Matchday Thread Inverness CT -V- Crusaders

[Guest]

Why did Polworth get himself booked? He got a penalty and quite rightly so. Why not walk away?

[AncientMariner]

14 minutes ago, Row S said:

Game ends in farce. Definite penalty. What a dick Vigurs is!

I would hope with a post like that you are more embarrassed than Vigurs will be for his penalty miss? 

[Guest]

Lot of bookings again. Wonder who else will miss the final? Brad obviously will. 

[Blair]

To me a overall great game and it's nice to see Caley play with skill and take lots of chances during the game to score goals. 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

7 minutes ago, Blair said:

To me a overall great game and it's nice to see Caley play with skill and take lots of chances during the game to score goals. 

Did you know that there was also a second half? 

[Duncan Gardner]

Congratulations all. I was worried about a collapse at HT but we kept it lively :)

[+Hiro]

Interesting game, just a couple of things to talk about....

1st half

Odd start to the game.  Crusaders played some decent stuff for the opening 10 mins and we looked like a side who hadn't played in weeks.  Once we got to that mark we took control though.  Crusaders had actually started with a relatively conservative line-up with 1 up top and leaving Whyte & Owens on the bench. Despite this we were able to cut through at will with Polworth in particular finding pockets of space in which to play in Mulraney.  

I felt we were pretty wasteful at times and should have been 4 or 5 up by the time the half time whistle went. Even though we were dominating it was concerning how much space Crusaders were able to get down the right hand side of our defence. I lost count of the number of times Heatley/Murray found space in that channel.  I'd really like to see us move Mckay back inside to partner Donaldson and new right back. 

2nd half

Not sure what was said at half time but the team came out thinking the game was done.   No urgency at all and it bordered on being unprofessional. You can give Crusaders some credit for changing it up but if we play like that against a Championship team we will be on the receiving end of a shoeing.

The sending off was a little strange. I'm pretty sure that for his first booking it was Vigurs that committed a foul, it certainly wasn't Mckay. In saying that though the 2nd booking was monumentally stupid. The Crusaders bench unsurprisingly had a part to play in that, Baxter is known for his whinging and theatrics to refs. 

Player wise: Ridgers was excellent as was Polworth.  Donaldson was OK but seemed to spend time worrying about Warren.  Bell and Chalmers despite his goal had poor games.  Chalmers seems to let the game pass him by a little too much for my liking, never seems to take it by the scruff.   Mulraney was dangerous as ever although the final ball swung from outstanding to atrocious with nothing inbetween.  Oakley is a strange player, despite his size he can't win a header and struggles with his first touch.  However he's a lot quicker that I thought, has decent movement and runs the channels well. I' not sure what type of player he'd be best beside.

Glad to the win but we made hard work of it. If we hadn't held on we would be asking questions about the mental capacity of the side.

[Renegade]

Can I just say that Crusaders top is a cracker and I had forgotten Brian Jensen was still playing!  Also, did anyone else spot the fire on the hillside during the first half?  Wonder what that was.

Oh yes, and in the second half we were mince.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Hiro said:

Interesting game, just a couple of things to talk about....

1st half

Odd start to the game.  Crusaders played some decent stuff for the opening 10 mins and we looked like a side who hadn't played in weeks.  Once we got to that mark we took control though.  Crusaders had actually started with a relatively conservative line-up with 1 up top and leaving Whyte & Owens on the bench. Despite this we were able to cut through at will with Polworth in particular finding pockets of space in which to play in Mulraney.  

I felt we were pretty wasteful at times and should have been 4 or 5 up by the time the half time whistle went. Even though we were dominating it was concerning how much space Crusaders were able to get down the right hand side of our defence. I lost count of the number of times Heatley/Murray found space in that channel.  I'd really like to see us move Mckay back inside to partner Donaldson and new right back. 

2nd half

Not sure what was said at half time but the team came out thinking the game was done.   No urgency at all and it bordered on being unprofessional. You can give Crusaders some credit for changing it up but if we play like that against a Championship team we will be on the receiving end of a shoeing.

The sending off was a little strange. I'm pretty sure that for his first booking it was Vigurs that committed a foul, it certainly wasn't Mckay. In saying that though the 2nd booking was monumentally stupid. The Crusaders bench unsurprisingly had a part to play in that, Baxter is known for his whinging and theatrics to refs. 

Player wise: Ridgers was excellent as was Polworth.  Donaldson was OK but seemed to spend time worrying about Warren.  Bell and Chalmers despite his goal had poor games.  Chalmers seems to let the game pass him by a little too much for my liking, never seems to take it by the scruff.   Mulraney was dangerous as ever although the final ball swung from outstanding to atrocious with nothing inbetween.  Oakley is a strange player, despite his size he can't win a header and struggles with his first touch.  However he's a lot quicker that I thought, has decent movement and runs the channels well. I' not sure what type of player he'd be best beside.

Glad to the win but we made hard work of it. If we hadn't held on we would be asking questions about the mental capacity of the side.

I agree, Mckay and Donaldson as centre backs worked well during our clean sheets time. Warren is not what he was and makes me nervous nowadays.

We need a right back. Seedorf is not convincing there and will probably be in midfield next season in place of Vigurs / Polworth as I think they will both leave in the summer. 

PS - We are gash at penalties. Quite glad we dont get many. Can't remember when we last buried one. Misses have been Vigurs v Sevco in Feb, Polly v Forfar in July and Vigurs again today. 

Edited February 18, 2018 by Guest

[Kingsmills]

2 hours ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Not convinced by our defence. An early second half goal by Crusaders would make it very competitive.

That was perceptive.

[Yngwie]

So have we reached the final of this tournament on each of the last 3 times we have been eligible to take part in it?

[tm4tj]

 

[Blair]

Still won either way I would agree on first half a lot better than second half but they managed to hold on and also had many almost goal shots a lot of the time.

[caley100]

1 hour ago, Blair said:

To me a overall great game and it's nice to see Caley play with skill and take lots of chances during the game to score goals. 

What about the second half??

[Belfast Brigade]

we were night and day there first and second half. we could have went in 6 up at HT and in the second half we could have let in 4 or 5. We completely switched off that second half and very nearly paid the price for it. If i was Robbo i would be in the dressing room after the final whistle giving the team a boot up the arse! If we want to win the final we have to play a full 90 min game not just 45 mins. We looked like professionals the first half and a pub team the second. That being said its another final. So can the SPLF please not feck this final fixture up as much as they did the semi and give us traveling supporters plenty of notice to make arrangements or am i living in coo coo land where things make sense?     

[Eagle4Caley]

1 hour ago, Row S said:

Game ends in farce. Definite penalty. What a dick Vigurs is!

Vigurs had to wait a long time..their goalie had been very good,  Vigurs obviously realised that if he guessed the right way, Jensen might reach it, so was trying to get it as close to the post as possible. he just screwed it wider than intended. I was surprised the ref didn't blow for full time when the kick had been taken. Can't see why the Crusader player was so upset at Polworth, he had two goes at taking him out.

A really good game (for a Neutral), after the initial opening 5 minutes Caley took control in the first half and played some good stuff, almost men against boys. We should have been 5 up.....Calder impressed me alot, as did Mulraney and Polworth. Great cross from Oakley for our second goal. Bell was surprisingly anonymous tonight.

2nd half we came out a bit complacent, and they had mixed it up....our defence was all over the place, almost Keystone Cops...their first goal was inevitable, and strangely so was our sending off, although it was a pretty soft one in two parts. We were hanging on for dear life, it was the sort of game when anything could happen...I one stage I though 4-3 to Crusaders after extra time, but we held out. And we got to see the lesser spotted Elbouzedi!

Anyway we've got to the final, let's hope we can finish the job whilst working our way up the table.

BTW what's happened to Austin, and as for Tremarco, I hadn't realised he was that badly injured, we haven't seen him for a while.

[tm4tj]

Tremarco hamstring and Austin was cup-tied.

[CableGuy]

2 minutes ago, Eagle4Caley said:

Vigurs had to wait a long time..their goalie had been very good,  Vigurs obviously realised that if he guessed the right way, Jensen might reach it, so was trying to get it as close to the post as possible. he just screwed it wider than intended. I was surprised the ref didn't blow for full time when the kick had been taken. Can't see why the Crusader player was so upset at Polworth, he had two goes at taking him out.

A really good game (for a Neutral), after the initial opening 5 minutes Caley took control in the first half and played some good stuff, almost men against boys. We should have been 5 up.....Calder impressed me alot, as did Mulraney and Polworth. Great cross from Oakley for our second goal. Bell was surprisingly anonymous tonight.

2nd half we came out a bit complacent, and they had mixed it up....our defence was all over the place, almost Keystone Cops...their first goal was inevitable, and strangely so was our sending off, although it was a pretty soft one in two parts. We were hanging on for dear life, it was the sort of game when anything could happen...I one stage I though 4-3 to Crusaders after extra time, but we held out. And we got to see the lesser spotted Elbouzedi!

Anyway we've got to the final, let's hope we can finish the job whilst working our way up the table.

BTW what's happened to Austin, and as for Tremarco, I hadn't realised he was that badly injured, we haven't seen him for a while.

Austin is fit and ready to feature but was cup tied for tonight's game. Tremarco was apparently a possibility for tonight but was likely not to be risked so should be back on sat 

[+Moogthurso]

Whats the story with doran. 

Was he injured or not fancing heavy pitch. Thought he looked like our mist dangerous player last time he played.

Polworth was great tonight working hard making runs and layoff good balls. Some of them didnt come off but he was excellent. 

Mulreany sone dome good tracking back tonight and worked hard both ways. 

Still think donaldson mackay cb pairing more secure but who is our next right back? I liked seedorf at start of season but a lot of people were negative. 

First time ive seen zac play and he looked very good as well.

Just hope we keep a clean sheet against morton. 

 

[+DoofersDad]

Well there’s a lot to talk about after that. But in summary, it was a game of two halves. 

[IBM]

3 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Well there’s a lot to talk about after that. But in summary, it was a game of two halves. 

And the second half was s***e  but glad we are through to the final.

[Robert]

I was worried going in to this one and, despite our early goal, Crusaders had the best of the opening exchanges,

We then took control, with Polworth (best 45 from him in a long time) and a Vigurs controlling things.

All three goals looked well taken from where I was sitting, and it could easily have been 5 or 6 by half time. We could easily have shipped a couple too, though.

The second half was a shocker, with only Ridgers doing well: he kept us in it as we allowed ourselves to be outplayed and could not keep the ball.

I was surprised at the niggle between the teams, and there could have been more cards.

I taped it and want to see Mckay's first booking, but he deserved the second card. Their winger had the beating of him every time.

That was a masterclass in how to nearly turn a comfortable lead into a defeat with a 45 minute horror show: we need to be better against Morton next week,

But, we are in a final, and can hopefully lift our season with some silver wear.

Last word for the pitch, what a mess! Towards the north stand, the ball failed to bounce a few times, saving us on one occasion, and it was debatable if it was playable. I can see more postponements unless we get a long dry spell.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Robert

[Robert]

Was the ref Welsh? Not having seen Mckay's first booking again, which from posts may have been wrong, I thought he was a cut above the refs I have seen this season, and was pretty even handed.

[Renegade]

Now I haven't seen it back yet, but I see some fans on Twitter seem to think Mckay was hard done by for the red.  I thought at the time he deserved it for gross stupidity.

[BallisticSheriff]

All I can say is, trust us to do it the hard way!