DoofersDad

2 - 1 to Celtic was a fair enough reflection of the match. Celtic were the better side but we certainly had our chances to win despite being far from our best. I felt we should have pressured more - we gave Celtic too much time on the ball and were probably fortunate that they didn't make better use of their possession. Esson - Solid as usual Duff - Skinned with regularity in the first half but better in the 2nd. Tokely - best defender Hogg & Munro - reasonably solid performances Lee Cox - worked his socks off but lost possession too often Nick Ross - struggled to day. Would have like to see him off earlier and Jonny on earlier. . Russell Duncan my MOTM by a clear margain. Terrific effort for a full 90 minutes. Sutherland - Another encouraging performance and unlucky not to score. Rooney disappointing apart from a well taken spot kick Foran - an enigma. Some great contributions, a terrible miss and spells when he looks as though he couldn't be bothered. Hayes -didn't have much time and whilst he didn't do much he was surrounded by green and white when he got the ball which helped create space for others Doran - Not on longe enough and hardly got a touch Lets hope the team can lift themselves for the Dundee Utd match. Top 6 is still possible but we will probably need to play better than we did tonight.

To be serious, the key is total commitment. This match is the last thing Celtic want. We've humbled them before and they have a very important match against Rangers at the weekend. They are on a hiding to nothing so we need to be right into them and pressurising them all the time. We need to keep it tight at the back as the worst thing will be to lose and early goal. I've got a good feeling about this one. :ictscarf:

Not Lennon. He'll think he's looking in a mirror.

It is not simply an issue of whether we should give aid or not. It is more a question of what help is appropriate in a given circumstance. Terrible though the images from Japan are, Japan is a rich country and the Japanese people should be able to rally round and help the victims and rebuild. It might mean an increase in taxation to pay for it but that should be something the people can afford and should not begrudge in order to help those in the areas devestated. That does not mean to say we should do nothing. We can help in a practical sense with search and rescue and certain emergency supplies, for instance. It is quite a different matter in a smaller and impoverished country like Haiti where the country simply does not have the wherewithal to cope on its own. I would not respond to an emergency appeal for this. It is not that I don't care, it is that I think the Japanese nation has the resources to manage the problem and that they have a responsibility to do so.

I don't think it would make much difference. Lennon's first picks for the old firm match will have that on their minds to some extent and will not be wanting to get injured. They will also be nervous about another humbling from us in the cup. Fringe players coming in will have a point to prove and what they may lack in basic talent they will more than make up for with enthusiasm. Whoever Lennon picks it is going to be a very tough match but one in which we have a real chance.

Same in Scotland. Could have semis with Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Brechin or St J and ICT with both games in Glasgow. Don't think anyone complains about a trip to the national stadium.

Before we get too carried away with thoughts that the Gods of fate are on our side, can I just point out that the away team won last time!

This is clearly a shameless attempt by Dougal to reach 200 red dots before CaleyD or IHE reach 200 green dots. Don't give him the satisfaction. A green dot to you CalyD!

It is not surprising that he left. Knowing that you are behind Andy Barrowman in the pecking order is hardly likely to instill confidence in a young striker. His strike rate was not good (nearly as bad as Marrowman) but as Johnboy says, many of his appearences were as a late sub. My recollection is that he was also pretty unlucky in front of goal and I always felt there was real potential. It is good to see him doing well and getting a couple against SPL opponents today. Whether he could make it in the SPL is another matter but I would like to see him get the chance at a bigger club than Brechin.

Yes - but only if I can get there. Looking out of the window there is 3 inches here and no sign of the snow letting up.

What will be more interesting than the poll results will be to see how many thought it would be worth voting. I am personally surprised that as many as 4 have done so. I'm with the "yawn" and "don't really care" faction.

I think Neil Lennon will need a seat in the stand.

One of the joys of football is that the game flows for the most part and is not constantly interupted. I would not want to see anything which led to extended pauses whilst the TV ref came to a decision. We have to accept that the ref will get some things wrong and that in general, these things even up over time. If a referee is favouring one side and the other side wants to take issue with that then there is the TV evidence to allow them to do that. The fact is that a lot of the big decisions regarding off side, fouls and diving can actually be very difficult to come to a conclusion on even when we see them after the game in slow motion from various angles. In general, therefore, I say, just let the refs get on with it. Having said that there are exceptions to that where I think intervention from a video official would be justified and that is where significant and clear errors have been made. I'll give 2 examples. One is where the ball has clearly crossed the line and failure to spot that has a clear influence on the game. In the game against Dundee Utd the ball was well over a foot out of play when a Utd player backheeled it into play and the officials had not spotted it. That could have led to a goal or, had it crossed the line between the posts with a defender clearing it, a legitimate goal would have been denied. If a video referee can see there is a clear error like that, then in the sake of fairness, that information should be given to the man in the middle and the original decision reversed. Obviously some judgement would be needed as to whether any incident was clearly wrong and I am sure some reasonable guidance could be developed. The 2nd example relates to another thread on here this evening - Lennon's cheating which got Juanjo sent off. Video evidence is absolutely clear what happened. I would not favour stopping the flow of play to have such incidents reviewed as the ref could ask for several incidents to be reviewed. In this example the ref may well have sent Juanjo off and play continued but the Video ref could have a good look at the incident and when he is clear that there is no doubt as to what happened he could alert the ref at the next stoppage. The ref would then send the cheat off and recall the wrongly accused player from out the shower. This could equally apply to off the ball incidents which the ref will naturally miss. This could cause some confusion in the crowd so the information could be conveyed to the stadium announcer who could them announce the reason to the crowd. For instance "Lennon has been sent of because he is a cheating sh*te". I appreciate that such an arrangement is far from perfect but if we have the technology, I think we should make use of it to correct the most signicant wrong decisions whilst minimising the disruption to the flow of the game.

It would be interesting to know what the referee would have done had it not been a streaker, but a lout attacking the referee. Presumably the referee would expect the players to stand back and watch him get a good kicking because if they went to help they would be in danger of a red card by way of thanks!

Surely this is celebrated in the name of our team !

Excellent post, Scotty - in more ways than one.

Statues should only be erected to those whose contributions have been truly outstanding. Jock Stein was such a man, Erecting statues to the also rans undermines the tribute which the statues to the truly great atest to.

Yes it is interesting. It does sound as though there are some relationship issues within the team and whilst it is good if the meeting has helped clear the air, it is perhaps a bit worrying that some issues appear to have been left to fester and are only being addressed now after a prolonged run of poor performances and results. It is probably nothing too serious but it is always best to address these issues as soon as possible so that what might be minor misunderstandings don't develop into feuds and things aren't said or done which would make reconcilliation harder. Hopefully there's nothing amiss which a good gubbing of Celtic won't put right.

I think if you could have chosen which 3 players you would want to score it would be the 3 who got goals yesterday. I've been very impressed with Sutherland this year but he was really needing a goal. Scoring will do his confidence no end of good and also for young Macdonald. Foran has missed one or two recently and whilst many have praised Pernis for his save from Foran last week, in truth Foran had acres of space at the near post and should have simply tucked it away there rather less spectacularly than trying to power it across goal into the far corner. Whilst Rooney did not score, the other 3 scoring was good for him. For too long he has been the lone striker and the weight of expectation has fallen from him. His place is not under threat and knowing there are others in the team who are scoring helps to take some of the pressure to score off him. This performance is just what was required before the Celtic game. A good performance there should help confidence to be transferred to the rest of the league season

I just wonder how Lennon would have behaved had Celtic lost.

No it's not strange. From the North stand we can see he is incompetent whereas we give the other one the benefit of the doubt. There was an incident on Tuesday when the ball ran well over a foot out of play and the Utd player backheeled the ball back into play and the linesman did not flag. It was a terrible decision . Had that happened the other end of the park we would have been none the wiser.

Three red cards for Rangers! Passions obviously run high when the prize is a trip to play the mighty ICT

Ok. So it was poor fare yesterday and folk are right to be disappointed - I'm disappointed - but if we are disappointed in the performance of the team just think how disappointed the team must be with the "supporters". I know the subject of the lack of atmosphere at home games has been done to death in the past but I really think we reached new lows yesterday. I honestly can't remember being at a match anywhere where there was less noise. I was late arriving and as I walked to the ground I could hear nothing other than the passing cars. I walked into the ground and it was like walking into a bloody library. There were a couple of half hearted attempts to get some chants going but that was it. The rising noise of expectation when we broke forward or had a corner was strangely muted. You could hear a Werthers Original wrapper at 20 paces. And finally when Utd scored their second there was the biggest mass exodus I have ever seen. If Celtic had just lost 2 - 0 at home to Hamilton and gone bottom of the league then a mass exodus might be justified but FFS we are a small team and we are 7th in the SPL.! If we finish the season in 7th then that will be the highest position any Highland team has finished in the history of Scottish football - but yet several hundred walk out in disgust! Yes, the season has had its ups and downs and we are certainly on a down at the moment, but overall the team has done well and deserves our support. Last night it did not get it and as a result we got what we deserved. I really feel for the players because they deserve better than that. I'll repeat it - we're 7th in the SPL. That's good. Let's applaud that fact and get behind the team :ictscarf:

It's a shame that the club couldn't sell tickets on Monday with those with a ticket stub for Saturday's match against Motherwell getting priority before going on general sale later in the week. After yesterday's disappointment and with the cup game the following week I can't see there being a large number of paying customers at the weekend. This will be a shame because we need a good support to lift the team. Our chances against Celtic would be much improved by a good win against the Well.