Yngwie

For the young player, Shaw has obviously had a great 2nd half of the season with goals and assists. But Cameron Harper has had a good season too, establishing himself as a first team regular, with 40 starts - only Carson has more. He’s looked increasingly assured at left back as well as being surprisingly useful when played further up the park, chipping in with some very important and well struck goals. I know I’m not the only one who had doubts as to whether he’d make it at this level but he’s progressed really well.

So, with the competitive fixtures we had in mind for the rest of May no longer happening, what does the team do for the next 4 weeks? Teams have no interest in playing friendlies at this time of year. They are either finished up and on holiday, or playing their final league or playoff fixtures. Falkirk had the same problem in 2015. The only way they could get opposition was to travel down south and play Swansea’s youth team, and I recall they won by some ridiculous score. Not the best preparation. Even more unsuitable when you consider that we are up against a team full of international quality. How do we prepare for that?

Good grief!

Occasional flashes of the talent that earned him a move to Hibs, but on the whole I think his contribution has been below what we all expected or hoped for. I’d still keep him on if we could get him on reasonable terms, he’s got something, and should be able to give us more at Championship level then we’ve seen in those stats..

Iain Vigurs has helped Cove Rangers earn a place in League One.

League season is sadly over. Attention for the next 4 weeks focuses on another big day out at Hampden, a chance to pull off one the greatest cup final upsets ever and earn a crack at the Europa League!

6th place is such a disappointment after that amazing run built our hopes up - followed by 1 point from our final 2 league games, yet still be just 3 points off second place. So many what ifs…

Gutted, absolutely gutted.

Well I’ve just asked it for a match report on the final in the style of the Daily Record. Both clubs get disqualified, I reckon! Celtic have secured the Scottish Cup for the second year in a row after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Inverness in the final at Hampden Park. The Hoops were quick to take control of the match, dominating possession and forcing Inverness to defend deep in their own half. It was no surprise when they took the lead in the 19th minute, with striker Odsonne Edouard latching onto a through ball from midfielder Callum McGregor and slotting it past the Inverness goalkeeper. Inverness, however, refused to give up and fought back with determination. Their hard work paid off in the 38th minute when striker James Keatings fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the Celtic net to level the score. The second half saw both sides battling fiercely for the winner, with chances coming thick and fast. In the end, it was Celtic who emerged victorious, with winger Karamoko Dembele scoring the decisive goal in the 75th minute. Inverness pushed hard for an equalizer in the final minutes of the game, but Celtic's defense held strong to secure the victory. Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for his team after the match, saying: "I'm incredibly proud of the boys. They showed great character and determination to come back after Inverness equalized, and Karamoko's goal was a piece of magic." Inverness boss Billy Dodds was disappointed with the result but proud of his team's performance. "We gave it our all out there today, but Celtic were just too strong in the end. I'm proud of the way my players fought until the very end, and we'll be back next year to try again." Overall, it was a thrilling final that showcased the best of Scottish football, with both teams giving their all in pursuit of the prestigious Scottish Cup trophy.

Having downloaded a ChatGPT app yesterday, I asked it for a poem in the style of William McGonagal about ICT winning the cup final. Within 20 seconds or so, this is what it gave me and I’d say it met the spec pretty well. Enjoy! Oh, listen well, good people all, and hear my tale today Of Inverness Caledonian Thistle's most triumphant play For on the third of June, in Hampden Park so grand They faced the mighty Celtic, the best team in the land The air was thick with tension as the two teams took the field And all across the country, fans were watching, hearts congealed But Inverness Caledonian Thistle had a secret ace His name was Billy Mckay, and he would soon take his place The game began with Celtic on the front foot, full of fire But Inverness Caledonian Thistle would not tire They held their ground, they made their mark, they fought with all their might And then, at last, the moment came, the moment of delight For Billy Mckay, that hero brave, had found his chance at last He scored not once, not twice, but thrice, and all the fans amassed Did cheer and shout and sing his name, as Celtic hung their heads For Inverness Caledonian Thistle had won, and Celtic's hopes were dead Oh, what a day, what a glorious sight, to see the underdog win To see the joy on faces, to hear the mighty din For Inverness Caledonian Thistle had done what none thought they could They'd beaten Celtic fair and square, and proved their mettle good So here's to Billy Mckay, that hero of the hour And here's to Inverness Caledonian Thistle's awesome power For on that famous day in June, they showed us all their might And won the Scottish Cup, a victory oh so bright!

What we don’t want though is for Celtic fans to be buying tickets from ICT for our section because they are easily available after their own allocation sells out quickly, so it does make sense for the allocations to be realistic.

I was thinking about the Cup Final and how Ryan Christie will no doubt be in demand from broadcasters having played for both clubs in recent years. I then tried to remember who else has played first team football for both clubs - Barry Robson and Mark Brown were the other names that sprung to mind. Knowing that there may well be others I’ve forgotten, I thought I’d get with the times and ask ChatGPT. Here’s the answer!

BBC TV said half an hour ago that the SFA are considering options for earlier and later kickoff times, but 3pm hasn’t been ruled out either.

I think it was only a week ago, when the semifinals threw up a final with 2 Manchester teams, that the FA decided to bring forward the kick off to 3pm. What does it say when the FA changes kickoff for the convenience of travelling fans and this leads to the SFA changing kickoff knowing it will inconvenience travelling fans?

It’s understandable why the broadcasters would want to avoid a clash with another big match that day even if it is in another country - but I’d be interested to know who calls the shots on this. Have the SFA entered into a contract which allows a broadcaster to dictate and change the kick off time? If not, then why don’t the SFA just shut down the conversation and say sorry, it’s 3pm on Saturday and it would be inconvenient for supporters to make it earlier so tough luck?

Most of the attention of the stattos was understandably on Billy reach8ng 100 goals on Saturday, but whenAaron came off the bench, he moved onto 369 appearances and overtook Grant Munro to go 2nd in our all time appearances list. He needs another 220 appearances to catch Tokely, but 2nd is still quite an achievement! Interestingly but not unsurprisingly, a lot of Doran’s appearances have been off the bench - 104 of them. So in terms of starts, he is 8th on the list, behind Tokely, Munro, Hastings, Duncan, McBain, Wilson and Charlie. Aaron has 53 goals for us, 7th highest on the all time list.

Just watched the highlights (again!) and it was only this time that it struck me how Wynessesque Shaw’s effort was. Of course Wyness would’ve scored it, but the stepover was nice!

Yeah that was a sore one, high to low in just a few minutes. I seem to recall that the only subs we could bring on to replace tiring legs and defend our lead were more attack minded than we would have liked. You and I car-shared back down the A9 in stunned silence (the silver lining for you was that you didn’t have to endure much of my chat).

I kid ye not, your nemesis was indeed singled out for praise! They were also quite well informed about other connections between our club and theirs (like Donald Park) and were naturally asking how Robbo was doing these days.

However, we have a 100% win record when playing Celtic at Hampden, along with a 100% success record in Scottish Cup Finals!

Celtic are winning 4-3 in terms of Scottish Cup ties against us.

As others have mentioned, our singing section did a tremendous job, they kept it going all through the game and made a great atmosphere.

I should add that they also said Scottish football needs more people like Scott Gardiner. STFU will be seething!

You might want to see if the SFA will buy it off you, to save them the trouble of getting another one made!

I was talking to some Hearts fans who were next to me at the game - they said they had come along to support us, financially and vocally, because they are grateful for the stance ICT took in 2020 against the decision to relegate Hearts.