ALSY

Nice one. I'll see you at Central.

Philistine. Kilmarnock is the jewel of East Ayrshire and Fanny by Gaslight is a pleasure palace unrivalled in the western world.

Definitely. Think all the guys from Edinburgh I usually meet up with are otherwise engaged this weekend - any of the Glasgow crew heading down?

It's very difficult to judge Foran so far this season: he's only been back, what, 4 games, and in the last two of those he's been asked to play in an unfamiliar deep-lying role. I think he can be very influential for us this season once he's established back in his favoured position. Hayes could struggle to make an impact at times this season: if opponents get their tactics right against us then he is a player who can be contained, as we saw at times towards the end of last season. Dundee Utd didn't take his threat seriously enough and he tore them apart, but by the sounds of things St Johnstone marked him much more tightly on Saturday and apart from the goal he made little impact on the game. I think Rooney has done well this season considering he's been asked to play the lone striker's role and hasn't had a great deal of service. He works his backside off and he's at least proved that he can take chances when he's been given them this season: in his previous spell in the SPL a lot of people were suggesting that he was the sort of player who would need 4 or 5 chances to score once in a game, and this hasn't turned to be the case. TBH, Odhiambo has probably been our most influential attacker this season, with superb performances against Utd and St Mirren, but I just wish he was a bit more consistent: he's proved he has the ability at this level, but he's still too prone to go missing in games.

Inspired sub? 1-1 Hayes, a minute after a Saints save from what sounded like out best move of the match. We've got the quality up front to steal this, as long as they keep the pressure on from now on.

First ICT shot after 45 minutes. What's the problem today, I wonder? We didn't have that many chances in the previous two games, but we at least had a few. Maybe give Sanchez a run in the second half? He made a difference when he came on against Hibs.

FFS. 0-1. Sounds like McCann might have been culpable. Hope St Johnstone aren't as good at shutting up shop as Hamilton were.

I think Butcher will play Foran in the deeper role with Ross wide: that's what he did against Aberdeen, despite Ross doing well in the middle when he came on against St Mirren. I feel sorry for Duncan losing his place as he's done nothing wrong. I'd like to have seen Duff stay at RB for now, even though it's not his preferred position: as far as I remember we only have McCann till January anyway.

You recall correctly. For me the Hearts cup win in 2002 just tips the Celtic game two years earlier, although the Celtic game was undoubtedly the bigger result - it was just one of those games where the perfect performance married with the perfect combination of mates and pre- and post-match revelry, not to mention three stunning goals. Beyond that, there are far too many great games to mention, although Ayr last season must be up there. Re the wins over Rangers, I was at both the Ibrox games, but although they were great occasions, the 2-1 in Inverness (which I watched in the local in Maryhill) was by far the best performance of the three: we were all over them for large parts of that game. Even though I had to be unpeeled from the ceiling when Rankin's goal went in, and accepted a couple of free beers from grateful Celtic supporters, I still envy anyone who was there to see it in the flesh.

They aren't really rating a mention on any of the forums, thankfully - it's all Jimmy Calderwood,John Collins, Tony Mowbray and Gordon Strachan just now, with one or two people mentioning Dereks McInnes & Adams.

Wonderful day yesterday. I was glad Butcher started with the same personnel that finished against St Mirren - bit of a surprise to see Foran in central mid, but he was as solid and committed as ever and Ross had another good game playing wide left. Aberdeen started very positively, but fairly quickly ICT took control and remained in control for most of the rest of the match, apart from ten minutes at the start of the second half. I'd need to see it again, but at the time I didn't see anything wrong with the Aberdeen goal that was chalked off. Thank God, it was, though, as losing a goal that early might have shattered the players' confidence and seen them repeat the Hamilton performance. As it was, we were the more creative side by miles and looked full of belief despite the recent poor home form. Incredibly hard to choose a man of the match because pretty much every player did his job very well. I thought the day had come to an end when I left Caley Stan in the Market at 8 o' clock and stoated down to the station, but I bumped into Stirling Observer, ictbob and Mr and Mrs Dewsbury Dude on the train, with a bunch of central belt sheep and a solitary teenage hun. Cue three more hours of booze, slagging, singing and spew. It's a bit of a shame the international break comes next week when we're on a roll, but on the basis of the last two weeks, we shouldn't need to fear relegation and can start to think about trying to better our previous best SPL finish.

Looks more like the 38-24-36 formation... This is the team for me as well. Didn't expect Ross to look as comfotable as he did in the centre on Saturday, so he should get the nod over McBain imo, with Duff staying at RB.

Yep, coming up for this one: meeting up with my sheepy big brother.

I'll give you some praise, mate. I didn't agree with your post on Wednesday, but you took a serious kicking for it and it says a lot for you that you've come back and shown how much you support the team.

Maybe not Morrison, but certainly McBain has more experience there. I assumed Butcher would put put McBain on too, but Ross had a tremendous game in the middle. Didn't win every tackle he went in for, but most of those that he did win, he came out with the ball at his feet and moved the play on really effectively. Great win today after recent results. There wasn't thst much in it, but we had a little more flair going forward and Munro had a very strong game at the back. Fantastic to see Odhiambo with so much confidence - not seen it yet on the highlights yet, obviously, but his touch and finish for the second goal looked sublime. Excellent away support again. Terry and Mo...

^ This. Does anyone know anything about McCann's fitness? Proctor terrifies me at the moment - he's had two horrible games in a row - but I can't think who else who could play right back with the injuries we have now.

I'll be there. Don't know what to expect from our team at the moment and don't know much about this new St Mirren side. Should be interesting.

You're right, but in a knock-out cup the margin of defeat is irrelevant at the end of the day. Feel sorry for you and all those who went to the game though. True enough, but I was thinking about it more in terms of the potential effect on the players' confidence. Hopefully the hurt will make them more determined to do well against St Mirren. At least I wasn't having to travel back up the A9 tonight. Still got kind of soggy on the walk back, mind.

That was truly awful. 6-0 flattered us. The reasoning that St Mirren on Saturday is the priority is completely understandable, but a defeat that heavy could have a really adverse effect on confidence. Sutherland up front on his own looked completely out of his depth - beaten for strength and speed and not capable of holding the ball up. Surely it would have made sense to start Foran? We'd still have lost, but probably not as heavily: he would have retained possession better, created a little more and gained valuable game time ahead of Saturday. Probably won't get the match report up until Friday morning, but I don't imagine it's one many people will want to read in any case. Not looking forward to going into work with 1500 Celtic supporters tomorrow...

Defeat against Hearts isn't the end of the world, and 3-1 did flatter them, but the performance of the defence is going to give St Mirren confidence for next week and although there were some nice moves going forward, it was all a bit erratic - we never really looked like controlling things. Maybe Foran returning will help us keep up a bit of momentum going forward, but I hope Gillet isn't going to be out for too long because any quick direct player is going to trouble the full backs that started for us today.

I'd far prefer to see Tokely at right back too, but to be fair to Proctor, I think any of our full backs would have struggled against Templeton today. If the injury to Innes is bad, though, then I guess Tokely will be back in the centre against Celtic.

Lucky boy Innes there. Looked a clear penalty to me. Great block from Barr there, unfortunately. We're looking OK going forward but I could easily see us conceding another today.

Not very confident about our defence today. Both Tokely and Proctor are struggling a bit at full back, and after Munro got pulled out of position there, Tokely couldn't get near Stevenson. Need a wee bit of magic from Hayes, Rooney or Eric - or a cameo from Foran?

Hayes limping. This would NOT be good news. Decent start to the half by both sides.