DoofersDad

Who would I like to see at ICT next season? About 2,000 more fans would be good.

There is also the question of how having County drop into the Championship might affect our chances of promotion next season. If County drop down it will be very interesting to see how that will impact on Uncle Roy's benevolence. He will know that to get back into the Premiership he will have to further increase his spending. He will also know that with The Rangers, Hibs and Hearts all back in the top 6 he is never likely to emulate ICT's Cup victory or best ever league position. Being in the Premiership would therefore be a constant battle to avoid relegation. He might, therefore decide to ease off on his investment. I don't see him pulling the plug but I do think it likely that he would cap his spending and let the club find it's level with that. Even at this reduced level of financial support County would be significantly better financed than ICT and would be there or thereabouts for promotion next season. If he decided to increase his spending then they would be favourites for an immediate return. If we are realistic about looking for promotion next season, then I would rather have Hamilton and/or Partick in the Championship.

Regardless of which players stay and which go, the priority for me is to ensure the manager stays. For all the unrest earlier in the season I think he has done an absolutely brilliant job. With very little money and very little time to work with in bringing new players to the club he seems to have unearthed some players with great attitude and promise. Leaving the Foran fiasco aside, Robbo's recruitment has been far, far more effective than Yogi 's despite the lack of money and time available to him. Not only that, but he has instilled a belief into these players and got them playing attractive, attacking football. For all the concern about being in the wrong half of the table for most of the season, I have enjoyed watching the games far more than I did generally in the Yogi years. I remember at the start of the season, Robbo asking for patience and pointing out that most of the young lads he recruited had never played first team football for any club and it would be a steep learning curve. We know the budget will be further reduced next year but money will be released by one or two higher paid players either accepting lower pay to play at a lower level than what their current contracts were set at, or leaving the club. That will release money for more of the type of signings which have been so successful this year. Robbo has a real enthusiasm for this club and he seems to have been able to develop a squad of players who appreciate the opportunity the club and manager are giving them. With Robbo at the helm, we should at least be in the top four next year and the footy should be good to watch.

I'm no fan of Rugby but I do like to see local teams / individuals do well in any sport. I don't know the background to St Boswell's defaulting but on the face of it, it seems quite bizarre.. It is not as though they are the whipping boys of the league. They are in the top half and were contenders for the title earlier in the season. Risking being thrown out of the league seems suicidal for a club which would appear to be in a position many other clubs would envy. It really would be cruel if Highland are forced to play the match and then end up losing, although somehow I think that is highly unlikely.

Well done Gringo! A deserved win, particularly after all the hard work you put into this. That was some lead you had and you managed to retain the form to the end. The champion's reward of having 3 jokers meant I was able to pull away from the chasing pack at the end and cut the lead, but you still ended up 60 points ahead of 3rd place! That#s some achievement! Congratulations and thanks too to Scotty in the Prediction League. Another clear winner and again, yours truly a distant 2nd place It's a shame that the numbers participating in both games are dropping off. Hopefully a few more will be persuaded to join in next next season. It just takes a couple of minutes to post the predictions but it;s a great little bit of fun.

HT 0-1 FT 1-3 ICT Doran Opp Harkins Crowd 1621 Joker

It’s 140 miles away, but if you listen carefully you can hear all those squeaky bums in Dunfermline.

HT 0-1 FT 1-3 ICT Austin Opp Mullin Crowd 818

Surely you can use the space for a bar and a museum with the displays being the decor for the bar. After all, from what I’ve seen there are already some pretty ancient relics in the bar!

Could well be. How long has it been since the transfer of ownership was announced and how many times have we been told that it was just a question of finalising the paperwork! The saga of the stands is indicative of serious issues behind the scenes.

We all have to queue at the turnstiles to get in. Why not have folk positioned handing out slips there? The slip could also have informed people about the presentation. It’s not exactly rocket science.

I wondered about this myself. I've no idea who was organising it but I would willingly have helped as well. I stayed for the presentations only because someone else asked if I was. I was unaware it was happening. Maybe there was an announcement over the PA system but I can rarely make out a word of what is being said. So many simple things about communication within this club that are just shockingly bad.

When there is good news it seems to come out of the blue. When there is bad news it seems that a little rumour about an announcement is let slip so that we can have some time to come up with rather unpleasant scenarios about what it will be. Then when the bad news does break we all slightly relieved that it isn't as bad as it might have been. Whatever is announced I think a consequence will be a seriously reduced playing budget for next year. Just to make that sound not as bad as it might have been, I'll also suggest that we are set to merge with Clach and apply to join the Highland League.

What a sickener. Another great team performance but we must now refocus and win midweek to put the pressure back on Dunfermline. They should beat Dumbarton comfortably but knowing they have to get something out of the game might make them very edgy. Stranger things have happened. But back to today. That is the 2nd time recently I have thought at half time that the referee was doing well only for my view to be completely changed later in the second half when it looked as though we might actually win. There were some very soft awards given against us, but pulling shirts and wrestling players to the ground right in front of the referee went unpunished the other way. Having said that, we had plenty of opportunities to get a 3rd when Dunfermline were chasing the game and ultimately we only had our selves to blame. We could, and should have won that which is really what makes loosing at the death so hard to take. No complaints at the length of injury time though, that was a nasty clash of heads between Oakley and Mvoto We missed Vigurs in midfield but Trafford came in and did a pretty good job. Chalmers too was pretty solid and between the two of them they often worked the ball out of tight positions. But the stars for me were again the front pairing of Oakley and Austin. They pulled defenders this way and that and constantly harried when Dunfermline lost possession. Robbo said earlier in the season that improving the defensive record was a matter for the whole team. If defenders and defensive midfielders are constantly put under pressure then they make mistakes and potential attacks are nipped in the bud. That is what Oakley in particular and Austin do so well. Austin seems to be a more composed finisher and created a goal for himself out of nothing today. I stayed for the rather subdued presentation ceremony at the end. Very well deserved awards for Col Donaldson and Iain Vigurs. The two of them are worthy winners but I would add that the other star performer this season has been Mark Ridgers. After a rather shaky start he has been absolutely outstanding.

This has been badged as a "must win" game, but we could still pip Dunfermline to 4th place if we draw. If that were to happen Dunfermline would be on 56 points and we would be on 51. We would then need to win both our remaining matches and rely on Dunfermline losing at home to Dumbarton. With Dumbarton focused on the play-offs at the other end of the table, I can't see Dumbarton beating the Pars. Theoretically if Dumbarton managed a draw at Dunfermline we could still nick 4th by improving our goal difference by 10 in our final 2 games. On balance, I think it would be simpler just to win today!

HT 0-1 FT 1-2 ICT Doran Opp Clark Crowd 3272

HT 0-1 FT 0-3 ICT Polworth Opp Froxylias Crowd 486

Whilst our players will have one day's less rest before taking on Dunfermline.

I disagree with much of that. Whilst Vigurs yet again controlled the game, both he and Polworth have often played significantly better than they did against Dumbarton on Saturday. The difference was that against a rather more open Dumbarton side, we found a bit more space in front of Vigurs and Polworth, we created a few more chances and took them well. Oakley pulled the defence all over the place on Saturday whilst Austin found the space and the composure to score 3 goals. The big win was because we had far and away the best performance from the front men that I have seen all season.

Just a word about Zak Elbouzadi. We’ve seen very little of him this season but he got a bit of game time today and I thought he did really well. There is genuine competition for places now and lots of options for changing things from the bench. Very encouraging indeed.

After a really well worked Dumbarton goal I feared we might be in for a difficult afternoon, but a great strike soon after from Doran and a very well taken first from Austin before half time settled the nerves. Fair play to Dumbarton, they came here to play a much more open game than in the cup final. In the end it didn’t work and they were exposed time and time again. It will be much a much stuffier Dumbarton we face on Tuesday so we may need a bit of patience in working for the opening.

Nice thought, but I fear what is rather more likely is that without Vigurs in the side for those 2 difficult games, we may not reach the play offs. The price paid for silly (and unfair) bookings can be high indeed.

HT 1-0 FT 2-1 ICT Oakley Opp Froxylias Crowd 2248 Joker

Amen to that!

Seems as though letting off flares is fine as long as you don’t throw them and are sitting down at the time!