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Sorry I can't fathom how yesterday could be seen as a good performance. Utd were no great shakes but we sat off them, were 2nd to every ball and our passes were slack all over the park. We have virtually zero ideas when we get into the final third when we did create a half chance it was wasted. Apart from the last 7 minutes we didn't have any urgency about our play at all. My expectations these days aren't very high but if people think that's a good game fair enough.

Most seem to have missed the point that we were three or four players short of our first choice. Insert, Ridgers, Donaldson and Tremarco and we will be closer to the mark. Lot of guff on here about us playing rubbish. I thought we were OK given our resources available and Jamie McCart was top player for me. Polworth for the most part looked like he was avoiding injury and could have played for Motherwell yesterday, one good burst forward and shot apart. Donaldson was sorely missed. I would like to see Brad's penalty claim again. I was within 20 yards of this and thought his foot was clipped as he tried to turn. Instead of a penalty he got sent off. Can we beat United again? Of course we can, we tore them a new one in the Cup game. Maybe Robbo got this one just right, like he did prior to the cup game. We have bigger fish to fry. And to the mutant spouting rubbish all game. WTF!

He needs to look after his family. Offered a new contract at a fraction of his current salary or move and have a pay rise. Pretty simple decision

Well when we get promotion I will be singing "He's one of our own" - If we don't then I will also be singing that.

You must have missed every other game this season where he does absolutely nothing apart from standing around and falling over

Given that a lot of our fans, myself included, spent the last few days lording it up over a handball against Celtic a few years back we can't say much when it comes back to haunt us. Swings and roundabouts. I'm more concerned with the fact we didn't play to the whistle. Rookie mistake.

Yes we are capable end of. This we aren't good enough crap is pish. I'd rather focus on the positives in the team at the moment. SC semi-final top four finish, chance at promotion all on a shoe string budget with a small largely inexperienced squad. At the start of the season most folk would have been happy with 5th again. But we are guaranteed 4th at least. Keep the faith.

I think you both point out the dilemma. Short contacts are great if the player is very poor but they are detrimental if they are decent. It's a gamble but I suppose you have to try and have confidence in your signings. Several years are great if you get a Josh Meekings not so much if you get a Claude Gnackpa.

Some absolute nonsense written about this game and performance by some posters. Up until the second goal, there was nothing in this game and it had been quite entertaining. The second goal for United changed the way the game panned out completely. United had a cushion and we had to take some risks to get back into the game. I have no worries about facing United in the paly offs if it happens as do not think they are a great team and will not always get the breaks from a poor referee yesterday. Some will argue that the referee did not cost us the game but he certainly altered the course of it. How he missed the hand ball for the second goal is unbelievable. He wasn't far from the incident but to not see that was poor poor refereeing. To say that it hit McMullen's shoulder is just adding insult to injury and for the linesman not to see this either was equally as bad. The sending off of Brad was also a joke. Looked to me as if he cautioned him for a dive which if correct is another ridiculous decision. Everyone knows that refs will make mistakes as they have only one opportunity to see an incident but both these incidents were so clear cut, you don't need a TV replay to see the ref was wrong. Generally thought he was poor in other respects as well, White being continually fouled when he jumped for the ball and Nicky Clark never jumped for the ball at all, preferring to jump at or into our defenders while he was on the park but got away with it. In saying all that, we didn't play at our best, especially in midfield. I think a few of our players are out on their feet just now or carrying knocks and they need a rest. I don't agree with those shouting to give the "young" players a chance prior to this game but hope that one or two may get a chance in the next two games. It seems that Austin has become the new whipping boy for the keyboard warriors on this site and the booing/abuse he got yesterday was out of order. There does seem to be a section of our support who always want to pick on certain players and they should take a long hard look at themselves as indeed, should some posters on here whose posts make me wonder why they support ICT at all as they are continuously negative. I appreciate not everything is perfect for ICT just now but some posters need to get a grip and appreciate the level we are at just now and get behind the team, not constantly carp at it. No doubt, I will be accused of being a happy clapper ( and worse) but could give a ***k after reading some of the nonsense spouted by certain posters.

When we play as we did yesterday, slow and ponderous, teams can let us have the ball safe in the knowledge that after 20 passes from left to right and back again , we will eventually lose possession. In United's case they have the players that can and did open us up easily with very few passes. When we speed it up , not giving time for defences to reset we are more threatening, but we seem to forget how to do this, time and time again.

It was a very disappointing performance, especially after our last game against utd in the cup. We were well off the pace today, second to every ball and our passing game wasn't up to scratch. As I have said before on here, we have a good first eleven and we struggle when some of them are missing. Yesterday, we had Ridgers, Donaldson, Tremarco and Welsh out and it showed in the performance. Also some of our established players had an off day, and that combination is not going to win you matches. I thought we had a few chances in the first half, but it's the same old story, lack of a cutting edge, and then utd go and score with there first real attack. The other thing that was so obvious to all those sitting around me was how slow we are to counter. Time after time game after game, teams counter on us at speed and are at our box in a couple of passes, we on the other hand get the ball in good positions and turn back and let our opponents get back into their shape and try to play through them by passing it back and forth across the back four. It doesn't work, we don't have the quality to do that. As for that mazy run by young Mcdonald, I thought Austin could have gambled at the far post and slid in, but to have go at the young lad is unacceptable, that's Robbo's job if he sees fit. After the hand ball goal, by one of the leagues best divers, our heads went down, and I couldn't see us getting anything from the game, but with other results going our way we are in the play offs, something I didn't think we would achieve this season, so that's a plus point. Maybe the players were anxious going into the game knowing how much was at stake, who knows, but now we can get some players fit over the next two games and plan for our play off matches. If we play to our potential, we can do it.

I’ve sponsored Liam’s boots for years. A lovely young man, always happy to chat. He goes to pastures new with my best wishes for a superb future. I hope he has much success. Motherwells gain is ICTs loss - maybe now the boo boys will realise just what a contribution he made to our team. You know who you are - I could name more than a few who blamed him for everything that went wrong, but never acknowledged his attributes. So be it.

With possibly the most important few games in our history on the horizon, is it really helpful to open a thread only designed to criticise one of our own players?

Daniel Stratford. He's a great guy.

.and have tended to improve their bank balances.

You must of missed that game against Dumbarton where he scored a Hat-trick or the game against Dunfermline where he scored a brilliant goal. He definitely has talent & can score goals which is why this season has been so frustrating regarding Nathan Austin. In some games like the one yesterday he was just plain average forcing one comfortable save from the keeper with a rather tame shot . In a couple of games he has started this season (Ayr Falkirk) he looked decent & was anything but lazy even scoring a couple of goals against Ayr. I'm hoping he will go when his contract is up at the end of the season cause he is one of the most inconsistent strikers i have seen play for ICT can't ever see him getting his form back.

Thought we were terrible yesterday the keeper looks proper dodgy as well a win yesterday would've done the confidence going in to the play offs the world of good ! No positives to take out of yesterday would've rather seen some of our youngsters playing that was 1 of the worst performances Iv seen in a long time!

Let's see how committed he is with any 50/50 challenges in the play off game.

I hope that he can recreate that form for the final games of this season. Much as I appreciate his efforts over the years and wish him well, I don't really care what sort of form he will be in for Motherwell.

Do you go to away games or just home games?

He probably needs to be careful about where, in Inverness, he goes for a haircut.

Tactically we got this spot on yesterday. It was basically a meaningless game as will be the games against Alloa and Dunfermline. Dundee United felt it was an easy win - long may that thought continue especially if we can beat Ayr in the play offs. 3rd place for us might mean a few extra pounds - which is important - but tiring ourselves out is not the strategy for beating Ayr and then taking on Dundee United again with the little ***** likely to see if can add to the two controversial penalties he has 'won' against us and the extremely dubious goal he scored yesterday (one could argue what goes around comes around with justice against us for the Meekings handball). Eventually a referee though will see through him. If we are serious about the play offs we plan for them - not Alloa or Dunfermline. 4th gives us a better advantage with second legs away.

That's the first part of the job done in securing a play off place notwithstanding yesterday's result. We need to negotiate the final two games of the regular season without injury or suspension. These play off matches, potentially six of them, will be the the most important games in our twenty five year history and that includes our two major finals and two European games. The only way we will prevail is if the team, management and fans are all fully focused and fully committed. I understand that the matches will be televised live. Despite that, as many of us as possible need to make the effort to get to as many of the games as we can and to offer full and vocal support from first whistle to last. We really need to avoid another financially disastrous season out of the top flight.

Austin's been decent in the two games I've seen him start in recent months (at Falkirk and Ayr). He did a lot of running in those games. No signs of laziness.

Did the same at Edinburgh City to Walsh. Seems its never his fault?

Again I think some of the comments on here are a bit on the harsh side. This was always going to be a tough game. Utd needed to get something out of the game to secure 2nd spot and a place on the playoff semi-final, and they were obviously really up for the game. We had a significantly weakened side missing Ridgers, Tremarco, Donaldson and Welsh from our defence, plus it looked as though Doran was carrying an injury and he duly got subbed on the hour mark. I thought that we did pretty well. For the most part we showed some real desire although Chalmers was not at his best today. I thought Cammy Mackay did well in goal. I don't think he could have done much with either goal but generally he looked pretty assured and his kicking and distribution was good. McCart was excellent and my MOTM whilst McHattie looked pretty solid at left back. Generally we kept possession well and worked hard to get the ball back when Utd had possession. As often this season, we tended to be a bit slow getting forward but nevertheless we created a lot of chances. We had 15 attempts on goal which was more than any other team in the division this weekend apart from Partick. What we lacked was that bit of composure at both ends when it really mattered. For their first we failed to pick up Safranko although to be fair to the lad, it was a very well taken goal. And we just stood around appealing for handball for the second rather than playing to the whistle. We then took Doran, Walsh and Polworth off and played the last 25 minutes of the game with only 4 of our preferred starting 11 on the pitch. We ended with just 3 after Brad Mackay got sent off for slipping on the wet grass. (or did I miss something?) Austin will want to forget today, but both McDonald and McCauley were excellent when they came on. So all in all, I thought there was quite a lot to be positive about. Despite the loss we have confirmed a play off place with two games to go. That is an improvement on last season and given the financial position of the club, that is an achievement for which Robbo and the players deserve great credit. We now have the opportunity to rest any players who are carrying slight niggles and ensure they are fit for what could be a strenuous play-off campaign. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to see a little more of our home grown talent which is so important to the future of this club.

Of course we can beat United. We have done so very recently. However, we will have to play much more clinically, defend better and be more committed than we were today. Any one of the four teams taking part in the play offs are capable of winning through and that, on our day, includes us. If we go in to them with a defeatest attitude we will, without doubt, be defeated.

Great work down the left with McDonald firing a shot in which went just wide. Austin had got himself into a good position but the shot was a good option. Had McDonald seen Austin and tried to play the ball to him I think it may well have been intercepted so the shot was a fair enough option. Had Austin been a bit more aware I think he could have got onto the back post and tapped the misplaced shot in. It was one of those agonising ones where had it been a better shot it would have gone in but had he pushed it a bit wider it might have fallen to Austin. Anyway, Austin was totally out of order at the way he had a go at young McDonald. It was a shame some supporters started booing Austin though. Whatever they do on the park they need our encouragement and this is an issue I am sure Robbo will deal with appropriately behind the scenes. As for the Brad Mackay sending off, I may be wrong, but my impression was that having evaded one player he simply slipped and fell onto his knees which the referee interpreted as a dive. Whether he was given a 2nd yellow card for simulation or for dissent at a foul being given for simulation I don't know, but it certainly looked like a genuine slip to me. Interesting that Brad gave away a penalty the other day for holding in the box. Today White was was held in the box with the defender's arms right around him with the referee less that 2 yards away. Nothing given. I don't know what it is with Jordan but it is as though the SFA have give a diktat that he can be held, pushed, elbowed as much as a defender wants and a foul will not be given.

Well I must have missed that one as I have never seen Nathan Austin do anything brilliant! He comes on runs about falls over gets hurt and creates nothing, today he missed a sitter and started shouting at Macdonald?

Totally agree with this. Anthony Mcdonald had his head down just beaten 3 or 4 men then took the shot. Austin should have been applauding him not shouting at him.

Too little effort. Only turned up in last ten minutes. And Nathan Austin should take a long hard look at himself ranting at Anthony McDonald the way he did. Gone down in my estimation.

I struggle to understand why Robbo persist's with Austin he clearly has a terrible attitude all around me screaming for Robbo to take young Roddy on instead but he just wont give him a chance

4 years since David Raven scored the greatest goal of his life ?

Ryan is scheduled to go for surgery today to address the horrible facial injuries suffered in the other semi-final. On behalf of CTO (and myself) I just want to wish him all the best for a speedy recovery and to hope that Charlie and the rest of his family are not too stressed out. Its never easy to see relatives in medical distress, especially your children !

Angus Beith speaking on Sportsound this evening about his injury. Said he first felt problems during a loan spell with Stirling but prior to joining us he had treatment (surgery?) and he looked to be in the clear but it flared up again by October time and it was clear he had a decision to make. Spoke highly of Robbo and how he dealt with things. Comes across as a very mature guy so wish him all the best. Really feel like we missed out on an excellent player to injury.

Shot up the tunnel pretty sharpish on Saturday, maybe meeting Ann Budge before getting the bus back up the road.

Agree with OCG, but it would be a worry if we were to lose Ridgers. After a shaky start he has been generally outstanding for us. Arguably the player I would most want to hang on to, and I am sure there are a lot of teams who have been keeping tabs on him. It's the nature of our club though. We bring struggling players in, develop them and then lose them when other clubs offer them shed loads more than we can afford. Being a professional footballer is a short career and you can't blame these guys for moving on . We just have to accept the harsh financial realities and be grateful for the contributions they have made to the club.

Good run by the young boi but Austin was open he was quite right to have a rant

Doofers Dad---I like your posts. Common sense like. As for the goalie's position , if Mr. Ridgers leaves then sign OFW to a one year contract and bring him back into the team.

Austin had a tantrum because he's a lazy sod and did absolutely nothing most of the game, and then took it out on a wean because it was apparently his fault he missed an absolute sitter...