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Defensive woes the big issue. Inverness' defensive frailties allowed St Mirren to run away with the game in the second half as they notched a 4-2 victory over the Highland club. A first half goal from young sensation Lewis Morgan gave the Buddies the lead at the interval. The second half exploded into life around the hour mark when a phenomenon known as strikers goal afflicted Inverness. John Baird was the scorer. However that seemed to annoy the Buddies and they replied a minute later through Buchanan. Five minutes later Liam Polworth levelled again only for St Mirren to kick on once more through Smith and McShane, two goals in a minute and our defence exposed once more. That crazy spell of five goals in thirteen minutes ended the scoring and the result puts St Mirren to the top of the league where they will be difficult to shift. We remain in seventh place. Immortal Howden Ender will have a full report for us later...................... POOR PAISLEY RETURN It actually felt good going back to Paisley. No re-match drinks in the Alamo, presumably avoiding the fly ridden buffet ?!! Often criticised as a Legoland stadium but I would have a similar set-up in Sneck in a feckin second. There was a good atmosphere and only 3610 in attendance – they pack their wee Ultras into the corner by the away end. That works a feckin treat as well. We mustered 150 and it was more of a case of the Under70’s than the Under 17’s !! Jack Ross mentioned that his team were “enjoying their football” and that was clear to see. They are young, pacey, eager, energetic and confident. That apparently was the first time that Midden scored more than 3 against us. It could have been 6 or 7 but the same could be said to us – yes we could have scored 6 or 7 as well. We suffered from poor finishing whereas they benefitted from poor defending. We came out of the blocks at the start of both halves. For 15 minutes of both we looked good and in charge. Our heads do appear to go down easy but the way that we conceded the goals must have infuriated anyone outside of our back four. Baird was unbelievably amateur in the 2nd minute when he fell for the Midden offside ploy. All he had to do was to look and hold back. However I also thought that Calder could have fired in a shot also. Minutes later Calder misfired from a similar position. And then we took a breath and Midden came back into the game. Warren mistimed. Mckay went on his back foot without a thought of a direct challenge. Where was Raven. They allow Morgan to run and run and shoot. Shure it deflect off McKay but that was there to be stopped by Ridgers. 31 minutes and we are behind when we could have been 2-0 up. Enuff said. So lets move on to the second half and we start in 5th gear again. Polly misses an utter 1 on 1 sitter, Warren misses a very good headed opportunity and instead of being 4-0 up we are still 1-0 down. Then we take on Bell for the “injured” but wholly ineffective Calder and his flick ends up with Baird equalising in the 61st minute. But it is 1-1 NOT 5-0 !! And then we blow it again. 3 mins later in the 64th. Trafford is turned 3 times, falls on his erse, we do not compete against the cross, Ridgers does not compete or focus and we are behind again to a gift. But then we get a bit of luck on 69 minutes. Polly drifting offside is abetted by a ridiculous touch from a Midden defender and this time he nets the 1 on 1. So what do we do – we feckin give away another goal 4 mins later in the 73rd minute. Warren, Chalmers and McKay enact a scene from a Keystone Cops movie and Smith puts Midden ahead. Cue our heads going down and Midden smelling blood. And it does not take them long to kill us off. 2 minutes in fact. In the 75th minute Raven falls over this time and the ball eventually is cracked in by the ex-Tink McShane. Cue substitutes methinks. Completed by Midden but not by Robbo. Unbefeckinleivable Jeff. The game then petered up. Polworth looked shattered but so did Vigurs. One for effort and the other for not being feckin fit enuff. SMILEYMOMETER RIDGERS Possibly one of the worst ICT goalkeeping performances that I have ever seen. Not only the goals but his distribution was equally shocking. He has clearly lost confidence and so have others in front of him – in themselves and Ridgers. RAVEN Love the man. Will always be a fave but he is fading fast. He can still think a game but does not have the required energy or pace required. Given zilch help from Cooper though. CHALMERS Again not helped at all by Calder but another who looks wholly lacking in confidence. Pity as he does appear to have a pretty sweet left foot. WARREN No lack of determination from another old warhorse. Unbeatable most of the time in the air but as with Rave looks susceptible to pace. Misses Meekings or a likewise defensive partner. McKAY Can’t believe how much he dithered today and was hardly seen in the game, apart from mistakes. POLWORTH Would be surprised if any poster picked any else for MOM. 120% and literally ran himself in to the ground. TRAFFORD Liked the look of him BUT he appeared to be given the role of providing defensive cover fer Polly and Vigurs. VIGURS Great vision, great touch, great left foot but sussed by Midden and dealt with - although this resulted in him chastising others and losing his focus. CALDER Simply nothing other than a wing back (Please note Robbo). Could he not reminded that he is required to shoot and defend. Injury was a way out ?!! COOPER Did ZILCH apart from make Raven look even worse. BELL Put it like this. He more that deserves a start next week. Would prefer him out wide in the place of either Cooper or Calder. Have to agree with a lot of what Robbo said after the game. It could have been so different but you do not win games with our frailities at the back. But his attempt at a 4-5-1 simply did not work. You simply cant havea defence like ours and starve it of cover. It looked like the ploy was to play Calder and Cooper in advanced positions to assist Baird. Vigurs to sit and be a lazy playmaker, Polly to have a free, roving role – leaving Trafford to try and sit in front of the defence. Robbo stated that he wanted to push Midden wide. Well that totally fecked us as they ran feckin riot. And the decision not to take on Treamrco and Oakley – Well. And to end with – Willie Gollum was absolutely shocking and both sets of fans joined in to Anti-Gollum chants. Footage of the goals from Caley Jags TV and Robbo's post match reaction. Date: 09/09/17 Venue: St Mirren Park, Paisley Attendance: 3610 Referee: Willie Collum St Mirren: 4 Lineup: Samson, Demetriou (Kirkpatrick 85), Irvine, McGinn, Buchanan, Morgan (Duffy 92), Smith (Todd 87), Baird, McShane, Reilly, Eckersley Subs (not used): R.Stewart, Sutton, R.Stewart, Whyte Scorers: Morgan (31), Buchanan (63), Smith (73), McShane (74) Booked: Buchanan (6) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Ridgers, Raven, Chalmers, Warren, Polworth, Baird, Vigurs, Calder (Bell 56), Cooper, Mckay, Trafford Subs (not used): Esson, Tremarco, Elsdon, Oakley, Mulraney, Donaldson. Scorers: Baird (61), Polworth (69) Booked: Vigurs (33), Mckay (89) Sent Off: none a

Meeting up with old Buddies We lock horns with an old foe this weekend as we visit the Paisley 2021 Stadium (what's that about) to take on the Buddies. If you believe Alternative Maryhill then it could be a Victorian Architectural dream day out. Otherwise it will be a return to old haunts to renew the joys and banter of Paisley. I'm sure their followers will miss Ross Tokely, they really loved him, but we have a new villain of the piece for them to slaver over in Charlie Trafford. I'm sure he can fill that void. It's our biggest test yet as we take on St Mirren who ended last season in fine form after looking like certainties for the drop as late as March when they were in pole position for automatic relegation. They have made a solid start to this campaign despite a 4-1 derby defeat to Morton. That game hinged on a sending off and a couple of penalties. Since then they have easily beaten Livingston and Dundee United scoring six goals in the process. Our season began in earnest in our last Championship game when we beat Brechin City 4-0 at Glebe Park. That was our first League win of the season. The only downside of that scoring spree was that we are still waiting for our strikers to make an impact which is a tad worrying. Carl Tremarco made his long awaited return to action as a second half substitute last Saturday against Aberdeen Colts in the Fizzy Pop Challenge Cup. He came through that unscathed and kept up his habit of scoring goals, notching our final goal in a 4-2 win. St Mirren sit third in the table but just one point from top position which is occupied by big hitting Dunfermline Athletic. Our win last time out saw us jump a couple of places to seventh, five points behind the Buddies after four games. Inverness will be bolstered by the return of Jake Mulraney from International duty. It is hoped that Gary Warren should return after missing the last couple of games. Charlie Trafford is available after his red mist card last week, his ban only for the Irn Bru Cup competition. Longer term casualties are Aaron Doran, and Zak Elbouzedi with Collin Seedorf added to that list after injuring himself in a bounce game with possible ligament damage. It looks as though out of favour David Raven will continue to play a part with Seedorf out. Felitziano Zschusschen is out for another couple of weeks. Carl Tremarco made a scoring return last week and is available for selection but a place on the bench might be where he will find himself at this stage of his comeback in what will be a gruelling 90 minutes. St Mirren could have Liam Smith available. Gary MacKenzie, Harry Davis and Kyle Magennis are all reported to be struggling. St Mirren's player of the year Lewis Morgan was with the young Scottish team that beat Holland 2-0 in midweek and was in impressive form. Off the field of play, the young team have had their knuckles rapped as the board attempt to clean up their act and ban the culprits who are undermining the great work done by the rest. C'mon lads, the club needs your support, they can do without the aggro and damage that appears to follow you. Get behind the team in a manner that everyone will appreciate. Ultra fan behaviour is so last year! Latest board statement tm4tj prediction:- This is the toughest test yet and is possibly just too early for our restructured side. Gary Warren is a big influence on the park and the young defenders around him need his leadership and direction on the field. That is the area of most concern at the moment. Midfield has definitely improved with Charlie Trafford taking over seamlessly from Ross Draper and Liam Polworth flourishing in a free role. Strikers appear to be lacking goals at the moment but Robbo is confident that will come as others find the back of the net for now. St Mirren have an excellent squad just now and I fear that they might be the real favourites for promotion, certainly a play-off place is theirs for the taking. I don't see us winning this one although we have previously had a decent record against the Buddies. However, it's a whole new ball game now. A point would be a good return from a difficult fixture. Another excellent preview on the Official Website giving more detail. Here's a bonus video for you as Inverness defeated Banks O' Dee 6-1 in the youth cup.