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I think we all are terribly disappointed but we just need to pick ourselves up, dust down and get back onto the task in hand. The players absolutely feel the same as could be seen in the bar post match. Hopefully this puts all the talk of promotion to bed and we just concentrate on getting safety. We would have taken this position when we entered admin. Folk are entitled to whatever views they like but the club existence is probably at stake here. Annan we're anti football imho and the ref was terrible but the problem really was we couldn't score? Hopefully a bit more positive at 4.45pm next Saturday.

Some of our fans really need to give their head a shake. Talk of 'we should have been doing this' or 'should be doing that' or 'our manager is tactically unaware'. Are you living in the real world? Read Roberts post above. We were dead and buried in October due to a truly inept manager the 15 point deduction no money and a variety of associated factors. The very fact we've managed to claw ourselves back to a position on the park where we even have hope at surviving in this league is a near miracle. Yet we have fans wanting to turn on those same coaches and players who have achieved that. Seriously? Some of the vitriol being spewed across social media is disgusting and a lot of it coming from so called diehard fans. Shameful.

Billy Mackay should never never have taken the pen. He couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo just now. Gilmore had the ball and would have been a better choice. Bray / Stewart hit bar / post when scoring would have been easier. Very very frustrating ...again.

This seems to me to have been an issue at the club since day 1. A battle of too many egos, d#ck measuring contests, and wallet weighing competitions. Like toddlers fighting over a toy . . . . . and now they've finally broken the toy!

Managing to get all those folk around the same table without any blood being spilled is an achievement in itself.

We can just build the stadium where the battery farm was going to go, we own that land anyway, or David Cameron does, and all the goodwill we've built up with the people around there and the council we'll sail through the planning process.

Well said, Charles. Morrison has been spectacularly incompetent over his time as Chairman and now wants others to dig deep into their pockets to pay back his loan. Has the man absolutely no shame at all? He is not the only one to blame though. There would have been no secured loan unless his colleagues on the Board agreed to it. They, surely also have some moral responsibility to dig deep into their pockets to get the club out of the mess that they helped to create. There are a lot of people at the club, from Alan Savage to matchday volunteers who are doing a brilliant job trying to save the club. It is heartbreaking to think that all their efforts could be for nothing at the end of the day. The club certainly can still be saved as there are people who would be keen to put money into the club. The thing is, they are not prepared to pay £1.5M to the man who got the club into this mess. Nobody should loan money that they can't afford to lose. It is time that Morrison accepted that the money is gone. In accepting that, he could make sure the club does not disappear as well. Come on, man. A city is waiting for you to finally do the decent thing.

I think it’s morally incumbent upon Ross Morrison to take a look at his role in all of this and perhaps concede that he “owes the club one”. It has been abundantly clear since at least 2019 that the club had become fundamentally and chronically loss making, as demonstrated by £1M in share capital having to be raised for cash flow across the 18 months or so up to October 2019. However that difficulty simply never seemed to be addressed and the hat kept getting passed round during the years that followed, drawing the club more and more deeply into debt. This, on Ross Morrison’s watch, seemed to be justified by a series of catastrophic attempts to raise money through non-football activities that came outrageously unstuck, as one “jam tomorrow” scheme after another nosedived in a manner which the board seemed completely unable to foresee. The biggest component is Ross Morrison’s £1.6M loan which - uniquely as far as I am aware - carried security with it. Quite frankly, I have always been very uncomfortable with this scenario where the man in charge of an obviously failing business makes an enormous loan which is exclusively secured against the assets of that business. In so doing, at a time when the business was already failing badly and non-football activities had begun to fall apart, Ross Morrison was arguably putting the already ailing club’s assets at risk in a scenario he had created himself, with no risk to himself. As a result, given his role (and Gardiner’s) in the club getting into the state it did, I hope that Mr Morrison’s better nature and sense of his own legacy will lead him to make substantial concessions with respect to what he allowed himself to be owed here, and that he will begin to act quickly. Just one slightly unrelated post script here. The car park situation is actually a legacy of the previous crisis of 1999-2000 from which Tullochs extricated the club with an input of £5M, most of which was eventually written off.

People are quite entitled to express disappointment at the result but that can be done without the nastiness and character attacks. You can say the team played poorly and talk about errors without broad sweeping statements suggesting they are useless. You can question whether the manager got the tactics right for one game without claiming he's entirely tactically unaware. Why does all decency and gratitude from some need to go out the window after a loss when the people involved have done way more right than wrong in the last 6 months or so?

Another week of turmoil In a week where we started with hope and optimism we suffered defeat at home to Annan Athletic and then the Administration movement went from static to plumbing the depths before a PowWow brought it back to status quo. We needed to fill the gap left by Musa Dibaga's sojourn to Gambia for World Cup qualifiers against Kenya and Ivory Coast and have done that with an emergency loan in Celtic's youth keeper, 18 year old Aidan Rice. We hope it will end on a lighter note with the game against Alloa to look forward to this Saturday, (without Longstaff and Bavidge ). The joys of Admin in League1. We will stick to the on field events on here and will provide links below to certain Admin Statements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/£5offer/Info Aidan Rice GK Administrators Statement March17th Allan Mackenzie Pow Wow March19th CTO Topic on Admin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you haven't got any friends, borrow some! Venue: H2H Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 10 2 37 22 +15 Away 24 12 6 6 49 25 +24 Neutral 1 0 1 0 4 4 0 Total 46 21 17 8 90 51 +39 Twenty-one home games versus Alloa since 1994 when they came North and played out a 2-2 draw at Telford Street in front of 1,150 fans. None other than Hugh Dallas was the referee Caledonian Thistle (as we were called back in the day) were in the lead for a long time in this game, had territorial advantage for most of it but in the end were fortunate to earn a draw. They had chances in the early minutes through McCraw and Lisle but Jim Butter saved well. In 18 minutes Charlie Christie collected a Martin Lisle pass and weaved past McCormack before scoring with a blistering 20 yard drive. In 67 minutes Barrie Moffat equalised after a McAvoy cross and in 78 minutes Neil Bennett put Alloa in front. Caley Thistle fought back with efforts from McKenzie and MacMillan but it took until the 86th minute before they equalised. Keith McCulloch handled in the box and Mike Andrew scored from the resultant penalty. Report by Ian Broadfoot Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Alloa 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 0 (A) We are unbeaten against Alloa this season and could have won all three given that we were 2-0 up in the first encounter during the Duncball era. Having gone two ahead through goals from Devine and MacLeod we were pulled level just six minutes later when Sammon and Donnelly quickly restored parity. Danny Devine lashed in the opening goal from twenty-two yards in the seventh minute to give the visitors the perfect start. After the interval MacLeod gave us some short lived breathing space following a swift break forward as he drilled the ball across the keeper into the bottom corner, however Conor Sammon quickly pulled a goal back with a great header three minutes later into the top corner finishing a well built move from back to front. Moments later it was all square when Donnelly looped a ball behind Dibaga after a long throw from Taggart and a touch from Sammon. Having been well in control we were now under the cosh but despite some hairy moments towards the end it finished all square. INVERNESS CT The Season So Far D L D D W D D D L / W L(11)D W W W L W L W W L W W L W D W / W L Since Scott Kellacher was handed the reins in game 11, there has been a more positive approach to our matches which has resulted in improved performances and a more enjoyable matchday experience all round. Alas we were brought back to earth with a disappointing result in our last game of 2024, a crushing 1-4 defeat at home to Cove Rangers. We'll have to put that one down to a bad day at the office. However, we bounced back in our first game of the second half of the season in the six pointer against Dumbarton with a hard fought 2-0 win. That win over Dumbarton was a vital one and the introduction of Alfie Bavidge was a welcome one as he opened the scoring early in the first half. Charlie Gilmour slotted in the clincher in the second half to give us a cushion over the Sons and to narrow the gap on Annan to seven points. We took part in the only League1 game next weekend and came away from Annan with a resounding 3-0 win, Alfie Bavidge netting again with Keith Bray and then Billy Mckay from the spot. It was then on to Palmerston on the Tuesday night but in a five goal encounter we went down 3-2. Alfie Bavidge notched his third goal in three games and Keith Bray added a second but goals from Adam Brooks (2) and Jordan Allan kept the points in Dumfries. We bounced back with a resilient 1-2 win at Alloa in our third away game on the bounce, Dunfermline bound Keith Bray with his fourth of the season and Alfie Stewart. We got our revenge at home to QotS (1-0) with Alfie Bavidge scoring his fourth goal in five appearances. Alas it was a bridge too far at Arbroath and we went down losing three without reply. The Stenhousemuir fixture was postponed and was re-arranged for March 11th. We went to Kelty and came away with a narrow 1-0 win thanks to Alfie's 5th goal in 7 appearances. Montrose proved to be stubborn opponents and it took a superb diving header from Keith Bray to rescue a point in a rather turgid encounter after Sandilands had opened the scoring in the first half. A last gasp win at Dumbarton on the Saturday with Alfie Bavidge scoring his 6th goal in 9 games. Unfortunately Alfie was injured early on against Stenhousemuir in midweek but that didn't stop us running up a 4-1 win with goals from Brannan, Gilmour, Bray and Allan. Annan up North on Saturday in a six-pointer and it was a disappointing defeat after Annan parked the bus after scoring in the third minute. Scott Kellacher will still be without Luis Longstaff who has a hamstring injury and missed the last three. Kellacher said in midweek to the press: “Alfie won’t be involved this weekend. The scan came back a wee bit unclear so he is waiting to do another scan. “He has to rest for probably the next 10 days to see if it settles down, and then they will try to get another image of it. Then we’ll know where we go from there. “We also have two or three wee niggles, but hopefully we’ll be clear after tomorrow.” Hopefully MacLeod will return after injury as we were a bit thin on the bench last week against Annan. This will be a tough game with Alloa still on course for a play-off place at the top end and Inverness still trying to avoid a play-off place at the bottom end. Our task will be made more difficult because of injuries to Longstaff and goal machine Alfie Bavidge. However, we showed that we can cope without these players in the entertaining win over Stenhousemuir, but the flip side was our inability to break down Annan last week where a bit of composure might have gone a long way to keeping Annan at arms length. I've been well impressed with Ben Brannan in his couple of games with us. He will be an important player with his driving runs forward and long throws and he's not scared to have a pop. Our defence will need to keep a 'Luke' out for Alloa's main scorers as they are among the higher scoring sides in the table with 43 goals. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 29 17 53 2 Cove R 29 18 48 3 Stenny 29 12 48 4 Alloa Ath 29 5 40 5 Queen of Sth 29 -5 38 6 Kelty Hearts 29 0 36 7 Montrose 29 -7 33 8 Inverness CT 29 4 32 9 Annan Ath 29 -23 30 10 Dumbarton 29 -21 09 Last Six: D W W W L L Alloa started their last six with a 2-2 draw at Montrose. Wins at Kelty (0-2), home to Annan (4-3) and Cove (2-1) before losing their last two (2-3) at home to leaders Arbroath and a 3-2 defeat at Palmerston last week. Despite the recent defeats they remain in the fourth play-off position eight points above Inverness. Luke Rankin tops their scoring charts with 8 goals followed by Luke Donnelly on 7 and Connor Sammon with 5. Starting XI v QotS last week <<above>> This will be the 47th meeting between Caley Jags and the Wasps, also known as Alloha Athletic, One game was played at a neutral venue and that was the 1999 Challenge Cup Final played at the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie with an Attendance of 4,043. Alloa came out on top after an entertaining encounter, winning 5-4 on penalties after a 4-4 draw. Bummer for Paul Sheerin who scored a hat-trick including two penalties but failed to score his spot kick in the shoot out. Meh! Bitter disappointment for Caley Thistle as they lost their first ever senior cup final on penalties. They came from behind three times in normal play then again in extra time to take the game to a penalty decider. Alloa took the lead in 20 minutes when Gary Clark hit a low ball past Les Fridge from 15 yards. Barry Wilson equalised in 29 minutes with a neat chip over the keeper. A defensive error let in Mark Wilson to score Alloa's second in 33 minutes but Paul Sheerin equalised from the penalty spot just after half time. This lasted 2 minutes before Martin Cameron made it 3-2 with a 15 yard angled volley. Another penalty goal by Sheerin made it 3-3 in 56 minutes. 14 minutes into extra time Alloa again took the lead when Martin Cameron beat the defence and ran on to score. Paul Sheerin completed his hat trick 8 minutes from time with a 16 yard shot. It was 4-4 on penalties after the regulation 5 attempts each. Alloa keeper Mark Cairns was the hero when he scored to make it 5-4 then saved Mike Teasdale's penalty. The Cup was on its way to Alloa after an exciting match. Alloa Penalties (Irvine, Boyle, Cameron, Little, Cairns) Beaton miss. Inverness Pens (McCulloch, Tokely, Byers, Wilson) Sheerin, Teasdale saved. Match report written by Ian Broadfoot

The incentive would have been to show that they could achieve a quick result. Which would be good for attracting future business of this type, which, I fear, will be inevitable. I think they would have preferred this. I believe that what we have witnessed is what you find in any negotiation. People holding out as long as possible to see what they can get out of it. Not folding before "the last minute" - the first "deadline" is never the last one. Call it brinkmanship, or chicken, or just plain stubbornness. Not until they believe that they are staring down the barrel of a gun will they concede. In this case it was the fact that there were no offers that was the catalyst for action.

The rate retail stores are closing or moving out of the city we could go back to Telford in a couple of years.

I think at this point, any Caley Thistle fan will not care where we play (in Inverness) so long as we have a team who are allowed to play and not liquidated out of existence.

A disappointing afternoon. The early goal gave Annan something to defend, and a mixture of the woodwork, great saves and poor finishing cost us. I’d like to see the penalty incident when Savage looked to be clearly fouled again, along with the alleged foul that caused our “goal” to be disallowed. I’ve said before that we’d have bad days and setbacks, but we picked a bad day for this one. However, back on 26 October when we had -3 points and were 15 points adrift of 9th, we’d all have grabbed being 8th in mid March and in control of our own destiny. We need to put this behind us, regroup and focus on getting a win next week.

The Supporters Trust has e-mailed members tonight about this week's events. The content of the e-mail is also on our website, and you can read it here: Supporters Trust: Administration Update

At the end of it, these guys are owed £3m by a lower league Scottish football club. They aren't getting their money back.

Even after our disappointing last two results our recent form is still good

Just as important, we would be 11 points clear of Annan and certain of staying up, which might be a factor in getting a buyer and out of admin before season’s end.

Gutted for the team, and the rest of us as well. That was a draw that felt like a loss.

5 points dropped in the last 2 games isn't good enough. I'm afraid Kellagher has to take a chunk of the blame for this. Far too slow and late making changes in both the Annan and Alloa matches when we were crying out for them. Billy should not have been given the responsibility of taking the penalty as he is visibly short of confidence and Kellacher should have realised that. I'm afraid Billy slows the game down too much now and worth giving Cairns a try. Yet again, a game poorly refereed. Savage's first booking was soft while his second was ridiculous. Some robust tackling from Alloa went unpunished including a two footed tackle referee did even blow for. Standside linesman also worthy of a mention for missing z clear offside when he wasn't up with play and giving 2 throws to Alloa when the ehole ball was clearly not out.

Just realised that if we’d won these games v Annan and Alloa like we really should have, we’d have been within 2 points of the promotion play-offs with 6 games to play.

Such a disappointing home result (again) when we were pretty dominant (again) and created a huge number of chances (again) and Billy missed when it was easier to score (again) and we saw how much we rely on Bavidge for goals (again).

Looking forward to parking all the off field stuff and just cheering on the team. Reviews of the stand in keeper look good and wishing Musa all the best on international duty. Trying to drag a Dundee Utd supporting work colleague along to support the clubs offer as well.

Last week I used the service from the bus station for the first time, usually we go by car or catch the bus at the Caley Club. What a great service especially with the option of going to the bar at the stadium before or after the game. Thanks to all those responsible for arranging this service including the cheery driver in ICT top.

We are holding on by the skin of our teeth because Alan Savage has (rapidly emptying) deep pockets, as have other potential members of that consortium. If we assume it would be made up of some combination of the 10 people who were around that table and the couple that were not, then all of these people have put money into the club at one point or another, but I don't think any of them are so wealthy that the taps would never run dry. Many of them have led the board successfully, but in my personal opinion, two of them expedited the mess we got into over the last 6 or 7 years either by direct action, or, just as culpable, by inaction. There are also so many well publicised inter-personal choke points in the relationships of these people that a successful structure seems nigh on impossible. IF we could get all of these people to agree and to partake in the rebirth and rebuild of ICT then we could indeed be very positive, but for me, for now, I will take it one step at a time hoping that we get back to a scenario where financial responsibility and sustainability were the watchwords and ethos of the club. As for the structure of the team, I will trust in Kells and the backroom team to put the best team we can afford on the park. It may not be exactly what we want in one way or another, and you will never please everyone, but that's for the football management team to worry about. If its a team full of local boys coming up through the ranks of the academy then that's great, but if it involves some loanees or some veteran journeymen then that too has its benefits. How many points have Alfie Bavidge goals won us since he came in for example? The best teams have a combination of all types and source of players. 8-8-8 may be the aim, but if its 6-10-8 or 7-7-10 or something like that, I am not going to lose sleep over it. The more important thing is that we pull together, re-establish our identity, and don't lose focus. Our best days as a club came when we had that identity, ethos and mindset.

Obviously this statement is to be welcomed but, given the number of upturns and downturns there have been in this crisis even since mid-summer, that welcome must remain cautious until the bones carry more meat. Those attending cover all three areas of concern since these individuals hold most of the debt, include the joint owners of the car park lease and account for around half the shares. I note that the Charitable Trust and the McGilvrays weren’t represented. Between them they account for more than a quarter of the equity but it is, of course, impossible to guess any reasons - innocuous or sinister - for their absence. We also don’t know the extent of agreement that was reached, and in particular how much if any of the debt has been volunteered to be written off, and how many shares have been handed back - or indeed donated to the cause. The benefits of share movement could make impacts respectively of up to 5 and 10 times the value of the shares in question. I have to say that I am also mildly encouraged by the suggestion that there could be a large local presence in any initiative. We await in hope.

Incredibly sad! All these administrators, power brokers and large shareholders just need to get round a big feckin table and thrash it out face to bloody face!

IF the club does go to the wall, then Alan Savage will be able to hold his head up high at his efforts. They are and will be appreciated. The club has been a pissing contest for too many people over the years, including - it has to be said - AS first time around. However, he has absolutely stepped up to the plate since admin raised its head all those months ago and has been trying to drive things forward as far as we can see. Egos and squabbles seem to have been the order of the day over the years with the average fan simply having to watch from the sidelines because we can't afford to be in this particular game. I really hope that something can be done, that some miracle can be worked, that some of this cold reality brings some people around. The idea of ICT not being around after 30 years is unthinkable for all of us. It is a community, a family, a link back to our hometown for many of us, and important to us all. If those who own the shares, and who profess to love ICT can get around a table then FFS, put those dam egos aside and get it done! The money in your wallet may have been real, but the longer this goes on, the more it resembles and is worth as much as, monopoly money.

A good win for the women today sees them climb the league again well done.

It's a football forum. They were rightly praised for the performance against Stenny. Unfortunately this was the Polar opposite and the fact that it came in the first game after our best performance of the season amplified our frailties on the park. It is abundantly clear we struggle without Longstaff's creativity and the pace and power of Alfie Bavidge, yet they both missed most of the Stenny game. MacLeod was also another good option that missed out. Through no fault of the players or management that left us with a fairly limp bench. Such is life. It's where we are at just now. We can bounce back again as we have done before. It's going to be a tougher run-in than most fans envisaged and it's the same for every team fighting for their existence.

Typical over the top and loud reaction to fans who are just posting their own points of view. After all this is not what football is all about the highs of Tuesday and the very lows of Saturday. Of course supporters are going to be gutted that was a f***ing sore one,not helped by the way Annan conducted themselves.

Feeling so disappointed like people have already said I thought Gilmore was going to take pen then Billy wanted it, I had a bad feeling. Ref and nearside linesman were shocking and we will miss Remi next week, was a harsh red card. Was really impressed with stand in keeper today, I guess it's a point gained after what could have been a defeat at the end if offside hadn't been given, thank goodness for a decent linesman! After all that happened in the last week off field at least we got something from the game but should be doing better.

He’s our 9th top scorer this season with 2 goals from 37 appearances as a striker. He still has a good footballing brain and brings something to the team, but it sure ain’t goals.

Great fast-paced start where we looked brilliant and deservedly took the lead. Then as the first half wore on we got slower and slower, letting Alloa back into the game. Lost what looked like a soft goal in the second half. Then we tried to up the pace again, but in truth whenever we got around their 18 yard line we slowed everything down. My heart skipped a beat when we were awarded the penalty, then sank when I saw who was taking it! A very poor penalty easily saved by the keeper. That’s two games in a row now where McKay has cost points. How long do we persist with him in the starting 11? He’s become a liability!

Half time 1-0. Thought we were going to blow Alloa away after a great opening goal and play for 30 minutes. All over them and well deserved lead. Alloa slowly coming more in the game. Feel we are the better team and if we get a second goal, the three points are ours. bc

For me it will be what it will be. I trust that the players will give it their best shot regardless of what's going on off the field. I also believe that whilst they don't always perform to the best of their ability they do always give their best effort. Then there's times when results seem to be decided by the universe and performance (good or bad) doesn't seem to play much of a part in it. lol

Absolutely. This team have kept our spirits up through the toughest times that the club has faced. They must be tiring now, but let's give them the support needed to push on to the end of the season. So proud of what SK and the boys have achieved and would love to see them end the season on a real high, football wise at least.

I know I've banged on about needing a "sugar daddy" in the past, maybe not so much so now because we seem to be doing ok without one! But I am 100% in favour of Alan Savage being part of "A Highland Consortium" that takes control of the club because, firstly they'll have the club at heart and won't ruin it like certain previous chairmen and a crook of a CEO did! And importantly, it means that we can continue going down the road on terms of transfers, as we have in the past where we don't pay fees for players and instead look at the free agent and loan market. We've discovered in the past that there ARE good players available even on loan or pre contract agreements so tbh I don't see the reason to change that if it's served us well in the past . Again, I know I've said it previously that we could work on the 8-8-8 formula that Charlie Christie seems keen on so when have I become more balanced in my posts and even had a go at my own previous comments . I think its because I'm getting older maybe .

This happened in August last year. My take on it from the info available is that agreement was reached to write off debts/exchange them for shares. What then seems to have happened is that disagreement arose over the car parks, people were getting slated in the press etc. and the whole thing quickly fell apart. In that regard we seem to be right back where we were then, but 15 points worse off and facing a huge invoice from BDO. Hopefully the outcome is different this time!

Getting all the bigwigs together at the same table, revolutionary concept!! Why wasn't this done last year? (Did BDO not think of this??)

Great to see we Scots can always see a dark humour when things begin to look a bit bleak. Well done all. I’ve been nagging and picking on some posters recently that do not agree with my view. Seems oh so petty and insignificant now when the clubs existence is on the line. Just want say well done, bringing the spirit above, makes me more confident we will come out the other side with the club intact. bc

Maybe we can get Donald Trump to broker a deal?

Paid 7.5K for longstaff hernia op with no Aron dorran issues. That was news to me. well done that man.

A disappointing result, how much did both the Dumbarton game [a heavy pitch] and the Stennie game, empty the tank? And obviously not having Bavidge may have taken a slight wind out of the sails, although we scored three goals after he went off in midweek. Longstaff a loss, and now Macleod. That said it sounds a fluky win for Annan That faint hope of promotion play-off place perhaps extingushed. But no way Dumbarton will catch us, and if we end up in the wrong play-off hopefully Bavidge and Longstaff will be back Obviously the news today over a lack of buyer hardly helps the mood But the 'fat lady' singing isn't even on the horizon. Obviously one of those weekends, as I was at a freezing Sutton United on Saturday and they lost terrible 0-3 at home

Loving the heads gone stuff when fans question the manager or club (again). Its reminiscent of when criticism wasnt welcomed of Dodds or the last regime - see how that all panned out!!! Certainly IMO entitled to question whether the manager is a strong enough character to drop his AM as clearly Billy is not playing based on contribution or ability anymore its clearly nepotism. I stand by my point that BIlly should be nowhere near starting in that team - this season he has systematically demonstrated an inability to lead the line, hold up play, turn a man or even score any goals. Why SK is not seeing this, its unclear and before anyone states 'we have no other options' - give Cairns 90 mins and see what he does while Alfie is out, he cant be any less dynamic. If we never brought in Bavidge we would be fighting Dumbarton for the drop its clear we now revert back to pre-xmas with dominating games, creating a bucket load of chances and seeing our central striker spurn great opportunities. Having scored 100+ goals for the club, its not just a dip in form, he's fallen off a cliff!! Without Alfie if the midfield dont score, we wont get goals - and dont start me on our corners and set piece play - lets try some variation rather than 8 players in the 6 yard box standing still!!!

Went along to Saturday's game fully aware there might be a negative reaction after Tuesday's 4-star performance and boy, was I right! We were just so slow and many an advantage lost by pratting around with the ball where a strong run up the park may have been more effective. At our current level I can't help thinking a Mark Ridgers style hoof up the park might offer better scoring opportunities than tippy-tappy. Well we are where we are and the team have done a great job getting us to a position where we will probably survive in Div.1, but just can't help thinking that, as a full-time team among mainly part-timers, we should be pretty much setting the pace!

Bit of a reality check all round, our defensive line didn't cover themselves in glory for the calamitous defending ( not defending?) which led to the corner and again for the goal. Everything that followed was fairly pedestrian stuff giving the Annan team plenty time to pack the box whenever we were trying to break through. Plenty saves from their keeper, but I wouldn't say he was particularly over extended - simple stuff really. The ref wasn't of a decent standard at all, not much worse than Tuesdays but we won that didn't we. Well done Annan. Pick it up next week. Hopefully Macleod is back.

I agree, but we aren’t. That’s why remembering how far we’ve come can help us stay positive and behind the players for the run in.

Football can be a cruel game at times. Think Annan had 1 shot on goal and scored whereas we must have had well into double figures yet only hit the target on 2 occasions. Paul Allan was desperately unlucky to hit the post but Billy should have scored. The majority of the other chances were all of the half chance variety and their keeper had 3/4 reallgood saves. Felt some players were just off their game today, Bray, Stewart, Gilmour and Billy for example and, to me, Devine is a mistake waiting to happen in most games at the moment. He almost cost us another goal due to a poor needless pass and his delivery into their box was poor. Finally the referee, who again I thought was poor. Blatant penalty denied in the first half and let Annan get away with murder on time wasting. Pick of that was one of their defenders going down in his box clutching his head only to ge treated for cramp. Too far away to see why the goal was disallowed but pretty sure if it was for a foul, it wouldn't have been given outside the box. At least we now know what we have to do now and that is secure 8th place as a minimum.