GRETNA -V- ICT : Matchday Thread

[Alex MacLeod]

Unfortunately St Mirren have let us down by winning so its 10th spot and hope Aberdire beat Falkirk

[Caley]

And theese 4 were thrown out for being drunk

Why is IHE the only one in that picture who doesn't have a drink in hand? Quite uncharacteristic.

[ekjules]

Just home from todays game great result :021:  Played well but Gretna were poor.

Not alot there but we made a noise.Come on the jaggies.

[Fanoffooty]

Well done Caley , same again on Wednesday please  :021:

[+Gringo]

That's 12-0 against Gretna... :015:

Crowd was 1020...well, per the Beeb anyway.

Great win...shame Midden had a good result too.

[kencar]

1096 - lowest SPL crowd ever

Good result  :clapping03: Well done one & all

Attendance is a bit embarrassing though. There were more folk at some of the 2nd round Scottish Cup games as well as matches in the 2nd Division!

[The Mantis]

Record SPL win for us. Stroll in the park. Could have been 6 or 7. Oh well that's us safe for another season.

Gretna fans were good crack in the social club.

Bets on Gretna finishing with points in double figures?

[Mee]

Very good win for us, glad Mikey was back starting (although he should never have been dropped imo)

[Proctor]

Another nail in the coffin for Gretna, any idea on how many people were in the Caley end?

[Pele_Is_God]

Third goal was well worked and McBain's was a peach.

[alternative maryhill]

Fantastic result, a performance that at times was fantastic and at other times frustrating.

Gretna are far and away the worst side I've ever seen in the SPL. Perhaps they were knocked off their stride by the early penalty, but they could barely string three passes together in the whole of the first half and although they had one or two players who looked comfortable on the ball, we were able to bully them off it when they were in possession and mop up. I thought we looked like we were almost too aware of how bad they were and at times our approach looked a little too casual. The Cowie goal came at the right time, because we weren't doing a great deal just before that and they might have started getting back into the game.

Second half was a similar story. They came back quite up for it and for the first 20 minutes we looked too casual and gave away possession too easily by passing into crowded areas of the midfield. Then Barry scored and it was all over - we strolled the last 20-25 minutes.

This isn't meant to sound like a moan, because sometimes our passing game and slow build-up produced some really classy football - from where I was sitting, Barry's goal looked like the product of total football, with Granty in the unlikely role of playing the killer ball. But the very slight cause for concern is that against a better team, some of our slacker balls and poorer decisions might have been punished.

No real negatives on the playing front, although Granty and Russell were probably more responsible for conceding easy possession than anyone else. Mikey was solid - one excellent diving save to his right in the second half (although it was probably going wide anyway). For me the pick were probably Cowie and Wyness again - both were confident, creative and hard-working. More of the same from Marius - some great touches and turns, found space well but didn't have enough pace to get away and create more clear-cut chances for himself. He's often nice to watch but I still wonder whether he'll ever be a player that can actually makes a significant difference to our results, which I assume is what we're paying him for. Perhaps by the end of the second round of matches that'll be clearer.

Anyway, six points clear of Gretna, a massive swing in our goal difference and a banker to come next weekend at Ibrox. Not a bad day's work.      

[Crusher]

Great result today, some moments of magic too (slick passing move for 3rd goal my personal favourite) but honourable mention to the chant from the away support near the end of the match "Give me a G....Give me an R...Give me an E...Give me a T...Give me an N...Give me an A..."

They were mince.  Spent the bus ride back to Edinburgh with a couple of Gretna fans from Birmingham, good banter  :021:

All in all, a good day.

Am I the only one who thought Blackie was unusually quiet today?

[davieB]

Great performance, great result. We'll never have an easier SPL fixture than todays, Gretna were pure mince.

Top marks for the whole team :022:

[clacher_holiday2]

I thought Black was having a good game today before the injury, he played the role he should be every weekend, taking responsibility off the defenders!

Any idea what happened to him?

[CaleyD]

Great day out. Too knackered to get off sofa to make a full post, but not as knackered as TM4TJ...lol. Been a long time since i enjoyed craic like that at a game. Some top songs..."relegation to you" was a beezer!!

[RiG]

Gretna are a pub team and it showed. I said at the start of the season they were certainties to go down and nothing has changed. They are rubbish and we have had harder pre season friendlies prior to the start of this season. Today was easy and the result was never in doubt after we scored the first. It was only a question of how many.

Wyness had some fantastic touches, Black was creative in midfield and McBain had a solid game on the left side as well. Niculae nearly scored his first (league) goal after a comical error by the Gretna defence. McBains goal was fantastic and the build up for Wilsons goal was delicious. We could have scored another 4 at least.

GIRUY Grady!

Living the dream? You're having a laugh!

EDIT: I was positive I said but this but I just found a thread from back in June where I predicted Well to go down based on their squad at that time  :015:

[buffy]

color=crimson]heyy

well done guys!!! fantastic result for you!

just to let ye know .... three of us cycled from dunfermline to stirling today to raise money for children in need...

www.justgiving.com/dotnetters

wished we had stayed in the south clackmannan cricket club (where we were fed and watered and left the bikes) for the whole of our game :( (hindsight is a wonderful thing eh?)

good luck for the rest of the season

and for the folk wanting to come to the wedding - its now 1st May 2009.  get it into yer diaries folks. everyone welcome by the way.

thought i'd get all this done in a oner lol.  off to me bed - cream crackered and an extra hour there too. yippeeee

cheers

Buffy x

[Connie.Orr]

...... and back to the important stuff - FOOTBALL!

ICT played really well yesterday, very glad to be there to watch our team play, great singing btw, added to the enjoyment of the day.  But what's with the 'seats' at Fir Park??  Where the **** did they get them from - recycled pre-war tractor seats or what?!  Worth the discomfort just to see brew and the boys tho.  Well done guys, more of the same please  :021:

[nogbad the bad]

I see the Sunday Herald gave Marius the man of the match decision,

which is encouraging, although his two best games for us seem to have been against Arbroath and Gretna, which may not be saying very much.

[caleyblue]

enjoyed watching us hump gretna they offered nothing mcbains goal superb thought the whole teaqmhad a good day and sets it up nicely for wed v dons from where i was sitting we out sung the gretna fans too 

[Guest TinCanFan]

The highlights can be seen here

[alternative maryhill]

I noticed that the Sunday Herald had given Marius MOTM as well. Slightly surprised by that. As I said above, he had some great touches, but his play still lacks the cutting edge and I don't think he was directly involved in the build up for any of our goals, although I may be proved wrong by the telly. Wonder if this was the first time the reporter had seen him play a full game? He certainly looks a class act when you first see him. However, after the sixth or seventh time of watching him you do begin to wonder if he will ever really start to run the show for us up front? Given the chance the club has taken on him, you'd hope that when he hits top form he will be as talismanic for us as, for example, Fernandez became for Livingston.  

[Yngwie]

One of the most pleasing aspects yesterday was that we finally kept a clean sheet in the SPL.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

FRASER  :001: :001: :001:  Very difficult to make any sort of judgement as he was rarely tested. One fine save in the second half but shot stopping has always been his forte. Still looks nervous about coming off his line - but at least he gave us a wave.

ROSSCOE  :001: :001: :001: :001: Lets just say that it was a typical day for the foragingCafu Tokely.

GRANTY  :001: :001: :001: Thought that he looked more assured today but again was rarely stretched. Even became an attacking force in the second half.

MCGUIRE  :001: :001: :001: To be honest I hardly noticed him.

HASTINGS  :001: :001: :001: For some reason he still concerns me. He appears more prone to a slip and/or error these days.

COWIE  :001: :001: :001: Flitted in and out of the game. Great when he was on the ball but missing in action at times. What an engine he has. The free kick was probably fortunate due to the slow response of the keeper but it was well executed. I was a bit disappointed that he didnt move into centarl midfield when Blackie went off.

DUNCAN  :001: :001: :001: Another who showed some great stuff and some lackadaisical stuff. He strted bt playing the easy ball but tried to overcomplicate the simple pass at times.

BLACK  :001: :001: :001: :001: I thought that he "bossed" the game before he went off. He is really forming a great partnership with Duncan.

ROYSTER  :001: :001: :001: What a feckin goal. Still wouldnt be my pick for the left wide spot and I was surprised that he was moved into the centre. I still feel Roy could make the left back spot his own.

WYNESS  :001: :001: :001: :001: :001: My MOM by a long way. Great movement and great turns. Deserved a hat trick.

MARIUS  :001: :001: I shall await the flak!! I actually thought that he was going to start to prove me wrong - some lovely stuff early doors - but his lack of pace, mobility and movement were only to clear. Unfortunately he blew two great chances to open his SPL account and he was fortunate not to be hooked before he was.

BAZZA  :001: :001: :001: :001: Flashes from the past. He came on and turned the game just as Gretna appeared to be taking control of the midfield. Some great wing play and with Cowie going wide right we used the wings to their bet - fer once.

BAYNE  :001: :001: :001: Gawd does he look hungry and eager to prove a point. Gave us the pace and movement and committment that Marius didnt. The Gretna defence just didnt know what hit them.

PROCTOR  :001: :001: :001: A utility squad player or is he being earmarked for a specific role - shurely it must be central defence - I have always liked Bambi but would love to see him play 90 minutes of SPL football in the same position.

Have to agree with a lot of what Mary Hill has said. It was a scrappy game and to be honest it looked as if we began to cruise a bit in the second half but the introduction of Bayne and Wilson brought us to our senses. Lets face it - it could have been 6 or 7 by the end.

And how many were there from Sneck - I thought there were more us than were at the Well game and the singing was non stop and full of caraic. Great day out.  :021:    .

[RiG]

Can't disagree with any of those ratings IHE.

I would guess there were ~ 400 ICT fans there?