Jaggernaut

If it wasn't for the goals and effort from Billy Mckay, we'd really be in the do do!

They had a guy walking up the stairs in the main stand trying to sell some. I suggested to the CEO that as money is so tight for the club, we should sell more raffle tickets and to do that, you set a table up, just as after folk come through the doors, just as they do in most highland league grounds, and ask everyone who comes in if they'd like to buy a raffle for £1 and tell them the prizes. The CEO seemed to think it was a good idea, and did nothing about it. It's just typical of the little things the club could be doing but don't.

Spot on, we were saying the same thing. We must be mad to sit in those conditions and watch this utter rubbish. It's supposed to be entertainment, but there is absolutely nothing entertaining about going to the stadium at the moment. There are more and more empty spaces starting to appear around us as well, which will get worse and worse if there isn't some kind of improvement over the next few games. We have been beaten and dropped points in previous seasons, but you could always say that we gave it a go, or we were unlucky, but more often than not, I'm coming away from games saying the other team was better than us, or we didn't deserve anything out of the game. I agree, the only plus points were it wasn't a loss, small comfort, and young Cairns got his first goal for the club, and it was an important one.

Another insipid ponderous passionless performance from our worst ever team. We were so bad that we made Morton look half decent! I really have to think that they practice things in training, but I don't know what it is, the team has no identity. We're definitely not a defensive team, we give goals away in every game. We're definitely not a passing team, we struggle to string a series of passes to feet together, and keep insisting of punting thirty yard diagonal passes into a strong win?????? These are supposed to be professional coaches and players???? Clueless. We're definitely not a counter attacking team, slow ponderous and always on the backfoot, never anticipating anything and second to most balls. We started the second half the way we should have started the game, but when we managed to get the equaliser, we reverted back to our default position of standing off Morton and letting them back into the game. That was the time to keep pressing them, as they were creaking. This is a huge month for our season, but going by the last couple of performances, I feel it's going to be season over by the end of February.

I really hope that the training this week has involved keeping the ball, more than a couple of passes and passing it to a team mate, having more shots on goal wouldn't go amiss either. Most teams that we have played this season seem to have a better passing game than us, and when we do manage to string a few passes together, it usually ends up in a chance of a goal, or even on the rare occasion a goal. So let's hope for a better performance from the team, and three very precious points.

As regards to the North Stand being closed on Tuesday, did the club ever give a reason as to why this was happening? It couldn't be to save money on the energy cost, as all the lights were on in the stand for the whole match, and surely to cut out the cost of staff to check the tickets at the North Stand gates, could the supporters not have entered through the East Stand entrance, and gone through the fire exit door beside the food kiosk and onto the North Stand? I know how important it is to sit in the seat that you usually have, beside the supporters that you know and have the banter with, so if fans stayed away because of all of the above, I can understand it.

Sitting in the stand on Tuesday night, in the freezing driving rain and high wind that could cut you in two, and watching a team that seems devoid of passion and rudderless, you start to think, ' what's the point of this, there's no enjoyment in any of this'. I have watched football in Inverness since around 1970, and witnessed many losses throughout the years, but I always was optimistic that better days were ahead, but after Tuesday nights dire display, I could really feel a seismic shift in the mood of the home support, as if they were resigned to the fact that we were going no further in the cup. We were all gathered in the main stand, and there was hardly a sound coming from them. There was certainly nothing to cheer about on the pitch, nothing to get them off their seats, no Scottish Cup passion from the team that used to cause so many Cup upsets, no great attempts on the Queens Park goal and the oppositions very small band of fans could be heard singing and shouting in our eerily quiet stadium. I have said before that there is a huge disconnect between the club and the supporters, and the club can't afford to lose any more supporters. I have heard some supporters talking in the stands, saying that they are not going to renew their season tickets for next season. So how will the club respond to this? Will they say what they said after the merger, when told that some fans were not going to support the new club, I believe that it was along the lines of ' we'll just get new supporters if the old ones don't want to come', so how did that work out for them?

The best team won this cup tie, they were the livelier the whole game, shot on site and bullied us off the ball. I felt we were just about keeping them at bay until Allardice went off, then two defensive mistakes cost us the game. We were riding our luck on several occasions involving our backline, but I felt we would get caught out eventually and we did. It might have been different if Doran hadn't lost his footing after Billy had put him through, but QP passed the ball so well the whole game, and we should try and get to that level if we want to get back on the winning track again on Saturday.

I heard the same rumour going around in the main stand. Nobody I talked to seems to have heard anything about the extent of the injury he is supposed to have.

With George Oakley leaving the club, I hope we have someone else to come in the striker position, as Billy Mckay needs some cover. I know Oakley wasn't a prolific striker, but we aren't really blessed in that position with bodies.

My thoughts exactly.

Is the inspection set so early, so as to inform QP whether they should travel up on Friday to their overnight accommodation, as I was lead to believe that they stayed at the Kingsmills Hotel last Friday night, and were planning doing the same for this match?

I think with most of the posts being depressing and repetitive regarding the way this season has panned out, there hasn't been too much to get excited about, hence the lack of any content from a lot of posters, me included. Things have been so bad that you feel like you are just constantly posting about the same topics all the time. Apart from the last couple of results, this season has been a very hard watch, and I think that has certainly affected the amount of posters on here, and I've also noticed it on Facebook.

Some of the decisions made this season have been baffling.

A fantastic three points on the road, and at a ground that's been a difficult place to go for points in the past. Good to hear that the team played some good football, and on the deck by all accounts, I hope that this is the way forward now, as it is getting us results. Hopefully Dan's injury isn't too bad, and that we have as strong a team as possible for next Saturday.

Yes, I've noticed that Tremarco is on the County coaching team on their matchdays, so he must be gaining valuable experience at premier level, and with him coaching the under 18s, he will have his eye on the up and coming players, so I think he may be one for the future.

Obviously more financially stable than ICT to be able to pay off a manager.

That was a result I didn't see coming and after going one down, even more so, but with a better performance, some strange play from their keeper and a couple of own goals, it turned out to be the most enjoyable game of the season so far. It could have been a lot different but for a couple of great saves by Ridgers and some sloppy finishing from Cove. It made a huge difference having Devine back in defence and the spine of the team was strong with Welsh Doran and Mckay all having good games. Henderson looks like a player who can beat folk and put in a cross. More absentees, No Harper or Shaw, are they added to the injury list? Let's hope we take the same drive and luck through to Arbroath next week.

I hope that, if we get Dawson on loan, he's a 6ft plus target man, because that's the only way he'll fit into the Dodds Hoofball style of football. You can bet your bottom dollar that Jim Mcintyre will have done his homework on us, and know our weaknesses, there are plenty, so it's up to Dodds to come up with a plan to compete with them on the day, something that he hasn't managed to achieve in most games. The lads that he's brought back have been playing in the tough world of the Highland League and Scottish lower league, so if they're not ready now for a game, when will they?

Merry Christmas and Seasons greetings to everyone one on this site, especially those who run it and maintain its high standards, and to all the contributers who make it what it is. We can but hope for a turnaround in our fortunes in 2023, starting with a win against Cove Rangers on the 2nd.

Well said Gringo. I've said many times that we have regressed season after season since our Scottish Cup win, when we should have pushed on and at least kept the same standards if not better, but we lost a lot of good players and they were replaced by players lesser skills and talent. I would challenge anybody to tell me what style of team ,playing wise, we are? There is no cohesion with any tactics, it's as if the players are told to go out and just play, as it looks like they have only just met and don't know what or where they are supposed to do or be.

I have said it on here many times, that Dodds is one of the worst tacticians I have ever seen. He can't see when there's a problem in the game and try to fix it, he doesn't know how to set up a team, not to get beat, never mind winning, so I would guess that his motivational skills are not too good either. I think the dressing room has gone. If he can't believe what they are doing, that's a huge problem. The Cove and Arbroath games could shape our season, lose these and it's a three team fight to stay in this league If ICT were a computer, I'd say turn it off, and reboot the whole thing. It needs a complete overhaul, especially in the coaching department.

Totally agree, the club is really bad at those things, again, these things don't take much to do, but mean a lot. It's another case of how bad communication is with the club, any other club would have informed us of a longtime kitman leaving. It was the same when James Vincent rejoined the club, I expected the announcer to really make a big deal of it when he read the team lines out, or for him to run out last to take the adulation of the supporters for our returning Scottish Cup hero, but nothing. Whoever is in charge of communication or public relations at the club, maybe needs to go on a refresher course.

I have mixed feelings about this decision. Firstly, I think that you should go out to win every competition that you enter, or why bother entering or taking part? Secondly, you should always play your best eleven. Football, apart from needing skill and sometimes luck to win games, is a confidence game, and we could certainly do with a good shot of confidence right now, a good result in the cup could be invaluable towards the next game against Hamilton and give us momentum. On the other hand, there may be repercussions playing the under 18s, as the authorities might see this as disrespecting the competition and a fine, that we can ill afford might come our way. I'm sure the under 18s will be delighted to get this chance to play, and it's a path to the first team and I hope they do well, but then again, if they take a big beating, and I can't see or expect Hamilton to take it easy on them, what will that do for their moral? Some might say forfeit the game if it means so little to the the club in the great scheme of things, and save on the expenses for the club and supporters at this time of year, and the cost of living crisis. It is what it is, and the club have made their feelings known, but did they really think they would get any sympathy from the authorities? Was ICT not forced to play a game down at QOS, when they had just witnessed a horrific RTA, and had to be on the coach much longer than they thought and told there couldn't be a postponement and unless they played they'd forfeit the three points? Maybe they will pull off a shock result, maybe Hamilton will not take us seriously, as we sometimes seem to do in games, maybe Hamilton will rest players as well! Whatever happens, let's hope that there are no more players added to the injury list, and that we get to the bottom of the injury crisis eventually.

Over the years, so many things have been suggested to the club, most are small and quite doable, the club have made the right sounds, but very few are executed. We were told that they'd have a steward directing the whackie exit races while trying to leave the home car park, it's survival of the bravest. The ludicrous disabled parking bays, if they want you to park in them the way they've set them out, you're trapped in there, it doesn't take a genius to work that out. Have team sheets available at all food outlets, have a table set up after you enter the stadium to sell raffle tickets, trust me, they'd sell double if they did this. Have to tv on in the concourse, if there's no live game, show old ICT games, try and create an atmosphere. Display all team photos since 94 on the walls, it would give the supporters something to talk about, it's such a soulless space. What happened to the quiz nights? It certainly helped with the player/supporter bonding, and makes the club tighter. There is so much wrong with the club now, no joy in watching or coming to games, it's the worst I can remember.