Caley Mad In Berks

I don't think the apprehension is much to do with Stevenson. It is just that, apart from against Aberdeen, we have been fairly poor in recent weeks, whereas Hearts are coming on to their game Coupled with the nagging fear that history might repeat itself and that we'll throw it away again. Let's hope it will turn out all right on the day. I think ICT really needs a win here to get our season back on track. I thought we'd done that at Aberdeen, but the Killie game raised doubts again.

I wouldn't want him back either. He 'huffed and puffed' a lot but was never a real goal scorer for us. I only remember one really good goal he got (Killie in the 6-3 was it?), when he won the ball with a good header in the centre circle and ran the rest of the way to score.

IHE, Park it in our goalmouth! Dean Brill will wash it for you. Hopefully he'll have nothing else to do!

I can't find the Barry Fry article either. You're right Yngwie, Billy's lack of goals in recent weeks undoubtedly will have put off some interested parties. As I've said in earlier posts on this thread I always thought many posters on here were hugely optimistic with their valuations in the millions for Billy. A nice hat trick on the big stage on Sunday might change things in the summer.

Yes, I'm sure most ICT fans will wish him well there. I'm sure he will do well, and who knows, its not beyond the bounds of possibility that he'll end up back with us in the future.

I think some folk are over analysing the reasons for Hughes' appointment, almost to the extent of believing there were ulterior motives etc. Is it not the case that the board made the appointment in all good faith, believing Hughes was the right man for the job? Call me naïve if you will, but that is what I'd like to believe. Maybe they got it wrong, only time will tell.

Obviously changes need to be made after the Killie showing. We need our strongest side out. I like the look of hislopsoffsideagain's suggestion. I definitely think Tansey deserves a start after his showing v Dons. Devine for Meekings if the latter's injury prevents him playing.

Well, that wasn't in the script! When did we last win after being behind? Today, hopefully!

H/T 1-1 F/T 1-3 ICT Mckay Killie Boyd Time 17

I wasn't talking about work rate. I agree Mckay is second to none in that department. I was thinking more about his ratio of goals scored to the chances he has had. I think most people would admit he misses more than a few! However, I do concede that maybe his work rate helps in creating the chances in the first place. I would just like to see him convert a few more.

CH2 makes some good points. I think Wyness was a better striker than Mckay, albeit predominately in the lower leagues. Was Rooney better? Not much in it imo. Both took a season or more with us before they started scoring regularly. I wonder if Rooney's scoring to chances ratio might have been slightly better. I think Mckay's is relatively poor from the matches I've seen (live or on TV). Rooney hasn't been a runaway success in Englandshire, and I honestly think McKay would struggle too. But that doesn't mean I would sell him without a replacement in the offing. But he goes in this window, I can see us being offered, and accepting quite a bit less than £1m for him. As DD said, if he stays till the end of the season and bags another 15 or so goals by then, that could be a different story.

Only a cad or a bounder would steal your microwave!

For me, there is no argument. He should be at left back. I never liked him at right back, even when we were winning, and I don.t believe it is just coincidence that our team is playing well again with Raven correctly reintroduced at right back.

In the cool light of late evening I' m reflecting on just how good that win was. If I'm honest I expected us to lose today, as I suspect did many other ICT supporters. But now I can see that win as a stepping stone to a successful second half of the season. And that will be just reward for the fantastic start we made to this season. It would have been difficult to watch us slowly drift down the league, even to 7th place or below. But now, based solely on how we played today, I am optimistic that we will challenge for second spot. A cup win, or two, is not out of the question either. At times today we played the best football I have seen us play since a spell against Killie at their place a couple of seasons ago when, for about 20 minutes, we were simply fantastic (even though we only won 2-1 in the end!). Coupled with Latapy joining as assistant, Tansey rejoining and being terrific today, and maybe Hughes beginning to find his feet, I am all of a sudden hugely optimistic for the remainder of the season. With a severely depleted team today (no Warren or Draper), our defence was simply immense. In fact it will be a hard job for Hughes to decide who to drop to accommodate these two back into the starting line up. Nice problem for him to have. What with Williams , at last, showing how well he can play, I say again, we have every chance of realising the potential that the first half of the season promised. Roll on the next few weeks!

Fabulous, well deserved win. We showed real bottle in second half. Hard to pick a MOM. Whole defence was magnificent, plus Williams (in first half particularly) and Tansey when he came on.

Mckay should have sewn it up there!

How unlucky was that? Must say, Tansey has been great since he came on. Come on lads, hold on, you deserve to win this.

Great chance there for 2-0. Boys playing lovely football right now.

Well worth that interval lead. This game could see our season back on track! Let's hope we can see it through.

Nice goal too. I've got it on some dodgy channel! Should do Williams' confidence a bit of good. Carry on the good work lads.

H/T 1-1 F/T 1-2 ICT Mckay Dons Robson Time 17

Glad he's back. It sounds as though he wanted to come back here, if the suggestions that there was competition from some other teams are true. I suspect he may turn out to be a shrewd signing.

Mckay was a poor penalty taker. Apart from his misses, quite a few others were poorly hit and lucky to go in. I wouldn't want to see him back as our penalty taker.

Yes, I go along with what seems to be the majority view, that he would be a worthwhile addition to the squad, especially if Vincent goes. The bonus is that he can take a decent free kick, and penalties. Although to be fair, his first season with us was when we had no more than a couple of penalties awarded to us all season (from memory), but I did see him score one in the pre-season at Yeovil.

I don't want Vincent to go, but nobody is indispensable. We always seem to plug the gaps very adequately when we have lost important players in the past. Black, Hayes, Rooney all spring to mind!