Kingsmills

Ever since the play offs were introduced I have always thought that if the sides were still level after the conclusion of the second leg the tie should go straight to a penalty shoot out. The home team already have an advantage and an extra half hour of open play at their home ground in front of mainly their fans gives them a significant additional and unearned advantage. Fatigued players are more susceptible to injury and the team prevailing in the end are at a further disadvantage over their next opponents who are probably better rested and will have the benefit of a home match in the decisive leg of the next round.

Left out in the cold.

Love throwing stones from our own glass house.

As half the proceeds go to the SPFL, I don't think we are at liberty to do so. However, the club need to be advising this as widely as possible and we fans need to encourage non attenders or infrequent attenders to come along. Surely from a population in excess of 100,000 in the greater Inverness area we can tempt 5,000 along to watch the heroes of Gayfield play our most important home match since we last beat the Perth Saints to gain promotion to the top filight almost 2 decades ago.

I would normally congratulate Arbroath, as the only part time team in the division, on coming so close. However, the conduct of Dick Campbell and so many of his players makes that impossible and I would shed no tears if they were relegated next season. Well done to their fans though in turning up in such numbers.

Which merely cancelled out the shot for us which almost broke the cross bar in the first leg.

Or briefly even 8 men giving them a 4 man advantage on the pitch.

Well well, the morning after the night before. Firstly, it's impossible to ignore the elephant in the room, or should that be the donkey on the pitch, how that man can be regarded as our best official by anyone other than the egotistical W Collum is utterly beyond me. The man is a disgrace and I genuinely can't decide whether he is genuinely biased or merely hopelessly incompetent. He was right that Devine was the last man, he was right that a foul had been committed but it was blatantly obvious that Devine was the victim of the foul rather than the perpetrator. As far as Duffy's second yellow is concerned, he made a textbook clean tackle winning the ball which Collum very clearly saw nothing wrong with until he was influenced by the antics of the Arbroath player writhing on the ground. He ruined any chance of the match being a spectacle and made our position almost although as it turns out, not quite impossible. Like many others, when we went down to 9 men my mind immediately turned to Easter Road 2014. What an amazingly commited and resilient performance from the lads after that that left my heart sometimes in my mouth but more often bursting with pride Make no mistake, we rode our luck but deserved to and in the end deserved to win. I was one of those calling for Broadfoot to be 'rested' for this game and I don't mind admitting that I was entirely wrong. Man of the match for me and not just for his coolly taken decisive penalty but, saying that, they were all heroes. The fans were magnificent too apart, it has to be said from the idiots throwing objects onto the pitch. It's illegal, embarrassing and utterly juvenile. We value your noisy and enthusiastic support but if you are going to behave like that I, for one, would prefer that you stayed at home. The final will be a challenge with so many injuries and suspensions and with those who are available thoroughly fatigued but we are there, we have a chance and we have shown over the years that when it comes to what is effectively a cup tie we are capable of upsetting the odds. The dream lives on. This morning I am a happy and immensely proud ICT fan.

Liam Fox is being interviewed for the Raith Rovers manager's job.

Another Friday, another crucial match with hopefully 2 more to come. We need to better out of the blocks than Tuesday but we can certainly do this.

I hope so but there have been far too many games this season when he hasn't.

Sadly, I have made prior arrangements 😁

A brace of smokies and an away win. A perfect afternoon/evening in Arbroath. When it comes to smoked fish, smokies are so much nicer than kippers. Although, with all due respect to Mrs Mantis, breakfast fodder for me rather than lunch, served with a runny poached egg grilled tomato and hot buttered toast.

I sruggle to remember anyone successfully passing to one of our own players in the first 30 minutes. We can't afford another half hour like that at Gayfield.

Chalmers is both a creative and a direct goal threat from virtually anywhere in the final third. Given that he seemed to be out of luck last night, I thought it wasn't such a bad idea to take him off and have him that little bit fresher for Friday.

Who knows when we will have a better chance of getting back into the top flight. Forget about the play off final, at least for now, and treat this as a one off final. 'Must win match' is a cliche over used in football but it definitely now applies.

I think you are right and, in doing so, Dodds will be wrong.

Memo to the kit man. Friday evening in front of the cameras in beed of a win. It has to be the pink strip.

Broadfoot has probably been our poorest player during the play offs and seems to have run out of steam. I appreciate that he is vastly experienced but I don't think he would be in my starting XI for Friday. Looks badly in need of a rest.

We grew into the game and, in the end, were unfortunate not to take a narrow advantage into the second leg on Friday. However, there is no getting away from the fact that that first half hour was horrendous, horribly reminiscent of some of the worst of our mid season slump and we were very lucky not to concede at least one during that spell. We kicked off our campaign against our fellow Championship clubs with a win at Gayfield and there is no reason why we can't conclude it in the same manner, especially if we are backed by a few hundred noisy travelling fans. However, we need to get into our stride much much more quickly than we did this evening. 0-0 and all to play for. Let's make ourselves unpopular with the rest of the football community by ending the Arbroath dream on Friday.

Many congratulations indeed and a terrific servant and reliable 'keeper. However, for me, he remains third on the all time list behind Jim Calder and Mark Brown.

It was surely nudging 3,000 despite the disappointing away support.

I am one of the many at fault for the fact that we have not moved on nearly as much as we should have. I attended many of these events, boxing dinners were the worst where the only women in attendance were the scantily clad girls who entered the ring to be wolf whistled at and hold a a card with the number of the next round. I squimed in my seat at what was being said Andy Cameron was another serial offender as compere, complained to Mrs Kingsmills when I got home and vowed never to go again (until the next excuse for 'networking') but was too cowardly to do or say anything at the time. It's incumbent on those of us who were cravenly complicit to stand with those brave enough to make a stand niw. I am genuinely ashamed that I did not do so when it might have made a difference.

Arbroath are rested but we have momentum which we need to capitalise on. A two goal cushion would be ideal but if we can take any first leg advantage at all into the second leg at Gayfield then that should stand us in good stead. The latest in a succession of vital games.

The most racist and mysogynistic after dinner speaker I have ever heard was the late Peter Osgood. It was thirty years ago and, even by the standards of the time, utterly appalling. The only reason that the women present were not offended is that none were permitted at the 'Sportsman's Dinner'. We may have edged forward since then but clearly not nearly far or quickly enough.