CELTIC1CALEY3

In nearly 11 years of existence we have had only 5 different people Manage the Club. The first two were called Steve, the next was a John and the last two were the Proclaimers. Our current Assistant Manager shares his surname with an Orkney malt whisky. We build South stands faster than any other Club on this planet. We cannot beat Partick in the Scottish Cup but they cannot beat us in the Court of Session. Our ground is just a few feet from the sea yet Tommy has a special remedy to keep seagulls away resulting in recognition as a top Groundsman. We have achieved more with significant numbers of Ross County players than they have.

Against Aberdeen, Rankin did himself no credit - he was barged off the ball like an inexperienced school boy out of his depth.

It is easy to criticise players from the stands. Rossco has made some biggish errors this season but epitomises the spirit of a Roy Aitken. Last night he was really up for it and I thought played very well. If we analyse players who made mistakes last night some stand out in journalists reports. But when Denis missed chances to bury the ball, or Russell failed to beat Langfield were these errors? Marius had a golden opportunity to head a simple goal but it was cleared off the line. Was this a mistake? When Cowie failed to pick out a player in the box was this a disaster that lost us the game? Technically I think the answer to these questions is yes. However, if you are an attacker you are not slated for your errors. Granty probably got Michael dropped by his punt from the byline although Mikey might in future let such a bad backpass just go for a corner. This time last year Clangers was making the same mistakes as a keeper. 10 pints later, a blazing argument with his Manager, weeks on the bench he is a bettter player. I actually thought Grant had a good game last night. He is nevertheless struggling with the responsibility of being the captain. Rossco might struggle likewise. On last night's performance Russell would make a good choice if Craig decides to freshen things up. Again from last night, did Brewster make a tactical error by not bringing on Marius for Barry much earlier. It might have resulted in a quicker breakthrough and prevented us being strateched at the back for the fourth. All this aside, it is damage limitation at Ibrox this Saturday and before we get carried away with our 4-0 win against Gretna, we need Rossco for the relegation fight. Falkirk are likely to beat Gretna this Saturday and we will bob just in front of Gretna with some difficult games to come - all!

With Willie Miller launching his book 'The Don' this week I can Friday's Courier headline now 'Caley break Don Old Duck'

When Marius scores again it will be critical. I hope he plays even as a substitute. This is his type of stage. It took Dargo 10 or more games to score for the first team. Marius has missed a few because of the permit issue. He must be having a positive influence on Denzil. Probably the last big moment for us in the CIS Cup was dumping Dunfermline out on penalties. Jimmy was the Manager then.

Swedes don't like Danes! We need to start supporting our two goal keepers. Under mining them does nothing for our chance of survival.

On the face of it Richie is getting a very fair hearing so a delay helps natural justice prevail if not satisfying some people's desire for a quick resolution. Richie may well retain his job but he will need to be strong. Rossco came in for severe abuse from the Aberdeen fans last week. Then scored an own goal. This will be a massive test of character for Richie if re-instated.

The night we beat Celtic at Parkhead our support was phenomenal. A small group outsung and out supported the former European Cup Winners. Zigi in his first league game showed a few edgy kicks early on. The crowd jeered him. Supporters on here show instant negativity. Have you ever operated in adversity with an extra disadvantage? Do we want relegation or do we wish to help our players through the good and bad times? For me I would like to see us play in the SPL next season and to do that we need far more positive support in adversity.

In the last week Kilmarnock have made statements about injuries, sickness and suspensions ruling out first team players. Jim Jefferies has been quoted as saying this Saturday will be the worst ever in his career for absenteeisms. Our visit to Rugby Park has to be the most clinical and ruthless of any game in the SPL since we joined. We must beware of the Trojan Horse and avoid any sympathy.

George Adams is sure getting a reputation for ruthlessness with two Managers away in 6 months. Amazing that some link Charlie with County - did people not see him play in the derbies? Charlie would deliberately take them down to Division 3! I am sure Duncan Shearer will do very well there.

The X Factor or as we prefer 'Eddie the Eagle' talks too soon: 17 September 'Dundee Utd chairman Eddie Thompson has praised manager Craig Levein for the turnaround in fortunes enjoyed by the Tannadice club since his arrival. The Tangerines sit third in the Scottish Premier League and could be joint top with Celtic should they beat Gretna on Saturday. "I would say the last few months working with Craig have been the best since I arrived," he told BBC Sport. "We've developed a good relationship between chairman and manager." Utd have only finished in the top-half of the table once in the last decade but have conceded only two goals this season. ' 30 September 'McDonald tucks into toothless Tangerines'

Denzil's best moments were probably with Paul Ritchie as the big guy. Marius now seems to play that role. Shortly Marius will score and open up the partnership.

The own goal woke him up. Competition has made him move up a gear. Hopefully time on the sidelines last year will have convinced him of the need to stay around and be creative for 95 minutes. If he can control himself he has the potential to go far, very far, providing he works and works and waits.

Denzil is also on 99 goals for ICT so he needs top support at Kilmarnock to get him onto and over that little milestone.

.....careful.....careful. So far so good but we do not want a relapse nor do we want to get complacent.

Donald and Brester had to warn him once today. He listened! His goal was class.

On a negative note, we need to tighten up in the second half to prevent giving away hard earned leads. Having said that 2,3,4 in 8 days is fantastic scoring from a team who had stopped scoring. Dennis is still smiling. These guys will be working friggin hard this week in training. There is a sense of getting back to normal but Brew has a lot of fitness work still to do. Thought Roy was very good today but Richard may get his place back next week which will be particularly hard on Roy who has adapted brilliantly. Once again Latapy was class. Once again our boys wore down the opposition.

South of the Border Dennis's name was being bandled about around Birmingham' 'MARTIN O'Neill admitted he "felt pretty sick" as he shouldered the full blame for Villa's shock Carling Cup exit against Leicester. Then the Villa boss insisted he will have to live with the burden of his decision to make six changes to his team which ultimately cost the club a last-16 place. O'Neill likened the hollow feeling he experienced after Villa's 1-0 defeat to Celtic's loss to Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup in March 2003 after he had changed almost the entire side that had knocked Liverpool out of the UEFA Cup just three days earlier. Celtic had won 2-0 at Anfield to record a shock 3-1 aggregate win but then lost a fifth-round cup tie to a solitary Dennis Wyness goal.' Dennis needs top class support this Saturday because he is definitely getting back on form and heading to 100 goals.

Scotty, One of the great differences this time around is that Brew appears to have learned a lot. At United Eddie the Eagle, probably contributed to Brew's downfall because he wanted high earners out the door. He probably wanted a few others away too. Brew did the dirty work to clear the decks and then brought in young fresher guys with something to prove. The ship that Eddie was steering had nearly sunk so Brew had to go. Levein had a job to do and after recovering has had a much improved starting line. Brew currently is using the Shankly approach to management of making players work harder and longer and supporting them with positive encouragement. He is more guarded in the technical area and less cocky. If anything he is the humble one. Yet here is a guy at 40 who still has a lot of games and years left in him I feel. Saturday's goal was quite stunning. Brew really wanted that one. Far from you having to eat humble pie I hope it is a case of both club and supporters moving forward again together. Both last Saturday and last night were key moments for this Club and Brew along with the whole squad appear to be working so much harder. The only negative point last night was when Barry was awarded the Champagne and Donald seemed take umbrage - in the best possible sense. Denis is smiling and generally hanging around on the goal line so here's hoping we're getting back on track with Brew just part of the family again.

If we can scrape a win Saturday we pull ourselves off the bottom because Aberdeen play host to Gretna. Aberdeen appear to have injuries plus a flu bug so don't be surprised if Gretna pull the finger out and raid Pitoddrie Saturday. We must beat Falkirk!

Brew seemed to damage his shoulder but played on after treatment. I could say Gretna were poor but that would be unfair on our team who wore them down with some great play. The team are now working for nearly 90 minutes and this augurs well if we can up the goal scoring. Denzil is looking happy again and Deano looked more confident after his little run out. Marius took his girlfriend or wife home at half time because of the cold.

It is important to the players currently working hard in the Second Division for County to know that they are not forgotten. Keep working hard and you too could get a contract with a Big City Team.

So far,so good and its to our benefit. Not sure if this has been said anywhere else but Hearts still have some good actors. Kingston looked quite clever and Neilson seems to have adopted to the culture in order to get a game after standing up against the regime last year. In the end we wanted to win, Hearts wanted to cling on and we must learn from this. Blackie did work very hard and will be driven even more by the 'own goal'.

Today was fantastic - a win at last. Gretna unfortunately beat the third placed form team to dampen it a bit. However, I suspect the boys over the Bridge will be very smug tonight. So before they post it, I have beaten them to it. Not since they won the Challenge Cup against the odds have I felt the need to congratulate them. Well done boys, hope you stay top. PS Is Barrowman on a short term contract and do you think he is SPL material?

The first favour from Dundee United this season. Following the Chairman's famous biannual vote of confidence in his latest Manager, it is indeed thanks we give to the Special One a.k.a. ArabForEver. Sorry to see you crunched but grateful it gives us fair warning of the danger we face Tuesday and in a few weeks time. I think it is unlikely you are likely to be in the Champions League next season.