RiG

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.

Absolute sickener to lose that one. However as so many of us have been saying for weeks if not months we cannot keep wasting these golden chances to score and expect to win games and that was the same with yesterday. We could have been about 4 - 1 up going into the last 15 minutes but after Walsh missed the target with a lovely sidefooted shot County seemed to press us back and you could sense the momentum was shifting albeit they didn't create anything too clear cut until the eventual winner. Easy to say with hindsight but when County did start to push us back I would have liked to have seen Robbo bring on Mackay for Doran to try and get back on top of things. Most of our threats came behind the County left midfielder and left CB with Walsh getting a lot of time and space to send crosses in. Again he tired as the game went on and this was probably another reason County were able to push as back. White is such a bizarre player. Another nice tidy finish yesterday but other times his first touch was garbage, he struggled to win headers and moves broke down because of his apparent inability to control a football. Polworth also had a very quiet game but County were on top of our players almost any time they had the ball in the first half. Their closing down was excellent. Incredible stramash at the end. Not sure what Graham was thinking. The game was pretty much won and if he wins that header he could be off to the corner flag to run the clock down. Instead he launches his arm into the face of Donaldson then starts throwing punches all over the shop. I guess Rooney got sent off for a headbutt as it looked like someone threw their head into a County player. Absolutely disgraceful scenes to end the game. More please!

Here is the video. Judge for yourself. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ex-aston-villa-player-batters-13786550?x4

Is that Quitongo? He's left Partick after he allegedly assaulted a female (possibly his girlfriend).

As IHE mentions this is a surely a reference to McHattie.

Statement says all it needs to. Less is more in this situation.

Suspect his best chance to get back into management, if he even wants to, will be to start as a youth coach and work up from there.

The clothing equivalent of a Herbalife deal.

Well they clearly weren't considered when the game was originally moved so I see no reason why the SFPL/SFA would be bothered about them now.

Crowds are definitely down since we were last relegated but they are slightly up on last year and just about ahead of our last prolonged stay in the division. See below.

Goals, goals, goals!

With all the usual caveats of not knowing exact numbers, the club not having limitless resources etc. I often wonder what do we (as in ICT as a whole) do when a supporter decides not to renew their season ticket? A couple of years ago I received a call from the club as I was quite late renewing. I wonder if the club could maybe be more proactive in contacting people who have dropped off the season ticket list? They have their details after all. They could call/email and see why they aren't renewing. if it's a cost thing make them aware of the finance options in place or, if we ever offered it, the alternative of a 10 game flexi ticket option. I completely agree with the statements in the thread about not everything being the clubs fault. After all we've got fans who won't go to games simply because they have to walk a few yards to a window to buy a ticket before going in which is a laughable excuse not to go to games. However, maybe the club does need to take some time to understand why fans seem to be drifting away. is it a cost issue? Time? Moving away from the area? If the club can get an idea of why fans seem to be losing interest they might be able to tailor what they can offer to retain some of them for the future.

Gregor likes this.

Fair play to those folk heading along tonight. Anyone want to get the match up on Periscope...?

Except that's not the rule. It's where the foul ends and as the Falkirk player continued to hold Oakley until he entered the penalty area it should have been a penalty.

Massively disappointing result but it might almost be a good thing. This unbeaten run malarky has disguised the fact we have been an absolute gang for weeks now. We really don't have much beyond that team which started yesterday and it's starting to tell. Lovely ball through from Polworth to Walsh and a fine finish across the keeper. Awful defending from Mckay for the first Rudden goal. It's almost as if someone playing as ICT on FIFA suddenly loses their controls connection with the PS4 as he just stops dead and doesn't even bother trying to challenge for the ball. As if that wasn't bad enough Rooney then follows it up by getting distracted by a shiny object in the North Stand and forgets to challenge Rudden for the ball and let him ghost past before finishing well past Ridgers. Perhaps the keeper should have done better but it was still good play from the Falkirk striker. Thought we had a decent claim for a penalty after that. Oakley I think was pulled down in the box. Referee gave a free kick but the foul definitely looked to continue into the penalty area. Second half was typical of our season. Mostly shade possession but ultimately do very little with it. Walsh sent a few good crosses in from the left but aside from that we didn't really look like we were going to take the three points. That said Oakley gave us hope when he stooped to steer in a header from a few yards out. Chalmers came closest when he curled a shot towards goal from about 20 yards out which clipped the roof of the net. But more poor defending right at the end gave Falkirk the winner. This time Donaldson seemed to doze off the let his man steal in to seal the three points. There was a massive difference between Falkirk back in August (?) and the one we saw yesterday. MacKinnon is starting to turn them around and despite their bad cup result last weekend they have to imagine they will start to pull away from the bottom of the league. Meanwhile, for us, it's a case of some old. A lack of real creativity in midfield, lack of pace in wide areas and no real threat up front. What's more concerning now though is that our previously settled defence is starting to creak a bit. Granted we are not playing with a left back at the moment but it's still alarming how bad we were at the back yesterday. Play that badly again on Friday against Ayr and Shankland will have a field day...

https://ictfc.com/index.php/news/club-news/2359-match-info-for-edinburgh-city-replay-tuesday-4th-december-2018?fbclid=IwAR0FG3uBuyEtOqdIImj2MU4y7ehZNdXMYFaomCD_QjTVnZJMgeGi7pvg418 Tickets for the reply on sale now.

Agreed. None of our three forwards have really given us much to shout about. White has been as poor as the others and wasn't great again yesterday. Not sure why scoring a total of five goals, one more than Austin and Oakley, should give him some kind of higher standing. It's not exactly a prolific return. That said I agree that the midfield was poor again. It's a concerning pattern. Dominate possession, don't create much of note, don't finish the little we do create. On the plus side the defence is normally pretty decent...

Surprised at the collective shrug of indifference from some on here after that performance today. As SO mentions the performance was devoid of creativity, as it has been for weeks on end now. We've been so sluggish in pretty much every game aside from the Derby match for the last couple of months with no real sign of improvement. You could copy and past pretty much everything I have said after games against the likes of Alloa, Dundee United, QotS and so on about our lack of penetration in the final third and passing up the few chances we do create. Today we were again wasteful in the first half and then in the second half we went very defensive and sat back inviting pressure on to us and paid the price. Odd line up. McCart was at left back and did fine. Not sure who was meant to be going on in front of the defence though. Walsh was deployed on the left, Chalmers and Welsh in the middle with Polworth drifting across the pitch behind Austin and White. Having two up helped keep City pinned back for the most part but White was really poor today. Wouldn't have minded seeing Oakley and Austin getting some time up front together. After the subs we seemed to be playing three at the back (Mckay, Donaldson and McCart) with MacKay and Walsh on the left and right flanks respectively, Chalmers, Trafford and Welsh in the middle with Polworth behind Oakley. Looked like Ridgers lost the ball for the City equaliser dropping it at the feet of one of their players but they probably should have scored long before they did testing Ridgers with some decently struck long range efforts prior to that. Massively disappointing from us, particularly in the second half, where we completely took our foot off the pedal and paid the price. We're not good enough to get by on one goal and really should have gone for the jugular. City were barely a threat in the first half so it's concerning how we much let them back into the game and how poor again we were in an attacking sense. A performance that we really shouldn't be happy about and I'm sure Robertson and the players aren't happy either.

That's an absolutely fantastic gesture. There's a lot the club haven't gotten right over the last couple of years but this is great. Well done to all involved!