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May be in the minority here but as someone who enjoys watching slick passing football rather than kick and rush/lump it forward and hope for the best/hoof ball, I have actually been encouraged by the style of play Big Dunc has been trying to implement since his arrival. Yes it hasn't and won't work at times against certain opposition (and we need to have more than one card up our sleeve) and we are still shot shy and looking for the killer pass too often, but it's early days. I think it will be next season (with own group of players) before we truly see how effective this can be and whether or not it will bring us 'success'. Keep the faith, we are a work in progress and we need to give him a proper chance! When I think of some of the other managers who were touted for the job, I'm still thankful for the willingness to think a little bit out the box and try something new..... Sadly I've found at home games there seems to be a lot of negativity whereas at away games the fans really back and encourage the team until the end. Maybe it's just the people I'm sitting next to

more bait required…

Nice one Cammy

Just what I was thinking - the "tippy-tappy" football was a bit of a novelty to us and often it was painful to watch. But under John Hughes we pretty much perfected it with a fairly mediocre bunch of players and what a joy we were to watch! Be patient folks, perhaps history is repeating itself!

Duke, you must have given a few games “ A MISS “ during yogi Hughes tenure. I remember one game, against Dundee I think, it took 70 mins before we took a shot at goal. chuckle brothers football, TO YOU TO ME etc etc etc…………………….. Grampian TV had a piece prior to a Dundee utd game. John rankin, Utd at time, said we can’t afford to give ball away to ICT “ you will never get it back “ wow, some of those games were SOOOOO boring.

The scoreline flattered us. Broomhill were very poor and this should have been an opportunity to take a few risks with taking players on and playing more adventurous balls into space. We didn't do that though. For most of the game it was boring tippy tappy passing going absolutely nowhere. When we did play a ball behind the defence, it was either misdirected or had too much on it. Had Gilmour's shot not found its way through a crowded box just before half time, I am sure the team would have been booed off at half time. Broomhill went down to 10 men early in the 2nd half. The man advantage on top of what should be better fitness levels should have resulted in us using the width of the pitch to really stretch the opposition. Whilst we dominated possession, we never created much. Fortunately, Brooks was sharper in the box than the tiring Broomhill defenders and Samuel took his chance to make amends for his poor effort from the spot. Despite his penalty miss, Samuel deservedly got the sponsors MOTM award. Given that he is apparently not good enough for the County matchday squad, that says a lot about the level the rest of out team is at. The answer to IHE's question is "no". We haven't got what is needed. Of course it is great to be through to the last 16 of the cup, but if we don't play better than this in the league for the rest of the season, we are going to be struggling to avoid the drop.

We got the job done, which was the main thing seeing what happened in some other games. I thought we started well and were trying to utilise the pace of Samuel, but after the early disallowed goal by Doran, we reverted to slow build up play and taking passes when shots were on for most of the first half. Gilmour’s goal was needed as otherwise the first half would have been one of our worst 45s this season. We showed a bit more urgency at the start of the second half and should have been 2 up with the penalty. I felt the red was a bit harsh but he was wresting with Doran for about 10 yards! Samuel’s kick was saved comfortably but he made amends a short time later with Carragher getting the assist. We failed to capitalise until the late double from Brooks added gloss to the score line. MacKay also pulled off one fine save to maintain the clean sheet. We started as a 3 5 2 with Duffy and Longstaff as wing backs, with all of Anderson, Carson and Gilmour in central midfield. We switched to 4 at the back late on after Ujdur went off, with Longstaff at left back. He did ok, but I felt Duffy was the more dangerous of the wide players. Carson had a quiet first half but made some decent passes after the break. It was good to see Doran and MacGregor get game time, along with Samuel and Brooks being amongst the goals. So job done with a good result after a largely unconvincing performance.

Could be better, could be worse.

If not, they won't be getting my money. A decent draw for us though, especially after how close Forfar ran them yesterday. Perhaps we could contribute to the departure of yet another H#bs manager.

I wonder if the club will open the North stand for this one?

Easy!

Interesting one this. Our previous signings from the Irish Premiership flopped but this is a different scenario altogether. Curtis Allen and Darren Mcauley had been playing Irish League for a few years and we didnt have any competition. Ben has just turned 21 and spent 5 years at Brighton before coming back to NI in the summer so he's had a good grounding. He's attracted a fair bit interest and a few teams have contacted Cliftonville to express their interest so I would have my doubts we could get him. Perhaps Big Dunc's name might be a big enough pull but he's certainly an interesting prospect.

Granted, I remember a 0-0 home draw with Partick Thistle in the Yogi era that was mind numbing. Getting deja vu to that, but at least we had good players who are ICT legends then. Different level of players now.

If we hadn't scored a late 1st half goal yesterday fans would have started to turn. We were putrid. I remember similar comments made when Hughes first came in about boring 'tippy tappy' possession football. That did come good over time (at least for a while) however the biggest difference between now and then is the calibre of players is vastly different. I don't think we have good enough players to play that way to a consistently effective level. We are quite honestly, turgid and very rarely have any urgency in counterattack or when on the offence. I hope that they do manage to turn it around and make it more effective and produce better results, time will tell.

Passing back and fore is the core teaching of modern day defensive coaching. Does anyone actually think that Dunc will change that ? I suspect that many would love to play the Pele Paterson way but those days are unfortunately gone. That is why it has to be quicker and more accurate when it goes forward - and that requires sharp thinking midfielders and pacy finishers. Have we got what is needed ?

.....still to concede a goal this season in the Scottish Cup.....

A cup win is a cup win.. we're in the last 16. First half was a struggle against what is basically a Highland league team, huffed and puffed until Gilmore battered in a goal off someone's leg. Thank feck! Second half was one sided helped by a red card and pen (pysh attempt) Samuel's made up for it by scoring the second. Brooks added 2 which glossed over a potential trip of a tie. Again we played so many passes back and fore it became a bore! There is a great need for a midfielder with vision and drive to connect the striker (s) Anyway I'm fairly happy we're in the draw and Samuel's looks like he could be a good addition to the squad.

Big team, big cup Wee team, wee cup

He came on for Doran and got just over half an hour. He took his goals very well (the first was a cracking finish) and all the players seemed delighted for him. I think he does have potential. He is still young and learning. I’m not sure if Doran got a knock in the penalty incident, as he headed towards the touch line behind the goal for a few moments after it. Hopefully his substitution was just a precaution. Someone commented above that Doran should have taken the penalty but I don’t think he was ready to, given the nature of the challenge. I can’t argue with a striker stepping up to take it although Gilmour may have been a better option at the time. A shout out to the ground staff. The pitch held up very well and didn’t look to be cutting up at all. A few seasons back there’s no way the game would have gone ahead.

Speaking of the next round, the draw is tomorrow and the chances are we won’t get a team we are favourites to beat. I think the only remaining teams who are below us in the league are Ayr, Bonnyrigg and Cove/Brora (oh, and hopefully Buckie too!)

I hope we get Ross County in the next ro...

Doran would be the obvious choice.

Well the highlight of the first half was Samuel's who showed some nice touches,good positioning and good passes,the goal, which amazingy was a shot from outside the box.We said week after week we need to shoot more rather than pass into the goal.We do that today and score. Good to see Doran and MaGregor,Thompson and Co get run out. I have to say passing back and sideways non stop is boring to watch. When said and done banana skin avoided.

4-0 FT. Biggest Scottish Cup margin of victory this afternoon, which surely makes us favourites for the tournament.

I just hope they have registered him correctly.

They obviously follow this site because they have now just corrected it!

Some strike by Spartans 1-1 after 65 minutes, ooft!

Not only a striker, but a six foot striker. Should be a useful addition to our squad.

Tossed the coin today, heads I go, tails I don't. Tails it was. No appetite to watch ICT at present, poor football, back office dictator and cold weather. Sad, but just not got the interest in ICT that I previously did.