C&A not the shop

Cole but an honourable mention for Lamie who won nearly everything.

Great result. The battle in midfield is night and day from the Accies and St Johnstone games. Lamie was fantastic again today, Cole was excellent he looks like a totally different player when he's confident, Roberts and Crawford both had good games. 4 players that were being described as being not good enough that are now top performers. Thought O'Donnell also had a good game, if not spectacular. Kelly saved us just before half time as well with a great save. 35 points with 6 games to go. It'll be good when we're mathematically safe so we can start tieing down players for next year. Still a lot of football to be played if we can make some progress in the Scottish Cup.

Is Carroll available? That was some knock he took last week. Magliore had a solid game last week, while Gallacher almost sold the jerseys when he came on. I don't see how you can start Gallacher unless we're moving to a back 3. If we did go to a back 3 you'd think it would be Roberts that dropped out, which is harsh on him.

If the rule of ex players always scoring stands then we're good for 5 goals on Saturday. I still remember us scoring 5 and losing to Aberdeen. A win on Saturday with losses for Accies and St Johnstone and a draw in Killie vs County and i think its fair for us to focus on the cup.

Does that contribute to the general doom and gloom of the fan base as I'm assuming more are watching the home games with their season tickets than away streams. Okay its not been a great season (horrible at times) but on papers it's not been as bad as some are making out.

I think they'll take Gordon for sentimental reasons. I don't think he should go though.

He was put out to get games, didn't work out as planned though. At least taking the club at their word about seeing him as a future number 1, and isn't he contracted beyond the summer? Also yeah, Carroll is definitely missing next week with a concussion. If he doesn't you've got to ask serious questions about our concussion management protocols as he was out after that knock yesterday.

Which, if you're consistent with, is very hard to argue with and something players will react to. Good chance to show that here by not changing the back 4 who have kept two clean sheets and played well. Not mentioning Kelly as he starts regardless, though now I've mentioned it would you bring in Morrison for game time once we're safe or stick with Kelly who's playing well and with an outside shout of going away with Scotland but is gone at the end of the season? Turns out its not even easy to be straightforward.

This is the best season to get more away games than home games with the split, certainly in terms of lost revenue but I'm guessing also in terms of points gained. Am I just imagining it or is our away record much better than our home record?

I think most of the "all knowing" are of the opinion that has contract was amended and the clause in question removed so he could play again. I don't see him starting for us in August. Would love to be wrong though as he's been a great player for us for the most part.

If Carson recovers I'm happy he can come back in and be a great keeper for us again. Big rebuilding job for Alexander next year though.

Massive result. Didn't see the game so can't say much but it seems to have built on what we got midweek and the three in midfield and up front works well enough when you have the right personnel. Sooner we can guarantee safety the sooner we can look to next season (or focus on the cup if it ever happens). Very good day all round as we improved our position on killie and Accies.

Exactly. Also our hardest game left (on paper) and no change is another bonus. Same team as Wednesday with Gallacher making the bench.

Any thing that improves our position relative to Accies, County and Killie is a good result. If we're no worse off against those teams than we are right now ill be happy enough tonight.

Not exactly great use of the numbers there. Basically using points per game to point out that the teams at the bottom are likely to finish at the bottom... 11th has only finished with more than 36 points once in the last 10 years. Thats really what we need to get to. I said at the start of this thread 7 points would be a good return, if we get to that brilliant. Thats a big ask but looking at things if we can get a draw and a win out the next three we'll be in a good place going in to the split. A win and a draw post split then would get us to 37. As folk have said if we can't get 8 points from the last 8 games we deserve to get relegated.

Not saw the game but if we've looked organised and up for it then it's 100% improvement on the last 2. If we can take another 4 or 5 points before the split id be happy.

Listening on the BBC sounds like it's a bit of a battle with not a lot of quality on show. Which is what i'd expect really, at least we're battling.

Could be a 4-5-1 with Cole playing further back as a winger/wide midfielder. Rely on Watt to hold the ball up Or he thinks that with Campbell back j we have enough in the middle to play as a three.

I heard O'Hara is concussion related and shouldn't have been rushed back the other week. No idea on the rest.

I don't. I really don't. Once players go on to the park they mostly forget about all that stuff. They commit the same way (not committing to challenge is more ikely to get you hurt as doing it right) and what to win the game and their own personal battles. Even if you don't belive in that he's still got to earn a move elsewhere and show enough to stay in the Scotland squad. As I said I'd like to leave him out for the way he's handled this contract thing as a lesson/punishment but with where we are have to get results and I think having him in the side is more likely to do that than not having him in.

Agreed he shouldn't be captain with what has happened but I do think he will give his all when he comes back in. Mostly cos players do genuinely really want to win games, they're competitive by nature and thats what gets them a career as professional sportsmen.

You can see why we went with 3 in midfield to try and get our 3 strikers on the pitch. Right now they're probably the best three outfield players that were available (Long is a big question granted, but he has the ability) for selection. Now we hopefully have some more options I can see somethings changing in terms of shape. What that ends up being is a different matter. Maybe a diamond with Carroll and O'Donnell putting in a shift, depends how St Mirren line up mind you.

He holds all the aces now because we need him to play to stay up. I was dubious about the conspiracy to start with but now I'm thinking he's been looking after his own interests by getting that renewal clause taken out. I'm disappointed if it has happened the way I think it has and if we weren't where are id say fuck him and let him not kick a ball for the rest of the season and screw up his chances of going away with Scotland. However we are where we are and we need competent central defenders and we need them available tomorrow night.

Only once in the last 10 years has the team in 11th finished with more than 36 points. Anything over 7 points before the split is a success in my eyes, leaving us needing one win in the last 5 which if we can't manage we don't deserve to stay up. So with that said: St Johnstone W 2-1 St Mirren draw 1-1 Hibs Loss 2-0 Livi Win 1-0 Killie draw 0-0 8 points having us 8th at the split needing one win post split.

He's not better than Cole or Watt and a totally different player to Long. If we don't play a three up front (which is now the agreed wisdom on this forum since we'reover run with 3 in midfield) then I don't see how he walks in to this team. A good option but he's not going to be in any different a position than what he was when he was with us previously. Third choice striker.