ALSY

Absolutely. Dragging a couple of non-regulars through too, hopefully, to swell the ICT massive.

No slagging from these quarters: have a green dot. I'd avoided this topic too so far as I wasn't at the game, but I agree completely with you that there can be no justification for these sorts of chants at football. It's not simply that their intended target almost certainly doesn't deserve this sort of attack; statistically it's also very likely that there will be someone in earshot whose life has been affected in some way by some sort of child abuse. The last thing anyone in that position would want to hear is the subject being made light of and used as a cheap weapon to try and hurt someone who is, ultimately, just a footballer for a rival team. Sorry if these seems melodramatic, but as jagster says, there are some things people feel strongly about.

Lee Hendrie as in ex-Aston Villa? From what I'd heard, Aberdeen were interested but wouldn't meet his wage demands. Maybe those have changed with the transfer deadline almost upon us, though. Certainly a talented player in his day, but reputedly a disruptive influence in the dressing room.

It's probably because he hasn't really being playing for Cardiff recently after a reported argument with Dave Jones. I thought he looked decent for Scotland too. He's just joined Leeds, I think, so maybe if he does well there he'll get a recall.

I think we can expect to see that happening more with future opponents this season too. Towards the end of last season it was clear teams were adapting to cope with Hayes' threat and managing to contain him more, and given the impact he made against Utd and early against Celtic, SPL teams will already consider him our main threat. Hopefully Odhiambo can maintain the form he showed in pres-season and against Utd so we don't end up trying to channel all our creative play through Hayes. Re the original post, surely it's counter-productive to start picking on any of our players this early in the season, particularly one so young and inexperienced? Ross has had two decent performances out of his first three SPL starts, which I'd suggest is a decent return. It's unreasonable to expect him to be consistently effective when he has so little experience, particularly when the rest of the team doesn't perform either, and when, as so many people have pointed out, he still has a fair bit of physical developing to do. Don't forget, too, that he wouldn't be in the side if Foran was fit: it's not as if Butcher sees all the hopes of the team resting on his shoulders.

who beat them? should use their tactics against ammies in the league Raith Rovers - current Div 1 leaders.

Hamilton are out of the competition.

Aargh. How frustrating.

There's a mordant wit about the Smiths that is quite beyond Brian Irvine. I suspect he's a David Gray man. That half sounded very unpromising. It seems like we weren't in the game at all. Hope Terry has a few gently motivating words at half time.

0-1. Imrie in 41 seconds.

It's character-building.

I completely understand this mentality, Harry... I think my brain's hardwired to be pessimistic even though common sense tells me we're a better team than Hamilton just now and favourites to win tomorrow. However, if you'd like another red dot I'll gladly contribute - your op is only one away from double figures now!

I think the squad is about as strong as it has ever been in terms of decent cover for positions, but I agree we could do with another centre half. Tokely can also cover there in addition to the three players you mentioned, but iirc, McCann's only on loan until January and either Tokely or Proctor will probably be required to play right back.

Mine too, with Hearts at Tynecastle a close second - somewhere I can get to midweek, in other words. Mind you, Rangers at Ibrox would be easiest of all for me, and it's about time we did them in a cup.

Either is fine, Naelifts: I'm in touch with my feminine side... I still managed to enjoy the game fine, but I couldn't join in with the singing as much as I normally would, and I probably would have been less conscientious about note-taking if I'd had the customary three or four pints before the match. It'll be a nice thing to do a few times during the season, given the opportunity, but equally I'll enjoy the games where I don't have to worry about throwing my pencil five rows forward when we score. Re your original point: I can see it, but I suppose the flip side is that Eric's unselfishness enabled our main striker to open his account for the season and start building up his confidence. If we continue to play the way we did on Saturday, both should get plenty of opportunities and hopefully Eric will convert some of those. Johnboy makes the point that Eric might have taken criticism if he had elected to shoot and had missed, and I think that's fair comment: imho, Sanchez was a little too harshly criticised last season for some of his misses, and some posters forgot how adept he was at creating chances.

Yes, but it helps enormously if we are playing well and winning. For example, I don't recall any aspect of the 4-0 drubbing at Falkirk being superb, on or off the pitch. On days like that everyone just sits quietly and thinks "why the **** did I bother coming to see this p1sh?" But I agree that the away days in recent times (ie under Butcher) have generally been excellent. May there be many more days like Sunday at Tannadice. What I remember about that trip is being in the beer garden of Behind the Wall beforehand and some dubious ex-Navy mate of Top Six Next Year's trying to fence some some stolen fish. It's the little details that make away days so special.

From what I'm hearing of the attitude Hartley has brought into the Aberdeen dressing room, recalling him is a good idea - a great professional. I'm very disappointed to see that Garry Kenneth is not being given the chance to build upon his promising start for Scotland...

Cheers for the nice words re the report, guys. Have to confess to two or three inaccuracies having just watched the highlights, though, for example the throw-in for Russell's goal: I thought it been delivered by Gillet when of course it was from McCann. Anyway, just amazing to see everything again: it really did happen! Incidentally, Adam Rooney was interviewed on Sportsound this evening and it was great to hear him sound so relaxed, so confident and so obviously enjoying life in Inverness and being part of a happy dressing room. Hopefully this will show in more dsiplays like the one we saw yesterday. You are truly an inspiration...

Just back. It was every bit as good as it must have sounded on the radio: one of those days when you feel on top of the world being an ICT supporter. Have been working on the match report on the train back but it'll probably be tomorrow night before I can get it typed and up on the homepage. Suffice to say, there wasn't a player less than excellent in the ICT team today, but I have to agree with Alex - Odhiambo man of the match. Well done lads.

I suspect they - or Coleman at least - knew the answer, but sniggering at Scottish league football is the English form of revenge for the unfettered joy most Scots express when England make utter clowns of themselves in international tournaments after claiming they're going to conquer the world: witness Aidy Boothroyd recently claiming that Celtic bid '?3.50 and a bag of haggis' for Keiren Westwood. It's quid pro quo. We should rise above it and simply nod with quiet satisfaction when the EPL collapses in on its own midden when all the foreign investors pull out.

First game at Dens last season I ended up in some wee Dundee supporters pub with Simon by accident - we bumped into Heilandee there - then we met up with Mantis, Yngwie and a few others at the Centenary. I thought you were there, GJ, but I might be wrong. Second game I was definitely in the Snug but I was with someone who very rarely goes to games and I don't remember speaking to anyone else in there that time. The Snug is on Main Street, off the Hilltown, on the city side of Tannadice - the Centenary is on Clepington Road, which is beyond Tannadice as you approach it from the city. The link below marks the Snug for you, but you can also see Clepington Road on the map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1T4HPNN_enGB310GB310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=snug+bar+dundee&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=snug+bar&hnear=Dundee,+Angus&cid=0,0,12512479299761758311&ei=9p9pTL3iHouOjAfG4fDUBA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQnwIwAA I can keep in touch with both Red Card and Top Six by text on the day, so I'll just see you guys wherever you end up.

I'm getting the train two hours before that one as I'm going for lunch at my brother's house pre-match. Will hopefully catch up with everyone in the pub just after 2 - the Centenary? Or the Snug?

I'll be there.

As I mentioned on the matchday thread, I was pleasantly surprised by the defence yesterday. McCourt and Maloney are capable of making life difficult for every defence in the country, but with the obvious exception of the goal I think we contained them reasonably well, and Granty won his fair share in the air against Samaras. Maybe I'm being generous because I generally have reservations about Tokely as a CB and would prefer to see Innes, who is more of a Dods-type player, in there alongside Granty, but I felt Tokely was fairly solid too. I agree absolutely about the need for McCann and Gillet to tuck in and support the centre backs - Caley Stan made the same point yesterday, I think. Even with Innes in there in place of Tokely, the central defence will still lack pace. The workrate of both full backs really impressed me though, although McCann had one or two shaky moments, unsurprising against a pretty decent team. Once Innes is fit, we do have proper cover at right back, with either Tokely or Proctor able to fill in, so again, I'm feeling reasonably happy about this area, provided the full backs are properly instructed. Yesterday was a pretty tough start for a new defensive line-up, and it didn't help them that Cox and Duncan lost control of the midfield after half time, so on the whole I'd say they came through it pretty well.

Very encouraged by the confidence shown by Odihambo and Hayes and the team's desire to play the ball on the deck in the first half. If we take that approach in future games against sides less strong than Celtic, I'm sure we'll do OK this season. Wouldn't be overly critical of the performance in the second half: given the amount of money Celtic have spent, it has to be expected that they will simply have more quality than us, and in the second half that superior ability told. Ledley and Brown took complete control of the midfield, whereas in the first half Cox and Duncan had matched them pretty well. Once we lost the goal, we reverted to the long ball - not necessarily the wrong approach at that point, as we weren't competing in midfield, but without Foran there to win the ball and hold it up, it was ineffective and resulted in Rooney getting dragged out of position onto the right wing. Lastly, I was worried that the defence would be our weakest area this season, but if yesterday is anything to go by, it should be fine - excellent workrate from all four players. Cheeky barsteward. I've got my back-to-school haircut pencilled in for Tuesday...