Sneckboy

Never mind 6pm - I'm looking at 3.06pm - a clean sheet record! But, in seriousness, I'd happily concede in 2 minutes as long as we win the game! Aall games are significant, and 3 points are given regardless of opposition (if you win). Obviously, later in the season, some games take on greater significance when placings are up-for-grabs, but at present, these bread-and-butter (not high-profile) games are where the better teams gain momentum. I rate Killie as a good side, despite losing Boyd. Dangerous. But we've got enough to beat them if we perform on the day.

Just deleted my post as Hawkeye has explained it better than I presently can. I can't string two coherent sentences together right now as I'm fizzing. The way the SPFL have 'worked around this' is utterly diabolical. They effectively left open the prospect of their worst member club (by their own definition of club-ranking) being seeded as a top 8 club ahead of, amongst others, 2012 winners Kilmarnock. And they wonder why folk brand this competition as 'mickey mouse'!

The blazers just breezed through that draw as if all was present and correct. Shameful.

"Haud on a wee bit", The Daily Record, exaggerating? Surely

OK, I will try to do better...better together, perhaps?!! Or as a Alex Salmond was likely saying as he spread his toast this morning, while checking the latest opinion-polls, "I can't believe it's not better!"

There's less than 140 votes! That is tragic. Viewing this poll as some sort of gauge of public opinion is desperate in the extreme! You're going to need 1,600,000 YES votes to win this. C'mon Ayeseetee...I know you can do better than this!

A complete joke. Not surprised though. The League Cup rules are available to view and they categorically state that at the last 16 stage, the 8 highest ranking clubs will be seeded to play the 8 lowest ranked teams from the previous season's league positions. In other words, if Rangers beat us, they should be playing any one of 8 Premiership clubs. But this farce ensures that instead, they're potential opponents are 2 Premiership and 6 Championship clubs. You couldn't make it up. Well, the SPFL clearly have! To suit The Rangers. Let's hope we beat them to make this academic. But it still won' make it right. One quick glance at a Rangers fans forum there - and there are threads including how they're always 'persecuted', why they're always treated with contempt and cheated by the SFA, the media, the SPL and the SPFL...and 'what can we do to punish the clubs on our return to the SPL? - for voting us out of that league'. We didn't vote you out - you were liquidated and ceased to exist! We just didn't want a new club gate-crashing the top flight or second-tier - when natural justice dictated that you should start at the bottom! (And it should've been lower that the 4th tier).

Still none the wiser on what's happening with the seeding for tomorrows draw! Definitely seeded, by my reckoning, are Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Motherwell, St. Johnstone, St. Mirren and Ross County. The 8th team could be Kilmarnock, but it could also be 'Rangers or Inverness CT'. But with a ranking of 17th out of the 17 teams remaining, Rangers should be nowhere near the top 8 seeds!

I dislike Celtic but take no pleasure in their dismissal from the Champions League. It reflects poorly on Scottish football - our stock is really low on the continent. It also affects our UEFA co-efficient which could directly impact on ICT further down the line. It's also cost ICT a reputed £100,000 tonight.

Was that you!!?? Did you lose count of the score, like!? I didn't know this was on either. Was it at the Bught?

The 3rd round games are due on the 23rd and 24th September. No date for the Rangers away game yet though - I've heard speculation that it maybe the week before (16th or 17th September).

Or Paul Daniels - as YES votes are vanishing before our very eyes!

That's a glaring schoolboy error from me! Scarlet, I was simply being facetious in response to your post #155 which was most certainly 'Cantona-esque'!

Just to clarify, I meant tomorrow as in Wednesday, but 15 of those ties will settled tonight. Apologies, what I wrote was misleading. What's still not clear is which 'pot' we'll be in! I suspect 'Rangers or Inverness' will be in the seeded 'pot'.

Steve Williams scored the winner for Halifax in a 3-2 win over Lincoln City, yesterday. Also yesterday, Gregory Tade notched 2 goals for CFR Cluj in the Romanian League - bringing his total to 5 goals in 4 games this season.

I'm just tying to keep things in perspective, SP. Our league fixtures finish in May next year - we're still in August 2014! Tell you what, I'm glad Churchill didn't 'put aside negative thoughts' when Hitler was heading into Poland! If he had 'dwelled on the positive', he might have assumed the Germans were simply visiting old friends!

I hope so - the fortunes of the U21s has largely mirrored that of the Scottish national team in recent times - very poor.

8.30pm tonight - the big debate. Surely it's last chance saloon for YES - if Salmond doesn't excel tonight, this vote's not even going to be close.

Aidan Chippedale scored for Stalybridge this-afternoon in the English bank-holiday, non-league programme. He seems to be doing okay there - maybe that's his level. Conference North is a decent standard - many folk rave on (no pun intended) about FC United of Manchester - but they've never yet played that high (Conference North)! Chorley (IHE's 'other' team) are in the same league as Chippendale's Stalybridge - level 6, it's higher than Ben Greenhalgh's playing!

No date yet. I suppose it depends on who wins. As usual, *****-footing around the 'big teams' and potential TV opportunities. Pathetic.

Nah. I'm going with DoofersDad's reasoned post. It seems difficult to be rational without being 'jumped on' for perceived negativity! We've made a great start to the season. That should rightly be acknowledged and celebrated - but it's very early days. It's a solid foundation - but the hard work lies ahead. Look ahead to January, I think it's 7 games in a short space of time. 34 games from the finishing line is too soon to be thinking we're going to do this or that. It's 10 points on the board - points we'll need when things start going sticky for us and we go through the inevitable difficult patch. Anybody denying that Celtic were playing their reserve team against us is simply wrong - davie! (above post) Just because a club's 'reserve' team is packed with quality doesn't negate it from being such. If we kept only one player (say, Draper) in our team to take the field against Kilmarnock next week, I'm sure you would agree it was a weakened ICT team...or indeed a reserve team. We were simply fortunate to meet Celtic in a fixture they didn't want - but were clinical in taking advantage of that and getting a bonus 3 points. These points could be huge when it comes to top 6 - or dare I say it, higher up! Don't get carried away though - we were top after 8 games last season and stayed 2nd until game 15 - but ended up 5th. It's a long season. Enjoy it, it's brilliant - but don't lose sight of the fact that once Celtic hit the top, they will just soon stretch away.

Oh, that's a pity. I hadn't looked that far ahead yet. I like these early Cup games and will be tempted to go to Clach v Hurlford. But, regardless of what the 2nd round draw produces, I have to go to the Highland derby!

I agree and genuinely think Ryan Christie will wear full Scotland honours one day - but it's probably way too soon. He only made his club debut 8 months ago. Strachan needs to be picking Shinnie for the next friendly game and trying him out. He would absolutely not be out of place.

Once or twice, Beastie! I hope he doesn't 'drift' out the game. Management's a funny business, in that, when your stock is high, jobs come easily. But, if you're away from a position for a while, your name tends to get forgotten. I see McLeish was coming into this category and has had to take a job far lower down than he would have liked - to try to stay relevant, if you like! Genk!? Jimmy Calderwood's a manager I rate - but he's maybe now been 'away' too long to be risked by most chairman. Cut-throat business!

Not wanting to start a new thread just simply to post a titbit about Aaron Doran - but I've bumped this thread as it seemed the most appropriate one . If we pick the same team against Killie on Saturday, Doran will be on the bench - but if/when he comes on - he'll be making the significant milestone of 100 league appearances for ICT. Worth a round-of-applause. He's probably aware of this 'stat', but if not, it'll be funny to see his face - 'see boss, the fans love me and think I should be starting games'!