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Tell you what. If you had chanted in public that my sister was of dubious morality, I’d have been a damned sight ruder back to you than Liam Polworth was on Saturday on twitter. I’d have slaughtered you publically. For a guy who, according to weekly shouts from the stands and in these forums, doesn’t care and is downright lazy, it’s a common shout that has its origins in a pack mentality and precious little to do with reality. I’m lucky. I’ve been granted access to our players over the years in a capacity that has allowed me to see the reactions to success and failure close up and personal and Liam Polworth is a player who gives everything for this club. Not one of you saw the absolute roasting he was giving himself at half time for missing that penalty. He does that a lot and I’ve seen on here before that this is him “moaning” at others. Wrong, it’s at himself. I’ve heard it said frequently that he is lazy and drifts in and out of games, doesn’t track back and can’t place a pass. What is happening is that he has to hang back, look for the big picture and try the unexpected. That’s his role. It may or may not come off but look at his statistics – he’s created more in this team than any other midfielder in years. Those with short memories might like to look at the similar treatment Vigurs got when he was here. What both missed was a foil – a Tansey or Draper who would share the burden. Polworth doesn’t have that luxury. I’ve watched him go from possibly the quietest and least assertive lad in the dressing room to one who will now step up and represent his team when asked to. He is surprisingly vocal at times. A lot of this has coincided with his becoming a parent. He’s grown up. However he’s grown up in an environment that is judgemental, unsupportive and is now becoming abusive despite him being one of the players at the club of genuine premier league quality. Why do you think St. Mirren are alleged to be interested? Brian Rice knows this boy, how he trains and performs , what his strengths are and the best way to enable him. No wonder they are interested. Rice knows that Polworth is a player, a performer whose confidence can be fragile. Nothing can destroy that confidence quicker than your own fans constant (and it is constant) criticism and now abuse from our own fans. What worries me most is the air of resigned disgust from some for this – it has gone beyond creating a siege mentality for the team and has become corrosive. I'm heartened to see the support from his boss and fellow players and fans that he is getting now. It's just a shame it had to come to this. Liam Polworth can do nothing to alter this situation and if it was me, I’d make him captain for the game on Tuesday night, identify the people leading Saturday’s chants (it’s not difficult) and change it. The only people who can alter things in the stands, however, are the supporters; challenge the abusive ones, temper the criticism and maximise the encouragement. It’s called being a fan.

Quite frankly never seen anything like this in football. Liam Polworth has come through the ranks at Caley, 25 assists last season, clearly the only one with the ability to unlock a defence and yet the abuse he gets from some sections beggars belief. It hardly matters what kind of game he's having either. So many "supporters" seem worryingly ready to rail on him at the slightest thing. This isn't in my head, hear it all around me every home game. Yesterday as an example, Mackay came on and took a touch that would've resulted in an outcry had it been Poli. But because it was Mackay? Total silence. Get behind your players and learn something about the game you're supposedly watching, you know who you are, absolute disgrace. You only need to listen for a while to the people talking ***** about Poli to realise they don't have much of a clue how the majority of the game works, really seems like they're there to vent. I for one really hope he stays unlike that wee lemon Daniel ict or whatever his name is on Twitter who's going about delighted at the prospect of losing our only playmaker to a premier league club. That wee crew are such a stereotype, are more or less only at games for the homoerotic camaraderie, know **** all about football and I hope they see this: nothing wrong with your reasons for being at the football, that's your business, but when you're dishing out that kind of abuse expect it to come back and bite you. Aside from that lengthy rant, we've got a very good side here if they could up the tempo at key moments and were able to add a player who can finish consistently. Still hoping Austin can be that player myself. Roll on Tuesday.

Personally, I believe that if those banned are prepared to apologise either in writing or, better still, in person to Liam Polworth then the bans should be lifted immediately. The conduct was terrible but we all make mistakes and deserve a second chance. If, on the other hand, they are not prepared to acknowledge that they did wrong and say sorry, then I would have no difficulty with those involved being banned for the rest of the season.

No doubt the behaviour of the idiots in the crowd was a factor in the rather lack lustre performance following the penalty and the sending off. I agree that it is extremely important for all the team that they get some proper support tomorrow. Gates for these cup gates tend to be pretty poor but hopefully fans who were shocked and disgusted at Saturday's events will make an effort to get to the game and give some loud support to the team and particularly to Liam. I very much hope and expect Liam will play. He has a point to prove and I imagine after the hurt of Saturday he will be fired up and will have the crowd with him. After the backlash, he is not going to get abuse tomorrow night and I fail to see what possible benefit there would be to him or the team in leaving him out. We are the champions and we will need to field our strongest team if we are to defend our title against strong opposition. Nobody should be in any doubt that our strongest team has Liam Polworth at its heart.

Quite possibly the best post I've ever read on here.

No not correct. Agree with last bit though.

Excellent first post Ruairidh.

...Liam Polworth he's one of our own FFS. Being a highland club I'm ashamed of the vitriol being spouted towards one of our home grown players by a small minority of 'fans'. It's pathetic ! We are not, and don't want to be, OF fans! Ryan Christie didn't receive the same treatment, Daniel Mackay doesn't receive the same treatment, Grant Munro, Jim Calder, Charlie Christie, Mike Noble, et al. So what is your problem with Liam Polworth ya dafties? Haters gonna hate!

Isn't it shameful that the headline BBC report from Saturday's match is the bang out of order abuse that Liam Polworth received? this is supposed to be a community club and the moment we have an opportunity to celebrate the rise of a local talent, the views of a minority element of our "support" slating the lad make the headlines - really poor! I don't profess to know everything about football, but I do recognise when a player is playing with all his heart for the club and is prepared to put his body on the line. I totally relate to Davie's points above - Liam beats himself up for making mistakes - he doesn't need idiots in the crowd to indicate when a pass is misplaced. I am totally unsurprised that his form diminished later in the game on Saturday: not only had he missed a penalty, but a section of our own supporters abused members of his family. I challenge anybody to explain how this is going to encourage a player to up his game. He must have felt pretty lonely out there for the 2nd half and been dying for the final whistle to put the whole episode (and possibly this club) behind him. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm ashamed to be associated with the club right now, albeit because of a minority voice.

I appreciate that some of us are disappointed at the result, which we probably should have won...very frustrating playing against 10men and missing a penalty, in the end it feels like a defeat. However abusing a players family is the lowest of the low, it might have been a few idiots, I wouldn't call them supporters, but the player clearly heard it...I'd be pretty p#ssed off it that was directed at me. Polworth is somewhat an enigmatic figure, he does a lot of good stuff, but obviously in trying to be the creative player also slips up.....he does seem to get quite a bit of stick on this forum, but I think we would miss him quite a bit if he were to leave. Unfortunately we do have pretty small crowds and there are a fair few constant 'moaners' spread around...I notice this when I come up and sit in the main stand, drives me mad... players seldom respond positively to constant harping on, so just seems self-defeating. Whereas when we play away the support the players get albeit from a smaller concentrated group is great and it is appreciated by the players.

Last comment on Polly but there are more immature eggs in every hatch. Would I be right in suggesting that the "abuse" was not a collective chant but the uttering a of the lemmings trying to be one of the boys. It should not be a case of banning them but an adult bollicking and future watching. It sounds as if the game was less than entertaining!!

This is a nonsense. Regardless of what people's opinions on his performances I really hope the majority of fans rally round polworth and show him he is appreciated and that some young attention seeking teenagers don't represent the majority.

For me, it's the pace of the team that is the most worrying thing. Even last season, most teams would break on us with pace and could be threatening our defence in a couple of passes, while we seemed to wait till our opposition regrouped into their shape and then tried to play through them, which we couldn't do on numerous occasions. I agree with some posts on here that said we didn't stretch the Ayr back four enough, especially after they were down to 10 men. We had Walsh set up on the left and it looked like Polworth was on the right, where it is obvious that he doesn't feel comfortable to play, as he drifts into the middle, leaving only Rooney to give us that width on the right. He struggled to get behind their defence and his crosses were not too good. We really need to find someone to hug that right touchline and maybe sacrifice a striker to have an extra man in midfield. In my opinion, maybe we could try Walsh on the right and give Calder or Ebouzedi the left flank and have Doran or Polworth playing in the hole, to support the main striker. We were just too narrow, ponderous and predictable yesterday, let's hope we can sort it out before Dunfermline come calling on Tuesday.

Leaving aside the appalling behaviour of some of our so called support, I came away from the game feeling rather despondent. Yes we have 4 points from 2 games, 2 clean sheets and an extension of a lengthy unbeaten run in the league to 13 games, but this was a very poor performance and we were fortunate to escape with a draw against 10 men. We can't expect to play that poorly again and not get beaten. It wasn't as though we didn't create chances - we did, but despite a long unbeaten run, we lacked the class and composure to convert what chances we did create against what was a pretty shaky Ayr defence. As we pressed for a goal in the 2nd half there were occasions when a much more direct Ayr side carved us apart and had good chances themselves. We were lucky that their usual shooting boots had been left down South. They were woeful in front of goal. I thought Donaldson had a generally decent game although he did lose possession carelessly in dangerous positions a couple of times. Walsh looked the man most likely to make things happen and Oakley also put in a good shift. The rest were very ordinary at best. With Ayr down to 10 men on our wide pitch, we should have been able find space for players to run with the ball and for the ball to be played into. Instead, our build up was usually slow, cautious and unimaginative. There was little urgency, little running into space and pulling defenders out of position, little pace to the game and little use of the width of the park. We gave Ayr all the time in the world to get organised at the back. Even when the ball was played wide to Tremarco the usual play was foot on the ball and then pass back inside as the defender came to him. It might then go sidewards once or twice more before a diagonal ball was sent into the box in the hope of finding Oakley or Austin. We rarely used the width to get behind their defence. As a result, chances, when they came were mostly half chances with very few clear cut chances. I hoped that the introduction of Doran would make a difference but he too slipped into the general lethargy of the performance. There was precious little of quality and precious little ambition from anybody. Having had Ayr reduced to 10 men, you would have expected the players to have sensed a real opportunity for a good win. The fact that the team seemed to have no idea how to make the advantage tell is a worry. It's a long time since I left TCS feeling so disappointed.

Apologies for my choice of words last night while I was still in a rage after seeing the tweet from Liam. However, this type of harassment of our own players does nobody any good and should be stopped now before action is taken against those responsible. I totally agree that Liam did not have his best game, but the personal abuse is uncalled for, and as already posted very few of our players came out of this game without criticism. Difficult to pick a clear MotM from such a lethargic performance.

Totally unacceptable behavior from some "fans" tonight. Genuinely no need to start yelling "Your sister's a slag" at Polworth. I understand that we didn't get into gear until the last half hour or so and that he messed up a crucial penalty, but it doesn't give access to do that to ONE OF YOUR OWN TEAM!. Think it's time to start naming and blaming and sending the info to ICT themselves, we can't have this at the stadium, which in fact, is supposed to be a family friendly environment, but doing that (in front of a couple hundred kids (some for the first time ever) who don't know better) is downright idiotic, and they'll go on for the rest of the season (hopefully not (and if their parents have told them never to repeat what was said)) saying that exact sentence without knowing the meaning behind the word "slag", and thinking it's an innocent thing to say. The guys (and girls, it's 2018, has to include everyone) more than definitely deserve to be banned from the stadium for X many matches and/or be slapped with a fine for verbal abuse. Which actually is a breach of the TCS T&Cs (https://ictfc.com/images/stories/ICT_pdf_files/codes_of_practice/unacceptable_conduct.pdf) under section 2 of the Disorderly Conduct section "Using threatening, abusive or insulting words or conduct". Although it says that it is a bannable offence for those who fall under the "Unacceptable Conduct" section, I think that it should be extended to Disorderly Conduct after tonight. Rant over, and let's actually enjoy the season rather than pointless abuse of our players.

I can't believe we have stooped so low to boo a player who has been with us loyally for all of his football career. The abuse of his family was well out of order, some people need to take a good look at themselves Would this have happened and would this discussion be taking place if Polly had scored that penalty? I tell you he's probably feeling a lot worse about it that any of you are.

I'm ashamed at a section of the home support that find this amusing. Grow up or fork off elsewhere.

A game that we should've won comfortably, even considering the dire performance. Worrying that there's a serious lack of pace in this team. For the first home game of the season, it felt like an end of season game such was the sluggish performance. Most of those players look like they'd be quicker walking! No creativity, predictive passing, and slow tempo in the final third cost us 2 points. No width. Strange substitutions too didn't help. Austin subbed yet Oakley offered zero all game. Trafford and Chalmers and Walsh were invisible. As usual Polworth is the one singled out for abuse (yawn) but he's the only player taking the ball to at least try and make things happen. He'll be the first to admit he didn't have the best game today but to receive that kind of abuse !!??....have a word wi yourselves !!???

It wasn’t a good performance , but his performance went further down hill when he was getting targeted abuse , our fans need to realise that this is not the way forward , and I think most people would agree

ICT have just issued the statement that all culprits of the chanting on Saturday have been identified and have issued bans to them. Anyone know how long these bans would be for? Would expect a Rest of Season ban, but if it was a life ban (highly unlikely) it would seem a tad harsh...anyone got any inside info on it (i.e. a mate who was handed a ban?)

Hopefully not Aberdeen, well, because we've played them that many times it'd be like any old game and probably not a lot to remember it by. Hopefully a trip to some country, Spain or France or something like that. Or maybe, next season, as it's our 25th Anniversary, a European Tour, have his Testimonial on the final day of the Tour...at the Nou Camp vs Barcelona "B" (Gone for the "B" team, because we would want a challenge but not so much a challenge that we concede over 100 goals)

I'm not sure how possible that would be to sell them on to the English Lower Leagues or even Scottish leagues, think there's a ban on transfers under the age of 18. Don't know the rules off by heart, but I'm pretty sure its cos their family has to move with them or something along those lines. Think the only exception to this rule is if it's a local(ish) team, which would be Us, County, Elgin or several of the Highland League teams, so they're more or less stuck with us until they reach the age where they can be legally transferred further afield.

Ah. Never knew that... Welp, you learn new things every day!