RiG

Are ticket prices the same for the North Stand?

Queen of the South v St Johnstone Rangers v Raith Rovers Dundee v Celtic Hibernian v Arbroath Falkirk v Annan Athletic or Brechin City Stranraer or Dunfermline Athletic v Dundee United Partick Thistle v St Mirren or Inverness Caledonian Thistle Spartans v Berwick Rangers or Albion Rovers *yawn* Ties to be played on the weekend of 7/8 February.

I thought we were very poor in the first half. We struggled to create anything of note and Saint Mirren maintained an intense pressing game and didn't give us much time to settle on the ball. Williams and Ross in particular seemed to be struggling on the ball and on a good few occasions we passed the ball straight out of play such was our disjointed performance. We seemed to be playing extremely narrow. Williams and Ross at times were tucked in alongside Vincent and Draper. Any width came from Shinnie and Raven who had next to no help to try and stretch the Buddies back line. Disappointing goal to concede. We didn't clear the corner and when the ball appeared on the opposite flank from where the corner was taken a nice wee cut back found McAusland and he spun and buried the ball beyond Brill. We were certainly better in the second half but as has been mentioned above we struggled when we got into the final third with a number of wayward shots sent high over the bar from good positions or simply a final ball that was lacking in quality which never got close to its intended target. Thankfully we did get an equaliser. Saints couldn't clear a corner this time and after four or five attempts at goal, all of which were blocked, Meekings smashed the ball into the net. Thereafter we continued to dominate but still couldn't really create many clear cut chances. When your best efforts are falling to your right back you know something isn't clicking up front. Draper should have been sent off. We got a break there.

There's no mention of St Mirren fans?! I The content of the link must have changed. Saint Mirren fans attending their AGM last night were left thoroughly unimpressed by what Tommy Craig and others had to say (check out the thread on P & B for more info). The day after Hughes comes out with this - brilliant stuff and terrific timing!

Yogi absolutely trolling Saint Mirren fans here http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/inverness/301298-tommy-craig-is-right-man-to-lead-st-mirren-says-inverness-boss/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Vincent Draper Doran Christie Williams Mckay I'll be there. Just hope ICTChris can control himself on the train to Paisley and avoid the wrath of BTP

The team was always a good one. We knew that. It was a test for Hughes to maintain that and after a wobble he has done so. With Shinnie rumoured to be off to pastures new and players like Meekings and Watkins performing well and out of contract at the end of the season replacing them will likely be the biggest task that John Hughes will face.

Agree with IHE. he has now found the right blend between his style of play and that which brought the team so much success under TB. Long may it continue.

Also, the Wi Fi on Scotrail / Megabus is rubbish anyway.

£2 off the price of the usual adult ticket there. Better nothing I guess...

People are frustrated by the inconsistency. That's why there are so many negative comments about his performance I suspect. That's it in a nutshell. On another day, he would have booked a lot more players. He also appears to not understand what constitutes a foul at times. All in all, he is a dreadful referee and one slightly better game than the previous ones he has had up here does not make it better. The challenge from Imrie on Doran was a great example of serious foul play and warranted a red in my mind. Even if this wasn't the case, given he received a yellow for that challenge, his late challenge on Warren was also worthy of a yellow card which should have seen him sent off. Collum however didn't produce one which was in stark contrast to his handling of the Saint Mirren v ICT game.

People are frustrated by the inconsistency. That's why there are so many negative comments about his performance I suspect.

Elgin

You're joking right? No, I wasn't joking RIG. The facts speak for themselves. Billy's goals dried up long before the end of last season, and this season have been negligible. This from a striker who many on here were valuing in the millions this time last year (I wasn't one of them; were you?). I don't deny that he still puts a lot of effort in, but his finishing is just not up to the mark at the moment. That's why I thought a couple of games at a lower level might just be the spur he needs to refind his scoring touch. Your loyalty to him is touching, so what is your solution? To me it seems you advocate just sitting it out and hope things take a turn for the better. I understand what you're saying RiG, but it may be over-exertion on Billy's part to make sure he gets the final ball. The only person that could answer that is Billy himself. I personally think a short resting period would do him the world of good as he has been so ever present at all levels last season and this season. I don't think dropping him in the U20s is the correct thing either. Billy needs a confidence boost and I think a rest period would give him that. There's so much more to his game than sticking the ball in the back of the net. We've seen that from him so many times this season. His work rate up top is phenomenal. Remember, he is playing as a single striker up front and with our slow style of play compared to recent seasons, support is slower to get to him yet he still does a great job winning the ball, laying it off to team mates often when he is outnumbered. He has played a crucial part in this team getting to where we are this season and that's without scoring. I see no reason to deduce that he should no longer start because he isn't scoring. He has so much more in his skill set than just that. Dropping him to the bench or from the first XI altogether might end up being counter productive and damage his confidence. I don't see it as a risk to keep him in the side when we have been doing so well. You need to remember that his goal scoring exploits have slowed down for a long time now. It's not just this season that he hasn't been finding the net. As we've moved to JH style of play Mckay has suffered in terms of grabbing goals but, at least this season, the team has been getting results. Why would you want to mess with that?

Whether or not he had more in the tank would have made little different to the shot. He had the energy to get there, I can't see how he would have gotten there any quicker, he had the confidence to try and chip the keeper and it just didn't come off. I fail to see how having "more in the tank" would have led to a goal.

He's not looked burnt out at all. Against Saint Mirren, down to 10 men, he was still chasing the ball down and looked like he still had plenty in the tank before he was taken off.

You're joking right?

There is no way there was 42,000 there on Saturday. Celtic could have closed the top tiers of their stand, stuffed everyone into the lower tiers and still had spare seats.

Agree. Hopefully they can extend that to free adult season tickets as well and a share scheme in Harry Gows.

Yes.

I doubt Shinniesta is sitting somewhere in Birmingham wishing he had stayed at ICT

I loved the two men that vaulted over the seats to run half way down the stand to shout abuse at him for doing that until they got half way down realised he was long gone and slunk back to their seats

Is this the pre match thread then? Not having a go but is the fact we don't even seem to have a 'proper' build up thread an indication of how interest is falling away? Seems to be barely any match build up these days.