Robert

Interviewer: “You made a goalkeeping change at half time. Why was that?”. Dodds: “That will remain private”. Enough said. We have a problem.

4-0. No complaints really but 3 of them self inflicted. We’ve really missed the likes of Deas, Devine and Allardice tonight but we’ve simply been outplayed.

Ridgers hooked. That worries me as he’s been great for us. Yes, he’s not been his best tonight but what will this do for team morale. Coming after the alleged bust up on Saturday, what is going on?

Definitely. Possibly Duffy and Ram at centre half so Delaney can continue at left back. Good to have Welsh starting so some experience in the middle. Samuels on the bench is positive as his pace could be handy late on.

Stirling @ 1.66 please.

HT 0-1 FT 1-2 ICT Billy Mckay Morton Muirhead Crowd 1475

He also had one break forward and a decent cross. Personally I think it is too early to make him first pick at left back. It depends on how long Duffy and Devine are going to be out for, as we need Delaney at centre half until at least one of them is back. Harper is an obvious option, but that depends on how our midfield injuries are looking. We also have Lewis Nicolson on loan at Elgin, who looks a great prospect, so maybe need to recall him.

It’s so tight again at this point this season. With our injury woes, it’s remarkable we are joint top and I really hope the players go to Greenock and win on Friday to put us top again. Is there any word on Duffy, Devine, Allardice, MacGregor, Mackay or Samuels and when we may see them again? It would be good to have some of them back for Friday.

Also on Saturday, in the Highland League, Ali Sutherland and Andrew MacRae for Brora, and two for Aiden Wilson for Rothes. Stuart Armstrong scored for Southampton on Sunday. Tonight, Logan Chalmers for Ayr and Jordan Roberts for Stevenage.

No, extra time then penalties this season (other than the Preliminary Round). Last time we played Stirling, they beat us on penalties in the League Cup…..

Ross Tokely is apparently moving from North Caledonian League team St Duthus, where he was coaching and seemingly still playing (certainly last season) to Nairn County. They’ve just appointed a new Manager so not sure in what capacity he is joining them. Does he still coach our youngsters?

I will take that: a home game we should win, and we’ve avoided Championship teams. They are top of League 2 so another team we should not under estimate.

He missed a few games due to Covid and Dodds stuck with MacKay for a few games afterwards, with Ridgers on the bench. I didn’t hear about a fall out. I assumed Ridgers had taken a knock when it looked like a change may be made.

That’s really bad news for Deas and the club. I wish him a full and speedy recovery. https://ictfc.com/club-statement-robbie-deas-injury Time to get Lewis Nicolson back off loan to Elgin to give us cover so Delaney can slot in to left centre half. Harper may need to step back to left back so hopefully Welsh is fit to start games.

Lewis Jamieson for Airdrie and Kevin McHattie for Brechin today, the latter in the Scottish Cup.

We were better today than Tuesday and, with 8 players missing due to injury, I will take the point. It was a game that was there for the taking and both teams will feel they could have won, but equally could have lost, so a draw was the fair result. We started with 3 at the back and Carson in midfield, but it wasn’t working, with Raith getting too much joy down our left. It looked like the players were unsure of their roles and who should be covering the full back positions. Raith deservedly took the lead during that spell with what looked like a tap in after an effort was deflected on to the post. Credit to Dodds, as he changed things to a back 4 and we grew back into the game. Deas’ goal was a cracker. He moved forward with the ball and continued his run after passing it, and buried a great header into the net. He was MOTM for me with several good tackles too. In the second half, both teams were looking for a winner but the draw was the most likely outcome throughout. Deas got a bad knock in a challenge late on and was helped from the pitch, so our injury list may be worsening. However, Welsh looked comfortable when he came on. Credit to young Strachan who slotted in at left back after Deas’ injury. He looks a prospect and wasn’t scared to want the ball. He also made a tremendous block in the box. Whilst Deas was my MOTM, Ridgers had a good game, Delaney again looked good (after we changed formation), Harper was looking to be an outlet in midfield and Mckay as always worked his socks off. At half time I felt we should hook Shaw, but he showed a few glimpses in the second half that he has some talent. Friday on tv next, a winnable game in Greenock, but hopefully we have a few players back. Top of the league, goodness knows how, but if we can weather the current injury storm, we should be able to gain consistency. With hindsight I may have been overly critical on Tuesday but today was better.

Mckay and Shaw start in place of Doran and Mackay. Doran on bench. https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1583807670099681280/photo/1 Ridgers Carson Ram Deas Delaney Boyd Hyde Harper Shaw Mckay Oakley With the mist, I wonder how visibility will hold up.

Ayr @ 1.75 please.

Ethan Cairns’ goal has now been credited to another player.

HT 1-0 FT 2-1 ICT Billy Mckay Raith Easton Crowd 2101

With the injuries, I’d take a scrappy win over a good performance. Let’s focus on being tight at the back and trying to score on the break: we should play it like an away game given our away form. Off topic, the cup ties at Buckie and Fraserburgh are being streamed live, including to UK viewers tomorrow despite being 1500 kick offs. Seemingly they have permission to do so.

Thanks Scotty, all good for me. We appreciate all your efforts getting to the bottom of the issues.

It is common knowledge that Devine played with a hernia problem. Ram was struggling from very early in Tuesday’s game, so a sign he may not have been fully fit. Duffy taking a knock in the warm up indicates he probably had an issue that was known about. Did he come back too early from injury? Was Mckay on the bench as he’s not fully fit? Welsh was on the bench but was clearly not fit enough to play given it was a game crying out for a player like him. Did we bring MacGregor back too quickly, increasing the chance of him picking up another injury? Likewise Samuels earlier in the season? He got subbed in consecutive games, I think, due to picking up injuries and we’ve not seen him since. All questions but perhaps an indication that we are being too hasty?

This makes it sound better than it was! https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-0-1-hamilton-accies-18-10-2022

Don’t recall seeing him at all since fans were allowed back in after the initial Covid restrictions.