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His biggest error of judgement for me has been the dropping of Russell Duncan. We had Duncan & Cox forming a great double act and now Russell has been binned for now. I would have started with Rossco at centre back with Grantie, and Golly at left back with Proctor told to tackle if he wants a game at right back.

IHE obviously on the wind up with his comments on Rossco and Eric - they were two of our best players today, along with Nick Ross and Duff.

Eric's goal was a feckin masterpiece.... an incredible first touch and then a superb finish....It was a work of art... a thing of beauty..... One of the best goals I've ever seen at TCS.... Wtf was wrong with it?

It is hard to work that one out. We were about halfway through last season, before Duncan was recalled to the side after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Oddly enough his return seemed to coincide with that long unbeaten run in we enjoyed in the second half our season in Div1. I'd like to see him and Duff in a central midfield pairing. Cox has not been very convincing at SPL level.

Maybe Butcher wants one of the midfeld two to offer something going forward and sees Duff as a better option going forward than Duncan? That's the only thing I can think of. One thing that frustrated me was the lack of support offered to the wide men. Any time Hayes or Ross had the ball the support from the midfield and forwards was non existent. The wide men were left totally isolated on the touchline meaning they had to beat, quite often, two players to get the ball in or stop and turn back to the full backs on the half way line. There was quite often a lot of space on the edge of the area that one of the midfielders could go in to if a pass was slipped in but no one seemed to offer this.

I thought that was an all right game at times to be honest. Disappointed to have lost it obviously but you can't defend the way we did and pass up on some of the chances we created and still expect to get the three points. I felt we were the better side in the first half and created the better opportunities to score. Rooney and Innes had good chances to score with headers and Rooney again had a great chance to add to his tally this season when he turned his man but seemed to poke the ball at goal with minimal force. Easy save. Didn't have the best view of the goal but it looked like Odihambo almost bundled the ball into the ground at the second attempt but glad to have at least opened our account at home. Hearts had some half chances but didn't look like they would get an equaliser until the own goal from Innes. It was a stupid free kick to give away by Hayes who, fair enough, raced back to help Proctor out in snuffing out Templeton but he only succeed in bundling into him and giving away a cheap free kick. It was a great delivery and under pressure from Kyle Innes diverted the ball into the net. Poor defending from us but if Innes hadn't sent it in then Kyle would have. Level at half time but I feel we were the better side and Hearts weren't looking too hot. In the second half we paid for our missed chances in the first 45 minutes and showed some real naivety in defending as Hearts took the lead. From the North stand it looked like the ball was heading wide from a shot or header and Tokely seemed to assume that it would run for a goal kick and forgot he had a Hearts player behind him who stole in and fired in. A ridiculous goal for ICT to concede and I could see Munro telling Tokely exactly what he thought of his defending. It got worse when Santana blitzed down the right and fed Elliot who rattled the ball in. Again it was a sloppy goal to concede as it was just to easy for Hearts. We had some chances in the second half with Rooney foiled by a last ditch tackle in the box and Hayes passing up a chance to shoot when he chose to pass instead. Also there was a disallowed goal from a Sutherland shot but I don't really know if he, or someone else, was offside. All in all a frustrating day as I don't feel we deserved to lose 3 - 1 but if we need to start sharpening up in front of goal and at the back otherwise all of last years hard work will be for nothing. Both Templeton and Santana were excellent for Hearts, despite the latters pathetic play acting. They were too nippy for our full backs to deal with and a lot of the Hearts attacks came from the wide areas. Brines was utterly abysmal. Appeared to miss a stonewall penalty for Hearts and seemed to confuse both sets of fans with some weird and wonderful decisions as well as a seeming inability to display any kind of consistency when it came to booking players. Hayes was booked for bundling into Templeton IIRC yet Hayes himself was chopped down time and time again by Hearts players who weren't warned or booked until much later in the game. Agree with the positive comments on Nick Ross and Stuart Duff. I thought Ross was excellent and thoroughly deserving of his MotM award. He looked like he had a lot of belief about him today and he put in some good crosses and supported the forwards well. Duff didn't always complete his passes but I was encouraged that he seemed to try and get the ball down and look to get it forward. He tried a number of passes between defenders for Rooney to try and split the Hearts backline. Another that can only get better with more games. Disagree entirely on Tokely. I thought he was well below par. It was his lack of concentration that led to Hearts second goal as he thought it was going out not aware there was a Hearts player behind him. Eric was good but I wouldn't say he was up there with Ross and Duff. Maybe our third best player. Needs to change his footwear though - I lost count of how often he fell over! He's fabulous entertainment. He clearly knows NOTHING about football and just spouts drivel for 90 minutes. It's a win win situation really because even if ICT are losing you can listen out for his shouts and have a good laugh at him.

The thing that irks me about the Russelldinho situation. He scored a spectacular goal against United, we thumped them 0-4 and he gets dropped........ work that one out.

Apr?s la performance d'aujourd'hui Gillet est vraiment le seul SPL retour standard compl?te que nous avons. Si la tuberculose ne pouvait voir que Royster a les cuisses de grenouilles ? la substitution parfaite.

There was a lot to take encouragement from in today's performance. The biggest plus point was Nick Ross who played the best I have seen him and for me was MOTM. After the Hamilton game I said he needed a bit more ambition as he seemed to be happy to win a corner when he could have done better. Today he was always prepared to take the defenders on and got some good balls across from situations where I would have settled for a throw. The other youngster, Sutherland, also looked very good when he came on. I thought Ronney and Eric both played pretty well and Rooney is now looking like a player who really believes he can score a few at this level. He had a couple of very crisp strikes which Hearts defenders, to their credit, closed down very quickly. Some of the interply in attack was very good and we always looked more threatening up front. Duff was good with his distribution but was a lucky boy not to get a red card. I felt we needed a bit more bite in midfield but if Duff is going to mis-time his tackles like that then that's a worry. But the defence - Oh dear! We really do need strengthening in this area. Unless we do, we are likely to ship a lot of goals this season. Lets hope we can take our chances and score more at the other end.

If everyone thinks Nick Ross played so fantastically on the left (and yes I agree he did) why not just leave him there??? Also Eric had a good game as far as I am concerned. Proctor was poor but against Templeton who is a quality player do you think Tokely would have done much better?? Templeton's pace would have ripped him apart. Duff looked fantastic but it is time for Duncan to return to his defensive midfield role ahead of Cox.

As you would expect i totally agree, this happened in the SFL1 cox and stratford started quite a few games then pedz was starting and we picked up. IMHO i think duff and duncan would be brilliant together as duncan is more defensive minded and works hard, while duff seems to attack quite often. the 4-2-3-1 formation should be given another chance against St. J as the games we have played at home are always going to be the some of the most difficult games we will have (at home).

Praise be to copy and paste: From a purely psychological perspective I would say that this post says more about the poster than anything else - ya can just sense the excitement and expectation in the words. From the seer perspective I suspect he could be suffering from a groin strain imminently.

Interesting comments from peeple who were at the game so here is the ESPN view from a totally feckin sober IHE !! ESSON He wasnt at fault at any of the goals and always looked to distribute quickly - and usually did - appeared to be giving some great defensive "shouts" and did well in the wet conditions PROCTOR Hopefully Terry and Mo are now convinced that he is a valuable squad player who can play "well" in a number of positions but he quite simply is NOT a right back - in some fairness Templeton is a mega talent but Proc was lost. GRANTY I dont agree with the criticism as AGAIN I felt that he was the only player in the back for who was actually "thinking" about the game. Innes was given the job of marking Kyle - TB probably didnt have an alternative but moving Granty to left back midway through the second half was tactically inept. INNES Sorry but he wasnt match fit but probably had to be pitched in as what were the alternatives. The lack of match fitness shone through in the second half ROSSCOE : Well as most of us knew before he is NOT a left back and he probably isnt a SPL right back either - central defender for this season only. He looked totally lost and was at fault for the second and third goals. He was feckin spent. HAYES: Is it me or is he the most frustrating ****. He can be a typical winger one minute and then goes out of the game fer ages plus he doesnt track back - and when he did he was paul Scholes esque in a late tackle. COX As usual runs his legs off and was probably one of the few who gained pass marks. Unspectacular but moderately effective - has taken over the Duncan role clearly DUFF : Never one of my favourite transfer rumours or buys but this boy actually looks the part. He works put he can play a pass as well. Could be the buy of the season ROSS: Suffers from the apparent obsession to hit Hayes. Let the boy of his leash and play him on the right - a feckin definite fer the Under 21 squad - Don Cowie in the making. ERIC Shocking game - he simply should NOT be played at home - feck me he clearly even doesnt know what kind of stud to use in wet conditions. He simply does not have a first touch or a pass - all he has is pace - and his goal could go down as the flukiest in SPL history. ROONEY: Playing the lone striker at home is unacceptable. He simply did not get the ammunition but he could have scored a couple of goals if he had more experience. He will be a vital cog in the future though. FORAN OK Hearts were 3-1 but his mere presence appeared to buoy the team and the atmosphere. Greta to see him back and his presence will be a big, big factor this season. SUTHERLAND: Still not convinced that he and Rooney can play together but that pairing is worth having a look at. From the TV there was nothing wrong with the goal GOLLY Only on fer a short time but way behind the SPL pace. Terry and Mo: Todays tactics deserve a thread of its own BRINES: Poor game all round - missed some clear decisions - including the disallowed Sutherland goal, some terrible tackles and over ruling the linesmen. And isnt Craig burley a total feckin horses' erse. Overall there were positives and negatives - we are evidently going to struggle when we have important players out but we have to be more radical in regard to our tactics

Another home defeat to add to growing the collection and considering Hearts weren't any great shakes they run out comfortable winners in the end. Poor team selection cost us dearly. Tokely at left back with a fit Golabek on the bench was crazy and that's down to Butcher Proctor was abysmal and the sooner he is out of the team the better. As soon as Templeton got the ball he s**t himself and ran away. Hopeless. You had to feel sorry for Esson with that defence in front of him. Still at least we got lucky that the clueless ref didn't give them a couple of penalties, the one in the second half looked a stonewaller. I think it must be obvious even to the most optimistic ICT fan we are in a relegation dogfight already and its going to be a long hard slog this season

Just back from a match that was as damp as the weather. It's not often I have a big rant against our own players, but after that load of keystone cops defending today, I feel entitled to vent a bit. I can cope with players having bad games - which is why I politely applauded David Proctor at the end, even though he had a stinker - it was distressing to see how easily Templeton skinned him. But as for Munro and Innes - well, boys, you took one look at Kevin Kyle when he came on, and you wet your pants. The number of 50-50s and high balls towards him that our centre-halves refused to contest - well, I lost count after only a little while. Innes apparently can't do anything except tug shirts; Munro, meanwhile, should take a look at Rossco, who at least made Kyle work to win the ball when he moved to the centre. In short, Grant and Chris - I would feel quite comfortable about accusing the two of you of being cowards. Either grow a pair, fast, or prepare for a deserved period warming the bench. Further up the pitch, we created plenty of chances but, Eric's goal aside (he needs new boots, by the way), we were poor in the box. Rooney worked hard as usual. I thought Nick Ross was as good as anyone today. But it was an off day for Jonny Hayes. As you can tell, I'm absolutely fed up. Hearts won that game by being slightly less bad than us.

I feckin love TB. Hope both Rooney and the gaffer are still at ICT for (at least) another couple of seasons.

If ICT once again go a Brewster-esque mentality of punting it up the park at every opportunity next season, it'll be a season to forget. It's interesting to note that when ICT play a more attacking, passing based style of play they have more success. It's no coincidence that managers like Paterson and Robertson were successful ICT managers, while more defensive minded managers like Baltacha and Brewster were not. If you were make a table of the best ICT managers first to last, it's likely to show what is almost a scale of the attackingness of ICT at that time. It's also interesting to note that ICT began having more success under Terry Butcher, when he decided to take a more offensive approach. Some teams, such as Egil Olsen's Norway and Tony Pulis's Stoke have had a degree of success when taking a more direct and defensive apporach using the players at their disposal. ICT are not on of the those. It is a fact that when ICT play, to a certain degree, an more attack minded, passing based system, the club has more success. I for on believe that a major factor in ICT's 2008/09 relegation was down to Craig Brewster obsession with the long ball garbage we were subjected to, that was not just boring for the supporters to watch, but completely ineffective most of the time, in the process taking talented ball playing midfielders like Ian Black out of the game. It's not football, Brewster mentality of rather not conceding a goal, than scoring, in my opinion cost ICT. Take a mentality like that next season, and it might not be such a happy time in the SPL for Caley Thistle.

It all started going wrong when kyle came on. i thought we could have possibly won the game until he came on. I thought the ref was horrible i have never seen worse decisions for corners, eggert jonsson should have been sent off and same with the winger who hit proctor on the knee. I'm not too sure if sutherlands 'goal' was offside. I don't like proc playing right back, he's a better centre mid and i would like to see duncan start next week instead of cox, i didnt notice cox until the second half. I thought ross, eric, hayes and rooney all played well today and hopefully they will keep it up for st mirren where we should pick up 3 points.

Yes indeed....Brazilianesque... Good description! Eric's got everything - in a nutshell, the complete footballer.... I've also heard he's the most well endowed guy in the dressing room.

Eric

Is it just me or does the headline for kenny's injury update sound more like an offer than something signifying a story updating us on his injury and recovery timetable...........i'm just sayin! ha ha See For Yourself.