Sneckboy

I think Highland I think Highland Council own the stadium.

And a huge leap to no. 119 in the World Rankings! He'll be eyeing Ryder Cup at this rate!

That is absolutely, bloody awful!

He's had a good 3rd round and is now in 3rd place going into the final round, 3 shots behind leader, Rory McIlroy! I was just looking at his World Ranking history and he's currently 205 with a career high of 200. He's certain to break well into the top 200 now, I'd imagine.

This thread by Yngwie refers to our ability to 'come back' in games after conceding. But after yesterday's result, how do we generally 'bounce back' from hammerings? We don't get turned-over easily, very often - but when it does happen, we have incredible resilience... Going all the way back to the 6-0 drubbing from Airdrie in 2001, our response to a heavy defeat has always been positive - indeed, we've often then gone on a great run! The only time, in this sequence, we've not responded positively was this season, when we lost 4-0 at Perth and then lost the subsequent game - but even that didn't stop another sequence of great form immediately after! 2001 Airdrie 6-0 Inverness Followed by : D W D W W 2003 Inverness 1-5 Ross County W W W D W 2007 Celtic 5-0 Inverness W W W D 2008 Rangers 5-0 Inverness W D 2009 Falkirk 4-0 Inverness W 2010 Celtic 6-0 Inverness W W D W D 2012 Inverness 1-5 Motherwell W W D W W D W D D W D 2013 St. Johnstone 4-0 Inverness L D W W W W D W

Still on course for our best (top-flight) defensive season ever. 38 against in the 38 games from 2005/06 is our current record with Tokely, Munro, Dods and Golabek the chief defensive custodians. The 5 consecutive clean-sheets after the split that season, certainly helped!

But isn't that the whole point of your 'rankings'! For accuracy, surely you can't just pick and choose which games to count or you'll end up with skewed results?!

The SFA have updated their disciplinary page and have confirmed that Draper will miss the Scottish Cup quarter-final v. Dundee United and the league game v. Hibernian. It's not a 2 match ban as such, rather one cup game and one league game - but they just so happen to be consecutive matches. Interestingly, these are the two games directly preceding the League Cup Final, so if the team perform well in his abscence, John Hughes will have a pleasant 'headache' for his final selection!

Player ratings are such a tabloid thing - one paper gives a 5, another a 7. It's totally subjective. It's all a lot of nonsense anyway. Unless 'ratings' are standardised they have no value. Every football match, whether the Champions League final or the Junior Cup final should have a finite number of points available. Say 22 players x 5 = 110 points. Logically, the total player points should be identical whatever the match.

I wouldn't say he's the first name on the team sheet every week. The likes of Brill, Shinnie, Meekings, Warren, McKay and Foran are almost certainly going to start games if fit. With the options available to us in midfield, it's likely Tansey could find himself on the bench at times this coming month when we've EIGHT games to play - it could very well be horses-for-courses. He's an integral part of the squad, a cog in the machine, but it's maybe too early to be lauding him as the key man. Things can change very quickly in football....Just a few games ago, Danny Williams was a regular starter and a sudden unlikely hero after his goal in the 1-0 win at Pittodrie. He's hardly been seen since and has not even featured in the recent matchday squads of 18.

It's a hot debate at the moment, Scarlet! There are lots of different figures being bandied about, and with both the Scottish and UK governments holding meetings in Aberdeen last Monday, is very topical. Channel4 News have tried to cut through 'spin' of the opposing claims and their conclusion is.....inconclusive! Depending on you wish to believe, there could be as much as the $1.5 Trillion of un-tapped oil remaining in the North Sea, but as Sir Ian Wood observes, the costs of extracting it would/will be huge. There's maybe just $120billion according to the Office for National Statistics. http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-scotlands-oil-wealth/17811 So, from that article, the top figure quoted compared to the lowest, indicates there's a huge discrepancy in opinion. Reducing the zero's to make it more digestible, (in units of $10billion) the low is 12 and the high is 150. In essence, it's as clear as mud oil...

As noted by Ywingwie, it was Raven's first goal for the club, but the other two goals were also 'mile-stones'. Marley Watkins goal was also his maiden strike for Inverness while Billy's goal takes his tally to 50 for ICT in all competitions - in his 100th appearance. 100 caps, 50 goals...the ratio of a top striker!

Bump

Premiership Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen 2-1 Celtic) Adam Rooney (Aberdeen 2-1 Celtic) English League Two Sam Winnall (Scunthorpe United 1-1 Bristol Rovers)

You should have seen the draft copy!

Although I'm sure County are not under any legal obligation to do so, honouring obvious 'proof of purchase' tickets would have been a good bit of PR for them. An opportunity missed by Uncle Roy! I say that without knowing the SPFL stance on this scenario - maybe they're not 'allowed' to. But I'm eternally fickle - if they were offering free admission to those who produced stubs from the first game, I'd have dismissed it as a cheap gimmick, designed to make them look good in a desperate attempt to deflect some of the attention we're getting with the cup final approaching!

All-Ireland Cup - Quarter-final (1st leg) Eric Odhiambo HAT-TRICK (Crusaders 1-4 Sligo Rovers) - This was Odhiambo's debut for Sligo!

"Okay, I'll have 3 carvery dinners and 3 pints of cider please"!!

I think it's a good draw...could have been much worse. Getting Ireland as opposed to Belgium, from Pot 2, is a bonus. I wonder if the SFA will play the Gibraltar game at Pittodrie? The current FIFA World Rankings (for what they're worth) make for good reading! Germany (2) Scotland (34) Rep. of Ireland (67) Poland (70) Georgia (103) Gibraltar (-) Meanwhile, back in the real world, early bookies prices suggest Poland will join Germany as automatic qualifiers with the Irish getting the play-off spot and Scotland missing out altogether!

trophies

A chance for Scotland to qualify for their first major since 1998, which was also in France. Good omen?! The qualifying draw is today. The pots are based on recent previous performances rather than current form so sides like Belgium are in the same pot as Ireland (pot 2), while dangerous teams like Iceland lurk in pot 5. Gibraltar enter for the first time. Top 2 plus best 3rd placed team qualify, with the 8 other 3rd placed teams entering the play-offs. Definite opportunity, but the group draw is key.

Good to see John Hughes talking-up Graeme Shinnie's prospects of a Scotland call-up. Can't help feeling that if Andrew Robertson was our left-back, he would be over-looked. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26292307

"...exploding onto this site like a starburst from heaven..." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scarlet, have you been at that 50 Shades book again!

It's decided on the day - with extra-time and penalties if necessary!

I apologise for my reply to your post, rebelwithoutaclue and am heartened to see you have posted since! I have my settings set to 'first unread post' and viewed your post 'out of context' - I must have still thought I was on the Stranraer match-thread (and you were signing-up a cheap pop at our attendances) as opposed to you referring to the seating arrangements. It (probably) won't happen again!