MJC

Talk about straight out of the happy clappers manual. The game lasts as long as it does until the final whistle. And over the years I’ve seen us snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too often in these scenarios. 2-0 and 3-2 up against Celtic a few years back, lose with the last kick of the ball. 1-0 up at Ibrox with five minutes to go in the Scottish Cup. Lose 2-1 with two late goals. Score a stoppage time equaliser against Celtic. Still lose the game. Beating Rangers 2-1 at Fir Park and totally comfortable. Stevie Woods gifts them an equaliser and lose the replay. Comfortable against Rangers in a Semi Final at Hampden. Craigan loses Naismith in the last minute. Lose the game. Likewise against Celtic at Hampden in a semi. Corrigan pass backs to Graeme Smith last minute, they score they win. Get a last minute penalty against Rangers when 0-0. Miss it. I could go on but you get my drift.

Yes a gutless mentality and it’s been growing and festering for over twenty years now. ”we’re punching above our weight” ”we don’t expect anything against the Old firm” ”These games don’t matter because of the difference in budgets” All quotes that have been doing the rounds since the early 00s and lo and behold that corresponds with our worst ever run of results against both OF sides all while the four clubs you mention and more have beaten them more than once during that same period regardless of whether they have been relegated or not. And let me be clear here so that no one misunderstands this. I am not for one second suggesting that I would want to see us relegated if it meant we beat Celtic or Rangers every once in a while, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I would just like to see our mentality as a club improve.

Investors won’t change our gutless mentality and inability to stop shooting ourselves in the foot in games like these. I’ve seen it too many times now with too many managers and too many players. If Celtic or Rangers aren’t pumping us soundly under their own steam then we throw them a helping hand. Its a mentality issue that runs deep within the club. Even when Spittal put us 1-0 up today I actually barely celebrated and indeed I thought those around me seemed quite subdued in their celebrations too. For me certainly it was just that knowing that it was only going to end the way it did and I couldn’t enjoy the moment as much as I should have done. It’s all just so infuriatingly predictable.

I can’t fault the effort today but yet again we have contributed to our own downfall. Poor subs and sitting far too deep. That was always going to bring one outcome and it duly did. Livingston is must win now.

It’s like watching the same film over and over and expecting a different outcome with us and the Old Firm. We just can’t help shoot ourselves in the foot.

Same script as always. No doubt we’ll get the usual patronising pish about how we were “unlucky” and “if only” but it counts for nothing. A defeat is a defeat.

Six minutes added. Or however long Celtic need to score the winner.

This is torture. Only a matter of time.

And there it is. Game over.

That will never be addressed. Celtic and their fans get free rein to do what they like.

Great to be in front but you just feel that this is only setting us up for heartbreak. We’ve seen this story all too often.

Sublime strike from Spittal!

It’s starting to look like it’ll be similar to the September game. We give it our all but can’t take advantage, they start playing and their superior fitness and quality pays off for them.

Started brightly but as usual couldn’t capitalise. Celtic starting to turn the screw a bit now.

Lovely finish but clearly offside.

It’s gonna be a pumping. Anyone who believes otherwise is kidding themselves on.

Our ridiculous luck with injuries this season just won’t let up. Spittal being out for any length of time is a major blow. Halliday is hardly surprising mind you.

It’s the same any time one of the Old Firm drop points just before they are due to play us. The pressure is cranked up on them and we suffer the backlash.

If they score early then we’re looking at a three, four possibly five goal defeat. To be honest I think that would be easier to take then losing like we did against them in September with the last kick of the ball.

We need to beat them on Wednesday night. At the moment they look doomed to 12th but we need to get ourselves away from 11th and we’ve got a great chance to do that against them. But I just can’t help thinking it will be the same script as usual and a draw.

It’s going to be a rough ride for us as a club over the next year or so. I don’t mean that in a negative or pessimistic manner, I just think that’s reality and we need to be prepared for it. Big changes are coming our way.

Alexander was absolutely done with us long before he eventually left. I’ve said this many times had we not snatched the late draw at Livingston and scraped top six and then somehow Europe then he would have been gone at the end of that season, perhaps before. And what keeps being overlooked is that HE wanted to go. It was him that approached Burrows to instigate the “mutual consent” after the Sligo debacle, not the other way around. He wasn’t sacked and he wasn’t “hounded out” he left because he wanted to go. And I’d have Stuart Kettlewell as manager over Alexander any day of the week.

Heard a rumour that if Obika plays 37 minutes and wins two headers against Celtic he automatically gets a contract extension until May 2026. But don’t tell anybody.

Apparently Willie Collum is referee for this one. As if Sunday wasn’t going to be hard enough. He was the referee the last time Celtic were here was he not? And of course he rescued a point for them when he awarded McGregor’s dive in 2017.

Yeah fair enough if they’ve held their hands up and hopefully this doesn’t happen again. Tbh if I was Kettlewell I’d probably a bit pissed off with the way this was communicated, or not communicated as it were. I’m actually quite pleased that we’ve decided to go for stability here. I still have my doubts over the manager but I definitely don’t want to see us become the type of club that goes through two or three managers every two seasons or so. Kettlewell is our third manager in the last two years alone so if we were to part with him now or had done earlier then we would be well on the way to being that type of club. It would have done us no favours in the long run.