Hiro

9 hours ago, IBM said:

Come over for the weekend and take your son over for his first ICT cup final.

At the rate we're going it might be his only one never mind his first 

Not to say I hadn't given it thought though, he's just a little too wee.

Sensible location and date but the kickoff is a little odd.  There's no restrictions to showing a 3pm kickoff as its an international weekend so seems slightly random.  It may stop myself and others getting to the game. A 3pm kick off would let me fly into Glasgow/Edinburgh, get the train to Perth and then fly home same day.  Its probably not possible with that time. 

Interesting game, just a couple of things to talk about....

1st half

Odd start to the game.  Crusaders played some decent stuff for the opening 10 mins and we looked like a side who hadn't played in weeks.  Once we got to that mark we took control though.  Crusaders had actually started with a relatively conservative line-up with 1 up top and leaving Whyte & Owens on the bench. Despite this we were able to cut through at will with Polworth in particular finding pockets of space in which to play in Mulraney.  

I felt we were pretty wasteful at times and should have been 4 or 5 up by the time the half time whistle went. Even though we were dominating it was concerning how much space Crusaders were able to get down the right hand side of our defence. I lost count of the number of times Heatley/Murray found space in that channel.  I'd really like to see us move Mckay back inside to partner Donaldson and new right back. 

2nd half

Not sure what was said at half time but the team came out thinking the game was done.   No urgency at all and it bordered on being unprofessional. You can give Crusaders some credit for changing it up but if we play like that against a Championship team we will be on the receiving end of a shoeing.

The sending off was a little strange. I'm pretty sure that for his first booking it was Vigurs that committed a foul, it certainly wasn't Mckay. In saying that though the 2nd booking was monumentally stupid. The Crusaders bench unsurprisingly had a part to play in that, Baxter is known for his whinging and theatrics to refs. 

Player wise: Ridgers was excellent as was Polworth.  Donaldson was OK but seemed to spend time worrying about Warren.  Bell and Chalmers despite his goal had poor games.  Chalmers seems to let the game pass him by a little too much for my liking, never seems to take it by the scruff.   Mulraney was dangerous as ever although the final ball swung from outstanding to atrocious with nothing inbetween.  Oakley is a strange player, despite his size he can't win a header and struggles with his first touch.  However he's a lot quicker that I thought, has decent movement and runs the channels well. I' not sure what type of player he'd be best beside.

Glad to the win but we made hard work of it. If we hadn't held on we would be asking questions about the mental capacity of the side.

Pleasing first half.  They had a decent start but it's as comfortable as I had expected.  Polworth has been outstanding but thats partly a reflection of Crusaders naivety. 

Disappointed not to see Doran but confident about a result.  

Pitch is utterly shocking. A complete embarassment.

Think Vigurs unlucky to be sent off notwithstanding the stupid first yellow.  He tried an overhead kick in Livingston box and was booked for high feet/recklessness.

4 minutes ago, HawkeyeTheGnu said:

Why did Polworth & Vigurs get booked in the first place? BBC Live Text is its usual effusive self. 

Polworth for the foul, Vigurs for mouthing off at the ref for said foul.

At least we're well practice in playing with 10....    disappointingly one of Vigurs yellow cards was for mouthing off which is infuriating. 

Just watched the extended highlights and that was a gritty win. Could turn out to be a big one come the end of the season.  

One thing that needs to be pointed out though is Polworth's 'contribution' to the 2nd Brechin goal.  I'm a big fan of his and some the abuse he gets is way over the top however he was a disgrace for that goal.  If you watch the highlights he loses the ball cheaply, throws a strop and then fails to track his man who scores. Really poor effort.

Not sure how we're losing. We've absolutely battered them so far.  Just not clinical enough.

Yet another penalty conceded which is frustrating.

Just been confirmed by Robbo on radio.

Safe to say we won' t be seeing him again.  I've heard he's already left the building on the quiet but not had it confirmed.  Looks like the freed up wages are being used to try and bring in Nathan Austin.

Crusaders away please in the semi. 

20 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Scott Kellacher is an excellent coach, very well regarded. I understand he picked up a lot of the slack last season when others let things slide. 

This. During the times our 'manager' was AWOL last season it was Scott who was picking up a lot of the slack and keeping things going/professional.  

It seems a bit of an odd one as they're both pretty mild mannered guys.  Like others I've only heard good things in Scott's coaching ability so God knows what has gone on for it to end up in a full blown scrap.

We are disgustingly bad.

Now down to 9th with Falkirk's win today. We could be cut adrift if we lose to them in 2 weeks.  Interesting that both County & Falkirk have picked up good wins today.

45 minutes ago, RiG said:

Sheerin and Lennon were the two that were allegedly interviewed then Savage was hanging around with the possibility of extra money coming to help the club out but he wanted Robbo. The rest is history.

Anyway, Robbo has had another rant about the players -> http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/Caley-Thistle-boss-John-Robertson-Im-prepared-to-sacrifice-myself-for-the-club-are-the-players-23092017.htm

Sounds like he's desperate to chuck it in already. Practically begging to be put out of his misery.

We're actually quite fortunate that Falkirk are having such a bad season as it masks our performances slightly.   However, the difference being that they are more likely to turn it around and they've already humped us this season. 

Yet another cross not properly cleared.

Not bad Dougal. A page and a half out of this one so far.

As many others have pointed out, nothing to see here.  Many clubs including EPL actually have Pizza in the dressing room after matches.  Remember 'pizzagate' at Old Trafford?

We may score another couple but then I wouldnt trust us not to concend. We just cannot defend, absolutely rank.

4-1 now.  Carl Tremarco with the goal. Absolutely delighted to see him back, he'll make a massive difference to the defence (and hopefully chip in with a few goals again).

Disappointed to lose a goal.  Described as a 'horror show'.  Donaldson shortish with a pass back and Ridgers panicky clearance cannons off Aberdeen player into the net.  

This type of goal surprises no-one.  If OFW is still at the club get him in Nets. Hopefully Warren is fit next week too.

17 hours ago, ymip said:

Talk about making mountains out of molehills.  I was in pretty close proximity to the events on Saturday and the hysteria this has generated (often by folk who weren't even at the game) is frankly beyond belief.

The Young Team let off two smoke bombs, one at kick-off and another after our first goal.  The first one set the stewards into apoplexy and a complete over reaction which set the tone for the afternoon.  The police arrived shortly before the second smoke bomb was released and again their reaction was way over the top, throwing their weight around with some very young lads.  I would love to see both the stewards and police employ these tactics with a larger, older, group of boisterous fans.  The stewards and police try it on with ICT fans because we're small in number and the general locus of any incidents are very young and not particularly intimidating (no offence boys).  Different story when the Old Firm, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen etc are playing up.  This over zealous, bullying behaviour is witnessed at away grounds the length and breadth of the country and winds me up a great deal more than the Young Team's histrionics.

As far as I'm concerned the Chairman's comments are unnecessary and are merely drawing attention to an issue that is hardly worthy of mention.  I would suggest Mr. Rae's energies would be better focussed on addressing more pressing matters which impact the viability and long term future of our club rather than whipping up hysteria around a few over exuberant teenagers.

The hand wringing, bed wetters amongst our support demanding fan intervention, bans and such like really need to give their heads a shake.  I've watched football all over Europe and the ultra scene undeniably enhances the match day experience at grounds across the continent.  The reaction to pyrotechnics and such like by our European neighbours is a great deal more proportionate to the knee-jerk hysteria spouted on here.  Personally I would question if letting off smoke bombs at Glebe Park is entirely necessary but then again it's hardly crime of the century.  Some folk on here need to put this incident in perspective - no one was arrested, no one was injured, there were no violent disturbances and the City of Brechin remains largely intact. 

The demonization of the Young Team on here is unrelenting and way over the top - they are daft laddies trying to generate a bit of much needed noise and atmosphere amongst the pandrop sooking ICT masses.  They maybe need to address their negative PR by calming down with the smoke bombs but they are very far from a mob of rampaging hooligans and people need to chill out and cut them a bit of slack. 

 

 

What about the air conditioning unit that was ripped out and broken on the bus on the way home? Anything to say about that?  What about if the club was fined as a result? Still just banter?

The young guys do brilliantly in trying to create an atmosphere but the fact is that smoke bombs are banned from football grounds. On this occasion it was just stupid and unnecessary behaviour.

Bump!

Has Robbo solved this? Our best player in the few games to date this season and the signing of Trafford also won't do any harm.