The Mantis

Agree with the last two posts. Rankin might have made a difference today and where was Barry?

Must admit nobody around us saw what happened. However Morais had his red coming all day- Hibs had some decent players but I didn't rate him at all.

At least he wasn't in charge of Killie when they lost to the jags. I reckon they'd have handed him a pistol and expected him to do the decent thing :015: :015:

The cup's still special. As Yngwie says we had a great day out at Stirling. The year before we had a trip to Ayr before being gash for 2 legs and going out to these P*rt*ck barstewards. This season I've tried to get a look at the early rounds. Saw Vale of Leithen put out Gala back in September (but missed ICT beating Falkirk 4-2). Next week I saw Clach surrender in a pretty poor replay at Edinburgh City. Missed round 2 as we had a 'six pointer' at Gretna. Round 3- saw Linlithgow beat Dalbeattie in front of a healthy crowd. Round 4- let's hope we can get past Hibs and get another nice trip...... :drinking08:

Back in the day I used to spend a fair bit of time in Auld Reekie's 20 or so second hand bookshops. I have to say Leakey's prices were always worse than Edinburgh ones. I've also seen the dismissive way he talks to people who come in with books to sell. Mearlach indeed :015: I had a good laugh one day listening to a woman in the indoor market going into rant mode about him but I'd better say no more....... Kingsmills, I got a brand new copy of 'In a Different League' a few years back in Ottakars (Blackwell's?), probably when it said Thin's above the door. I remember it was 3 quid and they had a load of them. Again, you'd have to nose about the second hand shops to get it now.

"Caley all the Way" by Alex Main 1986. Softback and hardback. Second hand shops only. I doubt if you'll see many copies down your way :015: That mearlach Leakey occasionally has a copy. I got a hardback copy in Edinburgh a while back.

Aye, that's write :015:

I know one or two peeps talked about it before. I've already got one. Clicky

Sophia, let me assure you that somebody as, ahem, "resourceful" as Johndo tried long and hard to get details out of people running this site, as well as myself, to no avail. I couldn't have helped him anyway. While the squirrel kept insinuating (probably falsely) that he knew me I really didn't have much idea about him. I don't live in the town but I believe the squirrel was leaving a bit of a trail, mainly concerning his drinking exploits, and after a bit of digging I don't think Johndo found it much of a challenge. I was as surprised as anybody when he was outed as a 23-year old journalist. As you say, off topic...

I think people are judged on their merits. Heilandee, Buffy, Ceske Bairn, Ralph Milne and Big Pie are amongst those with the right attitude whereas arab4whenever is the other type. As for the squirrel, he tried to present himself as something he wasn't, ie a grown up. Well, a middle aged man, at least :015: :015: This became more and more bizarre as time went on. When he was 'outed' all the bits fell into place. He IS missed though. Being a Jambo and all that.......

Tam Hendrie's Alloa had to go home one midweek by Fort William as the A9 was closed :015: :015: :015: :015:

We've always had it our own way against Gretna, got the goals at the right time etc. Indeed they've never even scored against us and lost 12. A bit like County really :015: In the SPL, the pattern seems to be Gretna playing some nice football and missing a few chances, before the other team knocks the stuffing out of them and the heads go down. Usual scenario is a total collapse in the second half. What I wouldn't want to see is them getting something to hold on to, as we're no better than anybody else at having to chase the game. Ideal case is, we are two up after 10 mins.

Lets just hope that tomorrow night they're wishing they had stayed in Blair Athol and got pished.

Aye, I know, you probably could find more use for a brick at the mo :015:

Never realised it was such a big game for Gretna.

If Rossco could move as fast as Johndo's avatar then Spurs wouldn't be after Hutton :015:

And it would cause ?250000 of improvements :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Everybody knows it's Bazza Wilson. Broadfoot's already written the book.

Just wondered- does anybody have an emotional attachment to TCS- how would you feel if we moved? It's seen some amount of drama in the 11 years its been there. I would start to list some but I've got the tea to make :015:

Maybe it's just you. Why not post a photo of yourself and let us all decide :023:

Well I was confined to my bed with the flu- couldn't even sit at the computer to hear ICT on the BBC website. Had already paid for my train ticket too. Which is why I heard Spicy coming on at half time for Killie and having a decent game by all accounts.

I suspect one half of the OF would have been happy for it to go ahead, with Celtic missing their best player :023:

A real shock. In the small world that is Scottish football there can be hardly anybody who is not touched or affected by this.

It's all in the match report RiG :023:

ICT's fine winning run came to an end in a tame display at the Falkirk Stadium. While ICT looked very comfortable soaking up Falkirk's pressure in the first half, and hitting on the break, this all changed when the Bairns took the lead 10 minutes before half time. The second half proved to be the opposite of the first, with Falkirk making a good job of defending their lead against a lacklustre ICT side with too many square passes. A full carload from Lothian & Borders arrived at the Cadgers Brae for the pre-match warm-up: Mantis, Naelifts, Caleystan and Wanderer, plus Stephen the Hibby. Naelifts and Caleystan failed a late fitness test as they were discovered to be outside for a smoke. Mantis suffered a wallet strain, and Wanderer's wallet was sold a dummy by Caleystan who ordered a round and disappeared without paying for it. ICT were unchanged from Saturday as Brew decided it wasn't broke, so he sure wasn't going to fix it. However there was a bit of a scare when we arrived at the ground to find the players putting Zibi through his paces with no sign of Mikey anywhere. Craig Thomson got the game underway and both sides seemed to be suffering a reaction from big away wins at the weekend as the match developed into a low-key affair with neither keeper having much to do. However ICT should have taken the lead after about 12 mins when Niculae knocked on a McBain cross only for Rankin to hit the side netting when he could have squared the ball for Cowie. Sadly, this was to set the pattern for wee John's afternoon as he struggled to make a contribution. Meanwhile, Falkirk, despite dominating the midfield, were struggling to make any progress against a confident looking ICT, and often their attacks consisted of Arfield lumping the diagonal ball to the back post, which was easily dealt with by Munro or Fraser. Ian Black was really looking the part in the first half and appeared in most of ICT's creative play, and it looked as though ICT would slowly sap the life out of an unconvincing Bairns side before taking the lead. Niculae wasted another opportunity when he got a McBain pass tangled between his legs with Rankin in space at the far post. Nobody seemed sure whether he was attempting to dummy it or control it. To be fair to Marius, I thought this was one of his better games and for the first time I thought he deserved all those Champions League players around him to read his intentions...... Anyway, after the half hour the Guinness and the cold weather took its toll on your correspondent's bladder, and I sauntered off, only to hear a roar, followed by 'Amarillo' being blasted into the toilets at a hellish volume. ***insert description of goal here- that's right, ?20 and missed the only goal of the game*** Ten minutes before half time Blackie was booked for blootering the ball into the stand. Despite his protests it was obvious that the ball was well out when he kicked it and Russeldinho had to act as peacemaker as Blackie threatened to repeat his episode of last Christmas at the same venue. The second half was largely uneventful, though there were a few scrambles at the far end as ICT chased an equaliser without much conviction. Too many passes. Nice passes mind you, but too many. Falkirk defended their lead very well and had the best chance of the half when Moutinho was through on Fraser, but Mikey is playing so well these days that it was no surprise when he blocked with his legs. Also sub Latapy wheezed into possession and, with about 4 ICT players holding back, tempted McGuire into a silly foul at the edge of the box. Uncharacteristically Latapy screwed the free kick tamely wide. With half an hour left ICT threw on Wilson and Bayne for Cowie and McBain, but the expected injection of pace from Barry never really happened, and Bayne put himself about as he did on Saturday, but minus the booking and the winning goal. Bayne won a free-kick which Barry took well but it was cleared. Overall, ICT were worth a point on the day, but the Bairns took their chance when it came. Bizarre moment of the day came when Rosscoe caught a ball which had gone out of play but spun back in. With the whole of the main stand baying for handball Rosscoe calmly accepted the award of a throw-in and was booed for the rest of the game...... MoM Ian Black.