Eagle4Caley

Great result...I had forgotten it was on, but caught the last 10mins on radio (just as well...not sure my nerves could have taken more)

Great that Eddie has scored again, Jamie Vincent seemingly coming into good form at the right time, and Danny Williams looking increasingly important as a player

Such an important win against our nearest rivals, with them playing St Johnstone this weekend, we could be confirmed in 3rd place this weekend even if we draw!   I think that will be an astonishing feat considering how small our squad is (I wonder if we can get Billy Mckay on loan for a month in July!!)

Carshalton Beeches

South London

I decided to bump this given Yogi's achievement of a second Semi final in 12ish months and a Final

And still being in 3rd place at this time of the season....even if this is partly to do with Dundee Utd's implosion, given our small squad (and barely an orthodox striker to boot)  it is still a major achievement , although I would suspect hanging onto this place with the Final coming up will be a tough call, let's face it who wants to pick up an injury now?

If we win the Cup and get into the Europa League next season, he should definitely stay :lol:

Next season could be a toughie though

I like Ofere...he's a bit of a lump, but has some skill, and intelligence, what we have to do is to play to each players strengths...with Ofere it is ball to feet or head, with Watkins it is a ball into space, that's only two things the other players have to remember....and tbf they look quite different, so should be easy to spot who is who, and play the ball appropraitely

One minor (and I accept it's minor) plus point from this affair is that Caley have received alot of publicity this week, almost entirely positive, both on TV and in the written media.

I've even had people in my office in London talking about the team

I'm so glad for Josh!

But in equal measure l'm still so sad for Gary

What would be fairly easy to organise is a mass release of Red n Blue balloons as the lads come out

Having been to a few play-off finals and FA Cup semi's and Finals with Palace, I can vouch how good this can come across on TV, and how awesome it can be from the stands

Hopefully we will take 10,000 people to the match....so that could be between 20 and 40,000 balloons released

Not sure there are that many in Inverness, but can get good deals on the internet

Thoughts

First of all I hadn't realised Warren was banned for the final for a second yellow...seems grossly unfair, I thought the Scottish Cup fas the SFA's flagship competition, strange they are so keen to stop players from taking part, given that a) yellow cards can be given out for very minor misdemeanours and b) Scottish refs are worse than English for the confetti like way they dish them out

As for Josh Meekings, it would be gutting if he were also to miss the final, on the basis that the officials may have made a mistake,..... the SFA need to prove his actions were deliberate, as he can certainly be seen attempting to head the ball away.

As to Celtic and their whining, whinging response, and abuse tweets.....it's to be expected, they are on the whole, arrogant bigotted twats. I hope the SFA and the SPFL will be watching the next league meeting between us very closely for evidence of retribution.

Yogi....said on Sunday, he didn't like the idea of going to the final as favourites....the worse case scenario of both Warren and Meekings missing the final certainly evens things up a bit....but hopefully will spur the lads on as well

How about. 'can you hear the Celtic sing?'

But seriously.....must be time for 'Yogi Hughes red n blue army'

And the 'love you' song

Here's my "glass half empty" thought for the day. We've now played 6 semi-final matches in the major cups, and over 90 minutes we failed to win any of them!

We get more football for our money!

Glass totally full moment ...we've won our last two semi's

What a lovely trip up for me, the sleeper coach was better than expected, the Clockwork pub excellent for the pre-match drink (well done to whoever sorted that out). Thanks to Top Six for sorting my ticket out, and great to meet our with more members of this forum

Great to be able to watch the whole match down here tghanks to Sky.....in many respects a great result

Brill very unfortunate, and not Mackay-Smiths fault at all, he had every right to go for the ball, and barely touched him, I think his knee jarred in the turf, but credit to M-S that he showed so much concern....Esson looked pretty safe, bar a nearly fluffed clearance, he made two or three good saves.

Ofere was excellent in his physical presence and ball control, if a little slow and tired later.....I felt he he had been playing more regularly one or two of our players would have got closer to him to pick up knock-ons/passes.....also Christie played a couple of through balls in to space for him, that he was never going to get, ball to feet will be the better option. However the Celtic CB's certainly knew they had been in a game, which bodes well for next week.

Largely very impressed with Christie, he did so much closing down to help keep Cetic under pressure and allow others to close down their man....one of our best options

Watkins a bit quiet but he was doing alot of defensive work...I wamt him to peak next week not this!

Although Celtic were dominant for periods, there were good sections of play for Caley too.

Some nice stuff from Tansey and Shinnie especially, and our CB's weren't over-run

Overall a solid game for Caley, a well earned point, and we avoided what Celtic did to Dundee U before their cup matches, which was morale damage along with getting suspensions

Can't wait for next week!

Great result for Palace as well, so I have had a great weekend football-wise

I'm in Jordan at the mo, and strangely happy with the point!

There's probably a bit of end of season look about us with all eyes on the Cup match, who wants to get injured or booked now?

I think there's also the issue of the size of our squad, where the quality peters out after the first 12 -13 players. Even Vincent does not get much of a look in these days.

The key for us for the final run in, is giving Celtic something to think about before the main match, without getting anyone sent off!

Still waiting on the banter train full of folk saying we don't want/need Europe.

My issue would be that we could playing a Cup Final on the 30th May and then a qualifying round of the Europa Cup in the first week of July, which leaves rest and a break for the lads limited and pre-season compromised....

I understand the attraction, but we have a small squad already, with out even a bonafide main striker on a permanent deal....would a friendly in say, Lille, not suffice?

Just seen this 

http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/news/5295

 

Hibs have the ticket prices and areas for their semi-final up so what's the hold up for us. I'm guessing the prices would be the same for us? 

I know...they have had this info since Tuesday! I tweeted ITCFC on Thursday and they had no news

The SFA must have known the possible outcome for our Semi before the Celtic/Dundee tie, there were only two options, so how come they haven't sorted the ticket allocation out, is it that difficult, I mean Celtic will have 3/4s of the ground obviously..... It takes an A4 sheet of paper and a felt pen to come up with possible configurations,  I could do it in my lunch-break ....must be pretty similar to Hibs/Falkirk

They are clearly waiting for me to fly out of the country for a week over Easter!

Still....we have an idea on ticket prices

Any ideas when tickets will be on sale? I'm away over Easter and beyond... be nice to have it sorted before I disappear!

Another crap result and another season where we start to falter near the winning post. I can't recall our last good performance.

Well St Mirren away was excellent, the first half was like watching Barcelona!

I  wish we were 3rd in the league in a good position for Europe & maybe in the semi final of the Scottish Cup.

 

I`m not asking a lot.

 

True that!

Sounds like a rather drab match..... but also Yogi trying something new out, it may not have worked, but good to try a few things out at this stage (sounds like Yogi testing some ideas for Celtic). Slightly disturbing is the lack of shots from us....I'd be interested to know if the pitch was that bad?

However, I reckon we need a couple more wins out of five games to be in third before the split, and then it's a straight fight with Dundee Utd for third place .....We have three matches before the Semi-final.

IMHO second place is probably not realistic....the main target has to be to get past Celtic in the Semi......given the choice between 2nd/3rd/4th  as a final place in the league or a place in the Final (with a really good prospect of winning) I'd taken the Final plus 4th place

Be good to get back to winning against Dundee (which wont be easy), not getting stuffed, players injured or sent off against Aberdeen, and confusing Celtic in the league match before the Semi without a morale sapping result.......Yogi about to earn his wages over the next month methinks

Overnighter (coach) booked from London (must not sit/sleep near toilet), arrives 7am in time for breakfast.....and flight back booked (thankfully)

Next...match ticket!

No public transport from Inverness that gets into Glasgow for that KO time. Even trains from Aberdeen don't start early enough to arrive with enough time to spare to make kick off.

Maybe the SFA have spoken with Scotrail about organisig some football specials.....or am I being incredibly naive here (yes obviously!)

Our game announced as 12.15pm on the Sunday.

The good news is it's on a Sunday so I'm coming....but seriously 12:15! Seriously!?!

I'm sorry for all you guys with the early start, we are being treated shabbily....if it's any consolation, my only option IS the overnight coach

Let's beat those 'Bhoys', take the final as well, and then bury the Cup in the Highlands!

Celtic are about to run out of puff, and let's face it, we have played pretty well all season with an occasional blip, playing good football and our new frontline of Ofere, Watkins and Christie will be a stern test for Celtic, with plenty of options like Williams, Doran and Ross, and a solidity about us defensively (just make sure the back passes are hit strongly!)

I reckon Celtic will harbour some doubts about meeting us

Hope the venue and date is sorted asap, only way I can get to this is if it's on a Sunday, might have to do an overnighter on a coach from London

11 mins of highlights from RR TV ...

http://www.raithrovers.net/raithtv?vid=328

From the highlights mosty one way traffic... the biggest threat to us was some misplaced passing to the opposition usually with little cover in place (must be a lesson to be learnt somewhere in that!)

Got the job done!  Listening on the radio it sounded like we were well on top....be interested in how our new striker Ofere is viewed by you guys

Before the match I decided to take a punt on booking a hotel for Glasgow.....not for the semi though!  Normally I would view that as tempting fate, but hope springs eternal this year for me

Sounds like one of those crazy nights! I would have taken a draw away to Dundee Utd on a Tuesday night before the kick off... it may seem surprising that we couldn't make the man advantage play to our advantage, but this often happens, the other side keeps it tight, the ref helped by booking nearly all of our defence early on, and we don't have a conventional attack.....once Watkins runs out of puff, we become somewhat ineffective going forward. Annoying that Utd got the equaliser, but the Warren sending off is possibly more damaging.

I understand people are keen on the European spot, but not sure we have a squad to get past the 1st qualfying round which would be played quite early in July, probably against some god-forsaken Eastern European side that no one has ever heard of, or wants to go to.

Watched the Yogi interview and was very impressed with his assessment of the game... I do think we need that option of a big strong player upfront

Interesting comments about Ross County, which I agree with (I may be in a minority!) I'd rather they stay up so we can play them and it cements the Highlands as a 'footballing' centre