Leaderboard

The Swan is Shetland's Tall Ship and my brother-in-law is on the committee so I've been aboard a few times. Last week by chance she was in Ullapool getting a new mast so I was able to get a few snaps.

Well you know how difficult it can be when you have a hobby such as photography or climbing or golf and you also have family... We went across on Monday on the Isle of Lewis and came back on Sunday on the Loch Seaforth's first day back after its refit in Birkenhead. Glad to see the doggy bit has been shifted to the stern lounge as they were beginning to take over the whole boat... Where we stay is an hour's drive from Stornoway so I don't go there too often. Mrs Mantis and her sister were doing some shopping on Thursday and it was a chance for the brother-in-law and me to have a poke about the harbour. The Isle of Lewis had a gearbox problem the day before but had just departed at 1430 for Ullapool. I saw that the Heb Isles was meant to leave Ullapool at 1230 with freight and arrive in Stornoway at 1600. As it got near 1600 I checked the app and it hadn't left till 1430 so that put paid to that. Not sure what time the Heb Isles made its final departure on Sunday but it must have been before we got there. I was on the Heb Isles in April to Islay and back for a weekend as it was relieving the regular boat, the Finlaggan, so here's a couple taken at Kennacraig. I remember the sideways launch at Selby in 1985 very well and I think it went straight on to the Uig triangle. State of the art at the time.

Hmm, we’re not good at relegation playoffs!

You're laggin' somewhat Must learn not to include the gravestones of famous people in the foreground!

Spot the link:- “Intelligent” Finance; “Cognitive” Capital; “Intelligent” Land Investments.

It may well be in 10 years such a decision is made on again purely economical reality!

I think we are back to the notion that it seemed great when two small clubs from the inner Moray Firth deservedly got into the SFL in 1994, but after both of them became a lot bigger - and after £30-40M of other people’s money has been jointly given to them - we find that this maybe wasn’t such a good idea after all. Caley Thistle, who have accounted for around £15M of that £35-40M, are currently going through the resulting reality check and correction, and that is the kind of reality that may also eventually visit Ross County, should the annual seven figure sum that Roy MacGregor is putting in there stop coming.

What a great month it's been for football so far - 2 wins (and a draw) for ICT and 2 wins for Scotland!! Can it get better?

A shame indeed, but we need to keep on our toes as Admin might galvanise them as it has us.

I would agree that Inverness is a large enough town to sustain a top 20 club. Unfortunately the local support is divided between ICTFC and that team based in Dingwall, and the existence of each of these clubs is detrimental to the top-flight aspirations of the other. Put simply, County's top flight sustainability would be much less precarious If ICTFC did not exist, as was ours before they joined us in the SPL.

MacKinnon will be our top scorer end of the season just you see. Scott has told him to have a dig if he gets a chance and he hit the post this week and put one just wide in the first half. He just sits in the pocket and has some kind of boot on him. He'll finish on 10 plus - that's my prediction. He reminds me a bit of Polworth in the way he plays but I think he has more about him.

The way I look at it is to add the deducted points back. I know it is pointless, but it does give you an idea of how we measure up against the others. That we could be 3 points off the top after a poor start and plenty of the season to play tells you how well we are doing in relative terms. If we keep this up we will catch those above in due course and then it's all to play for.

I wasn't convinced by any of our penalty shouts. The fans, including me, made more of Luis' appeal than any of the players did. I thought Nolan could just as easily have been booked for his theatrical dive. Good deserved win and another clean sheet. Musa took the weight off the defence with a few catches as Alloa tried to salvage something.

Let’s confine DF to the dustbin of history and concentrate on driving the team on to survival this season.

Well what a transformation we look like a team who wants to win for each other. This young team are getting more confident with every game. Abley backed by Billy and Danny it's great to see the fans are right behind them and credit to the new management. And what about our new keeper he deserves lots of credit too another MR well done guys

Had Ferguson still been in charge we'd have lost that game today. The performance was night and day to his tenure. The players are playing like footballers now and not robots. Much more purpose and intent. Onwards and upwards!

A well deserved win. I thought we were excellent in the first half, but was worried when Alloa had a spell early in the second when we were taking risks and getting lucky at the back. We got back on top and Gilmour took his goal well, and you could see how much it meant to all the players. We then closed the game out, despite the best efforts of the referee. Mckay was very unlucky not to be on the score sheet and we hit the post. Longstaff is a player transformed now we are playing him wide again, and was outstanding when playing on the left. Gilmour and Thompson were very good too, and credit Dibaga for the clean sheet and running the clock down. We seem more streetwise under Kellacher too. A very satisfactory afternoon (despite the referee).

I'm sure there's still a few Ferguson apologists who'll try and tell us the squad was the problem and not the manager. Regardless we can't change what's come before and need to keep putting in performances like we've seen the last few games. The football is entertaining and the players have a growing belief in themselves. Not a bad performance from any of them today and hopefully Davidson's injury isn't as bad as it looked. Special mention for young Thompson who acquitted himself very well today. Left everything he had to give on the pitch. Also to Billy "who says I can't last 90 minutes" Mckay who was unfortunate not to be on the scoresheet today.

Great result. Just keep going and only focus on the next game. Nothing else matters!

So, Chris McLaughlin of the Beeb refers to whispers at boardroom level surrounding a couple of well-known clubs in particular, as further possibilities for going into administration. I wonder what counts as "well-known".