RiG

Highlights, which I assume have been lifted off an old Pixellot (shudder) camera at Hamilton, are now available.

Season 2020/21 but I have no idea about the rest. I think the point for Ayr kept them up.

Missed the first 10 - 15 minutes due to a puncture on the M8 but apparently we were quite good at the start of the match. Unfortunately what followed was about 60 minutes of pretty turgid stuff characterised by ICT failing to put in anything resembling a final ball and Accies being staggeringly incapable of passing the ball to their own team mates. The game seemed to spark into laugh when a very soft free kick saw Smith find the net with the aid of a deflection. The equaliser came after MacKay crossed for Shaw at the back post who saw his initial effort blocked but he was able to bundle in the rebound . And Mckay's winner arrived after he was picked out by Welsh and he coolly passed the ball beyond Fulton to secure a massive three points. Not a particularly great performance and some players were blowing out their backsides around the 70 minute mark. It was very surprising it took us falling behind before Dodds made any changes. Boyd was disappointing and again Shaw didn't look at his most useful as a 10. The front three that started last night just didn't really work for most of the game although there apparently was a good spell at the start of the game where they all looked lively. The subs likely turned the game for us with MacKay and Samuels, whilst not necessarily turning in stunning performances, brought a good bit of pace to a sluggish team. Accies were rank rotten. They went through a spell in the second half where they genuinely couldn't find a team mate with a pass despite being under no pressure whatsoever. Hard to see how they are going to avoid either automatic relegation or dropping down via the playoffs.

Joke of an offside decision.

A very good three points but a very poor performance. Cove were stuffy and got a lot of players behind the ball and challenged us to break through and we struggled for long periods of the game. Once we got close to the opposition penalty area we ran out of ideas most of the time. Very few killer passes were made. Shaw in the first half was able to pick a killer pass to find Mckay and although he found the net the linesman, eventually, put his flag up. The opening goal was a low free kick effort from Vigurs about 20 yards out. It seemed that Ridgers possibly expected him to send it over the wall but instead is was cleverly placed along the ground into the bottom corner. I didn't see exactly what the penalty was given for but I thought at the time it was a pull on Doran as he got in behind the Cove defence to chase down a high ball over the top. Strange that no card was given by the referee. Mckay leathered the ball into the net from the spot to take him eve closer to Wyness' goal scoring record. Doran had a hand in the winner as well after he collected the ball in the box after a cross from the right found him. He laid it off to Harper who coolly cut inside his marker and lashed a shot past the keeper. Towards the end Ridgers pulled off a stunning save to deny Cove an equaliser. I think we just about deserved the win but it was a game that was very low on quality. There were only about 3 or 4 good bits of football played all game which at times seemed like a pre season friendly. For us MacKay and Samuels were really disappointing and both are struggling to make things happen during matches at the minute. When Doran came on and Shaw moved to the left we looked better almost right away and Boyd was also decent when he replaced Samuels. Probably time to start them both on Tuesday.

An appalling first half of football.

Of course after I say that there's a highlights package on YouTube now.

It's a shame we rarely seem to put highlights out anymore and just have the goals if we are lucky. Does anyone know why the videos from the club have fallen away over the last few months?

Nathan Shaw Ballon d'Or.

I think we've seen now that Shaw is best deployed wide left and running inside at opposition players. Whilst he filled a gap in the team as a ten he has looked excellent when playing on the left side of the 3 behind Mckay. Henderson compliments him well on the opposite side as well. Two very impressive players over the last few weeks.

The benefit of watching the highlights I guess. We only rode our luck for a little bit. Morton got a lift from the equaliser but we ended up having some decent chances to sneak a winner before Carson's strike. I assume the penalty was given because the referee thought Ridgers clattered Muirhead when coming out to claim the ball.

After a poor first half the second half showing was much better and we got a deserved win. Morton were really poor for most of the game apart from when they got a lift after their equaliser. Criminal miss from Crawford in the first half and Ridgers had to look alive to deny a well struck shot but apart from that it was pretty dull. Wonderful strike from Allardice to open the scoring from about 30 yards with a sumptuous volley. Looked like an utterly bizarre penalty decision to allow Morton to steal their way back into it and they almost went 2 - 1 up when Muirhead lashed a free kick from miles out off the bar with Ridgers well beaten. Fortunately Carson bundled his way through the home defence right at the end to sclaff a shot beyond the despairing Schawke to give us a big three points. Standouts for us were Allardice, Carson and Shaw.

Not a fan of a document referring to supporters as "customers".

If it was to continue... Pre Partick Thistle - 1/2

I for one am stunned that the Inverness Courier is going down the clickbait route.

Duffy and Harper were the full backs. Carson was in the middle with Allardice. Henderson and MacKay were the wide men. Shaw played as a ten.

That was one sided a contest as I've seen for a while. Queens Park were streets ahead of us for large parts of that match. Decent opening to the game with Eze missing two glorious chances when he had free headers from corners but he would eventually get his goal later. It was surprising that we didn't really seem to know how to counter him and were content to keep letting him win header after header almost scoring each time. Danny MacKay had a great chance to open the scoring after a nice phase of passing play saw him scamper in behind the Queens back line but he lost his footing and shot right at Ferrie. But he was to open the scoring when a long ball forward bounced off the back of Mckay and Mackay raced onto it to place a wonderful low shot beyond Ferrie at full stretch to give us the lead. Queens seemed to lose their way after this for the rest of the first half but regained their composure in the second and utterly dominated the rest of the match. The equaliser arrived when a cross from the ICT right found Savoury in acres of space with no ICT defender near him and he placed his wider beyond Ridgers to bring QP level. Despite this being the umpteenth warning to us to try and defend crosses into the box we decided to, erm, not do this and instead let Eze have another header from a cross almost unchallenged and he found the net this time to put the home side ahead. Mckay and Devine had decent chances for us to head in equalisers and Samuels fired a late effort right at Ferrie but Queens were easily deserving of the win especially as we ran out of ideas and blootered long balls to Mckay to try and win against tow defenders with an average height of about 8 ft. Bizarre decision to sub Allardice when he was probably our best midfielder and Samuels continues to be quite unimpressive in his outings. MacGregor got a few minutes before appearing to catch his studs in the pitch and had to be taken off inured so that's swell. We just didn't seem able to cope with the intensity and pace of Queens Park who moved the ball so quickly whilst we were relatively slow and ponderous when we had it. The gulf between the sides was there for all to see. Even if Queens don't win the league I'd imagine they will fancy their chances to go all the way in the playoffs and it's hard to argue they don't deserve it.

Sadly life got in the way for us again recently but we've finally gotten round to getting a new pod out and it's a mahoosive one to compensate. Interviews with Billy Dodds, Jay Henderson, Scottish Cup chat (recorded before the KO time and prices were revealed), game review, Section 94, Guess Who and some other goodies to keep you going.

Pretty sure the prices need to be agreed between the four clubs. I say pretty sure but what I mean is my mate told me and I am inclined to trust what he says.

Those prices...

Pre Queens Park - 4

Suspect your best bet is to phone someone in the club shop.

Carson's booking was exceptionally harsh. Armstrong (I think) threw himself to the ground as he did on multiple occasions last night. I thought Sean Welsh turned in one of his best ever performances for us. He was everywhere and when he went forward he was a real creative spark with a nice flicked pass to Mckay (which he should have scored from) as well as hitting the bar and almost bagging another goal when he just missed a low cross from Shaw. obviously he scored a goal but he could easily have had a hat trick and an assist or two. He was magnificent.

Yeah the Ayr setup was pretty impressive. Bar area was busy but service was quick and they had an outdoor spot with astroturf / artificial grass and a good number of picnic style benches with a van that seemed to be serving pizzas and other hot food. Would definitely go back there rather than any pubs in the town especially if you get off at Newton on Ayr.

We lined up with what looked like a 4-2-3-1. Ridgers - Delaney Deas Devine Duffy - Welsh Allardice - Henderson Carson Shaw - Mckay. Henderson started on the left after recently featuring on the right, Carson played as a 10 instead of Shaw who was shifted to the right flank whilst Duffy and Delany were the appointed full backs. Pretty even opening to the game but we gifted Ayr the opener when Delaney failed to clear the ball and it was nabbed off him by O'Connor and he found Akinyemi free i the 6 yard area with a low cross and he easily beat Ridgers from close range. Fortunately we equalised relatively quickly as a Henderson free kick looked to be missed by the Ayr defence and the ball landed close to Welsh in the box and he spun on the spot and swept the ball into the net. The main talking point was the red card for O'Connor which Ayr are claiming was harsh but at the time I thought it was the right call. Initially I thought it was Welsh who challenged O'Connor but I see reports saying it was Duffy. Regardless, both players lunged in committed to the tackle but as O'Connor seemed to have his foot lifted slightly off the ground it meant he overshot the ball slightly and carried through into Duffy's shin which looked pretty bad. The red card was out in a couple of seconds and we had the advantage. Duffy should have put us ahead before the break when he had a free header in the box but he sent it wide of goal and he had another decent effort with a shot that was well saved by the Ayr keeper. Second half was pretty open with both sides threatening. You'd have been hard pressed to tell which side had a man less at times as Ayr looked pretty threatening at various points without forcing Ridgers into many saves. Akinyemi was a handful for Deas and Devine who struggled to deal with him at times. McAlear and Ashford had decent changes that were either wide or over the bar. At times we played some nice football. Most of the threat seemed to come down the right especially after Henderson and Shaw rotated and, with the extra man, Duffy and Delaney started pushing further up the pitch to offer support. Ayr tended not to double up on the wide men so it meant that Henderson or Shaw had to beat one many and they had a chance to get a cross in. Henderson in particular was tormenting the Ayr defence and he had the best chance for us before we scored when he wriggled through a ruck of players at the edge of the box and lashed an effort over the bar. But he goal when Shaw beat his man on the left flank and sent a high ball across goal which Henderson collected at the back post and he managed to steer a shot past the keeper and defenders on the line. Some solid performances from us to win that one today with Duffy, Carson and Henderson probably the pick of the bunch. Duffy was helped out by Mullin going off injured and also the fact that Ayr played a lot of the game a man down. Carson took a bit of time to adapt to the 10 position but he carried the ball forward well and could have had a goal himself had he been more selfish and taking a shot instead of passing to a team mate. Despite their struggles Killie will be a different beast. Today was a good win and the best performance from the last 4 games I've seen but these are pretty low bars and we will need to improve again if we want to try and get through to the SF.