Matchday Thread ICT -V- Dunfermline

[The Long Man]

Butcher is making the Brewster era look like the good old days.

[RiG]

I'm not going to be negative. I am going to list only positive things from tonight:

1. Andrew Shinnie showed more creativity in his cameo appearance than the entire ICT midfield has done all season.
   
2. The minutes silence was impeccably observed.
   
3. It was a nice night.
   

There we go.

[hislopsoffsideagain]

I'm not going to be negative. I am going to list only positive things from tonight:

1. Andrew Shinnie showed more creativity in his cameo appearance than the entire ICT midfield has done all season.
   
2. The minutes silence was impeccably observed.
   
3. It was a nice night.
   

There we go.

You forgot the mascot at half time!

[Fanoffooty]

[Joe DiMaggio]

Lowest home crowd in the SPL ever? Just scrapped over 3,000 which we have never gone below in the SPL in Inverness. Although Robbo said on the radio that there was never 3,000 people there.

[RiG]

You forgot the mascot at half time!

I had a wee snooze at half time. Didn't even know we had a mascot.

[ymip]

The only positive I can take out of tonight is that I'm spared the need to attend any further games this season. An utterly dismal season from start to finish. I've not seen one decent performance this season and feel massively disillusioned by the whole ICT experience. I've dedicated a ridiculous amount of time, money and energy following the club over the years but unless there are some major changes this summer I seriously need to consider whether I can justify dragging myself and ymip jr around the country watching a product which has been mind numbingly appalling this season. From my perspective the club has little or no direction and has fundamentally lost the spirit that set us apart and drove us through the divisions. I've felt next to no affinity with the guys out on the park this season who largely seem to be mercenaries with no sense of what the club means to us and the struggle we've had to get to where we are. Not sure another raft of jobbing trialists is going to address this problem. I don't think I'm alone in feeling disenchanted with the way the club is headed and unless something is done about it as a matter of urgency then I fear we're facing a very bleak future.

[Jay_7]

Proper dismal stuff. The only players who deserve any praise at all after that are Esson for not letting a goal in and Andrew Shinnie for showing glimpses of the quality he had pre-injury.

We can't defend without fouling, we can't break up attacking play before it reaches the defence, we can't play short passes to our own team mates, we can't run at a defence to worry them in the slightest (Even a defence with Alex bloody Keddie in it), we can't cross, we can't move for the ball at throw-ins, we can't utilise corners. We can't even waste time in the bloody corner FFS!

Rumour has it that Butcher set out the team to only play for a point, because the last time we did that in the SPL that really worked out well for us.

Unless there is MASSIVE change made to this entire squad for next season, we will absolutely be relegated. Anyone hoping to beat County with showings like that are delusional. We have a team of mercenaries who don't give a flying f**k about this club and won't care about the derby. County are choc full of players who know how important the derby is and a few who have an axe to grind against Butcher.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

There are many of us that are showing where we stand by staying away. I am now going to openly state that this may remain the state of affairs if the present management system remains intact. The blood of the merger, the family spirit, the togetherness and the camarderie is being sucked out of this club. However I wouldnt put Butcher as low as a compariosn to Brewster. TB has charima and personality and charm.

[tm4tj]

According to pre-match pep talk I thought we were going 4-2-1-3. It was more like 4-2-3-1 with the wide middle guys backing McKay.

Doran started great but faded, Ross was neat and tidy without any goal threat and Tansey showed up in patches. Rossco was our best defender and Esson was confident. We never looked like losing, but when you defend like us, then anything is possible. We deserved to win but spurned a fistful of chances without making blunderman work in the Pars goal. McKay twisted and turned every conceivable way, and with a bit of composure might have scored. Doran slid in late at the back post and knocked one wide, and was guilty of lofting a couple of eight irons into the North Stand late on. The good thing though at the end, we played the game in the Pars half and restricted them to, well, nothing.

Naughty points, Meekings had a nightmare early on trying to pass the ball, and he was joined by Williams, and Tansey, and later on Foran before he redeemed himself with some late turns and passes. Gillet flattering to deceive for me and difficult to select a MotM out of this lot, but I will plump for Rossco, never really did anything wrong, followed by Dorran and Tansey. Andrew Shinnie showed that extra class when he came on and when you play like that, the game is easy, space and time open up for you.

Impeccable minutes silence observed by both sets of fans as you would expect and nice pies upstairs.

Roll on next season and we can regroup for some tasty derbies.

[Joe DiMaggio]

Really hope that Tokely is still here next season. The only player who will really fight for the team in derby games.

[lukemackay]

it was typical of our season. we were the better side, had the better chances but were wasteful. the only difference between tonight and the rest of the season is that we were solid and didnt concede a late goal.

esson- done the usual.

meekings- agrovating very wasteful in possession

tokely- the usual

williams- on a par with tokely for me tonight both very solid capable defenders

gillet- mr consistent, lets very little past him

doran- exciting, but lacked a cutting edge for me. that will improve

foran- the usual battling foran

tansey- arae of passes on show tonight played decent

ross-neat and tidy, no final ball though

shinnie-performed the role of a winger well, proved he can play there, but missed the best opportunity of the game, frustrating because he can do it

mckay- run his socks off, ran the channels like he always does, no service.

all in all not all bad. a very frustrating game. should of won.

thought owain should of played, perhaps 3 games in a week is too much though.

[AJS]

We are safe and to be honest that is all that matters. Game was poor but no worse than what we've seen in the last few weeks. We were better than Dunfermline but as per per usual lacked a cutting edge especially in front of goal. Graeme Shinnie's finishing was absolutely abysmal but apart from that i'm content with a point...even if Dunfermline are the worst side in the league.

Only positives really to take were the return of Andy Shinnie who showed his class despite looking understandably rusty, the minutes silence which was well observed and the weather which was beautiful.

Time to write off season 2011-12 and start doing some hiring and firing, roll on next season.

[Scotty]

Lowest home crowd in the SPL ever? Just scrapped over 3,000 which we have never gone below in the SPL in Inverness. Although Robbo said on the radio that there was never 3,000 people there.

Lowest in SPL this season ..... all midweek games unsurprisingly !!!

St Johnstone Aberdeen 13/12/2011 19:45:00 1607

Dunfermline Kilmarnock 07/02/2012 19:45:00 2303

Inverness CT St Johnstone 28/03/2012 19:45:00 3035

for comparison .......

2010/11

Hamilton Dundee Utd 26/02/2011 15:00:00 2011

St Johnstone Hamilton 10/05/2011 19:45:00 2253

St Mirren St Johnstone 11/12/2010 15:00:00 2701

Inverness CT Hamilton 22/01/2011 15:00:00 3241

2008/09

Hamilton Falkirk 08/11/2008 15:00:00 2600

Motherwell Inverness CT 13/05/2009 19:45:00 2818

Inverness CT Motherwell 25/10/2008 15:00:00 3110

2007/08

Hearts Hibernian 06/08/2007 19:45:00 0

Gretna Inverness CT 05/04/2008 15:00:00 431

St Mirren Gretna 10/05/2008 15:00:00 3163

Inverness CT Kilmarnock 19/04/2008 15:00:00 3420

2006/07

Falkirk Inverness CT 05/05/2007 15:00:00 3129

Inverness CT Dunfermline 30/09/2006 15:00:00 3517

St Mirren Motherwell 20/02/2007 19:45:00 3576

2005/06

Livingston Inverness CT 29/04/2006 15:00:00 2278

Inverness CT Falkirk 03/05/2006 19:45:00 3121

Dunfermline Inverness CT 08/02/2006 19:45:00 3354

2004/05

Inverness CT Dundee Utd 23/11/2004 19:45:00 1125

Livingston Kilmarnock 02/03/2005 19:45:00 2536

Dunfermline Motherwell 02/03/2005 19:45:00 3565

[bauhaus]

Job done. No panache though. Hibs winning tonight could have been an absolute nightmare for us opening up too much against Dunfermline. Can only imagine the panic if Pars had scored, going away to the Buddies needing a result with the prospect of a final day showdown against Hibs would have echoes of Falkirk all over again.

Think Terry and Mo will just be glad to get this season over, so many injuries, WRONG sendings off, lack of penalties blah blah blah just think next season clean slate and the derbies are back. Time to push the caravans over the edge

[Scotty]

take your pick ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeyOnNple4M

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Job done. No panache though. The result and the outcome was all that matters in the end. If we had opened up and gone for it weeks, nay months ago, we would not have been in this position. Can only imagine the panic if Pars had scored, going away to the Buddies needing a result with the prospect of a final day showdown against Hibs would have echoes of Falkirk all over again. We clearly have not learned the lesson

Think We wil lall just be glad to get this season over, so many injuries, WRONG sendings off, lack of penalties, very poor disciplinary records, poor defending, poor performances, poor selections, poor tactics and a loss of the togetherness spirit but - just think next season if we have a clean slate and the derbies are back. Time to push the caravans over the edge or go over the edge ourselves.

[Huisdean]

What surprised me last night was the lack of fight from Dunfermline. Only for very very brief spells was there any urgency from them and, had I been a Dunfermline fan, would have been very disappointed at this. As for us, the game sort of summed up our season, crying out for an out and out striker anmd had we scored one goal, which I thought we merited, i think we would have gone on to win comfortably.

Hopefully the team can give us a big performance against Hibs now that the pressure is off but,as everyone knows, changes needed for next season. While everyone is aware that changes to personnel are required, I also think it eqaully important that we develop a system of play that all the players understand and know their roles. To me, that has been one of our biggest problems this seas, not having a system that everyone seither understands or seems comfortable with.

[Libero]

The biggest thing i took from last night was on the rare occasion we played the ball on the deck we actually looked like creating something. Although without a natural goalscorer almost all attacks fizzled out.

Ross was having a good game linking things midfield but the ball wasnt given to him on the deck nearly enough. So many long hopeless punts up the park and i really felt for Mckay as he is always going to be fighting a losing battle when you are trying to deal with high balls against central defenders so much bigger than you. I really despise long balls and i have seen enough of them this season to last a lifetime. This is one of Terrys tactics that frustrates me the most.

The other thing i picked up on last night was whenever we got the ball in the box last night we did not look like scoring, too many times we took the wrong option whether that was laying off a pass, or taking an extra touch or indeed shooting wildly over the bar. We really need a player in the box who is capable of shooting accurately on sight quickly. Hopefully the return of Shinnie should solve this

Point secured and in the SPL for another season, time to regroup and plan for next year and plan a way of improving the team sufficiently that we are not in a relegation battle next year!

[CaleyD]

To be honest, most of the game passed me by with my attention only being grabbed whenever the ball got near one goal or other....everything else in between was zonkfest.

We were late to get to our seats due to doing other things and arrived to discover that Dunfermline seemed to have more media people there than they did fans and they'd occupied our seats...meaning I had no means of plugging up the laptop to do the twitter updates (so apologies for that). We decided to take the game in from a different angle by sitting behind the away dugout and most of the entertainment for the evening was provided by Jeffries & McCabe who were making plenty of noise but offering very little direction to a Dunfermline side who looked like they'd turned up for a bounce game (with us proving to be little better).

My MotM was the mascot who did more to entertain the fans at half time than the team managed to do for 90 minutes....we need to work on some props for them for next season.

[old caley girl]

Felt this game was just summed up our season. We never looked in any danger (its funny to read the early posts in this thread from the fans not at the game who seemed more worried than those actually at the game) but nothing much really happened. had 0-0 written all over it from fairly early on although we looked the more likely to score. Dunfermline really didnt go for it as expected and listening to the radio afterwards JJ was not happy at the interviewer when this was suggested. It appears they came not to lose as well. Terry and Mo very very quiet. Didnt seem to leave the dugout at all until midway through the 2nd half as far as I could see. In fact one chap in the north stand shouted that he was glad to see he was still awake when he eventually did show face. Main plus point for me was seeing A Shinnie back and that was it!

Oh well heres to next season, Cant wait to leave this one behind!

[caley_donkey]

According to the BBC News, there were over 6,000 at the game yesterday. I wasn't there but I'm guessing this must be tosh! Can anyone confirm?

[tm4tj]

3036

[+Wanderer]

had 0-0 written all over it from fairly early on beginning of the week.

Sorted.

I think Dunf would've assumed the Dons beat Hibs...then a point suited both sides at TCS.

Just wish I'd had the courage of my prediction at the bookies!!!

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Old Caley Girl - wish I was there as the underpants I was wearing last nite are in the bin.