A Day in ICT Support

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 30 May 2015 at Hampden Park, Glasgow
Result	Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 Falkirk 1
Competition	Scottish FA Cup Final
Hopping	Ground 570 on my lifetime list and the 13th in Scotland – I was not sure whether to visit Hampden as the National Stadium or as a home game for Queen’s Park, but this showpiece game coincides with half-term so I have the time for a leisurely 760-mile round trip.
Pre-match preparation
Scottish football is going through turbulent times, but with the happy outcome that a ticket for this showpiece game was readily available.  The teams have come through the following games to get to Hampden.  On paper that looks like a tougher journey for Inverness, but that will mean nothing. Round Four (point of entry): St Mirren 1 Inverness CT 1 & Inverness CT 4 St Mirren 0 Falkirk 1 Cowdenbeath 0 Round Five: Partick Thistle 1 Inverness CT 2 Falkirk 2 Brechin City 1 Quarter-Finals: Inverness CT 1 Raith Rovers 0 Queen of the South 0 Falkirk 1 Semi-Finals: Inverness CT 3 Glasgow Celtic 2 aet Hibernian 0 Falkirk 1 Inverness CT finished third in the Scottish Premiership and will start as clear favourites against their mid-table opponents from the second tier.  They have already qualified for the Europa League next season, and a Cup win would open a place for St Johnstone.  Of course, Falkirk will be hoping to win the Cup and that European place.  Game on.
This match in one sentence
A poor game with a dramatic ending as ICT were reduced to ten, conceded an equaliser and then were gifted the winning goal in the 86th minute.
So what?
Inverness CT win the Cup for the first time in their history and St Johnstone get a Europa League place.  Falkirk, as they say, “go again”.
The drama unfolds
The first half was pretty forgettable to be honest.  Falkirk were slower to settle but weathered the early storm from Inverness well enough.  By the half-hour mark you would say that the game was pretty even.  Many fans had fashioned their own interim entertainment by making aeroplanes out of the pre-match red or blue display card (see below), and the loudest cheers came when one of them made contact with someone's head twenty rows below.  This is never a good sign at a football match - worse than "Mexican" waves.  You could hear the muffled sobs of secondary school technology teachers watching all those valuable resources go to waste. The opening Inverness goal was almost a surprise – a neat through ball from Aaron Doran released Marley Watkins who rounded Falkirk keeper Jamie McDonald for a composed finish.  Probably just about deserved for possession and territorial dominance, but unlikely to be enough, I thought.  1-0 after 38 minutes and at  HT Falkirk indeed came out with more intent in the second half and for long periods it seemed that an equaliser was coming.  I took my scene-setter clip when ICT had a set-piece, and captured the first of two turning points in the game.  Inverness are in blue. That red card went to Inverness defender Carl Tremarco who was deemed to have denied the clear goalscoring opportunity to Blair Alston on the break, in the 75th minute. With players on both sides already showing significant signs of fatigue, the pendulum swung even further towards Falkirk when Peter Grant soon headed a set-piece equaliser at the far post.  1-1 after 80 minutes I really think Falkirk would have won if they had made it to extra time.  Both sides were visibly tiring – neither side really seemed to have coped well with the occasion – and the extra man would have been such an advantage.  However, Inverness were given the opportunity to break and Watkins ran from half-way to shoot.  It looked like a routine stop for McDonald but for some reason he parried it tamely towards the fresh legs of substitute Jamie Vincent.  He couldn’t miss, turning point number two of two.  2-1 after 86 minutes Joy and despair - the Falkirk players seem to know that their moment has gone Falkirk had a couple of half-chances and another set piece but Inverness held on easily for a first-ever Scottish FA Cup win.  Final score 2-1
Ground Pix
This is one national stadium where you can literally live in its shadow This is a 1/10 model of the Kelpies, the largest equine artwork in the world, recently built in Falkirk. The "wee man" lower left is for sense of scale Suites named after scientists - loving that! Groundhopper happiness! The programmes have arrived.  Mine secured 3h45min before kickoff, a new personal record.  Taken back to the car for pristine flat storage, of course.
Pre-Match Pix
Falkirk's low-key arrival. Pic taken with police horse. Tick.  (Note: service not available in Newcastle) Dressed-up children (why sombreros?) going on National TV montages.  Tick. It is a fundamental point that letters are asymmetric and these things only work from one side.  Kriklaf means nothing to us over here ... meanwhile the Cup itself is suspended in a clear box under that helium balloon. Some nice standing waves generated by the shakers. James Clerk Maxwell would love that! Now, inside the murky world of choreographed pre-match card displays.  This is the first-ever for Inverness CT.  There is a fundamental problem here.  If you are in ‘em, you can’t see ‘em. Here are our instructions ... Hope this looks good for everyone else ... Sneaky look sideways to check that adjacent ICT fans are being obedient too Falkirk had some nice white card to play with
Match Pix
The crowd was around 37000 in a ground of capacity around 52000 so only the lower tiers were in use.
Post-Match Pix
Is it just me, or are post-match presentations just rubbish these days?  We waited an age for the Cup to be presented.  Very few of the the Falkirk fans stayed, even to see their own side get the runners-up medals.  However, the image that stuck with me is Jamie McDonald, left sitting by himself in the penalty area.  Not one team-mate came over, no-one. No captain, no-one in a white shirt.  Eventually, someone in a tracksuit came over and hauled him up.  It seemed a bit harsh for a semi-final hero. Falkirk eventually collect runners-up medals ... ... but very few of their fans have stayed to see. The Cup is held aloft in the traditional manner ... before the new formalities are completed in one corner. We are now some 30 minutes after the final whistle and the division between winning and losing is stark.
Something You Don’t Get in Non-League
Half-and-half scarves.  I just don't get it.  If people like me don't buy them, who does?  I watch most of my football as a neutral - as a souvenir of being at the game, give me a programme every time.  Unfolded and in a polypocket protector, maybe.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
END OF SEASON TABLE Today, black beats pink, sending them to the bottom of the league and also leapfrogging radioactive bile. Well done that man for going over to Jamie McDonald. The story so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet.  Ordered by points-per-game (PPG). P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Green 32.0 16.0 4.0 12.0 42.0 11.0 65.0 2.03 Blue 15.0 6.0 3.0 6.0 22.0 5.0 24.0 1.60 Orange 8.5 2.0 3.0 3.5 10.5 3.0 13.5 1.59 Purple 7.0 4.0 2.0 1.0 13.0 2.0 11.0 1.57 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Grey 27.5 11.0 7.0 9.5 41.5 7.0 33.5 1.22 Red 5.0 2.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 1.0 5.0 1.00 Yellow 14.0 3.0 5.0 6.0 25.0 3.0 4.0 0.29 Black 3.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 7.0 0.0 -2.0 -0.67 Radioactive Bile 6.0 2.0 0.0 4.0 12.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.00 Pink 8.0 1.0 3.0 4.0 18.0 0.0 -12.0 -1.50
Soapbox Section
Sepp Blatter. Don’t get me started. The only thing we can do now is to show him clearly how history will record his legacy, and try to influence FIFA’s corporate sponsors.  However, there is not much chance of the latter because, ultimately, it all once again comes down to profit, and now they are “in” they want to stay “in”. Whatever else you say about ol’ Sepp, he understands what makes human beings tick.  Good job he’s a benign despot really – think of the damage he could do with that power base if he really wanted to.
What Next?
That is probably the end of 2014-15.  Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  I will certainly be back for the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup in August, and I am hoping that Napoli will have a home European qualifier at just the right time to coincide with the summer hols.  If time, I will dig further into my collection of football games for a post during July.  Next season’s priority list will have a dozen or so grounds to take me for the first time to “Everywhere Down to Step 3” in England.