Robert

We shot ourselves in the foot by gifting the two goals in the first half. Until then we looked better than in our earlier games. We were much better in the second half and deservedly got back in it. We played some decent stuff, with Carson, Shaw, Bray and Gilmour probably the pick. Longstaff looks a decent signing too whilst Davidson looks effective going forward and hopefully won’t repeat the slackness that cost us a goal. The jury is out for me with Brooks but he’s not had many minutes. Devine looks out of sorts but hopefully just needs time to get back to full fitness and sharpness. We looked the more likely to win it but conceded late on when tying to get a winner. Now Mckay has passed Wyness’ total hopefully he goes on a scoring run. Gilmour’s goal was a cracking finish, whilst Samuels came very close before we conceded late on. I understand the negativity in the posts above (not sure how many of those posting were at the game) but if we can maintain the level of performance we showed in the second half we will not be too far away. Unfortunately Airdrie are another team that will wind the clock down and try to con the refs. Losing Lewis Nicolson is a big blow as he was looking good again tonight. I heard it being discussed in the stand that he’d messaged a pal indicating it was a bad one and he could miss the whole season. Hopefully that was just talk and it’s not as serious as feared.

Much better second half but no consolation as Todorov scores.

Mckay breaks the record! 2-2.

That was some strike by Gilmour!

Duffy, Bray and Brooks on for Davidson, Devine and Doran.

I thought we looked better early on with Longstaff in particular standing out. We then lost Nicolson to a bad late tackle that the ref missed and he was stretchered off. Davidson gave away possession cheaply and Airdrie scored. Devine then did the same for the second. Since we lost the first goal we’ve huffed and puffed but never looked like getting back in it.

It looked bad. Stretchered off. Two down. Gifts by Davidson and Devine.

Starting 11: MacKay Davidson Devine Delaney Nicolson Carson Gilmour Longstaff Doran Shaw Mckay Eight subs: Ridgers, Duffy, Harper, Ram, Hyde, Samuels, Brooks and Bray (that’s if I caught it right when announced!). First appearances for Ram and Hyde. No sign of Welsh or MacGregor. Hopefully just being rested.

HT 1-0 FT 2-1 ICT Billy Mckay Airdrie Todorov Crowd 900

Copied from the statement issued by the CEO in June: our season tickets for next season will go on sale tomorrow at 10am and we hope we can at least match this season’s tremendous effort which was actually higher than the number sold in our last season in the Premiership.

Not stayed there or played golf there either. It looks like Dornoch Station Hotel to me.

Was the No 5 left footed? If so it would probably have been Matthew Strachan.

Jay Henderson for County and George Oakley for Morton today.

Our under 18s drew 0-0 with Brora today.

We need to win our last two games in 90 minutes to have any chance of qualifying and we also then need to have a better goal difference than Airdrie and Dundee to win the group. That will need quite a turnaround from the way we played at Dumbarton.

We don’t seem to know what our best central pairing is yet. Against Bonnyrigg, Duffy and Delaney started, with Devine replacing Duffy after he took a knock. Against Dumbarton, Devine and Duffy started with Duffy on the left side. I’d need to watch the goals again, but Duffy has seemed the pick of the three so far, with Devine not seeming as sharp as usual yet, whilst Delaney is still growing into the role. We have Ram missing but I was assuming our strongest pairing would be Duffy and Devine, given we’ve brought Davidson in at right back. Hopefully they are sharper by Tuesday’s game or the impact of the loss of Deas will become stark.

He’s 37 and struggled with injuries at Hibs but it sounds like they hope he will have as much impact behind the scenes as on the pitch: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/former-celtic-hibernian-star-aiden-30523220.amp

My policy is never to bet on our match!

A Cove fan I know, who goes to their games home and away, feels he was their stand out player last season. He said he is hard working and will put in a good shift on the wing. He turned down a new contract at Cove and I’m told he is worthy of being at a higher level than them. Time will tell but, as Scotty says, let’s give him a chance and show our support.

Winger Luis Longstaff has joined us on a two year deal: https://ictfc.com/luis-longstaff-signs-for-ictfc/

The game was announced by Lossiemouth but our club has never mentioned it. It has been confirmed today that the match is not going ahead.

From the BBC Sport app: “We will exit Poland, Baltics, UK, US and Canada to re-focus on the Nordics and Netherlands," said CEO Jorgen Madsen Lindemann. "(We will) exit in the form of disposal, partnering or winding down the businesses.” The BBC understands all payments to the Scottish Professional Football League are up to date and it anticipates matches will be broadcast as planned this season. The SPFL and SFA are yet to comment on Viaplay's announcement.

Viaplay are pulling out of Scottish football. Will the cup continue this season? Presumably if it does there will be no coverage of our game at Dundee (I’m not a subscriber so would have been dependent on updates anyway) unless Dundee stream it.

We’ve entered this season, presumably for our Under 18s. We enter at the second round with a home game against Rothes: First Round draw: Brora Rangers v Fort William Wick Academy v Ross County Forres Mechanics v Strathspey Thistle Nairn County v Lossiemouth Ties to be played Wednesday 30th August 2023 Second Round draw: Brora/Fort v Clachnacuddin Wick/County v Golspie Sutherland Forres/Strath v Nairn/Lossie Inverness CT v Rothes Ties to be played Wednesday 13th September 2023 Semi-final draw: Wick/County/Golspie v Brora/Fort/Clach Inverness/Rothes v Forres/Strath/Nairn/Lossie Ties to be played Wednesday 18th October 2023 Final Due to be played Sat/Sun 11th/12th November 2023

Interesting discussion about our tactics. What’s been marked for me in the three games I’ve seen so far this season is that we have seldom gone long. We tried to play it over the top to turn the Elgin defence and capitalise on Samuels’ pace but we have not really done so since. Duffy played a long ball on Saturday and it led to Doran’s goal whilst Ridgers kicked out a couple of times last night (one went straight to the Dumbarton goalie without bouncing) but otherwise we have tried to play a passing game. I have no issue with that as long as we mix things up a lot so we are not predictable. However we normally play a safe pass which will rarely open a defence up. We have few players who are happy to take a player on. Shaw and Carson will, others less regularly although we have seen it from Doran and MacGregor in their game time. Maybe it has been deliberate as we get up to full fitness and sharpness but I’d like to see more variety in our play to keep our opponents guessing, whilst we need to know what our strengths are and play to them. As others have said, regardless of only being back in training for two weeks we should have comfortably won on Saturday and last night. Airdrie will be a much tougher test and if we fail it there are grounds for concern.