RiG

Smashing game of football today. Disappointed that we dropped two points but by the end of the game a draw was definitely a fair result. Both teams played some great stuff and there was some fantastic performances from the likes of Andrew Shinnie for Inverness and Teale for St Mirren who turned Graeme Shinnie inside, out and inside again throughout the game. ICT lined up with the familiar 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 formation with Matthew Cooper coming in for Josh Meekings. St. Mirren looked like they were set up as a 4 - 5 - 1 with Steven Thompson the lone forward with support from McGowan in behind him. After what seemed to be only a few seconds Imrie got the ball on the ICT and moved towards goal before taking an opportunistic shot that seemed to catch Reguero off guard and found its way into the net to put the Buddies one up. After this goal ICT started to dominate in terms of ball retention without actually threatening Samson in goal. Saint Mirren defended deeply and were easily blocking the ICT route to goal. Tudur Jones, after long range efforts against Hearts and Dundee, found himself with a bit of space at the edge of the box and rifled in a shot which drifted wide of goal. Foran then had a header saved by Samson before McGowan thundered in a free kick which cracked off the cross bar with Reguero beaten. Andrew Shinnie was denied a shot at goal following a last ditch tackle by Mair I think it was and then Samson then pulled off a wonderful save down to his right as he pushed a header from Aaron Doran round the post. Andrew Shinnie grabbed the equaliser for ICT after he gathered the ball on the ICT left and drifted infield. He glided past two men just outside the area and struck his shot fiercely into the top right corner with Samson only able to watch the ball fly past him. Gary Teale was having a fantastic battle with Graeme Shinnie on the ICT left and was regularly beating his marker and it was from one of his crosses that Steven Thompson was picked out but hew fired high over the bar with a very uncomposed effort. McKay, going for a goal in his 8th consecutive game, connected well with a cross from the right but his volleyed effort was just wide of the goal. St. Mirren started the second half quickly and Imrie scurried to the byline before fizzing a cross all the way across the box but no one was on hand to tap it in. After that ICT started to turn the screw and passed up a great chance after some good work from Andrew Shinnie led to a half chance to McKay who opted to shoot instead of play in Foran who had a clear run at goal. McKays shot was weak and trundled wide of goal. Thompson headed St. Mirren back into the lead after more good work from Teale on the right and his cross was bulleted home by Thompson from around 8 yards out. By this point the game had swung back and St. Mirren were dominating proceedings as ICT struggled to get a foothold and resorted to some aimless punts forward as they abandoned some of the nice passing play that had been on show from both ICT and St. Mirren. Foran saw a header droft over the bar and Andrew Shinnie volleyed goalwards but Samson dealt well with his effort. However an equaliser soon came and it was the result of St. Mirren being unable to clear the lines from an ICT corner. Aaron Doran meet a high clearance and volleyed an effort back towards goal. Samson was only able to parry the shot and Foran was first to react and bundled his header into the goal. Suddenly ICT were on top again as the fantastic Andrew Shinnie was thwarted by a one handed Samson save after he had drifted through the St. Mirren defence and Doran also passed up a good chance with a very weak effort that trundled wide. However, going into the final few minutes of the game it was St. Mirren who suddenly looked like they could grab a winner as Lewis Guy met a wonderful cross and cracked an effort off the post with Reguero stranded. Two goals were ruled out for offside for St Mirren and St Mirren also had a penalty claim waved away as Carey (I think) was booked for diving. Quite an incredible match with plenty of chances for both sides. It was great to see two teams, for the most part, try and play some good passing football. St. Mirren were more defensive for most of the game but when they stifled an Inverness attack the strode forward from the back with some great passing and movement which carved open the ICT defence on several occasions. Teale and McGowan had good games and Matthew Cooper struggled against Thompson who gave him all sorts of problems. For ICT Andrew Shinnie was fantastic. His close control and dribbling were top class and he was at the centre of most of our attacks. He came in for some rough treatment from some of the St. Mirren players who found him hard to stop. Crowd announced as 3,506 with around 150 - 200 St. Mirren fans. I didn't realise that there were no trains running today so fair play to those fans that did travel today. Bit poor from the ICT support again but I thought there was a bit more than was announced. There's been some discussion on Collums performance and I have to say I thought he was absolutely rotten. My favourite decision today that he got wrong was when Draper was "tackled" from behind by a St Mirren player who didn't play the ball and caught Drapers leg. For some inexplicable reason Collum gave a free kick to St. Mirren. A very poor performance.

An absolute waste of talent.

I remember a Boxing Day match v HIbs and we got around 7,000 if I mind right.

Why? I bet the club don't share that same view. I'd rather have as many fans there as possible. More money for the club and a better chance of hanging on to key players and getting new ones in when required.

One negative aspect of yesterdays match was the crowd (which is being discussed elsewhere). One thing that is notable is that our average attendance has now fallen below 4,000 in the SPL for the first time although this is with the caveat that we are halfway through the season. Indeed, we have the second lowest average attendance in the SPL and are only marginally ahead of Saint Johnstone (3930 v 3922)! The club must be wondering what else they can do to get fans along.

An even better one to look at is his effort against Ross County in the 3 - 3 game a few weeks back. He gets behind the ball and doesn't lean back. He adopts a perfect position for a long range effort. Wonderful technique.

I wonder if TSNY still wants him sold?

Key difference between the sides was when ICT attacked. When we did we looked like we could score with most of our chances. Dundee however looked somewhat toothless by comparison. Nish was a handful as usual but his finishing was poor and Baird ran about a lot but didn't really get into good positions. Riley was perhaps the best Dundee player. Douglas also had a good game. Dundee certainly started the better team of the two but once we got going there was only going to be one winner. The penalty seemed to be the result of a rash challenge by a Dundee defender who looked to have barged over Richie Foran after Douglas was forced into two great saves. McKey struck home the penalty confidently. Dundee equalised after some good play down the ICT right before the ball was switched across to Riley on the other flank. He smashed a low drive in off the post. ICT roared back when Tudor Jones found himself with some space at the edge and he fizzed in a "daisy cutter" beyond a despairing Douglas. The third goal for ICT was bizarre. A short backpass was seized upon by McKay who saw his initial effort blocked by Douglas and then he seemed to flick the ball into the goal whilst on his backside and being tackled by Douglas, a Dundee defender and Andrew Shinnie. The fourth was a fantastic run by Andrew Shinnie who drifted inside from the left flank and ghosted past two Dundee defenders and rifled a shot past Douglas. A deserved win for ICT but they were made to work hard for a while by a Dundee team who, at times, played some really nice football. ICT also continued with the pleasing style of football that the fans have craved for yet some of those same fans refuse to come along to games. There is definitely a desire to get the ball down and look for a team mate instead of thumping the ball aimlessly down the pitch for a striker to chase. A very poor 3,000 odd there today with a healthy 150 - 200 up from Dundee. This ICT team is playing some of the best football I have seen in along time in Inverness and scoring buckets of goals to boot yet crowds seem to be remaining very poor overall. Certainly the last weekend before Christmas could be looked on as a factor for the poor crowd today but it's a real shame as there is no way we can keep players like Andrew Shinnie, McKay etc on such poor crowds.

I'm pretty sure Ross is saying OTJ was flawless but that others were poor. I certainly agree that OTJ was magnificent, some of his balls in behind the Dundee full backs were wonderful, but I don't agree that there were a lot of poor performers today. Sure some of the players may not have hit the heights of others on the day but they were all good enough for me.

Tyrone Smith ‏@TyroneSTV George Brislen Hall has been released by #inverness he made no 1st team appearances for the Caley Jags Tyrone Smith ‏@TyroneSTV #inverness won't be extending George Brislen Hall's contract beyond his current deal which expires at the start of January

George Brislen Hall has been released.

I'd love to know what the definition of "average Invernessian" is.

Not really an appropriate comparison there.

If we only take 4,000 that's an absolute embarrassment.

Oh balls.

Do Season Ticket holders get priority or is it general sale?

I had absolutely no idea the tickets were on sale for this. When did they start selling them?

I think it's absolutely brilliant up to a point. I had no complaints about Vigurs and Shinnie from earlier games. I don't know what Vigurs did last night but you can tell he really hates us now with all his over the top celebrations.

Still not working for me using Firefox.

I like this one: "It was another big decision in the cup tie," said Adams. "There were a number of big decisions and they haven't gone for us. Grant Munro feels that he should have had a penalty in the second half. Overall the best team has gone out, obviously, we had more possession and more opportunities." http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/inverness-ct-2-ross-county-1-composed-and-precise-mckay-is-proving-to-be-real-mccoy.19657725 Maybe Derek but we scored more goals and that's what counts at the end of the day. Next he'll be saying County deserved to win because they had more throw ins or something equally pathetic. What a creep he is.

I ended up being unable to attend the game so it was good to see that the team conituned their fine run of form. Well done!

I think Quinn is playing Roberts on to be honest.

I don't think the third goal was offside to be honest. Foran yes but not Foran / Roberts.