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Last Game of 2023 Last game before the bells brings Morton North for the first time this season. We played them recently at Cappielow and went down to a disappointing 2-1 defeat in a game held over from 21st October. Since then Morton have clambered up to fifth in the table while we have slumped to 8th with back to back defeats and a welcome point at Firhill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Official Preview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 12 5 4 48 20 +28 Away 20 11 3 6 38 26 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 41 23 8 10 86 46 +40 Sloppy Stuff in Greenock: 1 - 2 Wallace Duffy missed out with a calf injury with Jake Davidson getting a rare start and the paternal David Carson was still on maternity leave. Good to see Roddy Macgregor was on the bench following another lengthy layoff through injury alongside Sean Welsh and Nathan Shaw. Morton had three players that were on our books recently. Defender Kirk Broadfoot, wide player Stephen Boyd and striker George Oakley. And it was that man Oakley that gave Morton the lead after errors in defence. Jack Baird smashed in a second ten minutes from time. Adam Brooks added a late consolation, but it was too little too late in Greenock as the revolution ground to a halt. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 0 - 4 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) Last Time Out We have struggled to make headway recently losing to two of the three sides below us in the league. We steadied the ship somewhat with a good point at Partick in a game Ferguson thought we deserved better from, but we would all have taken a point before hand. Max Anderson's deflected shot found it's way into the net after just 21 seconds, our fastest ever goal but Jack McMillan levelled ten minutes later and that's how it ended at Firhill. Last Five L W L L D Dougie Imrie's side have had a mini revival. Three wins and a draw in the last four since Morton stopped the rot, including the 2-1 win over us in October. and that has seen them jump up to where we were looking to be before we lost to Morton and Arbroath. Last Five L W W W D Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Dundee United v Partick on Friday night 1. Raith Rovers 17 12 4 1 33 22 40 2. Dundee Utd 16 10 5 1 34 7 35 3. Partick Thistle 17 8 5 4 34 27 29 4. Dunfermline 16 6 4 6 20 18 22 5. Morton 16 5 3 8 17 24 18 6. Ayr United 16 5 3 8 22 30 18 7. Airdrieonians 17 5 3 9 14 22 18 8. Inverness CT 17 4 5 8 20 21 17 9. Arbroath 16 5 1 10 21 31 16 10. Queens Park 16 3 5 8 19 32 14 The bottom half of the table is getting very congested and the value of a mini-run has been exemplified with Morton climbing up to fifth in the table, a position we were also looking at before disappointing results against Morton and Arbroath recently. Raith Rovers will head the table going into 2024 and a lot of that is down to their never say die attitude with late goals being a major factor in their climb to the top. The January sales are going to be crucial this season with any team capable of winning on the day. As they always say, there are no easy games in the Championship, and so it proves to be the way... Latest Team News Ferguson has Carson back training but big Harry can be added to the Doran, Samuels and MacGregor list of guys still out. Lewis Strapp is back at Morton, he of the long throw and it was a useful weapon against us last time out. George Oakley is thriving again. Last starting XI v Airdrie Mullen French Baird O'Connor Strapp Gillespie (Power 60) Wilson Blues (Boyd 60) Crawford McGrattan (Bearne 69) Muirhead Subs Not used: MacDonald; O'Boy

Mind-numbing stuff! Sideways passing, then backwards, followed by some more sideways passing. Zero entertainment!

If you care to google either Butterfield and Sherif, it says they are very promising players. In Big Dunc we believe! I will welcome any new players, either on loan, or signed (long or short time) to ICT that improve our match day experience and keep ICT improving and giving us fans hope again. The atmosphere since Big Dunc’s arrival is special, especially at away games when fans are very much more vocal.

You are right Tree, although there has been an improvement since Dodds was here and we have had the new manager bounce but unfortunately it wasn't very big! It is going to be a long haul and we will have to offload a few players to make way for some new signings in January.

Game showed where we have been the last few years with a lack of cutting edge up front. The loss of Wotherspoon removes quality and when Billy is removed we are left with nothing. A process is underway to change how the team plays and unlike under Dodds there is a point to the way we are playing but lack quality in some areas to make a difference. Time is needed to bed in the changes and you could see some of the frustration from Duncan at some points. Shaw is a major weakness due to him lack of football awareness and having Carson back may allow a change to a more flexible shape than we have been playing since he dropped out.

I suppose we shouldn't be too negative because other than Spoony this is Dodds team and Dunc up until now could only take players on loan or on a free.Silk purse and sows ear comes to mind.He has to fo his best with what he has at his disposal. Playing out from the back is good if the tempo is high and you have runners for the channels to cross in for strikers. That didn't happen today and Shaw didn't look settled where he was playing.I think we needed Welsh in the middle to direct operations. Let's give Dunc a chance to build his own team.

The only positive this afternoon is that we didn’t concede late on and end up getting beaten! We probably should have had a penalty when Devine was pushed in the box but he did go down too easily so maybe that’s what stopped the red giving it. Morton’s time wasting was disgraceful but that didn’t cost us a win. I’ve two real frustrations with our play in recent home games. We always seem to pass when a shot is on and end up giving possession away, and we pull everyone back when defending corners, so have no outball, so end up back under pressure. 3-5-2 seems to have tightened us up, but we’ve lost Shaw’s positive influence as a result and in the first half in particular we were not giving players support when attacking from wide positions. I think we should have changed to 4-4-2 early in the second half with Shaw and Longstaff testing Morton down the wings as whilst Davidson and Harper tried to, they didn’t deliver anything dangerous. It was good to see Carson back and hopefully his attitude will have a positive impact. We have two big away games against teams round about us. We ideally need to win both or at least get four points.

This is exactly why we need to sack Dodds. Oh wait…

Dreadful, dreadful stuff. One of the worst football matches I've ever suffered. We are going to be worryingly looking over our shoulder if this is the level of output until May.

Scrappy game in which we tried to walk ball into net.We need to take more chances and shoot for goal.I think we needed more balls in from the wings and great to see Carson come on.Good we kept the back door closed,just a pity we were no sharper up front. Neither side shone today and if we don't up the tempo and get sharper at passing the best we can hope for is to stay in this league. Hopefully we will see positive moves in tansfer market

IMO we need to move the ball quicker and cannot fathom how Welsh (if fit) isn't starting.

Cannot believe our lack of desire to win a football match. Things have to change in the second half or we are a stick on for the automatic drop. The five at the back definitely does not work.Lost count the amount of times harper had the ball on the half way line and had to go back due to nobody wide in front of him. We just carry on threat going forward.

The honeymoon period is over Dunc. If that's your tactics and game plan, think again. Most folk go to football for some entertainment and a release from the humdrums of life. Cheer on their team and have some banter with fellow fans. That had no joy, no excitement and had approx 2000 ICT fans feeling and sounding like Victor Meldrew. Not good enough and I'm not going back anytime soon to waste my time watching utter s###e!!

Just about the worst game I have ever had the misfortune to attend. Embarrassing lack of quality, no excitement whatsoever, freezing cold, no wonder attendances are falling away. We really are a grim watch these days.

Shocking performance. Could have played for weeks and not scored, Some players were awful, Shaw needs to be dropped and Gilmore needs shooting practice. The subs that came on showed how poor our squad is. As Ferguson says we're def.in a relegation battle.

Happy New Yeat all when it comes have a good one . Dunfermline @2.60 please

Our alternative Christmas number 1 is @The Mantis - can he sustain his challenge for the title into the New year or will @Jodie Carnie or CDN Girl mount a challenge? Week 17 The Mantis: 260.00 Jodie Carnie: 257.50 CDN Girl: 250.80 The Caley One: 235.50 Robert: 220.00 NOHO: 220.00 Caleyjag: 209.10 Scotty: 202.90 MrCaleyjag: 185.30 Caley Canary: 161.40 Gringo: 137.50 Caley Braveheart: 137.50 Mrs Gringo: 127.50 Old Caley Girl: 124.20 SOS: 111.50 Crown Jaggie@ 96.60 IHE: 40.00 Wyness101: 40.00

Merry Christmas to all on the forum regulars and lurkers. I wish you and your families all the best for the festive season however you are celebrating hopefully with good food and wine or whatever your tipple is and I hope Santa is good to you