Eagle4Caley

It's still very much possible, especially as Dundee Utd still have to play Livingston and St Mirren (and will almost certainly be the only team Brechin beat this season!) The two Dumbarton matches could be key for us and then we play Dunfermline (which I am up for) A great win today and, including the cup, that's 6 games unbeaten..... Lets make that 7 against Falkirk this Tuesday

Yes a great result...and it could count for more. A play-off place is maybe an outside possibility, but it's better to look up than down, and remember St Mirren's almost certain promotion is very much off the back of a brilliant run in the Spring last year taking them from bottom to clear of the relegation play-offs. A good finish to the season has positives all round.

My wife and I were up in Inverness over the weekend, but because she hasn't been very well recently we opted not to go to the match , so watched from our hotel room instead. We missed the first 20mins though, which appears to have been Dumbarton's brightest spell, because other than the occasional foray forward and the scare of a mistake or our defence switching off, I didn't feel we were under much threat....according to the BBC they only had 4 shots and only one on target. They sat back very deep, and made it very difficult for us, effectively neutering any threat from Mulraney (who had no space to play with) and to a lesser extent Bell. Oakley had an OK game, but funnily enough I felt Baird might have done a better job (I'm sure I am in the minority there!) It was a pretty scrappy game and many passes went astray, but in my view we were much the better side, I know from watching my other team, that playing a side that defends that deep, will effectively bring you down to their level!. I thought we were patient and tried to build from the back, Polworth and Vigurs trying to prompt along with Donaldson, Tremarco and to a lesser extent Seedorf. One thing that did impress me was the number of forward slide rule passes that were attempted and many completed. Now you might pooh-pooh that observation, but I often complain about how poor the passing of my other team is (sorry to mention them again) ...so that was something I noticed. We got progressively better in the second half (as did Seedorf!) and it was great work by Robbo to bring Doran on for Mulraney and then Mackay when he did, I felt both would change the game. Vigurs penalty was poor (for some reason I think left footers are more likely to miss a penalty anyway...just from observing many penalty shoot-outs), but I wasn't totally convinced it was one anyway, and if we had won the game from that, it would have been somewhat flat as a victory. Our winning goal was great, and probably only the second time in the match that we properly carved their defence up. As someone else said Cup finals are for winning and we did, the players looked elated, and hopefully will give them a lift for the running in, so that we can lift any thoughts of a relegation play-off, off our backs and maybe inch towards those play-offs. Given that Donaldson only came back from injury for this game, it'll be interesting to see if Robbo starts him on Tuesday. I'm up for the Dunfermline game on the 21st April (straight after a Dumbarton double-header ) which I am looking forward to, and a lot of games will have been played by then. I know many people have been disappointed with this season, but maybe because I don't see us play every week, I am encouraged by the green shoots that I see in some of the new players that have come in (and Doran's slow but steady return).

Imagine how I feel about my other club...with Christian Benteke basically treading water until he sod's off to somewhere like China at the end of the season....he gets £120K per week! By comparison some of Caley's player would merely be doing a bit of shoplifting....at a sweetie store! It's one of the mysteries of football that the same bunch of players can be both inspired and up for it, in one match and insipid, half-arsed and disjointed in another

Yes, things do seem to have unravelled at the back with the shunting of Mckay over to RB due to Raven's departure, accommodating Warren. I guess Seedorf isn't quite the finished article yet. Not surprising really. Never really been convinced by Mckay at RB either...it'll be interesting to see whether Robbo will be tempted to drop Warren and return to the our most effective pairing once Donaldson is back fit ( I suspect Robbo is like many managers who tend to err on the side of experience regardless of real form, so it may take til the end of the season to see this one out). Tremarco is clearly one of the better LB's in the division so we should really have a pretty strong backline. I agree with the Bell/Oakley front pairing, we should be able to rotate one of Doran/Mulraney?Elbouzedi to attack down a wing...the only question then is should Trafford be playing more?

Oops...thats what happens when you typing whilst pretending to be working!

Hold on chaps....this is only the 2nd league match we played since Falkirk (and lost, I know) on the 27th January. Before then we had only lost to St Mirren (Champions-elect) or when we had had a man sent off. We've clearly lost some momentum, and I think the Irn Bru farce has been a distraction, but we've also recently been without a key man in Coll Donaldson. I wonder if Baird going has been a surprising factor, but Austin hasn't made much of a mark due to being a bit of a sick note already. Dunfermline are hardly pushovers either. Dundee Utd away will be difficult, but hopefully by the time we get our next home game the pitch will show signs of recovery, and we have a shed load of games at home so a good pitch will suit Doran and Mulraney. We have games in hand over the guys above as well. It might be a tall ask to get into the play-off positions, but I still think there is more than enough to stay above 11th place. After last season, this one was always going to be an interesting one, but Winters gone, Spring is coming keep the faith (even after a ***** midweek loss) COYC

Blimey...if we still have any injured players, they should all be fit by the time we play again (hopefully that includes Donaldson, and Austin) It'll definitely test the depth of the squad...but if we get some momentum going we actually want games to come fairly quickly.

Following on from the perverse logic of the SPFL. they should play the game at Crawley Town FC...just 15mins from Gatwick Airport, and thats just an hour and a half from Inverness, would be one of the quicker away trips Just £42 return at the mo on Easyjet

Vigurs had to wait a long time..their goalie had been very good, Vigurs obviously realised that if he guessed the right way, Jensen might reach it, so was trying to get it as close to the post as possible. he just screwed it wider than intended. I was surprised the ref didn't blow for full time when the kick had been taken. Can't see why the Crusader player was so upset at Polworth, he had two goes at taking him out. A really good game (for a Neutral), after the initial opening 5 minutes Caley took control in the first half and played some good stuff, almost men against boys. We should have been 5 up.....Calder impressed me alot, as did Mulraney and Polworth. Great cross from Oakley for our second goal. Bell was surprisingly anonymous tonight. 2nd half we came out a bit complacent, and they had mixed it up....our defence was all over the place, almost Keystone Cops...their first goal was inevitable, and strangely so was our sending off, although it was a pretty soft one in two parts. We were hanging on for dear life, it was the sort of game when anything could happen...I one stage I though 4-3 to Crusaders after extra time, but we held out. And we got to see the lesser spotted Elbouzedi! Anyway we've got to the final, let's hope we can finish the job whilst working our way up the table. BTW what's happened to Austin, and as for Tremarco, I hadn't realised he was that badly injured, we haven't seen him for a while.

I kinda find that surprising given that we have recently given Donaldson and Tremarco improved/extended contracts, and signed Austin

Yes that was nice to see...I had someone come up to me this week on the day of the anniversary talking about it, there was something on the BBC website....that was nice too

The start of my relationship with Caley

If you think this guy is bad or money has been wasted....my other team Palace signed Jordan Mutch from QPR about 3 years ago for nearly £5million and very good money, he's had a handful of games, rarely impressed, not scored a goal, not been injured so far, but has been pretty much consigned to the U23 side under various Managers...doesn't seem to play even there, despite being named in our 25man first team squad, and we can't seem to get rid of even on loan, he still has another year and a half on his contract. I know that in the moneybags EPL we shouldn't be bothered by money constraints but we are, to the extent that we keep haggling to hard in transfer windows and missing out on players. Such is football I guess

We got Austin in pretty early and have tidied up the squad with 'big wage' earners David Raven and OFW off the books plus obvious deadwood/no-hopers Eldson, Cooper, and 'Susan' released or leaving. Coll Donaldson has been secured with a longer contract. Interestly some had Calder marked for an exit but he seems to have really up his game in January. With Daniel Mackay getting some game time and his first goal that is a plus along with Doran's continuing rehabilition. Presumably Zak Elbouzedi will come back from Elgin City have had some game time. Overall I think we have done a decent job over two windows trimming the squad to suit income and rebuilding. Ross County do seem to have snapped up a lot of players (fairly average ones though?) in an effort to stay up...but could cost them later, and so far doesn't see to be having any affect

Actually the play-offs are no further away than when we kicked off today, and that includes 2nd place, just one less game to achieve it....the red cards are a problem and are costing us points, JR and the club need to sort this quickly without losing the competitive spirit.

We have to be careful now... from the BBC text it looks like we're losing our heads as a team... need to avoid more suspensions and limit goals against

By giving away a penalty

Don't you mean all of Scotland?!? Still at least we are used to playing with 10men

I think that's a useful advantage! We play Dundee Utd twice before the end of the season...that gap is close-able We probably didn't think it at the start of the season, but (injuries and suspensions aside) we probably have the squad to get through a long play-off, with decent enough strike options in Bell/Oakley/Austin(?) and yes even Baird. Nice options on the wing with Doran and Mulraney, defensive strength, and not a bad looking midfield with Vigurs, Polworth, Chalmers and Trafford. (You can tell I'm also a CPFC fan ...relentless optimism!)

I have a sneaky feeling we'll be playing RC in the Play-off final!

I get the feeling that Chalmers and Inverness are a good fit for each other.... strikes me as a player you miss when he's not playing. Guys like Chalmers (and Trafford) do the work that allow the other more creative players to prosper. We can all see now that the club and Robbo have done a pretty good job of rebuilding the team. I'm excited by the potential.

TBF it's no more than a goal a game....and three of those games, we were down to 10men, the settled backline that had that great record, hasn't been settled in those 6 games, so I think it's still a solid run, defensively...seems that Calder has settled in and looked good past couple of games, and if Seedorf could stay fit he has real potential. Great to see Doran score today. he looked pretty good against Falkirk as well...it's almost like a new quality signing Has to be said after a shambolic season last year and a difficult summer and start to the season, the team has come on leaps and bounds, and in Donaldson, Bell, Chalmers, Oakley, Seedorf, Ridgers and Calder we are seeing additions that are looking worthwhile having been given a bit of time (I think Trafford is in the same category, but hasn't played much recently, Baird I think has done OK, Austin obviously to soon to tell). Both Mulraney and Brad Mckay seem to have kicked on this year, and for all the criticism of him Polworth looks an increasingly important player for us. Vigurs and Tremarco have been stella for us, but I'm looking at the newbies and the youngsters Not only am I up for the Falkirk home game in March...but I have managed to sort another trip up for our last home game against Dumfermline, my gut feeling is we'll have secured a play-off position by the end of that game, the play-offs are of course a marathon if you finish in 3rd/4th, and I don't think it's been done very often, but I can see us going the whole way (which I didn't expect to be saying a few months ago) if we are lucky with injuries, and suspensions.

Looks like Nathan Austin is already having an effect! Oakley does seem to be finding the net quite regularly now Overall a great result .... I think we've killed any prospect of relegation, and now seem to be looking more likely as a play-off contender with 3rd place looking very attainable.

Gripping stuff following that at work, I guess I would have taken the point given the sending off...if we could have just kept 11 on the park! Still thinking we'll eventually get into the play-offs