Queens v Inverness

[alsy]

9 hours ago, queenslad said:

A game we should have won, at 3 nil we were coasting playing with confidence , winning second balls and first balls, need wee flicks then they score and it goes into reverse. ICT were on to No 7 who had a niggly first half controlled the game in second half specially in last 30mins with amount of space you could have turned a warship.

Are you referring to our No. 7, Liam Polworth? Along with Coll Donaldson, he's head and shoulders above the rest of our squad, easily capable of playing at a better level. For the last 25 minutes yesterday, when we finally started playing, he was magnificent.

Up until then, I assumed that our chickens were coming home to roost after a few decent results despite poor performances recently. We were clearly second best against Dundee Utd, Alloa and in the first half against Partick, and yesterday Queens again played the better football in the first half, and then absolutely tore us apart for about 20 mins at the start of the second. Up until he scored, Dykes didn't impress me all that much, but after that I thought he was superb. When Dobbie finally got his goal against us, I assumed that the unbeaten run was coming to an end, and deservedly so. Ridgers, uncharacteristically, looked shaky, Charlie Trafford's touch and distribution in the middle of the park were miles off (again) and the team as a whole looked like it was scared of taking any risks. It only changed once Trafford and Oakley went off and we went to 4-4-2, and when Walsh and Polworth seemed to start playing without fear after it went to 3-0. Both were superb, and hopefully they'll take that into the Falkirk and Ayr games, as we can't keep starting games so hesitantly and still expect to get results.  Great to see young Roddy McGregor get a run at the end, and he almost helped to set up a winner for Austin at the death after some superb interplay with Polworth cutting through Queens in the middle of the park.

Always a good day out in Dumfries, but that definitely ranks among the more memorable ones.

[SueSue]

15 minutes ago, palmy_cammy said:

We are lacking a real leader in this squad, someone to organise us when the chips are down.  Yesterday doesn't happen with a Jim Thomson or Chris Higgins in the side.

When the heads go down, everyone's go down, the forwards start pointing fingers at the defenders and we just fall apart.  The spine of our team is pretty brittle when you look at it.  Yesterday we had a young lad in goals, but Martin is far from commanding and I've never seen him dishing out the hairdryer treatment to his teammates.  Fordyce is quiet as a mouse on the park and so is Semple,  Doyle is the most vocal of our defenders but given he was having a complete nightmare at the end yesterday he wasn't best placed for dishing out instructions.  Jacobs plays the "Steven McKenna" role but despite his love of flying into tackles he comes across as pretty timid.  Then you look to our experienced guys like Stirling, Harkins and Dobbie and they just seem to throw their hands up in frustration at the defenders undoing all their hard work.  You can understand their annoyance, but it is a team game and they should all be in it together.

I know the captain's role is largely symbolic and that cliche tells us we should have 11 captains out there, but I don't think Dobbie is a great choice.  He definitely has the role more as a reward for his service than his ability to lead.  A captain would have had a word in Harkin's ear in the first half yesterday when he was having a bit of a meltdown and appearing determined to get booked for persistent fouling, and a captain would have steadied the ship yesterday, slowed the game down and had us keeping hold of the ball.  The manager should have been taking the sting out of things by making substitutions as well.

 

Love the post. Yes we are a quiet team. 

Although the comment where the defence undue the forwards good play is harsh.

you are asking the defence to defend at a time when our midfield are non existent.

Jacobs loses his man at the first. Jacobs and Dykes conspire to give away the penalty and the keeper is at fault for the second.

The number 7 for them ran the show second have .... he had yards of time on the ball and GN just did not see it until it was too late.

poor by lots of departments yesterday in clouding the manager.

we scored 3 but in reality it could and should have been 5 or 6.

tough result to make any sense out of really 

[Skyline Drifter]

47 minutes ago, SueSue said:

Jacobs loses his man at the first. Jacobs and Dykes conspire to give away the penalty and the keeper is at fault for the second.

Which was from a free kick Semple completely needlessly gave away when there was little danger at the goalline outside the box. No free kick, no man to lose.

That said for me the 2nd goal is the criminal one. The 1st doesn't really change much. We're 3-1 up still in a game we've dominated and has less than 20 mins to go. The second coming so quickly and in the manner it did effectively caused panic to set in while Inverness got their tails right up. It's a ridiculous goal. I'd need to see it again but I've no idea who all has blame on it. I expect there are several complicit but a half hit bouncing cross (it surely wasn't actually a shot?) shouldn't find it's way through a crowded penalty box and into the bottom corner without a big deflection (was there one? I didn't notice one).

[RiG]

Lot of fair comments on here which is a pleasant change. As has already been said we only showed up for the last 30 minutes after with the game seemingly out of sight. A lot of our players were claiming handball for the first goal with Ridgers seeming to suggest that Dykes bundled it over the line with his hand. Whilst it would be a shame if that's what happened our defending was so abysmal leading up to that goal we probably deserved to concede a goal anyway. The second strike wasn't much better from our point of view. Trafford (I think) lost the ball in the middle and it was quickly launched forward to Dobbie who stole into a massive gap at the back with our players out of position. Ridgers half came, half stayed and Dobbie took advantage of his indecision to slide the ball past him and it was three not long after as we again failed at defending and couldn't clear the ball which was picked up by Todd and he dispatched a beautiful curling shot past Ridgers. Game over as far as I was concerned.

But seemingly from nowhere we got back into it when Mccart rose highest to head home a free kick and this was followed not long after by Walsh who sent a ball into the box which evaded everyone and nestled in the net. The Queens keeper, having barely been tested all game, was looking exceptionally suspect. The third duly arrived via a Welsh spot kick. Not sure what it ewas awarded for but the fact that very few QotS players challenged the decision suggests it was a fair decision.  We almost won it with perhaps the move of the match as we quickly broke from the back, Welsh, Poworth, Macgregor and White linked to play in Austin but his toepoke of a shot was well saved by Leighfield, his first act of competent keeping at a crucial time in the game.

The change to 4 - 4 - 2 saw us make much more use of the wings and removing the possession haemorrhage that was Trafford in the middle left us with a much more effective partnership in the form of Polworth and Welsh. Queens should have been out of sight truth being told but we did exceptionally well to battle back to grab a point. Made the journey home a lot more bearable.

[SueSue]

I totally agree regarding giving away the free kick but for GN to mention only the free kick in his interview and nothing about midfielders losing their men and his own lack of changing the team when their number 7 ran the show is piss poor.

we totally lost the midfield in the last 20 minutes that was simply not addressed.

On the penalty, if I remember The ball came out to Dykes who controlled it like a pavement slab. It then bounced into the penalty are again when it should have been cleared. Do we pin that on Dykes or Jacobs for the foul? 

My main point is to blame one person is wrong. It was a collective from the whole team and manager.

This result is a clear reflection on the budget we have to work with. We have a good first 11 which showed yesterday. Sadly we have no quality to bring on and change how a game is panning out whether we are winning or losing.

Inverness  have the money to enable them to bring a whole new forward line on yesterday when things were not working out. Or another midfielder with 200 first team games under his belt. We just don’t have that.

this is just my opinion. 

 

[RiG]

 

[overthetop]

Horror show defensively from Queens last 20 mins. Worst than I remember. Very lucky not to have lost.

[Northfield 53]

Just now, overthetop said:

Horror show defensively from Queens last 20 mins. Worst than I remember. Very lucky not to have lost.

Now that I have seen the highlights we were lucky to get a point Queens a shambles in the last 20 mins .

[Skyline Drifter]

Thoughts from highlights:

Dykes doesn't handle that. It hits him in the legs and then he falls over and it appears to come off his chest again on the way into the net, though it was going in anyway.

I have no idea what Ridgers is doing at our 2nd goal. He makes it really easy for Dobbie. At least if he stays in his box Dobbie has to both, turn back towards goal and  outrun Donaldson and then beat the keeper. Doing what he did leaves an open goal.

Our 3rd goal is still a thing of beauty, right from when Dobbie wins it back really deep in his own half. Great run by Doyle, Stirling's first touch isn't good enough but he has the presence of mind not to panic and lays it back to Todd to curl in.

1st ICT goal to be fair is a peach of a cross. I don't know if Leighfield could maybe have punched it away  if he takes a step out as it's close to him. It is Jacobs man who scores but it's good movement from McCart and he's a good few inches taller than Jacobs. To say he's "lost him" is a bit harsh.

2nd one, as RiG said, is Walsh's goal. My impression at the time was that the cross went straight in (which it did) so when it came up as Austin's goal I presumed he had hit the cross but he doesn't. He's just the nearest to touching it as it goes straight in. He deserves credit though because it's his presence and the doubt therefore about whether he'll divert it to the other corner which pins Leighfield and prevents him reaching it. If I'm going to pick fault in it I'd say Fordyce should have got across the ball first and turned it away.

3rd one is one of those penalties where the culprit (Jacobs) is completely unaware anyone else is there. I remember Ryan McGuffie giving away a very similar one at Alloa when we finally lost our unbeaten record in the 2nd Division Championship season. Dykes shouldn't chest it back towards his own goal. It creates the danger in the first place but if Jacobs is more aware he can step forward and clear it earlier rather than Welsh nipping in ahead of him. And it IS a foul and a correct penalty.

And that's an outstanding save Leighfield made with his leg to save the point in the end.

I listened to John Robertson's post match interview with the press yesterday and I thought he called it absolutely spot on. A refreshingly honest manager's interview to be fair to him.

[Rjc-1988]

Ach, its easy to be wise after the event. He has had plenty of pelters before for trying to sit on leads. Rjc criticises that approach all the time. At the time it looked like a consolation and we were still carrying a threat in the other direction. It also went 3-2 very quickly after 3-1. He would have been hard pushed to make that change at 3-1 unless Norman went on without a warm up. He had him standing waiting to come on when the penalty was given.

It is only my opinion but I am more convinced than ever that allowing our back 4 to drop deeper when enjoying a comfortable lead is a huge tactical error. The manager will no doubt argue that it is not a deliberate tactic but the fact remains that it continually happens time after time. The better option is to do the opposite - hold a very high defensive line especially when the opposition lack pace up front. If you face genuine pace then perhaps you have to play things differently but yesterday Caley were playing with a “hold up” striker so no threat from the ball in behind.

When you have an inexperienced young keeper in goal the last thing you want to face is a barrage of penalty box attacks.

As my good friend Cammy said there is a huge lack of on pitch leadership in an organisational sense- in the days of Dowie, Durnan and Higgy a penalty box bombardment played into our hands but with either Martin or Leighfield in goals it is the last thing that any supporter wants to see.

[alsy]

1 minute ago, Rjc-1988 said:

It is only my opinion but I am more convinced than ever that allowing our back 4 to drop deeper when enjoying a comfortable lead is a huge tactical error. The manager will no doubt argue that it is not a deliberate tactic but the fact remains that it continually happens time after time. The better option is to do the opposite - hold a very high defensive line especially when the opposition lack pace up front. If you face genuine pace then perhaps you have to play things differently but yesterday Caley were playing with a “hold up” striker so no threat from the ball in behind.

 

This is spot on, imo. I said to the people I was with yesterday that you'd set up perfectly by playing a high line against us - we've got very little pace and mobility up front, Walsh excepted, and Oakley tends to play with his back to goal and can be nullified pretty effectively if he's restricted to playing mostly 30-40 yards from an opponent's goal. I was very surprised when your dropped so deep in the second half - it was basically inviting the likes of Walsh and Polworth to get into shooting range and to press your defenders into giving away fouls in dangerous areas. 

[trotsky27]

Never a penalty not for first time caley players acting like they been shot

[weeredbook]

1 hour ago, Rjc-1988 said:

 

It is only my opinion but I am more convinced than ever that allowing our back 4 to drop deeper when enjoying a comfortable lead is a huge tactical error. The manager will no doubt argue that it is not a deliberate tactic but the fact remains that it continually happens time after time. The better option is to do the opposite - hold a very high defensive line especially when the opposition lack pace up front. If you face genuine pace then perhaps you have to play things differently but yesterday Caley were playing with a “hold up” striker so no threat from the ball in behind.

When you have an inexperienced young keeper in goal the last thing you want to face is a barrage of penalty box attacks.

As my good friend Cammy said there is a huge lack of on pitch leadership in an organisational sense- in the days of Dowie, Durnan and Higgy a penalty box bombardment played into our hands but with either Martin or Leighfield in goals it is the last thing that any supporter wants to see.

 

Nail on the head rjc  .

[groundhopper2000]

Scottish Championship

Queen Of The South 3 Inverness Caley 3

Palmerston

Attendance 1,233

 November 17th 2018 3pm 

https://groundhopper2000.blogspot.com/2018/11/blog-post.html

 

 

[TheScarf]

1,200 there?  Looks far more than that IMO.

[steakpiegravy]

Spoiler

 

Its really noticeable when the first ICT goal goes in how quickly all the heads go down. I've been saying for ages we lack a leader in defence. 

[Monkey Tennis]

9 hours ago, palmy_cammy said:

We are lacking a real leader in this squad, someone to organise us when the chips are down.  Yesterday doesn't happen with a Jim Thomson or Chris Higgins in the side.

When the heads go down, everyone's go down, the forwards start pointing fingers at the defenders and we just fall apart.  The spine of our team is pretty brittle when you look at it.  Yesterday we had a young lad in goals, but Martin is far from commanding and I've never seen him dishing out the hairdryer treatment to his teammates.  Fordyce is quiet as a mouse on the park and so is Semple,  Doyle is the most vocal of our defenders but given he was having a complete nightmare at the end yesterday he wasn't best placed for dishing out instructions.  Jacobs plays the "Steven McKenna" role but despite his love of flying into tackles he comes across as pretty timid.  Then you look to our experienced guys like Stirling, Harkins and Dobbie and they just seem to throw their hands up in frustration at the defenders undoing all their hard work.  You can understand their annoyance, but it is a team game and they should all be in it together.

I know the captain's role is largely symbolic and that cliche tells us we should have 11 captains out there, but I don't think Dobbie is a great choice.  He definitely has the role more as a reward for his service than his ability to lead.  A captain would have had a word in Harkin's ear in the first half yesterday when he was having a bit of a meltdown and appearing determined to get booked for persistent fouling, and a captain would have steadied the ship yesterday, slowed the game down and had us keeping hold of the ball.  The manager should have been taking the sting out of things by making substitutions as well.

 

A good post.

Now the dust has settled, I'm feeling slightly more philosophical about yesterday.  

We did get to see a cracking game and we had plenty to get excited about.  Obviously, the punchline wasn't much fun, but the likelihood is that we again will be going neither up nor down and yesterday's game will not prove, in itself, to be hugely significant.

I totally agree on the leadership front though.  I'd been thinking the same - that in terms of the defence in particular, we really need an adult in there to take control at times.  We do have players with experience, and we even have some who are vocal.  We do however lack figures with that kind of authority that can steady a rocking ship.

A feature of this season seems to be that we can both score and concede in spates. 

It's bloody frustrating at times, but at least it's engaging.

[SueSue]

Surely the leader in the back four is Fordyce. He is Vice Captain for goodness sake as well as 200 games under his belt.

Semple is a 19 year old finding his way in a first team environment..... his voice will come the more his career progresses.

Doyle is the most vocal. He has that in his character.

 

[Highland Capital]

1 hour ago, steakpiegravy said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Its really noticeable when the first ICT goal goes in how quickly all the heads go down. I've been saying for ages we lack a leader in defence. 

I noticed some of the Queen's players arguing amongst themselves after we scored the second.  The number 6 was having a real go at someone in-particular.

[SueSue]

16 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I noticed some of the Queen's players arguing amongst themselves after we scored the second.  The number 6 was having a real go at someone in-particular.

And quite rightly so