RiG

The defence, for the most part, was perfectly fine yesterday. For all of their pressure in the second half Falkirk struggled to create a clear cut chance apart from the Rudden effort at the end. Indeed our defence has been one of the toughest to beat this year and is something like 3rd in terms of average goals conceded. Our attack however is yet again failing to take the chances that come our way. 17 shots yesterday, 9 on target and only 2 goals to show for it. We're 5th in terms of average goals scored. We simply aren't clinical enough. Don't get me wrong bad errors like the one we had yesterday won't help us and we definitely need to sort that out and continue to keep things tight at the back but we also need to look to improve things up front as well. Our defence has often helped out our attack by shutting other teams out whilst our forwards don't take their chances. It's time the attack stepped up as well to help out our defenders who also need to keep on top of their game as we head into some crucial fixtures.

Interesting to see if we go for 442 again this week (as has been advocated by Gregor) or go back to 4231 with the arrival of a winger in McCauley during the week.

I think the biggest issue is that folk are (rightly) disappointed that despite the SFA saying the games will take place on the 9th and 10th of February they have decided to play this on the 11th.

Most folk have work the following day for games played on a Monday.

We've agreed terms with McCauley so it seems certain he is coming in. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/1661802/caley-jags-agree-terms-with-winger-mccauley/?utm_source=twitter

On the plus side I guess (most) folk aren't having to travel far for the game so that's something.

Piss poor to say the games will be played on the weekend of the 9th and 10th February then schedule a game for the 11th.

Monday night on the BBC 1915 KO (note not 1945!).

John Baird would do a job for us IMO.

Easy win really. Thought White had his best game for us. Okay it was against some lowland side but his link up play was good (something I think he's been pretty poor at despite his good return of goals) as he often brought team mates into the game with some nice lay offs. Oakley started brightly but faded as the game went on. Thought Doran had a good game as did Chalmers in the middle. Whilst we had clearly decided not to try that hard after going 3 - 0 up I was surprised we didn't try for more goals and give the team a real boost going into an important few weeks for the club. Maybe I am being too harsh but I was disappointed that we seemed to shut down for most of the second half letting EK have a lot of the ball and create a couple of decent chances for themselves. They were also quite unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after a reckless challenge by Rooney. Disappointing cameo from Austin. He was the opposite of White as he struggled to form any kind of link with the rest of the side and chances often broke down when he got the ball. The chance he spurned from a Doran cross was appalling although the incredible miss from Mckay earlier was even worse.

For TV yes but not for Friday night. Premier Sports will gobble up the games involving Rangers and Celtic and one will be on Friday night. BBC will then take another two and our game will very likely be one of those games. I'm expecting either a Saturday lunchtime KO or Sunday PM KO.

This was one of my earliest ICT games and what a match it was!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/scotland/20569486 "Richard Brittain has just put Ross County into the 5th round!" *30 seconds later*

And this is something I, and I'm sure others, have said before. The club should be reaching out to those fans to see if they would be willing to discuss why they no longer attend and try and find a solution that could allow them to come to more games. maybe a half season ticket if they can't commit to going every week, or refer them to finance options for spreading the cost of a season ticket. They might not have all the answers but it doesn't seem like there is much going on to try and bring back old attendees to TCS.

Seeing as this seems to be the pre match thread for the game it's worth posting this so fans who attend are aware. Hopefully as many supporters as possible join in with the applause as it would mean a lot to Dawn's family

He was released by Torquay wasn't he?

True, apologies I missed the part of your post that mentioned first division ETA: I have more confidence in Robbo to replace anyone departing the club than Foran or Hughes. Shame his hands are tied so much though with budgets.

In the past perhaps but our shocking recruitment strategy from the last few years to replace the likes of Shinnie, Watkins, Christie etc would suggest otherwise and is part of the reason we are in the state we are in now.

Maybe Raven put in a word about the guy? https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sport/16387196.jamie-mcdonald-leaves-but-two-more-sign-for-warrington-town/

Highlights from Ayr United are up now:

Given Polworth was reportedly one of the players who has been ill recently but still played through feeling sick I'd say he did alright. Still though, got to slag someone off I suppose.

A conflicting afternoon for Gregor and his stats as White scores again but we also get another win playing one up front.

Who in their right mind is going to be hanging around TCS 3 hours before kick off?!

Meekings has struggled badly with injury as well when he was with us and also at Dundee as well.

Wynthank incoming...