Line-up of who we could be facing next round. Dunno how Kelty haven't been put in the North Section, especially when there's teams further south that have been put in the North Section...

2-0 now, an absolute goalfest by our standards!

Can't complain at 4-0, although I think it flattered us.  Buckie just ran out of steam towards the end.

One of things that impressed me most was Cammy Mackay's distribution of the ball.  Better than Ridgers' - no aimless punts downfield (or off the field).  Although I will accept that we were playing a different class of opposition today.  He also had a few moments when he had to look sharp, so it's good to know that he's there.

Hope McKay didn't injure himself scoring the last goal.

3 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Billy Mckay going to get all the goals today. 3-0

Close enough

A comfortable score line but it flattered us a bit.

When I saw the line up, with only Deas starting from the recent league starting line ups, I was a bit worried that we were underestimating Buckie. We only had three recognised defenders in the team and none amongst only four subs named. Broadfoot, Devine, Carson, MacGregor, Gardyne and Duku were not involved at all, but it meant valuable game time for those coming in.

We lined up with Hyde at right back and Duffy alongside Deas at centre half. Mckay was playing the number 10 role with Jamieson the striker.

Buckie tested MacKay early on and then hit the post with him beaten in the fifth minute.

After that scare, the game settled down with us dominating possession and Buckie typically having all eleven players behind the ball, making it hard to break them down.

We tended to play down the left, with Harper and Doran prominent, whilst on the right McDonald was tending to be infield.

The opening goal was a finish by Jamieson at the back post. He was looking lively and hit the bar shortly after.

After half time, the same pattern continued, with our second coming from Harper. I’d need to see it again to see exactly what happened. Walsh had replaced McDonald by then and he was in on the ‘keeper which was probably enough to ensure Harper’s effort went in.

Mckay had been quiet but got two late goals, although the first was heading across the goal until it hit the ‘keeper’s leg and went in. Good to see him back doing what he does best!

Really a case of a good job well done, but not our most inspiring performance.

Of the players we’ve not seen much of, MacKay had a few saves to make.

I thought Hyde did well out of position at right back, growing into the game and getting forward more in the second half. Allardice replaced him late on, continuing our trend of playing central midfielders at right back!

Duffy looked solid at centre half alongside Deas, with Deas talking the whole defence through the game.

It is good to see Harper back and he got more influential as the game went on.

Welsh was pulling the strings in midfield but both he and McAlear were struggling to find passes to break down the defence.

Doran had a lot of good touches and was trying to create.

I’m not sure if McDonald is fully fit and he was not that influential, although he did have one good effort. He was drifting inside so we lacked an outlet on the right wing at times.

Mckay was quiet until he popped up with his goals. That will do for me every week though!

Jamieson was busy and deserved his goal. He was probably my pick as our top player on the day.

A bigger test awaits next weekend against Partick but we do have strength in depth in the squad now.  

 

An efficient and professional job.

Banana skin avoided. A few fringe players got some game time and Billy found his scoring boots.

A decent afternoon's work.

Credit to Buckie too for making it so competitive for so long.

An interesting and enjoyable afternoon.  Buckie are a decent side and showed why they are doing so well in the Highland League.  They defended in numbers making it difficult to find a way through, yet they broke with pace and seemed to find it easier to penetrate our defence and to create chances.  They were unlucky with a great effort hitting the woodwork and had two further chances in the first half when a lack of composure spared our blushes.

The introduction of players who have not been starting this season was very welcome.  There were decent performances all round with Jamieson particularly catching the eye.  However, a consequence of making so many changes was a lack of bite in midfield which led to Buckie getting into dangerous positions a bit more than was comfortable.  We kept possession well, but I would have liked to see us be a bit more adventurous in taking players on, playing the cute passes in behind the defence and looking to shoot more often.  For all our possession, we didn't create a lot and only had 10 attempts at goal.

But today was not about putting on a show, it was about giving players game time whilst being good enough to win.  In that sense, the game was a great success and I am sure the coaching staff will have learnt a lot from today's performance.  We showed today that we are a team with good depth, and that must be a cause for optimism moving forwards.

12 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

An interesting and enjoyable afternoon.  Buckie are a decent side and showed why they are doing so well in the Highland League.  They defended in numbers making it difficult to find a way through, yet they broke with pace and seemed to find it easier to penetrate our defence and to create chances.  They were unlucky with a great effort hitting the woodwork and had two further chances in the first half when a lack of composure spared our blushes.

The introduction of players who have not been starting this season was very welcome.  There were decent performances all round with Jamieson particularly catching the eye.  However, a consequence of making so many changes was a lack of bite in midfield which led to Buckie getting into dangerous positions a bit more than was comfortable.  We kept possession well, but I would have liked to see us be a bit more adventurous in taking players on, playing the cute passes in behind the defence and looking to shoot more often.  For all our possession, we didn't create a lot and only had 10 attempts at goal.

But today was not about putting on a show, it was about giving players game time whilst being good enough to win.  In that sense, the game was a great success and I am sure the coaching staff will have learnt a lot from today's performance.  We showed today that we are a team with good depth, and that must be a cause for optimism moving forwards.

Also encouraging that we have now played 465 minutes of competitive football without conceding a goal.

16 hours ago, Robert said:

A comfortable score line but it flattered us a bit.

When I saw the line up, with only Deas starting from the recent league starting line ups, I was a bit worried that we were underestimating Buckie. We only had three recognised defenders in the team and none amongst only four subs named. Broadfoot, Devine, Carson, MacGregor, Gardyne and Duku were not involved at all, but it meant valuable game time for those coming in.

We lined up with Hyde at right back and Duffy alongside Deas at centre half. Mckay was playing the number 10 role with Jamieson the striker.

Buckie tested MacKay early on and then hit the post with him beaten in the fifth minute.

After that scare, the game settled down with us dominating possession and Buckie typically having all eleven players behind the ball, making it hard to break them down.

We tended to play down the left, with Harper and Doran prominent, whilst on the right McDonald was tending to be infield.

The opening goal was a finish by Jamieson at the back post. He was looking lively and hit the bar shortly after.

After half time, the same pattern continued, with our second coming from Harper. I’d need to see it again to see exactly what happened. Walsh had replaced McDonald by then and he was in on the ‘keeper which was probably enough to ensure Harper’s effort went in.

Mckay had been quiet but got two late goals, although the first was heading across the goal until it hit the ‘keeper’s leg and went in. Good to see him back doing what he does best!

Really a case of a good job well done, but not our most inspiring performance.

Of the players we’ve not seen much of, MacKay had a few saves to make.

I thought Hyde did well out of position at right back, growing into the game and getting forward more in the second half. Allardice replaced him late on, continuing our trend of playing central midfielders at right back!

Duffy looked solid at centre half alongside Deas, with Deas talking the whole defence through the game.

It is good to see Harper back and he got more influential as the game went on.

Welsh was pulling the strings in midfield but both he and McAlear were struggling to find passes to break down the defence.

Doran had a lot of good touches and was trying to create.

I’m not sure if McDonald is fully fit and he was not that influential, although he did have one good effort. He was drifting inside so we lacked an outlet on the right wing at times.

Mckay was quiet until he popped up with his goals. That will do for me every week though!

Jamieson was busy and deserved his goal. He was probably my pick as our top player on the day.

A bigger test awaits next weekend against Partick but we do have strength in depth in the squad now.  

 

Pretty decent summary but though McDonald was probably our most creative player in 1st half. Created chances for McKay and Jamieson, had a couple of decent ones himself as well and was brought down for the free kick that got Jamiesons goal. Also broke up play from a Buckie corner and if Jamieson had played the pass 2 touches earlier then he would have had a good one on one.  A very different player to Walsh, likes to wander and play through the lines which is nice to see,  allows the full backs to overlap as him going inside pulls their full backs away meaning a cb has to come out. Certainly think he tired, maybe after the knock in 1st half, from my vantage point , on the other side of the ground it lookeed like a dead leg, maybe wrong though, but considering ge has been out for a long time with injury I thought he looked dangerous.

Think there were a lot of opportunities to get the ball wider quicker yesterday, instead it was recycled across and back allowing Buckie to get behind the ball.  You can see difference in Mackay and Duko...Billy comes short which allowed Mcdonald,  jamieson to make runs behind their defence, whereas Manny likes the ball jn a higher position to hold up and wait for support. 

Good to have options to change the style. 

 

6 hours ago, ForresJag said:

Pretty decent summary but though McDonald was probably our most creative player in 1st half. Created chances for McKay and Jamieson, had a couple of decent ones himself as well and was brought down for the free kick that got Jamiesons goal. Also broke up play from a Buckie corner and if Jamieson had played the pass 2 touches earlier then he would have had a good one on one.  A very different player to Walsh, likes to wander and play through the lines which is nice to see,  allows the full backs to overlap as him going inside pulls their full backs away meaning a cb has to come out.

Fair enough about McDonald. I was in the Main Stand so not best placed to see the detail on the far side in the first half so may well have been harsh on him.

It will be interesting to see how he does if playing ahead of Carson on the right side given Carson likes to get forward. Hyde was understandably more cautious, particularly in the first half given he was being played out of position.

The club’s report on the match is here:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-4-0-buckie-thistle

Edited September 5, 20213 yr by Robert

Pretty easy in the end despite Buckie starting the better with a couple of really good chances to open the scoring. Lots of nice quick, crisp passing around the box but too often it amounted to nothing. Mckay and Jamieson impressed up front and linked well together. Nice header for Jamieson to open the scoring and there's something almost reassuring about Billy Mckay bagging goals in the red and blue of ICT. I thought Hyde gave a pretty good performance at RB as well. Nice to be able to make 10 changes and still steam roller the opposition irrespective of what level they are playing at. Buckie are no mugs but I felt we handled them pretty well for the majority of the game.

Bring on Elgin...

It will be interesting to see if Billy gets the nod against Partick. Great to see players back from injury to strengthen the resources available.

Encouraging result, and with so many changes makes it more satisfying. 

Quite a turnaround from the early season cup fiasco(s). Looks like defensively small tweaks ,drilled well into the team are making big differences...limit the amount of chances given away, and when there are chances - have guys in the right positions and the keeper set to make the saves.

Certainly a better platform to build from.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/3441266/patience-key-as-fringe-stars-shine-in-caley-thistle-cup-victory-over-buckie-thistle/

On 9/5/2021 at 3:32 PM, Robert said:

Fair enough about McDonald. I was in the Main Stand so not best placed to see the detail on the far side in the first half so may well have been harsh on him.

It will be interesting to see how he does if playing ahead of Carson on the right side given Carson likes to get forward. Hyde was understandably more cautious, particularly in the first half given he was being played out of position.

The club’s report on the match is here:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-4-0-buckie-thistle

Interesting the P&J gave McDonald man of the match on Saturday. 

Was excited for Hellgin away but couldn't resist the allure of Scotland v Israel.  

Ticketing information has been released for the Elgin game on 9 October. As well as the early kick off at 1400, tickets must be purchased in advance:

https://ictfc.com/ticket-information-elgin-city-v-ictfc-09-10-2021

Preview for tomorrow’s game:

https://ictfc.com/match-preview-elgin-city-a

It sounds like we have a few players with injuries given the comments. Presumably players like MacKay, McAlear, McDonald, Jamieson and Mckay will start. 

Looking forward to a nostalgic return to Borough Briggs and to seeing a few of the squad players getting a start.

 

It will be online for me but I hope we have a good support through for the game.