Happy Dosser

Quite, and if he persists in playing one up then it's a mystery why Louis was signed at all. I don't remember him playing well in that role with us and you would have thought their scout would have twigged that. He's not really tall or strong enough for that position, especially with the Honey Monster defenders you get in the Championship.

"You imagine him chalking off the first goal, if it had been Sevco or Celtic. No chance!" I quite agree, Yosemite Sam, but the same could be said of Messrs Thomson, Clancy, Madden, Beaton, I suspect. Like other posters, it was the latitude he gave to Hearts which really annoyed me, while getting other decisions right. It seems almost no player, pundit or fan knew the rule at Cadden's "goal". When playing I always thought that, unless the goalie had both hands round the ball, it was fair game. What if the GK doesn't have a hand on it, but lays a couple of fingers on the ball, just to be a smartarse? Still mystified why Main wasn't credited with the first goal. There's even a case Tanner might have had the ball over the line first after the Hearts defence made a # of the corner, so don't know why it's the goalie's OG. Who is the final arbiter in these situations?

Would agree with most of that. I was baffled by the referee's performance: over-compensation for his alleged childhood attendance at FP? To be clear, I've tried changing my name to Samantha Smoothigh to avoid confusion with your good self but it just hasn't worked.

Yep, the much-maligned Frear gave the Hearts left-side something to think about too and these changes stopped Hearts momentum. At one stage I expected the inevitable late winner of McCall/McGhie days. Hats off to Carson too: shades of Randolph.

Most of the POD, including self, wouldn't agree with you. He'd be quite a good player if he could control his inner muppet. I tried, and failed, to give Naismith a clean slate from his Rangers days. Glad Campbell stood up to him.

Yes, let's ignore a great result and start bickering about the turnout. A big Hearts support turned out expecting to horse us. They didn't. Maybe the tooth-grinding negativity of some on here drove a few of our lot away too. Someone should start a questionnaire. Meanwhile, in other news, I thought bringing on Bowman was effective. Ciftci just got crowded out but Ryan started to win balls in the air and annoy the Hearts back line with his strength. Why was Sclafferty not booked for clattering Aldred into the wall?

Glad to hear it. Our bus didn't leave immediately after the game but stayed on for a few hours. Most of the 26 buses (one from Corby) got some brick attention from the Dandy Don support as they left.

Clackscat: I think there's still private messaging available. That was a well-run bus and I enjoyed travelling all over Scotland on it until I got hitched, hem, hem. I remember us returning from our 1-0 victory in the cup over the Mutton Molesters in 75 or76 and leaving some poor bugger in Forfar after a toilet stop. Happy days!

Central Park was pretty grim as I recall that day. Our arrival in the EK Supporters' Bus coincided with the team coach and, as we watched the players get off, Wilson Humphries barked at me and a mate to carry in the 'Well hamper with the strips (presumably). The dressing room was tiny and really basic but it was great to meet the team. Can't remember much about the game apart from the grotty perimeter track for speedway (?) and grass terraces in places.

Is it too early for Craig Levein to express concern about our over-physical style and hope his ball-players will be protected by a strong referee?

"Ssome of wee Tommy's early teams were "dire" to watch - soaking up pressure, not conceding too many, and then breaking away to score the odd goal. Jim MacLean adopted the exact same approach at Tannadice and was lauded for his "attractive" footballing style. " Very true, Kmcalpin. I remember in the early days of Tommy's tenure all we had up front was a very young Andy Walker and old war-horse Andy Harrow. John Reilly was then a panic signing from The Arabs whose career was virtually ended soon after by a knee injury, so zero attacking options after that. There was one game at FP when Charlie Nicholas played for Aberdeen in which we actually scored early and spent about the next 70 minutes defending desperately to win, if my memory serves me correctly: nerve-racking stuff.. Our team has a strong spine now and I am sure Robbo will planning Stage Two of The Project.

Always enjoy his press conferences. He seems a pretty straight guy, the polar opposite of Saint Brendan, who despite having an enormous budget, takes time to sneer at other teams and pass comment on their players, while telling us how wonderful Broony is. His other great comment was post-SF, when he said, "I don't think some people wanted us in the final." All true of course, and it did explain the Bowmangeddon.

I think the reason is that Roma are seen as the working-class club of the capital while Lazio are the middle-class bunch, as well as having nasty fascist associations. Presumably the 'toon was syndicated in Italy, since I don't think many Italians read the Daily Mirror. Translating the strip into Italian must have been fun.....

According to Wiki, this is the origin of their colours: "The club's home colours are Tyrian purple and gold, which gives Roma their nickname "I Giallorossi" ("The Yellow and Reds"). Their club badge features a she-wolf, an allusion to the founding myth of Rome." Both colours are of a dark shade, approximating to our colours.

Nae probs: 3-0 to the 'Well, with goals from Pettigrew (2) and Graham.

You're being very existentialist, mon vieux, but that's an excellent question. When I think of that and Kmcalpin's query re decisions against us with the Ugly Sisters evening out over the years, I always return to Bob Crampsey's (Brain of Britain and footballing intellectual) retort to those who questioned if there was bias towards the Old Firm. Remember, he had been watching our game weekly since the 40s. He was quite unequivocal that bias has always existed towards the OF and thought any suggestion to the contrary ridiculous.

You reflect the feelings most of the folk around me had after the game. I'm obviously one of the "happy clappers" complained of by some on here but I actually left the ground delighted we had got the ball down and played some football at last. Some of the stuff we've had to watch recently has been dire but when Tanner plays from the start and we have the out ball to Frear option we are capable of some good stuff. Frear is just back from injury and was often crowded out by the burly tag team he was up against. I was a little disappointed in Killie: I expected more attacking play from them but that may only have happened if we had scored first. They are well organised and physical, and, of course, like most teams, come to FP with the full repertoire of time-wasting tactics and theatrical pratfalls. Tbf, their manager was quite accurate in his post-match comments, unlike Brenda's comments on the Tractor Boys' professionalism (and it's pathetic when Rodgers and Brown complain at other teams "over-celebrating" when they score against Sellick). I no longer watch BBC Shortbread because it's bad for the BP but the clips on YouTube suggest we should have had at least one penalty too. Such luck is not for diddy teams, it seems.

Much too sensible, Andy_P. I see the usual nay-sayers are out in force. I actually thought we played better today than for several months. Once Killie got their rather lucky goal, they bedded in and stifled us with their 442. They did the same to Sellick, but there was only one team trying to play football today. For those who berate Frear as a "shiter", it was his presence which stopped us playing our hoofball/shitefest style, which I really don't like. They doubled up on him because they perceived he represented a danger and it's very hard to get past a packed defence like that. He actually put some good crosses into the box but we didn't get a break in there all day. Perhaps if Cadds had simply squared to Tanner in the first half things would have been different. I felt that, if we could have equalised, we might have gone on to win. We have played a lot worse this season and won, and we'll probably repeat this at Dens next week.

My pleasure: a consequence of age . Ingram always reminded me of Drew Busby: a pretty tough customer. Think he got a transfer to Nottingham Forest eventually.

And "Dixie" Ingram before his car dealership days?

Heeheehee: what a rogue's gallery! Never forget that they even whacked each other. Remember when Levein and Hogg started punching each other on the pitch? And of course they had those consummate deep sea divers, Colquhoun and Robertson, but that's another story.......

Delighted with the win but it seems Bobby Madman was abysmal, as was the BBC Shortbread coverage of our game. Admittedly I'm watching it in the pub and it is noisy, but no interview with our manager, no comments from the "panel" other than the ex-Rangers eejit, who thought Motherwell just shaded it or some-such comment. McFadden not given the chance to say anything. I feel an away tie against an Ugly Sister coming on...... *Grinds teeth*

​I immediately discount anything written in that utter rag. I'm pleased that we are now a physically-committed team, which is not what dirty means. In fact, we often seem quite naïve when it comes to the time-wasting and diving of some of The Usual Suspects. Compare our present defence with the porous shambles we had under McGhee and there is no comparison: strong, brave and good tacklers. Motherwell made the mistake of beating Rangers in the semi when The Powers wanted an OF final but Rodgers angered me much more by getting his retaliation in first before the final and monstering Ryan Bowman. His hypocrisy when he fields Brown every week really gets on my nazzums. I actually agreed with Levein's comments on Brown and Neil Lennon (when NL was complaining about Hearts' tackling). Of course our fearless footballing press will continue to suck up to Holier-Than-Thou-Brendan. ​The only criticism I would level at our manager is that he often goes out of his way to refer to our physicality, which gives the grateful hacks plenty of ammunition. When we get the ball down we can play, no question. . ​Now the Hearts team of the 80s, well, that WAS a dirty team..... ​And Gregor Stevens, either in C&A or blue and white? GAC!

Agreed. Petravicius is very young and is still learning the game but he's obviously there for his pace and I'm sure Robinson thought he would stretch a tiring defence. He will improve with more confidence. Curtis Main is really impressive: a very hard worker who really puts himself about and knows where the goal is. I actually thought his "miss" was a great save by Mannus. Almost an identikit replacement for King Louis, so well done the scouts. I hope Allan Campbell continues his forward-driving aggression: he changed the game in the second half. Pleasantly surprised by Rose tonight too: he seemed to be everywhere. Finally, Dunne produced a couple of really good passes last night and he is fearless in the challenge as well as being really quick. That 40-60 ball he made into a 50-50 against Edwards or Osman (can't quite remember which) against Thistle was a blood-curdler. In general, our defence is mean and hard, miles away from the walking putty we had under McGhee.

Joe Wark is the stand-out for me, with Rab MacKinnon a close second. An older pal of mine thought Baldy Shaw terrifyingly wonderful, but there ain't many of those supporters left. Re the 5-3 Hearts match, which was a great night out, a bonus was that Brian Heron came back home on the EK supporters' bus, something which would never happen today.