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excellent thread, no mention of munro, duncan or tokely so things must have gone ok

Not long back from the game. Took us a while to warm up and neither side settled into the game by the time Coventry were awarded a very soft penalty. We grew into the game and started to pass the ball a lot better as the game wore on. Was a good workout and the players look to be forming a good deal of understanding. Positives: - G Shinnie looking very dangerous as a marauding left back, he played a great attacking game and became more of a threat as the game wore on - Cooper had a really good game and showed maturity far beyond his years. A couple of defensive lapses but he was kept on track by a very supportive Meekings who directed him well. Showed a great deal of potential and i think will be a useful player far sooner than anyone predicted - Meekings looked pretty strong and effective at centre half and gives us an strong option to cover in that position - the overall fitness of the team looked good today - long ball tactics seem to finally be a thing of the past, a lot more quick passing on the deck which was a lot more pleasing to the eye. And effective! - sweet finish from Oswell. Hopefully he can be the natural goalscorer that we have missed since Rooney left. Time will tell - doran looking very sharp and fit Negatives: - Shane had a game to forget, never really got into the game. Mind you cant of been easy up against a very physical Kevin Kilbane - Slow start to the game but - some shocking challenges from the Coventry players. In particular the challenge on Raven and a few others on McKay, A Shinnie and Doran Definitely more plus points to todays game than negatives.

OK let's get down to the feckin nitty gritty !! ESSON Will be as reliable as ever and possibly even more so when he has a Real Mad goalie in competition. RAVEN Early days but he was hesitant and unsure and wholly concentrating on defence. He really didn't inspire me but glad that his head injury is not as bad as it first looked. COOPER Now he does suggest that he has a future - very strong in the tackle and tries to play football - not ready fer central defence yet but a reliable defensive back up. Give him 2-3 years at this level and he will be a fine, fine defender. MEERKAAT Put in a fine shift - again I do not think that he is a first choice central defender but he will be another cover and probably the fist choice right back. G.SHINNIE No doubt that he is now one of the first on the team sheet and still looks like he could do a job anywhere down the left side. SUTHERLAND HE IS NOT A WIDE PLAYER - He is more like David Haye than Jonny Hayes - I fear that he is going to end up like Proctor !! FORAN He will be the most important player of the lot this season as he will compete and play anywhere. I am even going to suggest that he may well be best utilised in central defence as he has the "head" for it, he is a great tackler, distributor and good in the air. DRAPER The IHE jury is out - he aint fit and he is not a creative midfielder - he is the holder and Foran and Draper do not equate. DORAN Now he is the new Jonny Hayes so stick him in the same role. A SHINNIE I think that he could be our most influential player but where the feck is he playing - fer feck sake play him the old Bingham role - just behind the front one or two with a licence to roam and cause real damage. McKAY Real good shift but what about playing him in the wide rite role which Shane is in at the moment. He has the pace and movement to take that on. OSWELL Now this is one that I would love to see have a run his movement and pace and watching the line were impressive today and so was his finishing. He really could be the next Rooney or better. ROSS Needs to be stuck in central midfield and given a run or else we are going to ruin a good in. MORRISON Disappointed with him today - has to realy prove that he isn't just a squad player. PEPPER - on in the last feckin minute and I didn't even get the chance to se if he had a cute erse or not. Tactically though we tried mostly to play football against a bunch of animals - way more positives than negatives - play the style of today and we will entertain - I was well pleased today.

Thank goodness for that. Ive just watched the Coventry match and now I dont need to harp on about buying a season ticket out of loyalty to the club, you can now buy one because you can enjoy watching a good team play football. What a difference to last season.

Great all round performance with some nice football being played in all areas. Main points of note for me were..... 1. We looked a lot more confident when defending set pieces and corners and dealt with them well. 2. Lot of big lads in the squad, but they can play with a bit of finesse and we weren't/aren't relying on physical football. Draper in particular...looking at the lad you just get the feeling he wants to welly everything, but beautiful touch on him. Sure they'll be able to handle themselves in the physical games if/when need though. 3. Oswell very composed on the ball. Got a feeling he'll turn out to be a bit of a poacher type and I'd back him to score double figures this coming season. 4. Movement....players finding themselves space and providing options, something we've lacked at TCS for a couple of seasons. 5. No signs of any niggles between players. Encouraging each other even after something didn't quite come off or whatever and none of the bitching that seem common place last season. 6. We used every inch of the part today, spreading balls wide and wide players not getting drawn in. Been a longggg time since we've had a team willing/able to do that, so with any luck we can now take advantage of the size of our pitch. Was glad to discover that Ravens knock wasn't as bad as it looked when he was stretchered off. Just a small concussion and he was up and about by the end of the game. Having seen a few pre-season games now I'd say we're in decent shape and should be ready come 4th August.....even better if we can get a couple of the injured guys up to speed.

Hello, I'm a Barnet fan. Simon King was always incredibly popular whilst with us and even now remains a Barnet legend. Excellent player and always came acrooss as a really lovely guy as well. When he left us, Gillingham were in League 1, we were in League 2 , he was one of the best L2 defenders around which was why he commanded a big transfer fee and he was clearly destined for better things. Unfortunately after 1 season at Gillingham he sustained a horrific injury in a pre season friendly which almost ended his career. He had a period on loan to Plymouth last season and it was a surprise when Gillingham released him - but that could in part be due to their change of manager and loony Chairman. We were so hoping he'd re-sign for Barnet but as he has joined you instead then I hope he does well for you. Most players, however good they are will get a bad press from the fans from time to time and Barnet have their share of moany fans - but nobody ever had a bad word to say about Kingy and from what I can gather, Gillingham fans were the same. Certainly he was a better player for us than Kenny Gillet ( Gillet did well for us but he was no Kingy! )

Excellent performance. As I've always said, ICT are a far better team when the balls on the deck and some of the passages of play (particularly for the third goal) were really good, even more so when you consider the amount of new additions. Doran was very good, the two Shinnie's will be big players this season and I think Draper shows signs that he'll come on to a good game. Unlike last season, that team looks like a much more solid unit, with each player doing their job very well in the grander machine. Two points of note though - McKay, while a good player, is not a lone frontman. He needs support. I'd like to see him and Oswell getting a run together as that could be a combination that works well for both players attributes. The tactical game for me this season would be to scrap the 4-2-3-1, and go for either a straight 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 Diamond with Foran moved out to wide left, Doran at wide right, Oswell and McKay up top, with Shinnie in the "hole". The other point, which is linked to the above, regards Shane Sutherland. The guy is not, has not and will never be a winger. He's a battering ram centre forward and nothing else. There's no point in saying, "well, he might come good". He won't, as he doesn't have the pace, balance, the ball work or the physical build to do that job. Overall a good display and the kind of football that we need to see next year. PS - Since when was Ruud Gullit Coventry manager?!

County beat Elgin 4 -1 today after also having beaten Coventry midweek. It sounds as though the 2 Highland teams could be well matched this season. If we are playing a more attractive style of football this season then it could be a pretty memorable season. Bring it on.

Impressed with todays display. Defensively we were as solid as weve looked in ages and thats even with out King, Warren and Hogg in the team. Glad to hear Raven is ok, was a bad knock he took. Draper got into his stride a bit more as well and he seemed to grow in confidence as the game went on. Pick of the bunch for me was Graeme Shinnie. He defended solidly and bombed forward on a few occasions, also worth noting he set up 2 out of the 3 goals. Feeling a bit more confident about the season ahead now. Cant emphasise enough how important it is keeping A Shinnie and Doran fit but hopefully we should hold our own.

Well at least it has 4 stands

6 last night and 10 tonight. Just as well we don't have any strikers - could have been embarrassing.