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Everything posted by tm4tj
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Game is on now at TCS and would you Adam & Eve it, we are already 1-0 down to Falkirk. Half time and 0-2 Falkirk Goals from Henderson & Austin.
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OK everyone. As this is a featured topic, try and keep all posts on topic within reason. The odd transgression is OK, but when everyone jumps on the bandwagon, then the topic gets out of hand. All your horsing about has trotted off to General Nonsense, where it belongs. So keep this topic on course furlong as you can please. Offenders will find themselves banned from the topic if it continues. Try me!
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Report now published, enjoy.
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The Season has started Inverness beat St Johnstone 2-1 with a Josh Meekings goal in time added on to kill off a stubborn Perth outfit. It might not have been the best strike Meekings has ever hit, but the important thing here is that the ball ended up in the net and we have finally got our season off and running. With challenging games ahead after the international break, this was a vital win to lift the fans, players and Richie Foran alike. Ross Draper rose highest in the box to crash a header home, but that goal was cancelled out by a thunderous strike from Richard Foster before the scrambulated (there's that word again) winner after the ninety. Manager Richie Foran promised a couple of changes and he was bold enough to do just that. Dropping to the bench were Scott Boden, Jake Mulraney and David Raven. In came Alex Fisher, Billy King and Lewis Horner. New signing Lonsana Doumbouya was on the bench also and he would make his debut late in the game. Tommy Wright had Murray Davidson on the bench, but he would replace Blair Alston at the interval and the dangerous Danny Swanson was looking for his eigth goal of the season playing wide left. A typically meagre crowd for what has been historically dour affairs saw St Johnstone kick off on a bright and pleasant day for a game of football, the crowd bolstered by Paul Gablonski all the way from down under and wee Ava hoping to see Inverness beat St Johnstone this time. Staright from the kick off, you could sense that this was going to be be an open game played with pace and a bit of freneticism thrown in. And it was as we took the game to the visitors from the off. Alan Mannus made the first of many saves from a Gary Warren header as we pressed for an opener, and Danny Swanson was drifting past defenders at the other end, creating havoc along our back line but missing the vital telling cross that would create the chances. The heavily criticised Owain Fon Williams had to look spritely to stop a Steven Anderson header as the Super J's began to get to grips with the game and as play opened out Liam Polworth went close with a shot from outside the box, unfortunately the ball always just the wrong side of the post. Mannus saved headers from Ross Draper and Alex Fisher in quick succession as we continued to take the game to St Johnstone, but Chris Kane fired over at the other end with the goal gaping. Iain Vigurs, Billy King and Alex Fisher all went close with Mannus required to save two of the three attempts as the game raced towards the interval, but try as they might, Inverness were unable to get the ball behind Mannus who was largely responsible for the 0-0 scoreline at the break. Half Time 0-0 The chances kept coming after the break and Fisher fired over from the angle. A goal was coming as we kept pressing forward and a cracker it was too, just before the hour. Billy King drew a foul and a booking from David Wotherspoon and from the resultant free kick, Ross Draper wanted the ball most and he powered a header beyond Mannus for the opening goal. No more than we deserved really. St Johnstone forays forward were becoming rarer, but in one such attack, Murray Davidson headed wide from a decent position. A warning that the visitors were still very much in the game. St Johnstone sub Graham Cummins was seeing plenty of the ball now as the visitors sensed they might snatch an unlikely draw. He had fired a free kick just over then Williams had to save a header from him. Wright's men were given some hope though when out of the blue, Foster bludgeoned a shot home with the keeper well beaten with over ten minutes remaining. That goal sparked Foran into action and soon after Lonsana Doumbouya entered the scene. He is slightly ungamely, but looks like he will cause problems with his height and power. Boden and Mulraney joined him on the park soon after as Richie layed all his cards on the table, going for all three points. Boden brought Mannus into action again and MotM Ross Draper shot narrowly past before testing Mannus with a header. That looked to be it as the clock reached the ninety, but a minute into time added on, Josh Meekings jabbed the ball home after a scrambulation on the goal line when it looked as though the bobbling ball would not fall kindly for us, but persistence paid off and it eventually found the back of the net from Meekings' toe. Mulraney almost added a third as he broke forward with Saints trying to salvage a point, but he sliced his shot at pace as he drove into the box and it went high, wide and not very handsomely into the North Stand. Full Time 2-1 A highly entertaining game with both sides giving it a go. You could see what it meant to the players as they broke their duck. Massive celebrations in the corner of the stadium after the goal and relief all round. Richie Foran was delighted to get off the mark as you can see with his match reaction here, talking to Davie, who is showing a tremendous appetite for this interviewing lark. Lewis Horner did brilliantly coming in at right back and shows plenty of promise when going forward. Fon Williams looked much more assured as his Euro holiday fades into the past. The whole back line worked tirelessly and did a great job of eventually shackling Danny Swanson. Greg Tansey looks as though he is still holding something in reserve and Vigurs and Polworth were good in flashes. Striking has been a problem area but I thought Alex Fisher led the line well and all the substitutes played their part when they came on. But for sheer industry and his goal, Ross Draper was head and shoulders above everyone else and is my MotM. So, international break coming up, then away to the Dons and home to Celtic after that. Tough games ahead, but nobody said it was going to be easy. However, a weight was lifted off the shoulders yesterday and it should set us up nicely for the rest of the season. Foran is still trying to add a couple of players and that should be good enough to see us start to climb the table. Onwards and upwards! Here's Davie talking to match winner Josh Meekings after his screamer....... Footage of game from SPFL website -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inverness CT - 2 - Draper (59) Meekings (90 + 1) Fon Williams, Tremarco, Warren, Meekings, Polworth, Draper, Vigurs (Boden 84), Tansey, Horner, Fisher (Doumbouya 82), King (Mulraney 85). Subs not used: Esson, Raven, Doran, Sutherland. Booked: Draper (67) St Johnstone: - 1 - Foster (79) Mannus, Alston (Davidson 46), Anderson, MacLean, Wotherspoon, Swanson, Shaughnessy, Paton (Craig 67), Foster, Easton, Kane (Cummins 63). Subs not used: Clark, Millar, Coulson, Gordon. Booked: Wotherspoon (58) Referee: Stephen Finnie. Attendance: 2729.
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Most entertaining Inverness v Perth game I can recall for a very long time. Good to see we kept having a go right to the end for the deserved victory. Their goal was a bit of a belter. Thought the ball was never going to go in for the winner.
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Caley Jags TV video included in the Preview.
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Time to stand up and be counted Inverness face St Johnstone this Saturday as they look to avoid a fifth straight defeat, but this could prove difficult as it comes hot on the heels of a 5-1 thrashing at Tynecastle, not to mention a derby disaster, a dumping out of the League cup by League One Alloa and an opening day loss at Partick. Aye Richie, nobody said it was going to be easy, but the fans are finding it difficult to understand how this season has become a struggle already as we are in danger of being cut adrift at the foot of the table only three games in. With St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Celtic to come, it could get worse before it gets better. We have already lost the services of Kevin McNaughton, probably out for the season with an Achilles injury as we find it difficult to keep the ball out of our net. Josh Meekings returned at Tynecastle, but he will need game time to get back to full match sharpness and he must have wondered what has happened as we shipped goals like nobody's business. David Raven was retained at the end of last season, despite Yogi trying his best to move him on. Has fan-power overruled shrewd judgement here as Rave has not coped well since his reinstatement. Mind you, he is not alone as the normally reliable Gary Warren has looked vulnerable, posted missing, presumably trying to cover for missing defenders easily pulled out of position. Carl Tremarco showed what he could do towards the end of last season, but we have yet to see the best of him in this campaign. Was it wrong to let Danny Devine leave without trying too hard to tempt him to stay? Our midfield has not changed that much, but our one paced engine room are simply going through the motions. Tansey, Polworth, Vigurs and the exempt from criticism Ross Draper. These guys should be a match for any team outside the top two or three, but already look jaded. The addition of exciting prospect Jake Mulraney should be providing the width we have been screaming for over the last couple of seasons and Billy King and the returning Aaron Doran should compliment that. Striking looks to be our weakest area with the jury still out on Scott Boden and Alex Fisher, but that does not explain the fact that we have conceded eight goals in our last two games. To the untrained eye it would appear that not much has changed apart from the results, and the manager! Foran has taken on this job much to the delight and backing of most of the Caley Thistle support, however, has our hearts ruled our heads here. A Premiership club taking on an untried manager with no previous experience anywhere and apart from a four year deal, little monetary backing from the board as of now. It does smack of the cheap option. Maybe we are still paying for Yogi? When has a new manager not taken in his own second in command, yet Richie has to make do with a used product in Brian Rice; seconds anyone? Can we not afford to pay him off either? It all smacks of a sorry mess with Richie trying to paper over the cracks. Maybe the writing was on the wall when Laura was released from the ticket office in what looks like a penny pinching exercise. Why else would you remove your highest achiever? Anyway, our immediate concern is on the park, and points are proving more difficult to find than those pokemon gadgies. St Johnstone are surely confident of coming North and taking the points given our recent demise. We have found it difficult enough to beat them in recent times and seven points went to Perth Last season with only one solitary point going to the Highland Capital. I always feel we should be able to match the Perth outfit on and off the park, but we are finding that difficult on both counts at the moment. Tommy Wright is as decent a manager as there is in the Premiership, guiding St Johnstone to fourth over the last two seasons whilst we finished in with the also rans last term. They have added full back Richard Foster from Ross County and defender Keith Watson from St Mirren. Midfielders Paul Paton from Dundee United and Blair Alston from Falkirk look to be their key signings and will add plenty of class and a bit of dig. Amongst their departures are the experienced striker John Sutton and midfielders Simon Lappin and Scott Brown. Like Foran, Wright is still searching for Mr Right up front before the transfer window closes. The Perth team won two of the three games last season in what are usually pretty dour encounters, notoriously bereft of goalmouth incidents. I'm painting a pretty bleak picture here, unfortunately that's how it is and the fans are getting frustrated over our dismal start to the league after a reasonable League Cup run that ended with an at that time unexpected defeat to Alloa Athletic. We were absolutely thrashed at Tynecastle last week with Hearts scoring five going on fifteen. That was preceded by a dismal derby defeat at home. Eight gifts goals in two games smacks of heads going down. St Johnstone were capitulating against Celtic, but did score a couple of late goals in the second half, so they still have some fight in them, something we need to display. Can we expect to see an upturn in our fortunes? Well, I was excited at the prospect of our campaign given the goals we racked up prior to matchday one. However, the wind has been taken right out of our sails and we are well and truly in the doldrums now. Strangely though, if we can make the breakthrough and cut out the comedy defending, we might see our first point on the board. Billy King will be available again after having to sit out the Hearts game (parent club ruling) and Aaron Doran is working his way back into contention. Jake Mulraney has declared himself injury free after being taken off at Tynecasle with cramp, but Kev McNaughton is out long term. Owain Fon Williams could do worse than sit on the bench with maybe the experienced Ryan Esson due a recall to cut out some of these free headers we have been subject to. I also wonder if it's time for Lewis Horner to step up to the plate. That might horrify some, but it could be the lesser of two evils. Hopefully Gary Warren will get his mojo back with Josh Meekings likely to be alongside him. Now then, it's time for our midfield to stand up and be counted before we get any worse or they might find themselves on the dole bench as well. We had Farid El Alagui on trial over the last couple of weeks but although he showed up well in friendlies he has not been signed. Another pair of trialists turned out for our development squad in midweek and they are reported to be Gavin Gunning (yes, he of the picking up the ball and walking off the park fame), and Spanish third tier striker Jamar Loza who has been declined a contract. With Kevin McNaughton out for the season, we do need another centre back, but come on, Gavin Gunning! On a positive note, forward, Lonsana Doumbouya (26) joins Inverness from Belgian second division club Cercle Brugge on a 2 year deal (subject to clearance). Lonsana is a big lad at over 6 foot 3 inches and sounds like he could be an ideal target man. Richie Foran reckons he will add pace and power to our front line, something that has been lacking of late. Good luck to him and I hope he is the answer to our striking problems. Foran is hopeful he can be included in the squad for the game tomorrow. Here he is talking about signing for the Caley Jags. Managers advice: It will be worth keeping an eye on Steve MacLean and Danny Swanson. MacLean has hit the target five times and in form Swanson has seven goals to his name. You have been warned. St Johnstone's Tam Scobbie, Dave Mackay and Keith Watson all miss out through injury, however, Chris Millar and Michael Coulson could return after both failed to feature at Parkhead last week. Interesting times ahead. Defeat against St Johnstone is not really an option and it's now time for Foran the friend to be be binned and Foran the manager to enter the scene. I'm going for a home win. Yes, I may be going off my head, but we have to start sooner rather than later, so let's do this on Saturday, for everyone's sake. I'm just not sure where the goals are going to come from though.
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It's a question, the same as this one.
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Official ICTFC @ICTFC 46s47 seconds ago SIGNING NEWS : Forward, Lonsana Doumbouya (26) joins #ICTFC from Cercle Brugge on a 2 year deal (subject to clearance). More info to follow… He's a big lad at 1.93, but what rhymes with Doumbouya.......................
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GOAL!! 1-3 Allan Campbell plays a brilliant 1-2 and races through the crowd to slam one low past Esson. What a goal!!!
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HT | 0-2 Craigan's side have been playing excellently, with one-touch passing and fluid movement causing the hosts all sorts of problems '70 | 1-2 Goal for Inverness. Sam Robertson's cross is touched by trialist ever so slightly and nestles beyond the onrushing Morrison.
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GOAL! 0-2 And it's been coming, it's James McFadden! Curling a beautiful free-kick into the top corner (might have been a deflection)
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There's a video of the opening goal on Motherwell Twitter feed. https://twitter.com/MotherwellFC
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Inverness CT U20s: Esson, Brown, Trialist, McRitchie, Gilchrist, MacLennan, Robertson, MacArthur, Fisher, Trialist, Doran Inverness CT U20s subs: Rennie, MacRae, Stark, Smith, Wilson, Hobin Motherwell U20s: Morrison, Watt, McMillan, Maguire, Ferguson, Campbell, MacLean, Lucas, Scott, McFadden, Fry Motherwell U20s subs: Stevenson, Turnbull, Hastie, Falconer, Armstrong, GOAL!!! 0-1 Brilliant work by McFadden down the left results in a cut back. Lee Lucas gets to the second ball and passes neatly home
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Official ICTFC @ICTFC 27m27 minutes ago #ICTFC Development Squad face Motherwell at Station Park, Nairn tomorrow night. K.O. 7pm. As it say's on the tin, game Tuesday 23rd August at Nairn.
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Meanwhile, back on the original topic, that's the Hearts v Inverness matchday topic, here is our report, penned by Johndo
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Maroon 5 It might be a good name for a band, but it is not a great score to be on the wrong end of. Inverness were simply overrun by a rampant Hearts who were in Festival mood and handed us our worst defeat on the road for ages. Former Inverness favourite Don Cowie opened the scoring early in the first half and Conor Sammon added a second soon after. It got worse after the interval as Cowie scored on the restart and Sam Nicholson scored a quickfire double to leave us floundering. Ross Draper notched the proverbial consolation goal as the game ran away from us leaving the visiting fans none too happy with the fare they witnessed from Richie Foran's side. Immortal Howden Ender was less than impressed after making his way from Chorley to witness this shambles. His initial thoughts have found their way into the report, but after chilling out, he has a brief summary of the days events which were going well until he entered Tynecastle. ***Warning***. This report is not for the faint hearted. TOOTHLESS CALEY THISTLE This is how the report would have read if I had typed it last night - "MATCH REPORT - Home Safe - Pishedd but ICT were pisheddedder" Well were do I feckin start - Lets look at this comment first - Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Richie Foran: "I don't think it was a 5-1. We had more chances on goal today than we had in the previous three games, but you've got to put the ball in the net." It could actually have been 25-5. We were slaughtered. It was embarrassing. 44% possession but NO width and NO penetration. 13 shots on goal and 7 on target - for on target add weak or directly at keeper. 7 corners all aimed at Gary Warren. Fer fecks sake. "They had that bit more belief when they had their chances. That's what we lacked." And where do they get that belief from. Sure Rice was barking orders but that is lukewarm. Foran looked like a feckin mannequin. Take the feckin suit off and give them laldy. Be more of Foran the nasty, snarling player, forget they were team mates and give them some good old Irish bollockings. "We had too many players underperforming as well. I've got to take a big part of the blame for that as well - I picked the team, I picked the tactics, I picked the training through the week." Fair enuff - Neither Butcher or Hughes would have said that. But the tactics are WRONG. However, we don't have any real replacements. I thought "If it was me - how could I change it ?" - Only by being ruthless and perhaps playing the yoof. "These players have proven over the years they are top players, but I'm not getting the best out of a few of them at the moment, so I'll take the blame for today." That is a fellow player talking - a buddy - a friend - not a manager. The blame will rest with Foran in the end but we have some of his old buddies playing cards in the feckin trenches. There are some who frankly are not playing for the shirt becos they probably think - "well who else is there". Apart from Warren and Tremarco NOBODY else looked like they were giving 100% - please refer to Grumpometer, because there is NOTHING to smile about !! So the only positive about yesterday was pre-match. Great to have trains running from Englandshire all the way to Embra. Great to be at a game again. And great to see many of the old faces and enjoy a dram or twenty. But then I had to go to Tynecastle - in the Over 65 gate though with the adult Mantis So to the game. Lets summarise. We made Don Cowie look like Wayne Rooney and Conor Sammon look like Slatan Ibrahimovic. Nuff feckin said. We played some neat stuff for 7 minutes. I don't know about anybody else but I hate that 1-2 touch technique fresh off the training ground. Toothless. And then I am sitting there looking at two banks of four that would have won a Synchronised gold feckin medal. But then it didn't change. It stayed like that. And I thought to myself - Somebody with guile will suss that and the olde 1-2 will be easy peasy. And then it was delivered by those two masters of skill - Cowie and Sammon - Fer fecks sake!! And then we allow Cowie time to measure and deliver a cross to a totally unmarked Ibrahimovic who rose UNMARKED like a majestic flounder at the back post. 2-0 and GAME feckin over. But did we pull up our sleeves and show what we were made off. NO we feckin didn't. We sat back and admired. We did not have the energy to press and we had holes all over the place. We were second to every ball. And we did get a chance - which we did - we fluffed the lines like an Amateur Dramatics line up in the West End. The lights were too bright for Boden (especially), Warren and Draper. GRUMPOMETER!! Von Willems - Looked like a POW at the back. Starved off confidence but equally starved of protection. Appeared too weak to shout and cajole the culprits in front of him. To be fair he had little chance with the goals but he is "invisible" to me. And why - oh why - the feck did he come out with Esson early at half time. WHY? Well should have been to change feckin jerseys. Raven - Sorry Mr Hughes - you were right !! Warren - 100% no doubt but 120% is too much. Too eager to get forward and left Meekings stranded at times. Meekings - Simply was NOT 100 % fit. He must have thought - who is the geezer at right back and where are the people who are supposed to be in front of me!! Tremarco - My MotM if only for determination and not putting his head down. Polworth - Why oh feckin why play him wide left. End of. Tansey - Shocking Draper - Drifted in and out of the game - said it a long time ago but Draper + Tansey does not equate. Vigurs - Why oh why play him in the feckin "hole". Totally wasted and he gave up. Mulraney - I was looking forward to see him play. Well he looked like a white Mutombo with less awareness. Nuff said. Cramp after an hour and stretchered off. *****. Boden Proven goalscorer in the lower English leagues. BUT he is NOT a feckin lone striker. And he had NO support. He did a lot of good running off the ball and got in positions to score twice before half time. Sure he fecked them both up but he got in that goalscoring position. Looked the most likely to score and what to we do. We feckin SUB him !! So take Fisher on and hook Mulraney and help out Boden. Too feckin simple. And Fisher looked and is a target man but NOT a lone striker. Great overhead kick attempt though Little Jack Horner should have been kept sitting in the feckin corner. Nice to see Doran back and he HAS to start next week which means that he wont. And I thought that McLean was very lenient. And we still amassed 4 needless yellows which bodes well for future suspensions!! Thanks IHE, I take it you were less than impressed then. Look away now...... Date: 20/08/16 Venue: Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 15880 Referee: Steven McLean Hearts: 5 Lineup: Hamilton; Paterson, Rherras, Souttar, Rossi, Nicholson, Cowie (Muirhead, 80), Djoum, Kitchen (Buaben 68), Watt, Sammon (Johnsen, 72) Subs (not used): Noring, Ozturk, Smith, Nowak Scorers: Cowie (7,47), Sammon (18), Nicholson (78,79) Booked: Kitchen (29) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams; Raven (Horner, 59), Meekings, Warren, Tremarco, Draper, Tansey, Mulraney (Doran, 64), Vigurs, Polworth, Boden (Fisher, 53) Subs (not used): Esson, Brown Scorers: Draper (87) Booked: Tremarco (11), Mulraney (12), Polworth (40), Horner (77) Sent Off: none abca
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Hearts v Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club Pride of the Highlands
tm4tj replied to TopSix's topic in Caley Thistle
Old Caley Girl has written this weeks Preview, give her a greenie if you enjoyed it. -
POINTS NEEDED URGENTLY It's off to the Capital on Saturday to visit Tynecastle for a 15:00 kick off as Inverness face the Jam Tarts, where we will be looking to get our season off and running. Old Caley Girl has been running the rule over the teams ahead of this one and had penned this Preview. If you ask most Caleyjags fans to name their favourite away day Tynecastle is normally top of the list. The mood is despondent at the moment, unfortunately, but hopefully Caleyaway will turn out in large numbers as is normally the case in Edinburgh. The league campaign hasn’t really gone the way we had all hoped it would this far and the fixtures for Foran’s men are not getting any easier. Last week’s derby loss was a hard one to take especially given the lack of passion seemingly on display. Our small squad seems to be straining at the seams already and the news that Kevin McNaughton has a serious Achilles injury was a further blow. Due to the lack of options at present, predicting our team is not really a challenging task. Losing 3 goals to our neighbours will hopefully add to the determination to tighten up at the back with OFW in particular needing a morale boosting performance. I’ve heard a few comments lately suggesting the club should have retained Dean Brill as number one keeper so it is up to Owain to prove that the decision made was indeed the correct one. Josh Meekings turned out in a friendly on Tuesday v Nairn but whether he is fit enough to be risked a start here is doubtful. Therefore a back four of Horner, Raven, Warren and Tremarco looks likely. The midfield should line up the same as against County and I think most fans feel that Ross Draper should be the first name on the team sheet, being one of the few who gained any pass marks last Saturday. Up front the jury is out re our strikers but Boden appears to be hard working and hopefully will come good. No Billy King this week due to SPFL rules so up to Richie who comes in with choices of Polworth, Doran or Mulraney. Hearts appear in good shape this season however, rumours persist of Neilson being a puppet on a string for Craig Levein and their fans have high expectations. Up front they look very healthy with new signings Tony Watt and Conor Sammon. They apparently, have the opposite problem to us with trying to accommodate their large squad. They will try and stretch us at the back from the off and not losing an early goal is vital. The crowd will be quick to get on their backs if we can strike the first blow. It is early days for us but getting points on board is getting urgent. It’s hard to see where a win will come from and even a point from Tynecastle could be seen as a good result. The one thing I’m hoping for is a bit of fight and passion which surely a Foran team should be able to show. OCG Prediction – Hoping for a win but would settle for draw. We do not want to get marooned at the foot of the table this early in the season. NB – Tickets now available on the day at Tynecastle. Pity it took so long for common sense to prevail.
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Meanwhile, back on Alloa, I see we got off light as they hammered Stranraer 2-5 yesterday.
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Hislops got it spot on,so much so it is our match report. We were bullied from start to finish and never got up to the pace of the game until it was too late. Better second half after conceding again, but we still looked vulnerable on the counter as we were chasing the game. It's not the referee's fault, but to be honest, he was less than useless. Surely he should be hauled over the coals for his performance, completely out of his depth. It's early days in the Foran revolution, but with every loss it gets tougher. I do believe we have the players to see us safe, but we need some pace in midfield. Tansey, Polworth and Vigurs are too one paced. Draper can do what he wants as he generally gets his job done and he scored a cracker. Mulraney will get the better of most defenders and Doran will get better with games. Our defence is showing signs of creaking already and Kev looks like he will miss a few weeks. Let's hope Meekings is back soon. Boden did better as the game went on but the service has to be better. Not an unexpected set back, but a sore one nonetheless.
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We're bottom of the league and you're no Inverness were embarrassed for the third time in a week as local rivals Ross County won the Highland derby 3-2 at the Caledonian Stadium. Inverness were a shambles in the first half as County went two goals ahead through a Liam Boyce double, assisted by an absent defence. Scott Boden scored a hotly disputed goal for Inverness just before the break. However, Boyce completed his hat-trick in the second minute of the second half with his markers deserting their posts once more. Ross Draper reduced the deficit after 65 minutes, but County held on to earn a deserved victory and leave Inverness rooted to the foot of the table after two games. hislopsoffsideagain posted this on the forum, and it's too accurate not to use. If you weren't at the match, don't let the scoreline fool you into thinking this was a close game. 3-2 flattered us; if County had won by three or four there would have been little to complain about. Other than the abysmal performance, of course... We looked completely unprepared for this game. County always press us high up the pitch right at the start..yet we didn't seem to have anticipated this at all. We barely got out of our own half in the first quarter of the game, because we kept giving the ball away or having to punt aimless long balls. All of the goals we conceded were dreadful in their own way. We may as well have not had any defenders on the park at the first goal. Gardyne was allowed lots of space and time to cross and Boyce was inexplicably unmarked about eight yards out. McNaughton had been marking him, yet ended up about three yards away from him and miles underneath the ball. The second goal might have been prevented had we not taken so long over substituting McNaughton (who took ages to limp off) that we had to play with 10 men. It was a great first touch and finish by Boyce though, but if we'd not been playing a defender short it probably would have been preventable. Despite the fact that McNaughton clearly couldn't continue, Foran didn't bother summoning Horner for a good minute or two afterward. Amateurish. For what it's worth, Raven (who Gardyne had on toast in the opening 15 mins) was a far better centre-back than McNaughton. The third goal, the obligatory soft-goal-conceded-from-a-set-piece (three games in a row now!) was completely deflating, coming right at the start of the second half. The long punt forward hung in the air for aeons. Any half-decent keeper, and most lousy ones, would have come for it and claimed it. Fon Williams stayed rooted to his line. Worryingly, Warren was beaten remarkably easily in the air by Boyce. Earlier, Fon Williams handled outside his box, but the ref played advantage and County inexplicably missed with the goal gaping. Had it not been for the advantage, the keeper might have seen red instead of the subsequent yellow. As for us, it sounds like our first goal was extremely fortunate, as County fans (and a few ICT ones) are saying the ref blew his whistle for an apparent infringement before Boden scored, only to change his mind after the ball went in and he'd spoken to his linesman. The County players were absolutely incensed. The second was a great hit by Draper, but apart from a goalline clearance from Cikos shortly after, we didn't really look like scoring. Full Time 2-3 Lots and lots and lots to worry about. The body language from the players was terrible. It was striking that, during stoppages from injuries, the County players were receiving instruction and encouragement from their bench, whilst our management team stood with arms folded and our players wandered away from each other with hands on hips and heads down. No-one looked like they wanted the ball except Boden, who rarely got it within about ten yards of where he was, and Tremarco, who was the only other player worth a pass mark. We had four very decent midfielders on the pitch - Draper, Tansey, Polworth and Vigurs - all of whom were really poor in possession. Anyone watching that fiasco could make the mistake of thinking that we had a rookie manager who was way out of his depth... ps, if you notice I have Andrew Dallas down as the referee. I'm not so sure he is one after a totally incompetent performance from an official who had no understanding or control over the game. In a display of total inadequacy he booked nine players overall in what was not a dirty game. Shame on you Dallas. From County TV --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inverness CT - 2 - Boden (45) Draper (65) Fon Williams, Raven, Tremarco, McNaughton (Horner 27), Warren, Polworth, Draper, Vigurs (Doran 75), Tansey, Boden, King (Mulraney 56). Subs not used: Esson (GK), Brown, Fisher, Sutherland. Ross County: - 3 - Boyce (7, 26, 47) Fox, Cikos, Routis, McEveley, Gardyne (Franks 90), Woods, Boyce (McShane 90), Curran (Schalk 87), Foster, Davies, Quinn. Subs not used: McCarey (GK), Dingwall, Graham, van der Weg. Referee: Andrew Dallas. Attendance: 4204.
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