PerfICT

I'd not go near this bet with those odds! Much as Rasczak's calculation makes sense, 56-1 still feels way too low to me.... So I'm out! Good luck to anybody who takes those odds!

Getting first home team right is 4 in 8 (1 in 2) Getting opponent right is 1 in 7 (accumulator =1 in 14) Next home team right is 3 in 6 Next opponent right 1 in 5 Next home team 2 in 4 Opponent right 1 in 3 Next home 1 in 2 Opponent is last ball Multiply odds = 1 in 1680

Smile and wave boys, smile and wave! Maybe they'll pixelate ICT players out in the final to make sure we don't get too much exposure....

I make the chances of getting the draw exactly right (including correct h/a teams) = 1 in 1680, so good luck Caley Mad in Berks!

..fair cop - just trying to put a more optimistic spin on it!

...would prefer to win it!

We'll be drawn away - always are. Home to Berwick or Spartans?

Well done lads. Sounds like a battle in 2nd half, but who cares? We're through thanks to Esson's cracking save!

I'm afraid Januarys will always be shitey if we're doing well! Were a small "selling" club, so will lose good players to wealthier teams. We might be p!ssed off with our lot, but Hamilton have done even worse. Not many fans of Scot Prem teams are very happy - Celtic and Aberdeen were the only winners.

You can't ignore the player in all this - while they are a commodity that is traded, they have a common failing....they're human! So, if a player does/doesn't want to leave, it will have a bearing on the correct decision a club will make. Had Mckay insisted that he wanted to stay at ICT for the rest of his days, he would still be here. We know that wasn't the case because he didn't sign a contract extension. so, had he been denied what he probably saw as a good move, his heart would no longer have been with us and his form would have slipped. We would still have played him, but he would have been a shadow of his former self. The same is true of players coming in: it sounded like the guy at Southend was the one who put the kibosh on his move here (well before personal terms were discussed). Even if we'd offered the world and Southend had accepted, he wouldn't have come. So, both clubs and the player have to be happy with the deal on offer and that is why it is so difficult to attract the right person at the right time fro the right money. I still wouldn't be surprised if we weren't to see one or more of the guys papped during the window up here for the rest of the season (MAC, Jordon Slew both mentioned, for example). It's amazing how sudden unemployment can focus the mind!

...if Antoine-Curier is still available, I'd be pulling out the stops on that one.

Afraid the contingency was the guy at Southend. Well, we're a good deal weaker than a week ago. Dundee Utd will struggle to replace GMS and Armstrong, but no doubt they have a string of talented young guys to bring in. Hamilton must be raging (but rolling in it?)The window is always an anticlimax, I'm afraid. Difficult to get the right players who want to move at the right price and at short notice. Shambles.

Jeez - anybody left at Accies?? Not a bad shout, PF....

....and Hamilton will really miss Andreu....come on somebody: take a chance on coming to ICT and glory....

Concerned that anything now would be a panic buy - Balotelli for Liverpool springs to mind. We do need a striker, but not just the dregs. Celtic and Aberdeen have strengthened, but Dundee United are certainly weaker: what an opportunity for Europe! Billy - we need you for 4 more months! Oh we'll, I suppose we'll guddle through with Watkins and Ferguson, but what could have been!

apparently our bid for Lee Barnard (Southend) turned down. Not very inspiring! http://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/blues/11764085.Southend_United_reject_Inverness_Caledonian_Thistle_s_bid_for_Lee_Barnard/

Took some pals from Edinburgh to the game - they had been the year before too. Missed Tansey's goal while waiting in the queue for drinks under the stand. Thought we'd go on to win comfortably................and then the wheels came off! Red cards and Hamill combined to make for what looked like a miserable afternoon (again!) But wait....Nick Ross...scoooooooores! Bedlam. Then the nail-biting for 30+ minutes, but what an exhibition of how to play when 2 men short - even had chances to win it. Felt it was our day by the time it came to pens and sure enough, Hamill obliged. A sweet moment when big Drapes rolled th ball nonchelantly in to win it. Smashed my son's i-pod i nthe chaos after Nick Ross' goal to boot!

Right! The condition of the pitch required a different approach from usual, but it was a 'leveller'. I think this was the first time at home that we didn't dominate possession stats, but there was no way we could have been playing it around the back four and keeper, because the bounce and run would have made it suicidal. Agree that it was the right thing to do to get the game going ahead, but the conditions were never going to help a team usually noted for its passing.

Handball looks a cert!

BBC match report says it should have been a penalty. "Pictures revealed that Reguero had indeed clipped Watkins and he struggled to retain his balance before tumbling." No question he was clipped, but no ref is going to give a pen for the way he went down. Not a criticism of Watkins, but he took two paces before going down. Feel the contact, go to ground - no argument. Fair play to Watkins if he tried to keep playing, but plenty would have played for the contact and won the pen. No criticism - just was never going to be given as it happened. Pretty sure the penalty should be award for the offence, not based on style marks for how the victim goes down...or have I got that wrong? Of course, but the delayed reaction was unconvincing. I think Marley genuinely tried to keep playing and was unbalanced by the clip, but it looked like he realised he wasn't going to make and went down. The issue really is: If he was clipped, ref has to give a pen; if ref didn't see it as a clip, he has to give Watkins a yellow card. I'm not sure what no pen and no yellow means?

BBC match report says it should have been a penalty. "Pictures revealed that Reguero had indeed clipped Watkins and he struggled to retain his balance before tumbling." No question he was clipped, but no ref is going to give a pen for the way he went down. Not a criticism of Watkins, but he took two paces before going down. Feel the contact, go to ground - no argument. Fair play to Watkins if he tried to keep playing, but plenty would have played for the contact and won the pen. No criticism - just was never going to be given as it happened.

PS - Marley's dive was dreadful: Either go down with the contact or get to the ball - don't swallow dive a yard after the contact!

That was poor fare today. Pitch was shocking, shape didn't really work - get Shinnie back to full back and Tansey in the heart of midfield. Esson looked nervy and his kicking was erratic. Brill's absence was probably the biggest impact: No playing it out through the full-backs.Marley did quite well, but it's not his best position. Tremarco (I think) made a poor decision, dived in and allowed their winger to whip in a good ball for their goal. Not sure Warren could do much about it. Way off the standard of our play over the past few weeks, but maybe the pitch dictated that kind of football. County were poor going forward and are in trouble. Points dropped.

We'll not have anybody new for tomorrow. If fit, the obvious choice for me is Watkins. Good in the air and quick. I think we need to think about Ferguson for last 20 minutes, particularly if we're a couple up. If Watkins is not fit, then we're struggling a bit: Doran, Ross, Christie are not strikers and it requires a special skill. Maybe play 2 of them up front to give each other support? Whatever, County won't have a Scooby how we're going to set up!

Hate seeing ex-players of ours with some other top in their mitts! Ah well, good luck to the lad and I hope he does really well and that he doesn't end up in league 1. I would really have liked to have had the chance to cheer him off on Saturday, but not to be!