RiG

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...

Pretty sure Robbo himself has said we can now only offer players a few hundred pounds to play for us whereas before we were able to offer well into four figures a week to sign for ICT. That's the price we are paying for dropping out of the top flight and missing out on TV cash. It was hard enough to get players up to Inverness so I feel for Robbo trying to bring in new players on 1/4 of what previous managers used to work with. Sadly our fans seem to be drifting away quicker than snow off a dyke which is very concerning and isn't going to help the budget that Robertson has to work with.

So predictable. The sick twist was obviously conceding a winner but as hard as it was to take it's hard to argue with the result. The usual ICT traits from this season were evident - have a fair amount of the ball, don't create a lot of chances, miss the few chances we do create, score, start to stand off the opposition, defend deeper, defend deeper still, concede, try and get a winner. Queens best chance of the first half came when Todd found himself in a bit of space in the box but his low drive was repelled by Ridgers who got down well to divert the ball round the post. ICT struggled to create much of note as we seldom were able to attack with any real pace and incision and the Queens defence easily stood firm for most of the first half. The closest ICT came to scoring was when Welsh stood up a cross to the back post and Walsh arrived to header it back towards goal but the ball came off the bar and White and Doran weren't able to force it in from close range before it was cleared. A free kick from Polworth looked like it had gone in but sadly it skimmed the roof of the net. Into the second half and ICT started on the front foot. Chalmers found some space on the left flank and he sent in a lovely cross which just evaded White. An even better chance was passed up by McKay when he somehow failed to connect with a cross at the back post appearing to lose sight of the ball. There was then a quite bizarre and hilarious moment when Dykes refused to give the ball back to Donaldson who wrestled with him for a second which left Dykes rolling around on the floor in a heap holding on to the ball. Dykes continued to roll away from Donaldson still clutching the ball delaying the free kick. We opened the scoring when Tremarco, at the second attempt, crossed from the left and White headed the ball back into the middle of the box where Walsh strode on to it and lashed a low drive under the Queens keeper. Walsh had perhaps our best chance to extend our lead, and possibly kill the game, when he drilled a fierce shot that swerved and dipped before the Queens keeper fisted it (oo er) clear. Thereafter it was classic ICT as we decided to sit back as Queens pressured us. Out balls to White and Austin weren't sticking and any clearance from our defence was quickly retrieved and a new attacking phase started. Eventually the Queens pressure told when Marshall skipped down the ICT right and burst into the box and his low cross was met by Mercer who had ghosted in from the right to equalise from close range. Before you knew it Queens had scored a second. McKay contrived to give the ball away in the right back area and Dobbie was on to it like a flash. Cutting inside he then shot back across goal past a despairing Ridgers who flung himself to the right but couldn't stop the ball and suddenly the Doonhammers were 2 - 1 up. There was a late chance for ICT when White set up Walsh at the edge of the box but his tame effort was easily handled and before long the whistle went and ICT had, as too often this season, blown a lead and have only themselves to blame.

And as if by magic...

McHattie signing confirmed.

Happy New Year to everyone except Ross County fans.