davieB

Why the hell does Imrie keep on taking them?? I've yet to see a good one from him. Remember Cowies free kick at Killie?? The obvious candidate for them I reckon.

It does seem to be a recurring theme I agree. To be fair though, of the ones you mention.... Cowie was at a very tight angle. Rooneys header was good, the keeper made a good save. The worst miss of the night was tokely just before half time. Free header at the back post and he somehow managed to put absolutely nowhere near the goal. Of our 3 strikers, Rooney is the only one who looks like he could really do well. Wood has plenty of potential, but pairing two inexperienced 19 year olds up front is hardly going to instill fear in opposition defences. Oh, and Barrowman is just mince IMO.

The semis will be on a neutral ground wont they?

Well, I'm going with a couple of others, so that'll be 78 then.

I don't really think he's saying anything different to what everyone else can see, so in fairness, he's at least identifying where we're going wrong.

I'd agree his substitutions have, in the main, been good this season, in comparison to the first time he was here. And, in general, it's been the players playing crap that have been hooked. But he has made some very odd choices as well. I think most people can see that we're certainly no worse than the rest in the league, but we're falling short too often, and often when we shouldn't be. As I said, if we were clearly worse than the rest then it'd be easy to pick the faults, but we're not.

I thought Wood played well last week, so wasn't that surprised Brewster stuck with him today. Unfortunately he just didn't do it, and while I think he has far more potential than Rory does, I think he should be being used a lot more sparingly than he is at the moment. I think what confuses most is the substitutions themselves. Everyone could see Wood was having a stinker today, yet he's the one that stays on. It's the same with a lot of Brewsters substitutions this year (Blackie at Hearts etc), in that, whereas the criticism used to be he left his substitutions far too late, he now just makes some completely baffling changes which make no sense at all. I can't put my finger on why we're not getting the results as we're certainly no worse than anyone else I've seen this season. Infact, we've played some really nice stuff at times. We do seem very frail at the back, and keep making stupid mistakes and gifting teams goals. But even in saying that, thats quite hard to work out too....as you wouldn't really say any of the defence has been particularly bad this season. I've no idea why it's going wrong to be honest, as I said, if we were mince it'd be easy to understand, but we're not. One thing I do think we're really missing though is a Dargo like striker (or Dargo himself!!), someone with pace and someone who takes their chances!!

It's quite hard to work out how we lost that game. We were very comfortable in the first half, and should have gone in ahead. We started the second half very brightly and Rooney took his chance superbly. We had another great chance straight after that, but Rooney and Wood got in each others way......and then it was all downhill. Motherwell certainly picked up when they made the changes, but we helped them out by sitting so deep it was almost inevitable they'd draw level. I've no idea why Rooney was taken off either, Wood was awful today, and seemed the obvious choice for replacing. The other subs were fine, Blackie looked like he'd injured his shoulder, and Duncan was just mince. We seem very wasteful/hesitant in front of goal in every game. Rooney looks the only one of our strikers capable of getting us a few goals at the moment so Brewster should just stop messing about with our attacking options, and just play Rooney on his own, or Rooney +1. Disappointing result today, we should've won. I'm getting a wee bit concerned that these kind of results could come back to haunt us at the end of the season. Then again, if we were playing ***** I'd be more worried, but I don't actually think we're playing that badly. We seem to have a habit of switching off for periods during games though, and we're getting punished for this.

Esson Proctor Duff Munro McBain Cowie Black Duncan Vigurs Imrie Rooney

Heard that our game against Motherwell is next weeks game. Can't seem to find anything to confirm this though.

Joe has apologised for his reaction, but you seem to be missing the point. I sat there today with the two lads who I take to most of the games, and I was embarrassed by the 'chants' I heard. As has been pointed out, if that had been coming from the other end everyone would, rightly, be on here complaining about the OF singing their sectarian *****. Yet you can't seem to see that singing that pish yourselves makes you as bad as them. No one's complaining about you's trying to create an atmposphere, but try doing it by singing pro Caley songs, not imitating the bigots. There's no defence for singing those songs, so stop trying to deflect the criticism of your actions onto someone who, right or wrong, slagged you off. Fecks sake, it's bad enough walking through the town this morning and seeing those twats all around it, without having to sit in our own end at the match and hear the bile being sung by OUR OWN fans that everyone outside the OF wants to see the back of.

Got to agree. It was feckin embarrassing at times.

Thought that was Blackies first bad game this season to be honest. Aye, he didn't seem to know what to do when he got hooked, but in fairness to Brewster, it was only a matter of time before Black was going to get sent off. He should've walked in the first half, but in fairness to McGeady, he got up quickly from a very badly timed swipe by Blackie. If he'd stayed down, and rolled around lots I'm sure Ian would've seen red.

Bit unfair on Wood IHE. I thought he did really well today, and really put himself about. Not been overly impressed with him so far this season, but fair play to him, he looked the part. I'm surprised he started ahead of Rooney mind, and I think this is one area Brew needs to be decisive in, instead of chopping and changing each week. Didn't think McBain or Hastings did too bad either. I'd have probably gone with Vigurs over Roy myself, but he wasn't that bad at all. Other than that, I agree. In all honesty, we were the better team, and if we'd been more clinical in front of goal we'd have got a point at least. Lots of positives today in my opinion.

I've no idea what goes on behind the scenes regarding contracts, but we do seem to regularly be in a position where our contract offers (or non contract offers) make weekly news. From what I've read, Blackie seems perfectly happy here, and is as good as saying he wants to stay. I can't believe for one minute that our board can't see that we've got, potentially, one of our best ever players saying he wants to stay either. On what basis could they possibly not give him a new contract? Every transfer window there seems to be some unfounded rumour regarding Blackie, so surely if he wasn't wanted he'd have gone by now. If he doesn't get a new contract that says to me that it's nothing to do with Ian wanting to move on, or another club wanting him, it says WE don't want him.....and if that's the case than there needs to be some very serious questions asked.

I thought both our central defenders were rubbish on Saturday. The number of free headers United had in the box was worrying. Every set piece was a worry. I'm certainly not McGuires biggest fan, but he's looked pretty decent in the last few games, and at this moment in time I'd say he's the best option. While Duff certainly looks like he's got potential, I don't think he's ready for it yet. There's only so many mistakes you can cover with 'Aye, but he's young etc etc' line.

Fraser Tokely Munro McGuire Hastings Cowie Vigurs Black Duncan McBain Rooney

McBain was fine yesterday, and did his usual nonstop running. Just a shame he missed a real sitter in the early stages. It's Imrie that does my head in. Mince again yesterday, but just occasionally he puts in a great performance. He really needs to start getting some consistency. As I said before, Cowie started well. Probably the best I've seen him for a while. He really dipped in the second half though, and absolutely nothing was going right for him.

We played some really good stuff in patches, mainly when we kept the ball on the deck. Before they scored (good goal IMO) it could easily have been 3-3! They had the most clearcut penalty you coould imagine turned down, after the ball clearly hit Munro on the hand, and they had two headers from corners cleared off the line. Fraser also produced a wonder save from another corner....oh aye, and Wilkie missed a sitter. Our defence was abysmal at set pieces, and they seemed to have clearcut chances at every corner. For us...Barrowman was inches away from a great Cowie cross, McBain shot wide when it seemed easier to score (after some great build up play), and Barrowman fecked up spectacularly when one on one with their keeper. We were as good as them in the first half, despite losing a goal, but as soon as Blackie went off at HT we seemed to lose our shape completely. Some of our passing in the second half was woeful (Munro and Imrie being the worst culprits), and there were huge gaps in the middle which they exploited all the time. It wasn't until they got their second that we actually woke up again. And then we took control of the match. Barry forced a brilliant save from the keeper, Barrowman hit the post, Rooney had one chalked off for offside. Unfortunately for us, Wilkie's OG came too late for us to rescue the game. All in all, a really entertaining game I thought. Plenty of chances for both teams, and when we kept the ball on the deck we caused them real problems. RE Cowie....he started off really well I thought, and was looking like his old self. In the second half though, he just seemed to really dip, and there was a 15 minute spell when everytime he tried anything it went wrong. He looks really low at the moment, and lacking in confidence.

Sensible pricing too, well done to both clubs. Adults ?12 Concessions ?6 Hopefully, with it being a quarter final and all that, we'll take a half decent crowd down for this one.

Blackie has been my MOTM in every game this season. One brilliant performance after another. He's always had the ability, but unfortunately he's let his temperament overshadow that ability in the past. This season he's cut out all the nonsense, and he's just got better and better.

Good draw I reckon. The way we're playing at home right now, we've a better chance against anyone away. And we've a decent record down there.

Back to the match is it?? I actually thought it was a half decent cup game. Good atmosphere, chance of an upset......I agree both teams were poor, but it was fairly entertaining. Like someone else above, I couldn't really see their first goal.....it seemed to me that everyone misjudged the long throw and it trickled into the net. The long throw seemed to be their only tactic as it goes. Rory was hooked at HT, which surely tells you everything, and Wilson brought on. Not entirely sure if Imrie was supposed to go upfront alongside Wood, but he soon drifted back to the wing, so in effect we were oddly playing 4-5-1. Vigurs and Rooney were then used and both made a big impact. Vigurs was superb, really forceful going forward, and always picking the right pass. Rooney put himself about, and won a lot in the air. We had a few nail biting moments before equalising (Tokely heading against his own post, and the rebound coming off him and rolling inches past the post). The equaliser came from a good cross (for once), and I initially thought it was Imrie who got it. Later confirmed as Hastings though. Into extra time I couldn't see us not getting a winner, and sure enough, after Rooney had laid off a great header to him, Imrie rifled in a cracking volley. Esson, Blackie, Vigurs, were all excellent, but Imrie was superb. The rest? Average at best. Blackie was again hooked at the end of the 90, which was again baffling, evenmore so because Duncan was playing his first game in a while and having his customary 'winning lots in the middle, then passing straight back to the opposition' (and he gave a mouthful to the away fans after being loudly advised it might be better trying to pass to one of his team mates rather than the opposition). Oh well, I enjoyed it, even though we struggled against a team at the foot of the 1st. The win certainly made the journey back up a lot sweeter......a home tie next round though please

No.

He was very, very good tonight. Lets see if he can carry that performance into the league games now. Maybe it needs the opposition fans to barrack him to get him going