davie

Today was a day that made me so proud to support Caley Thistle. It would have been no injustice to see us win by 4 or 5 goals, and we were inches away from it. In every position we bettered Hibs, and their players and fans were utterly subdued at the end. Shinnie, Foran and Ross bettered the others on the park merely by virtue of being better tha excellent. Watching Ben Williams going to be interviewed was like watching a man going to his own funeral, and he admitted so himself. It took Hibs rep a while to find anyone willing to face the press. I spoke to Kenny Cameron after the game, and he described both the team and the support as "magnificent" and due thanks. I think he understates things. He also spoke of the fans as being one of the main reasons that this team play out of their skins time and time again; words of a man who cares passionately for his club, and with that fierce passion at the helm we will always succeed. Whatever reason Terry Butcher had for being at the game in the company of his representative, in the Hibs stand is his, and his alone, to explain but it is not the behaviour the Caley Thistle fans would expect or demand of him, no matter the outcome of this saga. Today our team showed why we deserve to be second top of this league, and they also showed why that level of achievement is not dependant on one man, and never will be. Second top? better believe it, it's the least we can achieve this year.

Jonah,

I've PM'd you

Aaron Doran had a great game today, and just about shaded Foran in the standout stakes. We played some great football, and if Draper had scored from the move that set him up you could close the bets on goal of the season. As it was, Shinnie's goal wasn't far behind. We completely dominated the first half and seemed to take our foot off the gas a wee bit after we scored the second but it was a comprehensive victory. Keep this going and the match against Celtic here in december could be really interesting, in terms of who goes into christmas top of the league.

^{I'd have to say that attempting to unscrew Graeme Shinnie's head is not within the rules of the game, and any attempt at going for the assistant ref (I've been tempted myself this year!  ) is liable to be really frowned upon. I've been surprised and really disappointed by the United fans reaction to this, with the majority of their fans blaming Foran for starting the whole thing off when none of them were in a position to witness what happened with him and GMS. It's a real shame, as it looks as if it could blight the relationship that we've always enjoyed with DUFC. I would also caution people not to give any credence to the lunacy that is "United mad" There are few places in the internet poster's gene pool that are as murky.}

Am I right in saying that even if Hearts get their finances sorted out by the time the tie takes place, they absolutely cannot sign new players, or bring in a busload of ringers from Liverpool FC?

I believe that is the case. Joy.

From what I could see (and had a pretty good view) GMS actually moved in towards Foran, looking for contact and a free kick when he realised he was in a blind alley with Tremarco covering. Foran neglected to get out of the way, and although I couldn't swear to this I reckon he's battered his head off Foran's shoulder and gone down like a ton of bricks. I have some sympathy with this, and judging by the lump on his head it was a sore one. His fault, but a sore one. Terry was riled because he had a perfect view of how GMS had engineered the challenge and landed at his feet, and I think might have still been irritated by Paton's fall to the floor when Draper ran past him. Still probably should have walked way, but there you are. The problems started when United then went in en masse to "defend" GMS and it got a bit silly after that.

I do wonder with all the bile that's coming from United though. The card "score" tells its own story.

 

Who the hell is Uncle Dave?

Uncle Roy's brother

 

It's no me anyway.

As others have said, I can take a defeat. Last week, you could say nothing other than we were rotten, deserved nothing out of the game and that's exactly what we got. Today was a different story. It was an open game from the off between two sides that played the ball on the deck whenever they could, and with luck, we could have been two goals up in 15 minutes. That's not indicative of a poor performance.However, we weren't up but whichever way you want to look at it Partick never looked threatening until they took a well worked goal. That was it from them in an attacking sense until Dean Brill gave them an unintentional hand. Gary Warren's equaliser should have cued an onslaught and that's exactly what would have happened if Foran's goal had stood, as Partick would have had to come out and chase the game. We would have picked them off as we did Hibs.

That brings us to the officials. I've watched some pretty awful displays in my time but very few when you can actually say that refereeing incompetence actually won someone a game. That was one of them. Doran's goal was a lack of knowledge from the officials and at this level that's unacceptable. I don't know what the linesman was thinking; I've heard at least three pseudo explanations and not one makes sense. Ross Draper told him what he was doing and he acknowledged him (a conversation clearly picked up by Sky) and nothing contrary to the rules took place thereafter. It was therefore a perfectly good goal. As if that's not bad enough, Issac Osbourne should have been sent off in the second half, and the referee was going for his card after a lunge at Draper but changed his mind. Why? The decision to disallow Foran's goal was mystifying. Scott Fox, who had behaved "professionally" all afternoon, actually hauled Billy Mckay into the net. If it wasn't a goal, it was penalty. The tin hat for me was Mr. Norris pulling Polwarth back at the end when he was through on goal for a clear scoring chance, to award a free kick for a previous tackle.

There are those who will say that the officials can and do have an off day, and that's true. In any other profession if you clearly misapplied the rules, ignored others and didn't even know an important one you'd be fairly lucky to be in a job after it, never mind protected by your employers as Mr. Norris will be despite the fact that his team of officials are the reason we lost that game.

Sell out the North Stand ahead of our home derby match at New Year and I'll organise a card display (subject to agreement by club, but don't envisage an issue there).

And I'll help him

God that was awful. It's not often you struggle to find something positive, but yesterday was one of those days. I think it also feels so bad because we have been so good at home this year and have some real highs to compare it to, so it may simply be a bad day at the office. Too many important players had a day to forget, and so the ones brought in really struggled. polworth was dreadfully exposed, but then draper and foran were floundering and unable to help. If greenhalgh had come into that game, it would have meant putting nick ross into the middle where he would have been bullied out of it completely by a pretty well rampant saints. Losing Dave Raven to injury was a real blow, shows you the importance of a settled back four.

Ach well, you go from that second half against Hibs to yesterday in the space of a week - that's why we love football.

Please, if anyone wants an official comment from the club, ask me and I'll bring it up with them (it doesn't matter whether or not you are a member of Caley Jags Together) To date, no one has asked me.

 

What on earth happened with the catering on Saturday? The Qs before the match and at half-time were huge and many fans were told by stewards to go to their seats when the match started/resumed.

The stewards were on a massive power trip. Really, really poor show after recent months where things had improved dramatically.

 

TS, can you PM me with details of what happened with stewards on saturday and I'll bring it up with the club.

Thanks.

No. Just no. Please take this away before my brain explodes.

Grateful thanks to everyone who spared considerably more than an hour today. Great fun, great craic and you all helped raise funds for Caley Jags Together. Even spotted a couple of CTO's finest as well as Bannerman on a bike. Thanks again all.

How many Millions of people were there to witness the latest great result?

Don't know what the sarcasm's for but the crowd was 4 261

I'd be surprised if there were no changes for the Dundee game, if only to give some people a full week between games, and give Ryan Esson etc. some game time. I don't see a need for great changes either - yesterday was simply a very scrappy game where Aberdeen loaded the midfield big time. Pawlett, Jack and Smith are very similar types of player and their roles yesterday were purely destructive. It meant that James Vincent and Draper had to play across them, or resort to the long ball and neither are effective for us. Other teams now know how we play, but that's no reason to change an entire system of play - we just need to do it a bit quicker and a bit faster, and that's a measure of our style and how much others worry about us.

Taking the bike for my annual cycle to an away game sufferfest, but avoiding the A96 like the plague. If you see me, peep your horn or even better stop at the next pub and buy me beer

Ach, I'm going to bite. I know I shouldn't but anyway what reason is there to think that we won't win this League? We've yet to play anyone who has posed us major difficulty, never mind looking like beating us. The transfer window isn't the best, but what it has done is fix the squads of our opponents (as it has ours) and there's nothing frightening there. It also gives us the knowledge they won't improve before Christmas. Even Celtic haven't strengthened to the degree that they wanted to, and that's why they didn't win the League by 18 points last year and they won't this year. On the other hand, our squad has improved to the extent of us having strength in depth all over the field - remember it's only really Brill and Vincent who have come in, and those now on the bench are far stronger than last year. Build up maximum points between now and Christmas and build up a buffer to negate late season buying by others/ injuries etc. That gives us an unmatchable opportunity to improve on our placing of last year, and if you're going to do that by 1 place, why not do it by 2 or 3? That's not being wired to the moon, it's being informedly optimistic and there's nowt wrong with that!

We can win this League, if we carry the luck that we need and play to our strengths all year. that's a tough ask, but then so is winning anything. We have not met anyone so far that frightens us in terms of of ability, so aye it can be done. If we win against killie and aberdeen then its a definite yes.

My money's on it. Literally.

Charles, yes we are being paid to man this feeding station for the marathon. As someone who regularly participates in the cycling equivalent of this kind of mass participation event, I am aware that the companies ( caledonian concepts, hands on events, etape caledonia etc) make a living out of putting these things together and people can make their own decisions about whether or not they want to buy into it. I ain't going to defend this company, because I'm sure that they can do that themselves, but the entry fee you quote is actually a lot cheaper than some and dearer than some. As you know, supplying infrastructure, gaining permissions, organising road closures, marshalling all cost money. I'd prefer it didn't but there you are. I'm personally happy with the deal that CJT are getting from this event.

Your final remark is a bit off, with all due respect. The people who will man this feeding station give a phenomenal amount of time, expertise and support to ICT for no gain or publicity whatsoever and really don't need to be told where their priorities lie. They are firmly with Caley thistle.

 

The buses that allowed passengers to exit on to the dual carriageway are in breach of several road regulations and a number of health and safety ones as well.

Which road regulations would these be. If it was a Motorway or restricted special road then yes, but doing so on the A9 is legally no different to letting passengers off on any other Highland Road, where a lot of bus services operate on a hail and ride basis, not to dedicated bus stops. 

 

Think you might find it's a clearway, and there are signs to tell you "no stopping" at regular intervals (blue circle, red cross) There's one just at the round about.

So Hearts brought about 1,000 then?

That means another very poor turnout from the Inverness public. Maybe 3,000 maximum?

So sad! What is it--the price too high in these difficult days?

They did Scarlet, but I don't know if it's the cause for concern that a lot of people think. Maybe about 3 000 is our core crowd. If we keep that going, and increase it in "high interest" games that might be as good as we get. What matters to me is how good that 3 000 are, and today they were very good indeed.

I can'y think of many ICT performances that match that one. Minus McDonald and with a bit of good fortune, it might have been 6 or 7. Hearts were reduced to 1 shot on target, but it doesn't tell the whole story. There wasn't a single period of the game where Hearts matched us, never mind dominated. I don't know how long we can stay at the top of the league, but I suspect it might be a whole lot longer than a lot of people think and with a bit of luck it could well be until next May. Get down here and support this team because this is the nearest to genuine history that I reckon Inverness might see in a long time. You don't want to miss it.

Stranraer win with 8 county fans there, St. Mirren and kimarnock out and Hearts being taken to pens - got to be a good night for us!

Irony is a term used by sheet metal workers.