RiG

If you're leading a game for 85 minutes and the opposition were largely rotten (aside from a desperate spell of attacking towards the end) whilst we passed up decent chances to kill the game off I would say that to only come away with a point is a bit disappointing.

I am no fan of Collum but he wasn't at his worst on Saturday. A referee can blow for half / full time at any point provided the allotted time / additional time has been played. He doesn't need to give an attacking team a chance to take a corner / free kick. I think Gordon should have been sent off but I can see why it may not have been as clear cut as some people may make out. However the Tremarco sending off was a stonewall red card. No debate whatsoever. He was frustrating rather than rubbish. As HtG says he got in the way a couple of time creaking up ICT attacks which was infuriating and I couldn't believe what I was seeing when Ryan Christie got booted to the ground and fell on the ball and Collum gave a free kick to Saint Johnstone for Christie illegally shielding the ball and stopping it from being played. Bizarre stuff.

EX ICT midfielder Iain Vigurs is rumoured to be signing for ICT.

Lazy C n P from P & B: The two main changes that altered the game for me was when Saints went two up front (Draper and Devine left a lot of space in between them which Sutton alone couldn't exploit but they struggled when you had an extra man up there) and also when O'Halloran switched to the ICT left side. He hadn't gotten into the game much against Raven and Horner (normally a right back I think) but when he went up against stand in left back Danny Williams and the still to gain match sharpness Mutumbo he got a lot more freedom and carved us open a number of times down that side. ICT were probably the better team in the first half (although we didn't create a lot of good chances). Second half we started sluggishly and Saints were on top before we should have made it 2 - 0 when Devine had a shot off the post (I think) and Christie forced Mannus into a tremendous save. After that Saints really upped things and it was desperate defending by ICT towards the end. Lovely cross for the goal and a cute little header from Cummings past Fon Williams. I would have taken a draw beforehand especially given the players we had out but it was massively disappointing to see us lose a goal so late on that cost us two points. We had a habit of losing late goals last season as well. Hopefully this can be cut out. Best players for ICT for me were Christie, Williams and Devine. Christie tired towards the end but some of his touches were outstanding. Shinniesta Mark II if you will. Williams did fine filling in at left back and was able to offer some support down that side in the first half but he struggled against O'Halloran when he was switched to the ICT left. Devine has always struggled to get games ahead of Meekings and Warren but he always looked like he could be a useful player and he turned in a pretty solid performance at the back. Really need to be looking to take three points against Partick on Wednesday.

Football fans are the ficklest people on the planet. If he did score anything he had done in the past would likely be forgotten.

Was he not the lad that broke his foot or had some kind of other injury sustained just as he signed so the contract cancelled with the agreement of all parties (apparently) but Butcher said that if / once he recovered he would look at him again?

Cheers!

I wondered why I couldn't find them as FGS on McBookie.

Any news on when these strips will be available to buy then?

BY all accounts Vigurs was released because he didn't work hard enough in training. Whilst he shone at County he wasn't exactly a hard worker there either and indeed that's (one of the reasons) why he was let go at Motherwell. He's got a lot of talent but he doesn't seem prepared to really put the effort in at times which isn't good enough for a lot of managers. Will be interesting to see what happens if he is indeed on trial. To be honest, I'd take him on a six month deal just for his free kicks and corners alone.

I foresee the glorious return of Billy Mckay, Andrew Shinnie and Lionel Djebi Zadi.

I don't think there has been any update from the club since it was confirmed that it was a break. I'm still hoping that it's only a broken nail he's gotten. #PrayForWarren

No one in our team has hair as shite as Wes Fletcher. We don't come from Motherwell.

No mention of a broken leg just a break. Could be a broken ankle for instance. Regardless, it's pretty bad news at a time when the squad is being stretched to beyond its limit.

Referees are very rarely going to send someone off so early in the game. The timing should be irrelevant, but I think some refs know they'll be criticised if they kill the game as a contest so early so will lessen the punishment. It looked a very bad tackle from the Main Stand. The Warren tackle just looked like he hung his leg out and tripped McDonald which is very different from what Pearson looked to have done. Hope this rumour about a broken leg is just that. He tried to walk on it but had to give up after a couple of steps. Could he do that on a broken leg? I'm not sure how that would happen. When a challenge takes place in a game is completely irrelevant to the punishment received. Anyway, Warrens challenge on McDonald clearly wasn't a case of SFP. Referees are very rarely going to send someone off so early in the game. The timing should be irrelevant, but I think some refs know they'll be criticised if they kill the game as a contest so early so will lessen the punishment. It looked a very bad tackle from the Main Stand. The Warren tackle just looked like he hung his leg out and tripped McDonald which is very different from what Pearson looked to have done. No, he piled through him, might be shown in the highlights. Let's just hope Meekings' injury isn't bad otherwise we are truly effed. I don't think I'll be watching the highlights - there wasn't really anything worth watching from our PoV

Referees are very rarely going to send someone off so early in the game. The timing should be irrelevant, but I think some refs know they'll be criticised if they kill the game as a contest so early so will lessen the punishment. It looked a very bad tackle from the Main Stand. The Warren tackle just looked like he hung his leg out and tripped McDonald which is very different from what Pearson looked to have done. Hope this rumour about a broken leg is just that. He tried to walk on it but had to give up after a couple of steps. Could he do that on a broken leg?

I'm not sure how that would happen. When a challenge takes place in a game is completely irrelevant to the punishment received. Anyway, Warrens challenge on McDonald clearly wasn't a case of SFP.

If Pearson was wreckless as you say then that would suggest that his challenge was one that endangered the safety of an opponent and worthy of a red card for SFP.

A truly honking performance from ICT with the tone set early on when Warren hacked down Skippy after only a few minutes of the game gone with our fragmented side struggling to settle into anything approaching a rhythm. As was so often the case with Inverness when Hughes first arrived we were architects of our own downfall and helped Well score the first goal. A slack pass by Tansey was eagerly seized upon by Well and it looked like Fletcher and McDonald linked well to create a chance which was well saved by Fon Williams however he couldn't collect the ball and Fletcher followed in from\close range to put Well ahead. As anyone who has seen an ICT game this season will know we have a lot of the ball but do absolutely nothing with it. As Motherwell sat back and defended in numbers ICT stroked the ball about with no real creative spark to open up the Steelmen. Even on the odd occasion when a break could have been on we seemed content to advance slowly out of defence and keep the ball rather than go for the jugular and try and get right at Well. At one point, collecting the ball from a wasted Motherwell corner we had all of our players within about 10 - 15 yards of the ball in a couple of big lines with no one further ahead of the player with the ball and no one seemingly trying to get into space to try and stretch the remaining defenders. We were exceptionally sluggish whereas Motherwell were much more direct and aggressive with and without the ball chasing it down and snapping into tackles making it hard for us to settle things down. McDonald missed a penalty after Johnson showed great skill to roll his marker and sprinted into the box only to fall over under what looked like minimal contact from Devine. Regardles, Allan gave a penalty and Fon Williams did well to block McDonalds spot kick which was a nice height for the keeper to get to and keep out. Wedderburn, who was struggling with the quickness of Motherwell players closing him down, was subbed for Mutombo who injected a bit more creativity and pace into a lackadaisical ICT side. This was pretty much how the first half played out with the only other notable talking point being what looked like a horrendous challenge by Pearson on Warren which resulted in the ICT defender having to be subbed off. Pearson looked like he launched himself hard into a challenge going well over the ball with studs showing. It seemed a clear red card but fortunately for Pearson Allan only showed him a yellow. Pearson himself went off later on as he seemed to injure himself in the tackle as well. Will be interesting to see it again on the highlights if its covered. Motherwell started the second half on top and ICT again were in a mess at the back. Some good work down the Well right led to a good chance to extend their lead but fortunately an effort by Fletcher (I think) hit the post / was saved for Fon Williams. Not long after that Chalmers (I think) who was still up from a corner looked certain to score as he waited to tuck away a loose ball from only inches out but somehow Draper came in to clear the ball away. The second half largely replicated the first with Well starting strongly and ICT struggling to create anything. A half hearted penalty claim from Tansey who looked like he may have been clipped in the box and a free kick late on from the same player which was headed wide were as close as ICT came to threatening anything close to a goal in a match that was not high on thrills. A good win for Motherwell who looked comfortable throughout but a concerning defeat ICT who, despite missing a lot of first team players, struggled again to create any really good scoring chances. With Meekings and Warren both coming off injured our back four is completely unrecognisable from that of last season. If we aren't going to score then we could at least have looked to a relatively resolute defence to keep the opposition out. It will be interesting to see how a potentially patchwork backline deals with the upcoming games against Saint Johnstone and Partick. Hope not but it wouldn't surprise me too much. It looked like a disgusting challenge from Pearson. What puzzles me is that Allan clearly saw it as a foul (hence the yellow card) but not one that constituted SFP. Looked a clear red card to me. Wonder if the highlights will pick it up?

Regardless of their recent history we made them look gang by dominating them over the two legs. We just couldn't score. We were by far the better team over the tie but a lack of composure in front of goal saw us fall at the first hurdle. Astra were lucky to get through the tie. I think that gives us enormous credit. The top of the EPL is strong. I'm not debating that. But out with the Big Four, and others like Spurs and Liverpool, the likes of Hull, Sunderland, Aston Villa etc. are distinctly average bordering on very poor indeed.

Dundee perhaps? Maybe to replace Clarkson.

The West Ham result doesn't say anything to me about Astra. I thought they were utter gang against us over two legs and only poor finishing from ICT stopped us going through. As Alex Jones says it's more down to the amount of garbage in the most over hyped league in the world. Outwith the top 6 - 8 teams in the Premiership pretty much all of the other sides are much of a muchness.

I dislike Aberdeen probably more than anyone on here having lived there for so long but even I can't bring myself to deny the fact that they have an excellent squad of players and a superb starting XI now. The Dons thoroughly deserved second spot last season. Our one poor spell was basically three months without a win in the league - there is no way you can expect to secure second spot with that kind of form. Their team is excellent and they showed that on plenty of occasions last season - their long unbeaten run, often coming from behind to win games something previous Aberdeen sides hadn't been doing, winning games despite not playing well etc. Aberdeen appear to have improved on what they achieved last season with some of their signings and some strong showings in Europe whereas we have lost some of our best players and it can be argued that they've not really been replaced though time will tell on that one. I'm away to wash my hands. I feel dirty after typing up a positive post on Aberdeen.

Was Draper really that poor against Astra in the first league? Aside from giving away the free kick from which they scored from what else did he do wrong?

I think we will be around the middle of the table. No real shame in that. I think it's a fair and achievable target for ICT. The top two will be Celtic then Aberdeen and I think that Hamilton and Partick will likely bring up the rear. Everything else in between is up for grabs and I don't see too much between a lot of the teams. Will be interesting to see how County do this season. Instead of handing out 1 year contracts they are going for longer term deals so with a bit more stability in the side we might see a bit more competition from the other side of the bridge.