Tweed

Nope, Charlie was penalty happy at Dunfermline this weekend. We;ve had him twice this season Celtic at home and Falkirk away. Much improved ref in my view though didn't do that well at Falkirk though sending COke off was the correct call.

Surely a draw against St Mirren is a slip up. Boyd and Miller are back - true. Boyd and Miller both played when we drew 0-0 in September so we have done it before. This is the kind of scenario when we are up against it that Brown excelled in so often at Scotland and I do wonder if the recovering Rangers players will be risked on our pitch. Gonna be close but I fancy they'll nick it 1-0.

Its amazing how they turned a 90 minute game that was total shit into five minutes that actually looked no too bad a game of football.

Whether you like Billy Reid or not he got his tactics bang on. Easton is their best defender and O'Brien our most creative player and Easton basically followed him around like a highly annoying wasp which meant O'Brien was out the game a lot. However we played with no width at all which allowed the Accies to clog up the midfield and it really developed into a midfield battle and not a lot happened at either end. We credit the players that it was a poor peformance against a dogged opponent and we ended up with three points and their effort was there. I thought the game was crying out for another creative spark so Easton couldn't nullify them all and Brown was a bit slow to react. Pitch made it tough but any football there was was played by us. Going to be a frustrating February with three of the next four at home. And while our pitch is the worst its not much worse than Pittodrie was last week, St Johnstone's looks hellish, Falkirk's is guff and apparently Easter Road was rotten yesterday too.

Also no bugger can turn, if the ball is behind you (which is, granted, a shit pass but we see loads of them at SPL level) the defender is going to win it every time. Number of times Sutton lost out to a defender today because his turn was at half pace. The football was shit and I know neither the Accies or us are world beaters but we are better than that. Our game at their place showed that.

Don't have the time or inclination to get involved on the board on a formal basis however if you need help with anything on an ad-hoc basis you know where I am so feel free to holler.

If St Johnstone can tighten up a wee bit they could be in the mix for top six but I feel they concede far too often. Us, Hearts and Aberdeen will be close. I suspect Jefferies will steady Hearts a bit and they'll come fifth and us and Aberdeen will be neck and neck. To be honest apart from the last 25 minutes yesterday every time I've seen Aberdeen they looked no too bad. So I'm plumping 7th so thats top 10 in this poll.

Got to say I thought about coming over but I've had toothache and decided I'd rather watch the Premiership games from the comfort of lying on the couch. But of the away games we've played this season yesterday is probably only the second I would have watched a second time.

They were handing leaflets out last week at the St Mirren game I heard though I didn't see them.

Ruddy - his saves in the first half gave us the platform to win the game. You could argue for just about anyone though.

Someone asked about Fizzy. Apart from a sclaffed effort in front of goal he did very well. Tired towards the end as you'd expect and was replaced but overall he can be pleased with his performance. First half was a cracking game of football. The game swung from end to end and Ruddy made a couple of outstanding saves (best one right on HT) to keep them out. We were knocking on the door too though and O'Brien was proving a pest, creating space and a couple of good efforts, one leading to the opening goal on the rebound. Second half started the same way going from end to end but we scored a second which was a lovely move again constructed by O'Brien with a deep cross, Sutton headed back and LJ prodded home though Aberdeen thought it wasn't in. It was too far away to be sure from where we were but when we scored a third moments later it should have been game over. To be fair to Aberdeen they gave us a right good battle for ten minutes or so afterwards but we defended excellently (which was a feature throughout). After that I think Aberdeen realised it was game up and we played some lovely stuff, almost showboating. Happy journey home and not a failure in claret and amber today.

It seems a tendancy with young guys that they burst onto the scene then have a quieter patch. We've seen it with Reynolds and Clarkson and to an extent Forbes. Arfield who we saw last night is another one. Murphy as a striker concerns me. I don't doubt he can finish and he is a decent player but he's not especially powerful and he isn't as quick as his build suggests. If he could improve on one of those aspects he would improve a hell of a lot as a player. When he was left up top alone last night he looked like a boy lost. McHugh has good things about him and I think long term he could be a better prospect than Murphy. Clearly a couple of years behind him in development but from what I have seen I like. Hutchinson has been excellent but a bit injury prone so there is a bit of fitness work required there, sort that out and we could have a star on our hands in him. Saunders has a good leap and could put his head on most things but to be blunt whilst he has had good games I don't really rate him or see much prospect there. Though I'd love to be wrong as I certainly don't doubt his effort or workrate. Forbes is a showstopper but he isn't a worker. He is good at deadball and long range shooting but his passing is too often astray and crossing inconsistent. His tackling can be lazy. And he isn't fit enough either. He has potential to be a good player but I think his run of goals at the start has maybe over exposed him to the media and hindering his development at the moment. A wee break could be order of the day for him. Meechan held his own against Celtic so hope for him but only seen him once. Heard lots of good things about Pollock, but apart from a ridiculous cameo against Celtic when he is clearly a couple of years from SPL level, I haven't seen him.

I heard the interviewer on Radio Scotland say that he had spoken to Richmond who said the Falkirk players were arguing that he hadn't played on as they had a 4 v 2 developing and not to get Coke sent off. From that our lot wired in as they thought what we did. Thought it was a red card at the time, TV hasn't changed my opinion. One of the few things Richmond got right in the second half of the first half. He had a strange game - good at the start and good in the second half but appalling as we got towards half time.

And I'd have taken any of them also!

Interesting that the BBC gave it to Reynolds for keeping Showumni quiet. Since that was obviously Craigan's man. Our centre halves did eveything asked of them - you could pick either of them but I went for Craigan for creating the space in their box too.

The lack of end product in that game was unbelievable. We played some nice passing moves but the final ball and crossing was very poor. O'Brien being the main culprit. Was pleased that we did so well with ten men. We let them play for the most part but looked lively on the counter, the Jut wasn't at full pace but he held the ball better than Murphy and that was a good change by Brown. Red card was a poor poor tackle and deserved a red card but the frustration was mounting on both sides after a string of baffling decisions from the ref. For one of Scotland's best he had a real poor twenty minutes just before half time. Falkirk were guff but they were at least organised tonight at the back and apart from a few lapses with Craigan at set plays kept us quiet. Well organised performance and three SPL clean sheets in a row which is nine for the season now, more than anyone else. Some good and bad overall. We'll need to up it a notch to get anything at Aberdeen though.

Think Conroy is normally quite good but we never seem to get lucky with him. Had a good game last time we had him v St Johnstone.

Well aye but they were starting from scratch at a new ground and everyone knows they have had issues with turnstyle operatives. Its not a priority.

Assume that first bit was aimed at me. Can anyone actually show that it has been a success at Bradford? And the only reason I am throwing what ifs at it is that it is actually important. The Season ticket is where we get the most money from supporters so we need to get it fucking right. You only have to look through the threads here from the last two months and you have the moans that I mentioned earlier about taking on manager, taking on players, signiing them on longer term deals, sorting the pipes, the pitch, the East Stand, communication mix ups. You can't argue on one hand that prices should be lower and then on the other hand that we should be doing all these things. Whilst I acknowledge that there is work we can do and should be doing there comes a point where if you can't afford or are not willing to pay then you can't go. Motherwell, like it or not, is a business and they can't run a charity. And to be honestly blunt I don't think the interest is there to drive a significant reduction in cost and I don't see it working. Therefore I think we need to be working to make a cost similar to now is more easily met by people who can afford it and are wanting to go.

I know of four folk who go nearly every week but don't have a ST because they can't afford the outlay at the start. PATG customers will be influenced by 1) cost and 2) importance of the game and at the moment we are going through a low as we are out of both cups and wedged in the middle of the league. To counter Dosser Joe's point about a £10 to £20 deposit on the ST scheme. Fine but if I was struggling thats a gamble I wouldn't be prepared to take and thus would drive the prices back up. I like the theory of the idea but I just see so many complications I think we need something that is hard and fast.

There are practical issues with the season ticket idea that concern me. For example, what if the deposits don't become firm offers because the price is higher than the person guessed and then a lot of people disappear with cheaper than budgeted for season tickets and the club make a startling loss. Because the sure fire thing that would happen is that people would start girning that the transfer budget is less, wages budget is less, the pitch hasn't been invested in, the stands are falling to bits and yadda yadda yadda. I think there are ways we could make the current season ticket more appealing. I can't remember how much I paid for a season ticket this season but lets for arguments sake say £250. To me what you do is you offer people a season ticket at the same price which covers all games or you offer them a deal where you pay £60 up front and £10 per game after that. The £60 guarantees your seat and with that you hand over a voucher and a tenner and in you get. Perhaps for Old Firm Games you would need to turn the voucher into a ticket beforehand but general idea. That means people who cannot afford the initial outlay can get their seat reserved for them and only pay if they turn up. They would only lose out if we get a home game in the cup or two. Also means if their finances tighten they can stop coming and save their tenner but the club have still got something from them. I still think the biggest overhaul needed in the SPL is the away support but that requires all twelve teams to work together to find a way to encourage them back. With the soaring cost of football as well as transport means its hardly a shock. PATG customers need work too but I agree getting more folk in with a ST reduces that issue.

Falkirk's last two league games have probably been their best and worst of the season. I find it highly unlikely they will be as bad again on Wednesday as they were today but their confidence will be fragile so if we can nick the first goal we should be able to go on and beat them. However my suspicion is that it'll be a 1-1 draw with us equalising in last twenty minutes. I believe that an away draw in this league is never a bad result and that is the minimum we should be getting from this.

Falkirk and St Johnstone didn't look too brilliant today, there was a bit in particular at McDiarmid that was shocking! However ours has been the worst I have seen.

Think if he hadn't been injured I would probably have been voting for Jutkiewicz just now but from what happened Lasley was the best player for us over the full ninety. Arguments for Sutton, Murphy and Coke too.

Solid performance today. We were just beginning to really dominate when LJ got injured and that seemed to cost us the momentum for the rest of the first half. However we did a lot of unspectacular work in the first half which minus Sutton's effort was not terribly close. Second half we didn't start well but a well worked goal gave us a lead we deserved. St Mirren then threw everything at us arially and whilst a bit more composure on the ball could have seen us cope more comfortably we did cope pretty well. Another good goal, this time on the break sealed us the win and after that St Mirren really petered out. The referee was appalling. Nothing game changing but he seemed lenient with his cards which provided no deterrent to them leading the arm, elbow or the cynical challenges from St Mirren. But overall we did well today - a professional job.