Caley Mad In Berks

After Sunday, I think Mutumbo deserves a start. I'd start him instead of Vigurs, but play 4/4/2 with Mutumbo up front with Storey.

Not forgetting, of course, our other 'ex' at Barnsley, Sam Winnall. He has been an even more prolific scorer, and has just been nominated for the League 1 Fans Player of the Month, for the second month running. What would we give for either of them to be back here now?

I missed a couple on Sat 5th Mar. An amazing Highland League cup Q/F between Formantine and Brora ended 5-5, before Brora went on to win on penalties. Gary Wood (Formantine) and Andrew Greig (Brora) scored one each in normal time.

Well, just got back to sunny Berkshire. Can't say I enjoyed our performance, but thank goodness for Mutumbo. He was the only one whose inclination was to go forward and he was a real handful for the Hibs defence. Surely he should be starting from now on. We've certainly got a lot of work to do to make certain of no worse than 10th place in league., not to mention the cup replay. Kind draw for us if we get through replay. A real chance for another final, but we'll have to do a lot better than today.

Phillip Roberts made his competitive debut for Sligo Rovers tonight in a 0-2 home defeat to Shamrock Rovers, in Airtricity League of Ireland. Fairly ineffective by look of things, but at least he stayed out of trouble. Two of his team mates got red cards, and a further three, yellow cards!

Sat 5 Mar 2016 Scot Cup Q/F B Mckay (Ross Co 2 - Dundee Utd 3) SL 1 R McAllister (Albion 1 - Peterhead 1) Highland League M Laing (Buckie 0 - Inverurie 1)

Less than 48 hours before our big match against Hibs. I'm trying to look at the positives we have going into this game. One is that Hibs are on a worse run than we are, having lost their last three matches. Even that fact could turn round and bite us because Hibs may now concentrate on the Cup, as their challenge to finish top of the Championship is shot away. But we have a decent record against them, and so I am optimistic that we will be OK. Draper is back to strengthen midfield, and if we can find a goal scorer, then all should be well. I see Hibs are favourites with the bookies, and we tend to do well as underdogs but all the pressure should really be on Hibs, after all they are playing a Premier division team, and Cup Holders into the bargain. Lets hope we play like we all know we can, so that we can enjoy post match drinks in the Iona, as we make plans for the semi at Hampden. I'll see some of you on Sunday.

H/T 0-1 F/T 1-3 ICT Tansey Hibs McGinn Time 17

Wed 2 Mar 2016 Highland League A Skinner (Nairn C 3 - Wick A 3)

Tues 1 Mar SL 1 D Dods (Brechin 4 - Forfar 0)

I'd like to see Hughes given a try to see if he lives up to the big build up the Cambridge fan on here gave him a few weeks ago.

Alas for Brill I agree with those who fear that he might not get back to his best after the long lay off, so it will have to be OFW for me. Brill's arrival at ICT was, from memory, unexpected. I think it was in the pre season friendly at Charlton, from which time he pretty much kept Esson out of the team, until he got injured. OFW too, suddenly appeared for the first Astra game. Didn't cover himself in glory for their goal either, being badly positioned imo. But he has been sound enough since. I'm sure Esson is still competent if AFW is away on international duty etc.

H/T 0-0 F/T 0-1 ICT Tansey Hearts Cowie Time 62

Just watched the highlights, or should I say, for us, the only one highlight, Draper's goal. Nothing else was shown except Dundee missing chance after chance in the second half, before, deservedly it would seem, getting an equalizer. I'm fearful for our trip to Tynecastle on Tuesday night, and apprehensive about our visit to Easter Road next Sunday. Hopefully, a good strong away crowd on Sunday will lift the lads so that they quickly regain that 'magic of the cup' feeling, and give Hibs a seeing to. After all, surely we can do what Morton and Dumbarton can do! If we can go to Easter Road with another 3 league points under our belt, that would be fantastic, but realistically, I'd accept a draw on Tuesday, and a win, of course on Sunday.

I knew Johhny Nairne (back row, 3rd from left) quite well after I moved to Hilton in the early 50s. He and his brother, Charlie, were both good footballers. Charlie played for Nairn County for a couple of years. I can't remember whether Johnny played Highland League football. I know he progressed quite well in the Fire Service, attaining quite a senior rank. From the front row of the photo I also recognise Victor Fridge (from my Academy days). Donnie Grant too looks familiar, but I can't remember from where.

My old Dad was head gardener there just after WW11. I scarcely remember it. Our gardener's cottage ,called "Willowbank" was in the next plot along. He changed jobs in about 1948 and we moved further along towards Holm Mills , working for a nursing home called "Carol", I think. Our gardener's cottage there backed on to Drummond Crescent. The 'big house' next door had a football field in their back garden. The two boys there , both two or three years older than me, supported Caley and took me to my first game in about 1949. It was a 2-0 win against Clach, and I was hooked immediately, and have remained so ever since.

Tonight, Sat 27 Feb, Dani Lopez scored again, his 3rd since Joining Arenas Club de Getxo, in a 2-1 win over Real Madrid (reserves). Pity he didn't score so regularly when he was with us!

Ditto. Excellent service

See Hibs shipped 3 goals again and lost, Can only hope their bad run continues for another week!

Sat 27 Feb 2016 Scot Premier B Mckay (Ross Co 0 - Dundee Utd 3) SL1 R McAllister (Hat trick) (Peterhead 4 - Brechin 1) S Sutherland (Peterhead 4 - Brechin 1) EL1 S Winnall (Crewe 1 - Barnsley 2) Highland League M Laing (Inverurie 2 - Deveronvale 2)

Just a question. How is Meekings's injury progressing? When Warren broke his leg at the start of the season we all knew he would be out for months. If anything, he came back earlier than some of us thought. But with Meekings, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that when he got injured, he might miss two or three weeks, a month at most. But here we are several weeks later and no one seems to know just what his injury is, or how near to coming back he is. Can anyone shed any light?

H/T 1-1 F/T 1-3 ICT Tansey Dundee Hemmings Time 17

Yes, good result for Morton. Hope they can do the same against Celtic in the Q/F. I noticed our ex player, Connor Pepper, went off injured after an hour. He seemed to be playing right back. Was he not up front when he played for us?

I hope the Daily Express story is not true, as I have a lot of time for both these players. But it does make you wonder if JH's concentration on signing mostly midfielders recently indicated that he knew Vincent and Williams were not going to be around next season. Pure speculation of course. Totally agree with PerfICT that we need to get Raven and Polworth signed up asap. Raven has always been one of my favourite players, and all the rumours lately about he and JH falling out are really disconcerting. It would be a good morale boost to everyone if some of these outstanding contract issues were resolved sooner than later.

Just booked my flights. Conservatively, I reckon it cost me about £60 to £70 more than it would have done two weeks ago, thanks to the SFA's unacceptable delay in confirming date/time. Maybe I should ask them to pay the difference? Fat chance, I'll be lucky if I even get an answer to the letter I wrote to the Chief Exec yesterday. But now I'll just focus on trying to enjoy the match and another day out at Easter Road, hopefully just as a warm up for another couple of visits to Hampden a bit later.