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Buses will be ten quid and five quid. End of. We've spoken with the bus company and it's unlikely that we could outstrip supply unless we emptied the town completely (slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean) we are aiming for ten coaches, and as of tonight are nearly half way there but we need people to commit to coming as soon as possible. Don't leave it to the last minute - we are a bunch of volunteers with day jobs who would struggle to cope with a last minute rush. We need you to e-mail, text or phone NOW! Go and see John in the supporters bar before the United game. It's ten quid, thanks to the Scottish Sun. We wouldn't have got anywhere near them without the influence of the SPFL, who could never have sponsored one member club's supporters directly. Other clubs would have been up in arms. So no, not a waste of time and neither will the semi final be if we get there in numbers and make ourselves heard. We'll never have a better chance of reaching a final, so don't miss it. Cup Final? Now there's a day out. Does anybody want to organise the buses? Anybody..................

Can't accuse the new manager of lacking passion. Had to have treatment at half time for a cut on his head caused by cutting it on the duggout when he jumped up to celebrate Billy's goal! Said on his post match interview that he may need to wear a helment like Peter Cech. Quality!

Your choice of course but I happen to think our players deserve better! I also happen to think travel and a ticket for £30 to a national semi final is good value even for pensioners.

Tactically Yogi got it spot on today. With what he had at his disposal he picked the best possible 11 and he wasnt shy in giving Christie and Polworth their chances, both of whom are giving an account of themselves. There have been a number of circumstances that have seen us have the dismal winter spell that we have had, a lot of which were outwith his control but today certainly saw the positives outshine the negatives. I really want him to do well just so we can get over the unease of will he/wont he and so some that are struggling to get to grips with it can get back to simply supporting the team. Would like to see him bring in a couple over the window so we can at least get some sort of look at how he does business and so he can put some sort of spin on the team that is his, it could be the sort of thing that could kick start the season. There needs to be a great deal of patience and while things may get worse before they get better but we will all still be there showing support with today hopefully being a step in the right direction.

Maybe if some on this forum spent as much time getting behind the team rather than the constant carping against certain players, the atmosphere would be better. I cannot believe some are saying Doran should be dropped after todays performance, for me he was MOM. While I am not Nick Ross's biggest fan, I thought he did okay today. He is the one player always looking for space and often is the player making himself available to take the ball, especially from throw ins. He does need to man up and get into challenges a bit more although he does win the ball quite a bit when he does tackle. Still on the subject of Nick Ross, I have 2 beauts sitting in front of me who do nothing but sit and shout abuse at Nick Ross from the kick off. I had a go at them twice today and they eventually shut up but some fans do need to take a long hard look at themselves.

I think it is to early to write off our European chances just yet but we need to start winning and quickly. Today was positive and maybe we can start to move forward again as i think Yogi has found a formula that will work while we miss draper and foran. Vincent is starting training again so it wont be long before we see him again and of course if we get Russell Latapy as an assistant it may just help the players add an extra bit of craft and creativity. Net week is big but we shouldn't fear Aberdeen as we showed in our dominant 2nd half display against them before Christmas. Motherwell and Aberdeen are moving ahead a little bit but they haven't been setting the world alight so if we can regain some form it can very quickly change but we must take it one game at a time.

I know it's a fiver more than last year but I fail to see how paying the same price for a national semi final as a bog standard league game is anything other than great value especially if you throw in a 300 mile round trip for a tenner.

Fair enough to have a go at folk who shout abuse at players at a game but I fail to see what is wrong with making objective criticism of players on this forum. If this forum is not for expressing opinions then what is it for? I don't think it is supportive to the team simply to praise the praiseworthy and keep quiet about aspects which are not so good. If folk feel particular players are not making quite the contribution to the team as they should be and feel there are better options, then it is surely supportive to the team to voice those views. Nick Ross has been a "promising" player for a number of years but IMHO has not lived up to that promise. He has some nice little touches but rarely makes a particularly telling contribution to the game. He has now had a long run in the team and in my view the team needs someone rather more creative and incisive and with an eye for goal. I can't see that we would be any worse off by giving Christie or Pepper a decent run in the side. If all our players were available then I would put Shinnie back to left back and play Vincent, Draper, Foran, Doran, Watkins, and Mckay. With the option of Tremarco at left back releasing Shinnie into midfield as well as the availability of Greenhalgh, Christie, Pepper, Williams and Polworth then Ross would struggle to even get on the bench. TM4J's suggestion of putting him out on loan is a sensible one in my view. Personally I feel Ross is not quite up to the standard required, but if he does have the ability to justify him being selected ahead of these other players, it is not being translated into performances on the park. A period on loan at a lower level may just give him the opportunity to shine and gain a bit of confidence. In my view that would be supportive of both him and the team. No doubt others will leap to Nick's defence and that would be good. That is what the forum is all about. Support the players on the park however bad they play, but please let's not stifle honest opinions about the players on this forum.

:smile:Not everyone who does what he did is an oaf. Dougal. Enthusiasm, forgetfulness, or the onset of Alzheimers as you enter your dotage, are three factors that can trigger something like this. Happens to me all the time, Dougal, in our new kitchen where the wooden panelling sticks out with pointy ends to it , not being what I have been used to for the past eight years. It's coming to a doorway near you too in a few years, old chap. Of course, the jury is still out on whether Scarlet is an oaf for other reasons...?

There was only 180 away fans not 900 !

A decent point that stops the rot but I can't see us catching either Aberdeen or Motherwell so European qualification through the league is now unlikely. All the more reason to compensate by going all out to win the League Cup or to try to qualify for Europe through the Scottish Cup. I still think we will have just about enough to stay in the top six, Can't fault today's team selection or, for the most part the tacticts, Polworth will be a player but is probably not quite first team quality yet. We are lucky to have the exremely versatile Graeme Shinnie who looks comfortable in every roll he's given. I actually thought Ross had a decent game and is being unfairly criticised but it was a poor penalty although I understand why he took it as he had slotted home the last two. However, in the absence of Vincent, maybe we should revert back to Billy. I know that he missed a couple in a row before he was relieved of the duties but he's the natural goal scorer and should maybe be given another chance. Finally, Brill is a great shot stopper but today he was lucky and not for the first time. He cost us at least a point with his howler against Partick and possibly all three and has got away with a few since. Maybe time to give our new goalkeeping coach a run. In the continuing absence of Draper and Foran, we are light in midfield, if we are going to bring in Tansey on loan it would be good if we could do so this week. He has been playing fairly regularly so will be match fit so I would slot him in straight away against the Dons. All in all, we were far from our flowing best today but we could and should have taken all three points and it was probably our most encouraging performance under the new manager.

Looked more like 200 away fans, I'm sure someone will know the official figures. St Johnstone had the same rubbish attendance at their last home game. Why are crowd figures such a surprise to some people, early start, Sunday, general apathy, on the Telly, Scottish football, it's no rocket science. No matter what our personal opinions are of our own team, the game in Scotland is poor fare overall. Huisdean, but some fans do need to take a long hard look at themselves.............is that the ones that think local lad Nick is our saviour. I have voted Nick MotM on numerous occasions when merited. Granted missing the penalty was the low point of his game today, which otherise was not too shabby, I just don't think we can carry him for much longer, he is beginning to be a protected species and a bit of a luxury in my opinion, and my calling for him to be replaced when others are available is not just based on a penalty miss, one which neither the fans or Nick himself looked too pleased he was taking it. One of his two penalties should have been saved. It's not his fault, we just have no better/other options at the moment, but he is no match winner, local or not.

Just shows the difference of opinion as I think Ross has played well most of the season and there are others I would have out of the side long before him..

I find it hilarious that a player who has played reasonably well all season, misses a penalty and has a couple of average games and someone is calling for them to be punted...great support well done!

Thought that was an even contest between two sides that naturally attack. Matched up, there was very little between any player on the pitch and that is testimony to the guys who have come in to do a shift when the first choice midfield is missing. Shinnie did well for what was effectively the first game in that position, and Ross had some really good touches in midfield. He created more space than anyone else on the pitch but defensively we looked a bit tired at times. Billy was really sharp and might have punished some slack play at the back. The penalty was a good height for the keeper but they should have had one as well, so even stevens was just about right. Dean Brill reckoned that the pitch was really slick because it was frosting up on top, I just reckoned he was wearing someone elses legs today. That wasn'y a bad point - onwards and upwards.

I think that Yogi put out the best team possible (given injuries & suspensions) and played players in most suitable positions. Hopefully he'll now grasp the nettle & make this his team - as opposed to trying to continue "as you were" with the team inherited from TB. A decent enough performance and result - and nearly a bit better. Onwards to the next game now.

#relaxeveryone

Quite encouraged by that half, although I would have loved us to have taken one of those chances as I suspect Utd can and will play better in the second half. It's the most creative we've looked with the ball on the deck for several weeks - Ross in the middle of the park is really capable of opening the game up and Doran's movement has been better than it has been for a while too. Agree with IHE about the lack of physical presence though, which, to be fair, there's not much we can do about. I was struck by how much bigger Utd looked than us as the teams were coming out; ironic, as we've endured years of being dismissed as a 'big, physical team' while all we have heard about this season is their collection of impish schoolboy geniuses. Second half - come on ICT.

Quality and not quantity is what breeds success and happiness. Its not about size but how you use it. Small countries around the world are able to vouch for that. Where are all the big industrial projects in the modern world? South Korea. A country of similar size to Scotland though, admittedly, with a population equal to the whole of the UK yet it still maintains vast areas of unadulterated natural beauty. SK is the sixth largest exporter of goods in the world. GB is tenth. SK is at the forefront of the worlds ship building and oil production platform building. Indeed the replacement for BP's Schiehallion FPSO is being built there. It is also at the forefront in the manufacture of industrial equipment as well as motor manufacture. All this is achieved under the threat of their border neighbour. Better Together tell us we mustn't break away because bigger is better. The original founders of the EEC thought that and look at the state many european countries are in now. What other reasons do they give us for staying together? Absolutely none. Why? Because if they answered that question truthfully they'd disassociate many more from their ranks. The real truth is that Scotland does not need a government in Westminster to survive and prosper. The real truth is that the government in Westminster needs taxes from north of the border to help get Britian out of the vast debts created by successive Westminster governments. We as an independant country will survive. We will prosper. We will develop. We will trade with England and the rest of the world. But most of all we will hold our heads high and say we done it on our own.

£20 for the League Cup Semi Final is not too bad. SPFL Premiership games are more expensive. It's one of the cheapest prices i'll pay all season to get into a game. All SPFL away games this season have been > £20. I'll be travelling from Glasgow but as others have said, if travelling from Inverness, £30 for travel and ticket is a great deal for the most important game of our season so far!

I'm not happy with the cheeky 25% ticket price increase, venue or time either. Although everyone's circumstances are different most pensioners I meet seem to have more disposable income than many other people. As OCG says, £30 to hopefully see us make our first major final isn't that bad. The players have once again done well to reach this stage and by not attending as some kind of 'up ye SPFL' stance they are the one's who are let down the most.

Fair enough to have a go at folk who shout abuse at players at a game but I fail to see what is wrong with making objective criticism of players on this forum. If this forum is not for expressing opinions then what is it for? I don't think it is supportive to the team simply to praise the praiseworthy and keep quiet about aspects which are not so good. If folk feel particular players are not making quite the contribution to the team as they should be and feel there are better options, then it is surely supportive to the team to voice those views. Nick Ross has been a "promising" player for a number of years but IMHO has not lived up to that promise. He has some nice little touches but rarely makes a particularly telling contribution to the game. He has now had a long run in the team and in my view the team needs someone rather more creative and incisive and with an eye for goal. I can't see that we would be any worse off by giving Christie or Pepper a decent run in the side. If all our players were available then I would put Shinnie back to left back and play Vincent, Draper, Foran, Doran, Watkins, and Mckay. With the option of Tremarco at left back releasing Shinnie into midfield as well as the availability of Greenhalgh, Christie, Pepper, Williams and Polworth then Ross would struggle to even get on the bench. TM4J's suggestion of putting him out on loan is a sensible one in my view. Personally I feel Ross is not quite up to the standard required, but if he does have the ability to justify him being selected ahead of these other players, it is not being translated into performances on the park. A period on loan at a lower level may just give him the opportunity to shine and gain a bit of confidence. In my view that would be supportive of both him and the team. No doubt others will leap to Nick's defence and that would be good. That is what the forum is all about. Support the players on the park however bad they play, but please let's not stifle honest opinions about the players on this forum. I largely agree. It is good to be positive and supportive of the team and club as a whole when there is justification but, in some ways, it's even more important to be able to be critical when that is justified. There is a body of posters on this site who seem to feel it's their duty to be protective of the club and blind to, or as least ignoring, faults whether obvious or not. Often posts that are not syncophantically supportive are berated for being 'negative' with no discussion about whether that negativity is justified the suggestion that being off message at all is a bad thing per se. The likes of Caley D and the likes of Dougal may be at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the extremes of blind and unquestioning loyalty and constant, often unjustified carping and negativity with the vast majority of us somewhere in between but, as long as we are all respectful of other's differing view that's what makes this site worth visiting. Speaking of different opinions, I don't agree with you about Nick Ross. He is, like a number of others, not in the best form at the moment but, in my view, is now a mainstay of team and has the potential to continue to be for many years to come. We both can't be right on that but we are both entitled to voice that opinion without jumping down each other's throats for holding contrasting views.

Overall a much better performance than of late. Why has it taken Yogi 4 matches to realise that Raven should be in the team? Doran was much better on the right with back up from him and Warren wasn't forced to cover for Shinnie. The last penalty we scored was taken by Doran. It was in the cup v Morton, after Nick Ross had been subbed. However, I agree with Renegade that Josh should take them. I also think Dean Brill has to stop clowning around. He has let in some soft goals in the last few weeks and nealy lost a howler today. No wonder Ryan came racing out the dug-out to warm up after that one. Still we can't win a game with a Sunday lunchtime kick off. At least not that I can remember. Doesn't bode well for the LC semi on 2 Feb.

Can't disagree with any of this. I hope he's learned from past mistakes. When he was at Hibs apparently he was too pally with the players and it led to problems when form dropped. Massive positive today was Polworth's performance so hats off to the gaffer for giving him a start. I'd still like to see Ryan Christie get more game time.

I'm not a fan of Yogi, I don't think it was a good appointment and I'm very skeptical that he'll prove a success in the long term. BUT I think our form would've dipped even if we'd appointed a new manager or if Butcher had stayed. We have a very small squad and our start to the season was probably the best we could possibly have hoped for - all our players were fit, in form and new signings slotted together brilliantly. However, when you strip away a few of our experienced players we are relying on players playing out of position (Danny Williams in central midfield) or young lads who lack experience (Polworth from the start, Christie, Evans etc on the bench). There are some things I think Hughes could do better (we've dominated possession in quite a few games under Hughes but can't seem to turn that into goals, we need to play further up the park and be purposefully direct) but I doubt he's come in and destroyed our season. Yet.

The buses would be more expensive if CJT hadn't complained to the spfl allowing the Scottish Sun to help out. Just saying.....

Aye that's more like it! Thought I'd misheard the announcer at the time but then I read another post stating the same figure.

The game is on "Sportsnet World" here in the Vancouver are of Canada at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time--that's in about 2.5 hours from now. That's the former Setanta I understand. That's channel 235 in HD Scotty....at least for Shaw Cable. I wonder if someone can tell me if Setanta still broadcasts in Scotland or the U K under that name? Now I know the score I will be looking at the T.V. just to weigh-up what all of you have said . Although I must admit I am excited since this will be the first time I have seen a fulI ICT game here on the High Definition T.V.. And the Aberdeen game on the 18th is also running on this channel --not live, but the full game will be shown later at 3 p.m just like today. I could get used to this. I'm figuring that the Irish likes the Scots and particularly Inverness......probably because we play Irish players and give then their chance? Any opinions on that? Or is it just that they can get a good deal with Caley Thistle or something? Cheers guys

I thought Ross did okay today too. Dreadful penalty but he tidies up well and provides some good touches. Never a dominant player but we'd be much less creative without him.

I've personally never rated Ross's penalty taking ability at all. His last two previously may have gone in, but they weren't exactly well hit. The first against Hibs was very close to being saved and on another day would've been. It was pure luck that the keeper didn't get enough of a hand on it. The Morton one was much like todays, luckily for him the keeper dived the wrong way. Just because they went in, doesn't mean they were well taken, or make him a good taker. I've always had a fear he'll miss, each time he steps up. Should Vincent or Foran not be on the field, I'd like to see Meekings taking them, rifling it hard a la David Luiz at Chelsea. Doran by the way, showed today that he is a right winger and that alone. A better performance from him today, while Williams did seem to grow more into the game as it went on and is clearly more suited to the wing. Despite this, we looked a lot more threatening when Greenhalgh came on and I'd be keen to start him ahead of Williams next week.

Don't care what was announced there was never 900 in the away stand today. It only holds about 2000 so don't know where this figure came from?

Remember that after next week's game will will have Warren and Draper back and on zero bookings. Against Aberdeen we will have Devine in the Centre. We play Killie away which will be a challenge. Watkins should be fit with Richie possibly ready for the Semi. Vincent may be back early February. We may sign someone soon. Circumstances have contributed to the dip.

This was my first chance to go to a game since Yogi took over and I fellt it was a pretty good game on the whole. For a while after they equalised I feared we could get over-run but we tightened up and gave their more creative players very little space when on the ball. As the game wore on we got better and created some decent chances. With Foran, Draper and Vincent all out this was the sort of match which could have been difficult and I think credit must go to Shinnie in particular for us managing to have the majority of the possession. Shinnie was my MOTM but apart from that I think IHE has it about right. The disappointment for me was again Nick Ross. He can be a neat and tidy player and it was he who put Shinnie through for the penalty incident, but apart from that he huffed and puffed to little effect. We suddenly looked far more threatening when he came off and surely his days in the starting line up must be numbered. Williams was OK, but having moved wide I was hoping for a bit more from him and Greenhalgh offered more guile and threat we he came on near the end. Good calls from Yogi to substitute the 2 of them although doing so earlier might have reaped rewards. Brill rode his luck and hopefully he'll learn from today. However, just one observation about his distribution. Sometimes it is very poor and I wonder why he doesn't quickly throw or bowl the ball out more. It was an open game and often he had Doran, Williams or Tremarco in clear space but just hoofed the ball up the park. In contrast, Cierzniak threw the ball out on two or three occasions and set up promising moves. More positives than negatives today though. It looks to me that we could consolidate our position as a mid table / top six side under Hughes - and do that by playing good attacking football. We just need that little bit more confidence in front of goal and we could go on a run again.

Much better but still room for improvement. Thought the team selection was spot on. Shinnie plugged the gap in midfield and finally Raven was selected and justified it with a solid performance. Williams faired better out wide but needs to be more confident when running with the ball, Greenhalgh seemed to show a bit more flair when he came on, would like to see more of him. Both teams had chances, United hitting the woodwork and Ross with the penalty so ultimately a point was probably a fair result. As IHE said we have stopped the rot so we have to build on this asap. Also nice to see Polworth and Christie get some more time on the pitch...long may the blooding of youngsters continue. Deano had a bit of a mare today, kicking and handling at times as well as being a few inches off achieving a Peter Enckelman but still produced some good moments, Doran as well, nothing he did seemed to come off, he will see better days without question.

A point stops the rot and I think the system worked better than of late. Still think a 4-4-2 would work better in the absence of any recognised holding midfielders. Subs seemed to work quite well, though. I'd settle for the same result next week too!

A much improved performance, especially going forward. The longer the game went on, the stronger we got. The subs gave us a real impetus, Greenhalgh must be knocking on the door for a start on the left wing.

Actually thought we played better today created a few chances and on another day they go in. As for the penalty I think people are being pretty harsh on Nick yes it was a poor pen but those with a memory will remember that the reason Billy no longer takes them is because he missed on more than one occasion surely the player who has scored the last 2 deserves the chance at another go? Plenty positives from this game particularly Raven being back in the side.

Thought we just tired in midfield. No surprise really, with Polworth barely playing before and Williams being fairly average. A Foran or Draper would have made a difference. Can't complain too much. Exciting match that needed a bit more in midfield towards the last third.

Has Nick Ross not taken the last two penalties and scored both times ?

Would have taken a draw before the game, much better performance than in recent weeks. Thought Raven had a good game coming back in at right back and Shinnie had a decent game in midfield. Williams was much better on the wing and Greenhalgh did well when he came on.

Top six has to be our goal now and full concentration on the cups.

just like the aberdeen game we have stepped up our game way too late. one point is better than none though!

One point stops the rot - playing against a promising team I will take that.

We could really do with...well...Tansey!

We are so well protected by Westminster that they are asking the Russians to work against independence: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/camerons-plea-to-putin-help-me-stop-salmond.23138182 Highlanders must be the most docile and passive people out there, and it's time they woke up and stopped doffing their caps to their perceived superiors. You get the government you deserve, independence or not.

Well that was much better than of late - I like the tactical set up which is a change from the Butcher era. I am not shure about playing Shinnie as a holding central midfielder - other than a stop gap. He and Polworth are solid though. Raven looked slow at the start but he is showing us what we have missed. Tremarco settled but was rarely tested. Williams has gone missing and he should be benched soon. Ross has tried and tried but he is frustratingly mild in the challenge and needs to get stuck in more. Get Christie on fer Williams and go 4-2-2-2. Just hope that the Arabs don't play on Tremarco and they also must see that Brill is showing anxiety.

Can't believe so many would persist with Williams as a holding midfielder: he's been a passenger in that position for the last 3 or 4 games. A ball winner in there beside Draper, please! Williams can go wide on the left if anywhere.

Aye, and the characters you see outside the Hilton Chippie think they live in a fantasy novel !

I can't believe the people who contribute to many of the threads on this site. Not so long ago folks were complaining because we were giving short contracts and now they complain about long ones. Is it an Invernessian mannerism? Glass always half empty and all that.