Tweed

I think Gannon was clearly an arse but he left us a legacy with Jennings and Humphrey. I reckon this season would have been nothing if Gannon hadn't laid the foundations last year. Managerial appointments have been superb - not once has he appointed someone with experience managing in the SPL and its yielded results. I think that when these folks have come in and been unknown to the rest and given us a wee head start. You can argue with some of his policies, some of his decisions, some of the fights he got into but you can never argue that his heart was in the job for the club. I don't have a specific memory but he has undoubtedly been good for us.

Glad the hangover was blistering and I didn't bother going!

Although we won with McLean four out of four he is a fanny as was typified at the Aberdeen game. I think given that by appointments they clearly rate Thomson, Brines, Collum and Murray as the best four the cup final will belong to Murray or Thomson. And I suspect as Thomson had the League Cup and is getting the big last league game it could be Murray for us. Which apart from the mental penalty he gave against us in Perth I'm fairly content with as he usually is pretty good. But I could be wrong! As for Collum. I thought he got everyone spot on last night by the rules of the game. Maybe the law is an ass but you can't criticise the referee for enforcing them. He isn't always card happy. He went through our league cup semi without brandishing a single yellow. He plays it by the book but he seldom gets them wrong by it.

When we're not involved I can see both sides of the debate. Should be neutral so therefore support should be split. But they have 50k who put into the game's coffers week in week out. However I'm a well fan so I want us to get every ticket we can squeeze out of it.

Celtic have probably been in ten finals since our last one. So this is our day, so let's focus on us. They get enough attention every other day of the year.

Hutchinson and Murphy were immense but I'm giving to Francis Jeffers. His movement in the first half was unreal - he created goal 2 with a pass and then he ran meaning the defenders got all caught up in who to watch and gave Murphy the space, great knockdown for the third and every time we attacked he was dragging defenders here, there and everywhere.

Well done Motherwell. I thought the person who best summed up the game was Derek McInnes who said they were at least as good as us but we had a bit more quality in both boxes. Which really means we have come full circle since the Odense game when we were better but there wee bit more quality in both boxes saw them through. There is an argument for playing both of them in the final and I really don't think I could bare losing to Aberdeen but whoever it is I just hope we go out there, express ourselves and play as we can. Do that and this run kind of makes up for the doings we've taken at St Mirren, Kilmarnock and the shockers against Dundee, Inverness, Ayr and others over the years.

Ross has done little wrong at right back but he has played three games. In one he played left back, in another he wasn't tested at all for 70 mins and in another he played a half on each side. Harsh maybe but we should go with hateley or saunders who have both done well all season.

See until St Johnstone have been beaten on Saturday I wish people would shut up about conspiracies against Celtic. And lets remember there are going to be two teams in United and Killie who will be equally desparate for Rangers to win the league! On the back of these fixtures my reckoning will be that we will have played eight games on a Saturday at 3pm at Fir Park this season (Aberdeen x 2, St Mirren, Hamilton x 2, Dundee Utd, Inverness and Hibs). That means we will have played eleven at other times and ten of them not even on a Saturday. Granted some of these games have been shifted because of snow, our involvement in Europe and our involvement in cups but more and more I'm thinking of not getting games at times I can go. I've ended up having to miss other commitments for Wednesday games so many times this season and while I always accept we'll get some midweek games we seem to have had tonnes this time However as for the games we have got I think its pretty decent. We were always going to get one of Hearts and Killie reversed as soon as it was possible to give every one 19 homes and 19 aways and I think another trip to Edinburgh is fine.

I don't think we have anyone who has been consistent enough over the whole season to merit a nomination. However I'm not convinced that Naismith, Hooper, Templeton or Maguire have been especially consistent either. Not really sure who I would have gone for this time.

Really hope we do it. We've had a good wee run but saints will sit in more than any team we've played for a bit and that doesn't suit uus. But we have had two comfortable wins v them and a dodgy pen loss. No reason not to be confident we can do it. I think brines will be fine. Apart from his shocker last night he has had a good season. At least he aint coming out having robbed saints blind as that could have made him a more dangerous beast.

Just wonder if they are going to release as late as possible and shaft over the teams who are being resistent to changing the league to hammer home the status quo is not an option. Call me a cynic if you like.

I thought it might have been from the stand. Seeing the reaction of the players I doubt it though - not one person asked and not one Hearts player looked worried.

Not sure that I've seen enough that I'd keep him but I thought he was fine today. I think everyone knew he was not a target man to play up top alone but he worked Webster and Bouzid. Final ball/end product not good enough though but he pressed in well - for the game that was he was a good guy to have out there.

Hateley for me too. Real good shift and saw more of as an attacking force also. He also could be seen talking young Carswell through the game. Carswell did well and on another day could have got the nod. Hutch did pretty well but he made a shocking error right at the start of the 2nd half that let them in and he gave away a mental free kick on the touchline. Picky I know but to me that stopped him being MoTM. Randolph to me did what was expected but I didn't think any of his saves were out the ordinary.

Stuart McCall I doff my cap to you and every single one of your players tonight as an unlikelier point we will never get. The fact that we got it comfortably and towards the end there was almost a suspicion we might nick it speaks volumes. When I saw the team I predicted it would be a long afternoon and Hearts thoroughly dominated possession and territory in the first half but Randy never even got his hands dirty. We had our forays and Saunders shot cracking the post was unlucky and Jones should have done better when he skied high over the bar. But at half time I felt the 2nd half would be a real battle. And as it started it looked like it was going to be. Our defence (who overall were immense) seemed to be half asleep, the midfield got too deep and the outball was too far forward and it looked we may have got camped in. But they played their way into the half and as it wore on we became the better team. Murphy looked like a player reborn when he came on. We may have had a penalty but I think Jones really slowed down and ran out of ideas and was waiting for the foul and when the impact came the referee knew he was trying to buy it and therefore had a reason not to give. Think it was worth a shout but from first glance I thought it would have been soft. Randolph - dealt with what he had too. The defence - Both lines of four we had did well though they were a bit dozy at the start of the 2nd half. Completely outplayed Elliott and Skacel. Humphrey - Superb again - he is adding some touches which create him more space. On a big pitch next week he could be the difference. Jones - did all right but nothing special Hateley - Best game I've ever seen him have. Good tackling, running and positional awareness. Also really impressed the way you could see him talking young Carswell through the game. Excellent performance today. Carswell - fitted in really well. One mistake almost cost us towards the end but his positional awareness and reading of the game looked a real asset and was incredibly effective at slowing Hearts down. Well played son. Forbes - started poorly but grew into the game and 2nd half was as good as I've seen him for a while. Casagolda - End product was none but this boy worked like hell for the cause. He ploughed a lonely furrow off scraps and he drew Webster and Bouzid here, there and everywhere. Thought in a one up formation we couldn't have asked for much more. Murphy - confidence is back and some of his on the ball play was tremendous. I think another ten minutes and he would have created us a goal. Sutton - Casagolda lost the arial battle with Webster. Sutton won it - Forbes's shot off the bar came from him and only really good defending stopped him from nicking it at the end. Also well done Stuart McCall for getting Carswell to go to the fans. Obviously a new experience for him and he almost wandered off and he deserved his applause. You can see why Craig Thomson is rated Scotland's best ref though. Not saying he got everything right but he was talking to players all the time, trying to let it flow, pulling it back when he had to and in a rarity there were three yellow cards and they were unquestionably for the three worst fouls in the game. Which whilst its no proof he got the calls right it does show a consistency. Also there was not a single free kick in the first nineteen minutes. In an SPL game that is remarkable.

They can't give us less home games we've played seventeen so we're actually only due two. However three of the teams are due to come to Fir Park. Kilmarnock seem to have played everyone the other place than we played Hibs so a way of sorting it would be just to flip Killie's fixtures so they play everyone either three home or three away but they won't do that. I suspect they might just flip our game with Killie and that should give everyone 19. And I'm sure they always said if its possible to give everyone 19 they will. Problem last season was 4 of the top 6 had played 16 home and 17 away at the split which makes it impossible. If you get a 3/3 split there you can do it. And I can't be arsed working out who has played how many home games.

I think there is so much to be proud of our team in the last couple of games. Whatever they lack in energy and skill they certainly make up for in guts. United probably deserved a draw by the end in what was a keenly contested game of football but we scored a remarkable goal and a fluke and that cushion we got was just enough. When the energy has sapped out of you its so much easier to hang on. In the first half we played some decent stuff without being brilliant but definitely we were the better team. I thought the 1-0 lead was just about deserved and the slice of luck we got with the 2nd gave us some breathing space. United fired us a warning shot in first 5 mins of 2nd half but after that we calmed down again but with 20 to go you could see the legs wearying and the out ball getting harder and harder and the midfield retreating deeper and deeper. As such they flung plenty of balls in, but with one blip, coped admirably. Randolph had a couple of saves when they worked their way through but yet again he proves to be a brick wall in that goal. His save at the end was outstanding. It was clear in the 2nd half Sutton and Humphrey were jaded but their efforts make you so proud to support them. If Inverness catch us from here I will doff my cap to them and they will thoroughly deserve it. However I'm 95% convinced they won't so I'd be willing to take a risk on Saturday and rest Humphrey, Lasley and Sutton. I know it may mean we lose at Tynecastle but Humphrey down the wing against St Johnstone at Fir Park was unplayable on a pitch as big as Hampden could be carnage and Lasley and Jennings are a must combination and Sutton will be needed to win balls v Duberry so given the magnitude of Saturday week its a risk worth taking and one we've earned over the last week.

I'd be quite happy for him to wander near my seat on the basis he's then nowhere near the pitch.

Good news on the O'Reilly front - its him on Wednesday!

So to be honest I knew naff all about Bradford City and how he did there. A little bit of research would show that he perhaps underachieved but if you look at that team they have been in decline with lots of different managers really since Jim Jefferies got there. Neil Warnock (arsehole but good manager) said that McCall would be a good manager and should never have touched Bradford with a bargepole. Therefore I decided to go in with an open mind as I knew too little to pre judge him. Hamilton away was his first game but in two days on the rebound from a double Old Firm loss hard to judge him and came away with a point. So for me his first acid test was Dundee away. I think from that game it was obvious that McCall favoured a more expansive and pressing style to Brown. I think its a more energy sapping game and the lows have very often come because we have run out of steam. St Mirren, St Johnstone, Dundee Utd have all beaten us with late goals and even on Saturday you could see us deteriorating just due to energy levels towards the end. At the moment he is playing his system with a team that mainly consists of Brown's players and limited numbers. He has also had an unusually high number of midweek games due to our success in cups and December's shocking weather. I think without that additional burden we may be in an even better place. I think given a summer when he may lose some players he can bring in the ones that he wants and he sees in the system he favours. I think at that point we can judge more fairly. However the players he inherited have clearly bought into his way of thinking and what has impressed me is the way the ones on the fringe of the team have adapted when asked to adapt - Forbes (not played every game but when he appears has been better). He does need to work on an alternative plan for when teams flood the defence and we need to work ourselves in because when they do that (ie at Inverness and St Mirren at home) they forced us into playing either sideway passes or hopeful but hopeless long balls. And whatever you say St Mirren, Inverness, Kilmarnock will still play that way next season especially at Fir Park so he will need to adapt as these type of games have not yielded enough points. Brown was better at digging out results in that sort of game. But I like his ethos, I like his fan centric attitude, I like the formation we play, I like that we try to play football and generally I enjoy what we are trying to do now more than three months ago. Very hopeful he will be good but not signed off as a success yet.

I think the push just caused him to lose his balance and that took him over the hoarding.

I think our exertions will again catch up with us in the 2nd half of the game. McCall's pressing game has turned us into a real force to be reckoned with but its knackering. But its less knackering when you are holding onto something so if we can get a lead I can see us holding it - if we fall behind I can see us folding like a pack of cards. As for the players; the ones who are knackered will be fine for the semi with the week off between the Hearts game and the semi. The ones who have the wee bumps are the problems. Given the fixtures the others have is it a risk playing some kids and trusting the OF and Hearts will do their business against our direct opponents. I don't know the extent of the injuries so its not a decision I can make and its one McCall needs to try and judge just right. But lets not forget United chased the ball a lot against us and although they won I would guess they chased the ball a lot yesterday too so they will also have their share of players running on empty so lets not think this is a solely Motherwell problem in this match.

I watched the game back on Alba and I think his booking of Hutchinson was a bit harsh but I can understand why he did because it did look like he caught the ankle first but certainly there was no doubt it was a genuine attempt to play the ball. Arguing about Sutton's booking I don't think you can. He knew we were a defender light (Gunning was off Saunders wasn't on) and they were starting a break. A wee tug on the shirt broke up the play and let us get a defender back. A good foul and yellow to pick up but the referee was bang on with that one. Pawlett's tackle was the same as Hutchinson's in my book. A genuine attempt to play the ball that missed. So to me you can't book one and not the other and thats the kind of inconsistency that drives people bananas. You're right he didn't book Maguire for playing on - he probably should have. He definitely should have booked Saunders for throwing the ball into the East Stand as well when we were 2-0 up but didn't. I thought Maguire's yellow card for his push on Hutchinson was OK - don't think it was violent or dangerous enough to warrant any more. He got too many corners/goal kick/throw in decisions wrong. Also gave a couple of bizarre ones as fouls that I have no idea what they were for but generally his foul detection was all right; it was more his consistency with cards that seemed a bit off. But he may not be very good but thats four times we've had him and four times we've won. I'll accept him being shit every time we have him if we keep winning!

I think by then it was obvious a lot of players were struggling and Gunning and Hammell still had something in the tank so he wanted them on the left so we had two different outballs and to move Gunning out Craigan was the right choice. Because although it was centre half for striker it wasn't going to change the shape of the team at all. However it never came into being because Gunning got whacked and subbed before it could.