrangement the chance to bed in. If it doesn't work it will give us the opportunity to look at more innovative ways of getting crowds into the ground than the current archaic system.

Not guilty.... as indeed is also the case with the local media in general. After following the merger blow by blow for three years, the need to do the right thing here has ever since been very clear. But certainly there are many offenders in the national media - when they see fit to bother at all with North football - and I for one, despite my early Caley roots, get quite annoyed at that. One local exception was the late Bob MacKinnon, former Inverness Thistle player and latterly a football reporter. Bob's reports were frequently laced with references to "Thistle" and "The Jags". On the other hand, there would be little chance of the national media balancing their references to Caley in this way, since to them "Thistle" ONLY seems to refer to those serial litigants from Firhill. I do have to admit to having (deliberately) succumbed once. It was after a midweek derby at the Caledonian Stadium when, in the interests of scansion of course, I felt moved to end my full time report with:- "Super County go ballistic, Caley are atrocious". And, as those who may remember that match should confirm... they were!

They certainly seemed well drilled and looked quite sharp. Good to hear a bit of banter between a few players. :)

Nothing wrong with training at a few different locations. Falcon square might be handy for a quick training/ signing session during the school holidays. Or in front of the castle for media interest.