DoofersDad

Are we not officially the away team for the final?

He scores when he wants, He scores when he wants. He's David Raven He scores when he wants. Some good suggestions above but as long as we get to sing "We are the champions" at the end, I don't really care what folk sing before and during the game.

Simulation is classed as serious foul play Maybe they'll decide Josh only simulated trying to head the ball.

Apart from being unfair on the players it is just another silly rule that favours the bigger clubs with greater squad depths. What is particularly galling is that yellow cards are often dished out for very minor offences whilst more serious offences don't seem to prompt a card. There is also no opportunity to appeal them so players can miss out on what ought to be a career highlight simply on the whim of an incompetent referee or as a result of an opponent who has conned the ref.

Shinnie's performance yesterday was outstanding. Not just was it the best performance of the day it was probably the best performance of an ICT player this season. His workrate was phenomenal and the quality of his play outshone that of his multimillion pound opponents.

Three starts, three goals, two against Celtic. That's some record! I thought his hold up play was pretty decent, apart from that one near the end when he trapped it further than I can pass it. The first half miss looked easier to score (from the other end of the park, admittedly), but all strikers miss them. Should have had a penalty too, but lets not be greedy, eh! Well said both. Actually I don't think his miss in the first half was as bad as it first appeared. From the highlights it is clear that his anticipation of where the ball might fall was good but that when the ball came to him it was quite quick and slightly behind him. It was actually a more difficult chance that it seemed at first. He had to almost scoop the ball out and it only went narrowly wide. He also did very well for his goal. The ball came to him agonisingly slowly with a couple of bounces and it would have been so easy in the circumstances to snatch at it. But he had the composure to wait and then drill it low and hard. There were some other very nice touches to his play and I think he could be a real find.

Leigh Griffiths was a lucky boy to stay on the park yesterday. Deliberately heading the ball against Meekings' hand in an attempt to get a fellow professional sent off is quite shameful Seriously though, the ref got the decision spot on. I accept that 99 times out of 100 the referee would have given a penalty for the handball incident but just because that is the case doesn't mean it would be the correct decision. Remember that the handball law refers to deliberate handling of the ball which is commonly extended to holding your arms in a position which make it more likely that the ball might strike the arm/hand. And yes, we've had these discussions before. In the incident yesterday what is absolutely as clear as the fact that the ball struck Josh's hand, is the fact that Josh tried to get his head to the ball. Imagine yourself in the position that Josh was standing and imagine trying to head a ball going just below your right shoulder. Try the move yourself! As your head goes down your right arm naturally comes up. I think the ref got it spot on when you consider three crucial factors. 1. Josh was attempting to make contact with the ball with his head. 2. He was not holding his arm deliberately in a position which would make it more likely to block the ball. Instead, the position of his arm was a natural consequence of his genuine attempt to head the ball. 3. The closeness between Griffiths and Josh was such that Josh would have had no time to react to consciously withdraw his arm when he realised he would not make head contact with the ball. Indeed he probably wouldn't have realised that the ball was going to hit his hand until it actually struck. The only conclusion you can draw from these factors is that Josh did not deliberately handle the ball and therefore it was not a penalty. This was a correct and courageous bit of refereeing which we should be applauding. Our "luck" yesterday was the fact that the referee got two crucial penalty decisions correct. The fact that he did so meant that his failure to award us an absolutely stonewall penalty late in the game did not affect the outcome of the match.

There is a nightmare scenario here if we slip to 4th in the league and then lose the final. In that case, 4th in the league would not get a Europa League place. But had we lost yesterday with Celtic then going on to win the cup, slipping to fourth would still have given us the Europa place. Best to make sure of the Europa league place by securing 3rd spot and then win the cup. Coming in a round later may well be important because there is precious little time between the cup final and the first European qualifying rounds. The lads need both a holiday and the pre-season training whilst Yogi will need to do a bit of work in reorganising the side after whatever departures there may be.

Celtic wanted a treble - so, how about this one? Success in a semi-final at our third attempt The third time we have beaten Celtic in the Scottish Cup We scored 3 goals. Happy now Ronny?

Never any doubt they would be. As a Villa fan from my years in England it has been a rather good day. Hampden it has to be so let's hope the occasion inspires the folk of both Inverness and Falkirk and encourages neutrals to turn up to a final that epitomises the dreams of smaller clubs in a game dominated by the money that is poured into the big clubs.

Are they sponsored by Guiness? It would explain a lot.

For a mythical being or beings God or God are indeed responsible for a great deal of the world's ills. However, I suspect that if mankind hadn't felt the need to invent deities, such is human nature, that we would have been inclined to find some other philosophical or ideological differences to go to war over. War is probably a small part of it. The power of the church, which quite literally put the fear of God into the hearts and minds of the masses, has been used over the centuries to perpetuate a ruling elite. I like to visit some of the old cathedrals and one can't help but be blown away by the skill and endeavour that went into building these magnificant structures centuries ago. But even more, I am always struck by the comparison between the grandeur and scale of these buildings with the kind of hovels that most of the people lived in in those days. The poor were taxed to the hilt to pay for the churches and failing to pay your due was a seen as a crime against God - and God's punishment was severe. The churches and particularly the grand cathedrals were a potent symbol of God's power. But of course it was the small ruling elite which worked hand in glove with the church to maintain the loyalty and subjugation of the people - the fear of God was exploited to exert political control of the people. Echoes of this God fearing political power still exist today in the UK. More widely you still see as a general rule that those countries where there is greatest disparity between rich and poor is where the dominant religion remains strong.

Religion is probably the root cause of more strife and injustice in the world than anything else and I don't care one whit what the pope says about anything. I would, however have respect for the pope if he came clean and announced that there actually was no God and therefore the vast assets of the Catholic church were to be sold off and distributed among the poor.

I thought that feelings against the England and Wales Cricket Board were finally becoming a little more passionate when I saw a headline saying "Protester attacks ECB boss at press conference". But no. Turns out the conference was being held by the European Central Bank!

HT 0-2 FT 1-4 ICT Ofere Celtic Griffiths Time 9mins 1st Booking - Raven

In truth I think that those citing the 12.15 kick off as the reason for not going are mostly making an excuse. If it was 3.00 they would probably be saying it's too late on a Sunday cos they have to work on Monday. Of course there will be some who can't make it for perfectly good reasons but by and large those that want to be there will be there. I don't think our numbers will be great but as long as those that are there get behind the team then the team will get a lift from that. They will need one too - a Griffiths hat-trick tonight shows that he is a player on form and we will need to be on our very best form to beat Celtic on Sunday.

If their local geography is as poor as their SNP opponents then they are probably campaigning in Ballinluig

County highlights are now on BBC website. I have to say that Boyce looked very sharp indeed. It may well be that County will offer him more than we can afford.

What an absolutely absurd post. Having made a prediction in which the number of seats identified was over 50 short of the actual number, you have taken a fortnight to come back and correct it and still have the number 4 short. You state "Obviously does not add up exactly to the number of seats" but there is nothing obvious about it. There is absolutely no reason why you should not use the actual number of seats and every reason why you should. Having got your figures wrong you then compound your error by getting your conclusion wrong. On your figures and assuming the Lib Dems side with the Tories and UKIP also support them along with the DUP, then the Tories will have the support of 320 MPs. Labour will get the support of the large number of SNP MPs, the Welsh Nats the SDLP, Green and Respect MPs. That adds up to 322. That means Labour might be able to muster the support of 2 more MPs than the Tories. That makes the colour of the 4 missing MPs rather important don't you think? I've also just read your later post and you still can't get things right. You mention the 4 MPs who either won't or can't vote but you have already included those in your 546. I see you also can't resist another little swipe at Kingsmills. Kingsmills and I may disgree over the General Election but he is one of the very few people who actually does make "grown up" and well considered comments on this thread. Mind you, to be fair, your projections are considerably better than those of some of the political parties who on the one hand can't give any credible information of where the money for increased spending is going to come from and one the other, where the welfare savings will be made. Well tell your beloved Kingsmill to leave my family out of his attacks, something he has never apologised for and something I won't and can't forget and your overtures will not change that A guys wife has nothing to do with Kingsmill Laurence, Kingsmills comment that you had a swipe at was "Your arithmetic is still rather flawed. Mine is not great but I make that seven seats short." Unless your wife is called "arithmetic" then I fail to see any reference to your wife in his post.

I agree it is going to be very interesting. UK Polls over the last couple of days seem to showTories and Lib dems improving with UKIP losing ground. The position of the Lib Dems will be crucial because they are the only party which would give support either to the Tories or to Labour. They could easily be the king makers here and may well be in a position to wring some significant concessions out of the others. Electoral reform would be good but at the very least they will help to squash the more extreme policies of both left and right. I think that message will be atractive to the electorate at large and I think they will end up with a pretty decent vote at the end of the day.

What an absolutely absurd post. Having made a prediction in which the number of seats identified was over 50 short of the actual number, you have taken a fortnight to come back and correct it and still have the number 4 short. You state "Obviously does not add up exactly to the number of seats" but there is nothing obvious about it. There is absolutely no reason why you should not use the actual number of seats and every reason why you should. Having got your figures wrong you then compound your error by getting your conclusion wrong. On your figures and assuming the Lib Dems side with the Tories and UKIP also support them along with the DUP, then the Tories will have the support of 320 MPs. Labour will get the support of the large number of SNP MPs, the Welsh Nats the SDLP, Green and Respect MPs. That adds up to 322. That means Labour might be able to muster the support of 2 more MPs than the Tories. That makes the colour of the 4 missing MPs rather important don't you think? I've also just read your later post and you still can't get things right. You mention the 4 MPs who either won't or can't vote but you have already included those in your 546. I see you also can't resist another little swipe at Kingsmills. Kingsmills and I may disgree over the General Election but he is one of the very few people who actually does make "grown up" and well considered comments on this thread. Mind you, to be fair, your projections are considerably better than those of some of the political parties who on the one hand can't give any credible information of where the money for increased spending is going to come from and one the other, where the welfare savings will be made.

I think you should omit scarifying from your future lawn care schedule.

Which polsters ? TNS (Scotland): SNP 52 (+6) CON 13 (-1) LAB 24 (-6) LIB 6 (+3) GRN 3 (-1) 18th Mar-8th April N=978 Tabs http://www.tnsglobal.com/uk/press-release/snp-increases-its-lead-in-latest-tns-poll … #GE2015 Momentum clearly with the Lib Dems. If they continue to double their support each week it should be a landslide victory for Wee Willie in May.

I noted that the team physio ran down the line and waited for the referee to allow him onto the pitch despite Brill's urgent call for help. Surely when a player is clearly badly hurt the physio's and medical teams must have the right to attend straight away as they do in rugby. I can't help but think that this apparent need to wait for the referee's call is a consequence of all the feigned injuries from the all too many cheats in the game.

Yup... I know.... the choice between Labour, Tory and Libdems is a bit like choosing between Measles, Mumps and Chicken Pox. But none of them is quite in the same league as getting the (Yellow and) Black Death. Er, ok. Thanks for your input. One option open to people but rarely used deliberately, is to spoil your ballot paper. In that way you make the effort to participate in the election but don't feel obliged to give your vote for any candidate. Years ago when I was an election agent in a Westminster election, the returning officer showed the agents a ballot paper in which the "voter" had used a marker pen to put a big black cross over whole framework of the candidates' names and had then clearly written below "I hereby exercise my democratic right not to vote for any of these t*ssers". Wasn't you, by any chance, Charles? Great idea. I suggest both you and Charles do that and really prove a point. Im just suggesting that because I am a democrat and feel that everyone should be free to express their views even if they have no preference for any of the candidates. I will be proving a point a point by not spoiling my paper.