Match Preview/Thread - Inverness vs Morton (3rd May)

[TRVMP]

Think people are forgetting we have a lower-half budget and just finished top half. If Muirhead was a model pro he wouldn't be at a club like Morton. I would take him over an earnest tryer because he just got double figures in league goals, something we last had with Bob McHugh and before that Peaso.

[vikingTON]

3 hours ago, Toby said:

Remember it was Craig Napier who was the referee, though. That doesn’t excuse losing his temper like that, but Stuart Kettlewell and Liam Kelly were scathing about him last week.

While the red card for Jack Vale was as clear a red as you’ll ever see, and Kettlewell didn’t have a case there, both were very vocal about how Napier’s attitude and behaviour was appalling.

Napier lost control of the game by virtue of awarding fouls to Samuel for crumpling under every ridiculously soft challenge in the first half, while not awarding the same at the other end of the park. He couldn't even deal with a smoke bomb being 0.2 yards on the pitch after the equaliser without storming up to Mullen as if he was going to book him for considering just, err, punting it away. 

His award of a free kick to Inverness for a clean win of the ball from our press early in the second half was I think the real flip switch for already visible frustration in the team. IIRC Power took the ball and volleyed it to fuck in immediate response to another gubbins call.

I don't think that the penalty decision was wrong, but when you're booking five players in six minutes given what little was at stake, you are also at fault as an official.

Personally, I don't care too much if players lost discipline in this particular game. Professional footballers are expected to bite their tongues and accept nonsense from garbage officials all season long and they let that standard slip last night. 

3 hours ago, ChampTon said:

The last few words could be attributed to one of our "top players".

Too often he has a go back at the support and cupping his ears. He's scored 16/17 goals, 3 of those came in one game and he be must've put away around 8 penalties. Muirhead thinks he's way better than he actually is, and we should be reinforcing that by getting rid of his embarrassing behaviour.

Give Oakley his wage.

^^^ trying too hard

[DaftTon74]

Well that concludes a weird old season following Morton again. Thought we looked good first half and merited our equaliser. Red card changed the game, would need to see again but looked silly from Muirhead. Craig Napier is still a bit shit though, even if he got that one correct.

Overall, a season that could have no doubt went better, however it could have had ended a hell of a lot worse. You are kidding yourself on that if someone offered us 5th place and a decent cup run before the Arbroath match on 9th December, you wouldn’t have bitten both their hands off for it.

It is a shame how the season did fizzle out after such a great middle period, but that’s the effects of a 15 man squad most weeks, abundance of injuries to key players at the business end of the season & one of the lowest budgets in the league.

Intrigued to see how our summer window goes now & who gets kept on.

Onwards and upwards.

Forgot to mention, and Try not to look too much into these things but it definitely looked like a farewell from Gillespie last night, Oakley hanging around aswell once every other player had wondered off too. I’ve heard that the Irish Mob that Scott Allan is playing with now are sniffing about him.

Edited May 4 by DaftTon74

[C B]

I think the summer signings and lack of loanies, including going the entire season without a right back, is the reason we never made the playoffs. We never managed to win a game from a goal behind and on reflection we did well to avoid relegation as we were a better team last year.

However, my binding memory for this year will be the demise of the referee and the gamesmanship from the opposition. Every game was worse than the previous it seemed and it really ruined my enjoyment (and throat) over the course of the season. I’m not looking forward to that again next year.

[irnbru]

1 hour ago, vikingTON said:

Napier lost control of the game by virtue of awarding fouls to Samuel for crumpling under every ridiculously soft challenge in the first half, while not awarding the same at the other end of the park. He couldn't even deal with a smoke bomb being 0.2 yards on the pitch after the equaliser without storming up to Mullen as if he was going to book him for considering just, err, punting it away. 

His award of a free kick to Inverness for a clean win of the ball from our press early in the second half was I think the real flip switch for already visible frustration in the team. IIRC Power took the ball and volleyed it to fuck in immediate response to another gubbins call.

I don't think that the penalty decision was wrong, but when you're booking five players in six minutes given what little was at stake, you are also at fault as an official.

Personally, I don't care too much if players lost discipline in this particular game. Professional footballers are expected to bite their tongues and accept nonsense from garbage officials all season long and they let that standard slip last night. 

^^^ trying too hard

Was similar in the last game. I'm not surprised he snapped at the ref after another game like that. 

Don't agree with the criticism of Muirhead either - he was getting stick for not caring at some stages of the season and was obviously still desperate for a win last night based on his reaction to the goal and booking. 

[TopCat]

I don't particularly like Muirhead as a player and the thought of standing in a freezing shed next January watching him put in yet another hissy fit of a performance doesn't exactly fill me with excitement.

However, 10+ goals a season from a wide player on our budget isn't to be sniffed at, particularly if Strapp and Oakley are likely to be away.

[RossMcC1874]

I expect Muirhead to be offered a contract by Imrie considering his goals and assists the past few seasons, nobody can argue about the contribution and it's clear he has improved dramatically under Imrie. 

He has never been perfect and last night was just stupid on his part even though he really does frustrate the life out of me he does have something that no one else has that bit of magic from time to time, whether it's a long range ripper of a free kick or a pulling a worldie in a game. 

Like people have said the reason he is at Morton is because of the inconsistent patches he has and attitude found wanting. It would be hard to find someone to replace the goals and assists but Imrie has a knack for bringing the best out of players and let's hope he finds a few over the summer. 

[Cet Homme Charmant]

9 hours ago, LargsTON said:

As I've said before if and when he leaves I'll be very surprised if he moves in an upward trajectory.  

I don't disagree, he's obviously playing at our level for a reason, or more likely multiple reasons.

Nevertheless, if we let him go, it will be difficult  to get a replacement who'll contribute as many goals and assist as he's done in the last two-and-a-half seasons. 

I can see why some would be indifferent to him leaving as he can be incredibly frustrating at times, last night being yet another example. But he's also brought a lot of positives to the team which I think some overlook or for one reason or other just don't appreciate.

I won't be devastated if he leaves, but I think some who'll be happy to see the back of him underestimate just how difficult it will be to find a replacement who'll contribute as much over a full season as he does.

[SpoonTon]

It's not a dive by Muirhead. Napier might think there's not enough contact to warrant the penalty, but the defender is caught wrong side and puts his hands on his back. Obviously he doesn't give everything to stay on his feet for as long as he can, but there's a big difference between that and a dive. The push on his back makes him lose his balance and he's hitting the deck either way. The reaction is silly - he's done that far too many times this season. It's not going to get you anything. He needs to stop that. I still hope he signs next season; for his faults, he's still a good player at this level. 

Napier is highly spoken of as a GP down here, and apparently is a nice guy, but he's a really poor referee. It's clear, though, that the standard of refereeing at the moment is terrible. It's a problem that goes pretty deep. 

 

[TopCat]

55 minutes ago, SpoonTon said:

It's not a dive by Muirhead. Napier might think there's not enough contact to warrant the penalty, but the defender is caught wrong side and puts his hands on his back. Obviously he doesn't give everything to stay on his feet for as long as he can, but there's a big difference between that and a dive. The push on his back makes him lose his balance and he's hitting the deck either way. The reaction is silly - he's done that far too many times this season. It's not going to get you anything. He needs to stop that. I still hope he signs next season; for his faults, he's still a good player at this level. 

Napier is highly spoken of as a GP down here, and apparently is a nice guy, but he's a really poor referee. It's clear, though, that the standard of refereeing at the moment is terrible. It's a problem that goes pretty deep. 

 

https://x.com/iain_latto/status/1786685580622938139

 

[Chicken_Soup]

Napier was awful yesterday. There’s too many incidents to mention, but my favourite was the lengthy lecture he issued to Waters after a perfectly executed slide tackle. I’ve no idea how he had enough content to fill that amount of speaking time, but everybody had to stand and wait for him to get it all off his chest, over something which wasn’t a foul in the first place.

 

 

[AyrshireTon]

18 hours ago, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said:

I mean, Wee Davie at Livingston confirmed today that they had agreed pre contracts with 3 players for next season but didn't name them. I worried Oakley might be one of them instantly when I read the article.

I'm more worried that he's going to Partick.

[port-ton]

I’ll be gutted if Muirhead leaves. We have a dozen players who run about a lot with little in the way of goal threat or creativity and no one else that can offer what he does. He has pish games like everyone else but the amount of decisive moments he comes up with in close games is massive for such a small and limited squad. If we can’t accommodate someone with his goal return and set piece delivery in our team then we are doing it wrong.

the idea he doesn’t have a work rate is ridiculous as well. The guy runs himself in to the ground for the team most weeks despite it being a part of his game that he’s clearly not that comfortable doing. I couldn’t care less about how he acts with the fans either, he got absolute (deserved imo) pelters for being awful his first couple of years but has been a key player for us under imrie and he clearly sees right through the fans for singing his name when he bangs in a 30 yard free kick but then is always the first to get slated by the crowd at games or fans online when we are losing despite everything he’s done for us.

[The Bewilderedbeast]

52 minutes ago, AyrshireTon said:

I'm more worried that he's going to Partick.

As far as I hear,  he's already signed for the luvvies

[LargsTON]

3 minutes ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

As far as I hear,  he's already signed for the luvvies

That'd be a serious kick in the nuts.

[Mr.Blue]

55 minutes ago, port-ton said:

I’ll be gutted if Muirhead leaves. We have a dozen players who run about a lot with little in the way of goal threat or creativity and no one else that can offer what he does. He has pish games like everyone else but the amount of decisive moments he comes up with in close games is massive for such a small and limited squad. If we can’t accommodate someone with his goal return and set piece delivery in our team then we are doing it wrong.

the idea he doesn’t have a work rate is ridiculous as well. The guy runs himself in to the ground for the team most weeks despite it being a part of his game that he’s clearly not that comfortable doing. I couldn’t care less about how he acts with the fans either, he got absolute (deserved imo) pelters for being awful his first couple of years but has been a key player for us under imrie and he clearly sees right through the fans for singing his name when he bangs in a 30 yard free kick but then is always the first to get slated by the crowd at games or fans online when we are losing despite everything he’s done for us.

Couldn't agree more.

Anyone suggesting we don't make attempts to re-sign our top goalscorer is just being silly.

20 minutes ago, LargsTON said:

That'd be a serious kick in the nuts.

Anyone but them. However if they are offering a 2/3 year deal and throwing money at the big man then you couldn't hold it against him.

[Madton]

My "issue" with Muirhead (and Blues) is that they appear undroppable. Dougie simply plays them if they are fit, often in different positions even when they are completely off form.

 My worry if they both stay is that it will be the exact same next season.

If they were used more as squad players, I'd be happy for them both to stay as they are both good players on their day. 

Not their fault Dougie plays them every week of course , but for me those 2 moving on wouldn't be a bad thing assuming we recruit well. With rumours of a better budget, I'm sure we can do that.