Row S

How glad I was to see Rory and Zander get a a bit more of a run. Their introduction made the difference in yet another game when the opposition came here for a draw. Our midfield huffed and puffed all day but still couldn't put the ball in front of our forwards with clear chances at goal. When is Roy McBain going to find his right foot on the right side of midfield and why was Richie Hart on the left? Absolutely baffling. Well done to Rossco for showing how to do it, even if it did take a deflection. He was our most threatening player all afternoon. A Pars fan we ran into after the game was mouthing off about how lucky we were and suggested we did a lucky dip in the Lottery. What a feckin' cheek. They were s***e and deserved what they got - absolutely nothing!!! I was so annoyed that we were not good enough to put 4 or 5 past them today because they were there for the taking. As for Calum Murray, he was poor as usual. It took about 20 fouls and a blood injury to Darren Dods before he booked Jim Hamilton. The guy fouled every time he went into a challenge. He missed the first offence every time and then blew up for the second which was given the other way. What a plonker.

Another home game when the midfield failed to create decent chances for our strikers. While Falkirk closed us down well, we still don't seem to have anyone who can undo tight defences when we are at home. The strikers are trying to live off scraps but Bayne must also learn to take men on with the ball at his feet and strike the ball properly. What do they practice in training? I think we only forced their keeper into one save in the 90 minutes and that was a half hit shot from Richie Hart about 5 minutes from the end. If they keep performing like that it's going to be a long hard winter and our crowds are going to sink well below 3000.

See that Motherwell dropped Graham Smith for today's game against Hearts. Whilst Marko played with supreme confidence yesterday and made that great save towards the end. Stick that in yer pipe Blue-nosed Walter!!!

Wholesale changes required to tell most of the 11 who started yesterday that their places are not safe. I'd be happy with : Brown McCaffrey Dods Munro Hastings Wilson/Hart Black/McBain Duncan Morgan Tokely Dargo Controversial, yes I'd have Tokely up front because he can head the ball, beat a man on the ground and strike the ball with his feet, all the qualities that Bayne doesn't seem to have. Morgan did more in the short time he was on yesterday than Rankin has done in the last 4 home games.

Now if we had an ASDA in Inverness they might sell ICT tops for £20/25. For a number of years now they have had an ongoing arrangement with St Johnstone to sell their tops cheaper at the Perth store.

Or ceremoniously burn it!

I wouldn't waste the postage stamp!

I was absolutely disgusted to see the competition in Friday's Courier offering 5 of the new Sellick away tops. What a disgrace and insult by the Courier to their local team and a bogging awful looking strip to boot. Also what chance have we got of increasing our crowds if our local paper is promoting the Old Scum?

No word on any loan deals with Sheffield Utd then? Perhaps this is because they have so many injuries themselves that they can't spare any players.

As someone mentioned on another thread it would only take one complaint to UEFA, SFA or SPL to try and sort this out. So should we start an online petition and go for it? BTW I have no religious affiliations and don't give a toss about Irish history, but there is no place for that s***e at football matches. At least the bile seemed to stop when Granty scored the equaliser.

I'd like to see Denzil, Dargo and Bayne play together from the start. Dargo on the right wing possibly and/or with Denzil playing link man between midfield and attack. However, we would probably also need Russell Duncan in midfield to give more bite and accurate passing than Rankin offers at present.

There were quite a few unfamiliar faces in the KBFE of the North Stand today and at first I feared that they were Tattie Munchers in diguise. However, when ICT got their act a bit more together in the second half these new folk certainly got behind them ICT. Hopefully they saw enough to make them come back and support us again when the OF aren't playing. On a disappointing note though, when we got on the No.3 Culloden to City Centre bus at lunch time today there were about 6 or 7 folk in Sellick tops on it :008:and not one with ICT colours until we got on at Raigmore. Takes us back to the early posts on this thread about the large number of OF fans living here.

Another ref who failed to get a grip of the game from the start and showed bias to the Central Belt team, aided and abetted by his standside assistant. That wee ned Scott Brown got away with murder and lip all day. Perhaps the ref realised that when Hastings had a go at him. It was also just as well H*bs didn't have Riordan to take those free kicks around the box. Zemmanan was as good as Chris Paterson at lobbing them over the crossbar.

We'll need Duncan in for Rankin next week. Rankin doesn't have enough bite and was pretty ineffective for most of the second half yesterday. We also need to sharpen up the forward line. Time for young Rory to replace Dennis I think.

If they got rid of the moving text messages and match stats from the screen I might be able to concentrate on the pi** being talked by the pundits. Still too much Old Scum and lack of knowledge about other team's players in the commentary - e.g. Grant Munro (no.6) having a shot at goal in the Dons match. At least we don't have to listen to those dodgy Irish and Orkney accents and work out what position Sarah O's diddies will be in.

I can't argue with a lot of what has been said above. It was clear to see that Charlie didn't get his staring 11 right and he as much as admitted that in post match comments. However, in the first half we did have most of the play. It was just that the Midden packed their midfield and defence and didn't give us much room. Indeed I didn't think they looked all that threatening as an attacking force until we scored and they had to come at us. We also ran out of ideas - high punts to our wee strikeforce and their big defence. Barry hardly got past anyone all day. I also agree that all the carry on with Brewster trying to tempt players away has been very unsettling. The good thing is we still seem to have quite a choice of players who could come in and do a decent job- Tokely, Hastings, Hart, Morgan, McBain, Proctor, McAllister. And there are still 37 games to go.

Is there not a SPL rule about having three U21's in the 16 man squad? That might explain why some of those mentioned are left out.

If the Blades end up in the top half of the Premiership at the end of the season we can look back on this game and say it wasn't all that bad. To be honest they did look a class above us last night, despite them having played fewer pre-season games. However, as said by some above it was a testimonial and we had some players who were not quite match fit - Rossco, Bayne and Rankin for starters. Was speaking to some of the Blades fans after the game and they were good crack. Most were up for a long weekend and looking forward to going the the Highland games. Some were also planning to take in our game with the Tinks today. I was also passing Fraser Park this morning and the Sheffield players were doing some light training - a short hop from the Marriott. I also came across some of the players on the golf course at Castle Heather this afternoon and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. They are also staying in the Marriott again tonight.

I'm glad Sandy Cromarty and RiG added to the official report. The two misses by Glass were unbelievable. He scooped one over the bar from a yard out and then hit the post from six inches. A few other observations: Rory tried hard up front but was often crowded out by a packed Vale defence. I wasn't sure about what was going on with Proctor playing at left back for the last half hour. Keogh put in a good shift in midfield and seems to look fitter and stronger than ever. Michael Fraser looked confident and assured all night. He had a couple of good saves when Vale were pressing late in the game. Richie Hart continues to give me cause for concern though. He had too many misplaced passes, was easily dispossessed and looked off the pace the longer the game went on. To give him the benefit of the doubt he possibly still hasn't got fully fit after his injury. The ref also had to asked that the Vale centre half be substituted or he might have to send him off. I'm not quite sure why because it happened too far away from us. And finally, the Banff wind blew as usual throughout the whole game, which did not make for attractive football. If there was a lasting memory we had of living in Banff and Macduff for 7 years it was the constant wind, even in the height of summer. At least it was blowing from the south tonight and not from the sea. Crowd: not quite two men and a dog - about 250 souls and 2 dogs

Not good I agree, but time for Caff to stake his claim for a regular place. He did brilliantly at right back against Riordan in the last H*bs game at Fester Road.

Are they not due to play some lowly Seria C team, Juve? BTW, saw the pic on the back of Tuesday's Courier. Couldn't quite make out the blond guy with the No 11 training top on (Juanjo's old number). Was it Alan Morgan or a new signing?

Wed 12th Elgin City A - away on business Tue 18th Peterhead A - away on business Wed 19th Deveronvale A - hoping to be there Fri 21st Sheffield United H - yes Sat 22nd Ross County H - no.

God, I can't stand it any more, to have to put up with another 6 days of drivel from the English media for their beloved team's 6 day stay of execution in the WC. Let's hope Portugal sort them out next Saturday like they did in Euro 2004 (penalities again would be good with a sand hole for the spot). Ecuador were just not up to the task today, when Ingerland were there for the taking. :029:

Well "ballacks" to the Rangers Supporters Association. As RIG said we have to travel south every second week year in year out. Look at the rest of our fixtures at that time of year the Pars AWAY on 23/12 and the Bairns AWAY on 30/12. Are we complaining? It's all just sour grapes from the Central Belt Mafia, because we got into the leagues against their wishes in the first place and have proved we are no diddy team. Perhaps they are worried about not clearing their debts from supporting Ingerland and Germany at the WC. In any case there's that many Huns living up this way that they don't have a case to argue about travelling at that time of year.

I look forward to wearing it especially on foreign shores this summer. It gets away from the slight confusion over the Ingerland One Day Cricket International top.