Andy_P

On the whole I've been impressed with Bevis since he came in. Far from the finished article certainly but the physique is there allied to an impressive burst of pace to help recover situations. He's not been without his flaws but I would hope that with greater experience and time to develop he can continue to improve. As he said himself on the Facebook chat thingy recently it's up to him to take advantage of opportunities that came his way. I think he did exactly that over recent games and wasn't deserving of being dropped for the game yesterday (having played pretty well against Rangers at Ibrox earlier in the season also). Up to Robinson to determine what he thinks is the best blend for each opponent but chuck in the likes of Dunne and Tait at full-back and I'd say the options at our disposal currently are one of the better dilemmas to have.

The whole shebang was a bit frustrating. I've no complaints about the outcome today. We had that wee half chance in the first half when Long (surprisingly?) cut the ball back, only for it to be whipped off someone's toes and the quick-fire efforts in the second half but that was about it. On another day the goals against column might have taken a bigger dunt than it did. We didn't really do anything at all to take advantage of the extra man in the last twenty minutes. They simply retreated into a well organised setup whereas we appeared to have more a chuck shite at the wall and see if anything sticks approach and none of it did. Before the game you had what seemed like the unnecessary prohibition of flags and banners (on the back last Saturday?) which simply goaded Rangers fans to take the piss out of the club, the stewards and the police by hanging the flags they did sneak in across the scoreboard without anyone of authority having the balls to do anything about it. Whilst the Morelos sending off itself was probably about the most satisfying outcome of the game the missile throwing gives the media the opportunity to feast on the outrage from the angels in the away end and demand action against us from the authorities. And if they do how can we really argue? He deserved the red card. He's a generally loathsome irritant but he doesn't deserve stuff lobbed at him from our stands. Some times you just have to be the bigger man and take some of the stick back that many of us dish out. One to very quickly put behind us and focus on Saturday.

Your thoughts and votes please...

I would anticipate that we'll follow the usual pre-game Old Firm protocols by referencing how good Rangers are, how far Steven Gerrard has taken them, laugh off the transfer chat about whatever one of our players the Daily Record links Rangers with on Friday and say how we all need to be at our very best.... blah de blah. In the dressing room I would hope we would be licking our lips at getting stuck into them. There's plenty to be optimistic about. For all they've had some convincing displays away from home they've also dropped points on their travels and been made to work to very late on in the game to cement some of their wins. My hope is that we approach this one with the same ferocity and intensity as we did the Celtic game at Fir Park at the beginning of the season. We were excellent for the first twenty-odd minutes that afternoon but unfortunately ran out of steam ridiculously early. I would think that those sampling their first game against one of the Old Firm that afternoon are considerably further down the line to full fitness now and there won't be the same drop off. Quietly optimistic.

First time opening the thread before even opening it I knew I'd read you post that. I'm now turning my attention to see how many posts it'll take before UBH says he'll never see us beat them in the league again. Ahh the Rangers league game traditions.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Your thoughts and votes please...

Scottish Cup game live on Saturday 18th January with a 1920hrs kick off (!). A Saturday night in Dundee, truly the stuff Cup dreams are made of...

An unlikely final score, that's for sure! I thought we were pretty awful to begin with as we struggled to create anything. Our distribution at times was atrocious which allied to Saints pressing us quite high up the park lead to possession being lost far too easily. They seemed quite lively initially but not taking advantage of our sluggish start cost them when finally we began to offer something going forward. The goal when it came was well created by Hylton and executed by Cole, and only an excellent save prevented Hartley from doubling the advantage before the break. I'm not sure I'd say we were fortunate to be leading at half-time but I think everyone realised that whilst we probably wouldn't get away with level that of performance for the full ninety minutes. It was pleasing then to see just how up for it the team were when when the game recommenced. St Johnstone never got a sniff of it until we'd doubled our lead. They got far too much of a sniff of things thereafter for my liking. Perhaps understandable that we might want to sit consolidate on what we had but we retreated a little too deep too often and put pressure on ourselves by failing to clear our lines as well as we might. That said we dealt pretty comfortably with all they could muster. The third came at just a the right time to knock the stuffing out them and the fourth the icing on the cake with a great build up and very composted and accurate finish from the debutant. With the results elsewhere it has proven to be a very productive afternoon's work. Eleven clear of seventh place as we exit November is excellent work in anyone's book. Important to build on that further in midweek before we face our second capital style "new manager bounce" in recent weeks.

Your thoughts and votes please...

How very sporting of them to get two men sent off ahead of our game. Let's make the most of it...

I'll see us play worse and win this season. In fact I've already seen us play worse and win! There was a fair amount of gushing praise for Hibs on the radio heading home but personally I don't think there could have been too many arguments had we come away with a point. What it does illustrate is how quickly a game can get away from you. Until Hibs scored we were ahead, the better team and looking pretty comfortable with it. There was no hint that things could turn around so quickly. Some pretty poor defending it has to be said. In the second half there was only one team in it. It seemed a stonewaller for the challenge inside the box on Polworth and Campbell was inches away from connecting from Long's cross with an open goal ahead of him. If either of the two had resulted in goals then suddenly all the pressure is on Hibs once again with us having the momentum. On another day it could well have gone differently. I've seen a few raise the point about the lack of subs, but to be honest there didn't actually appear that great a need. I get the O'Hara for McGuire one but Hylton was still causing them problems when he went off and Seedorf offered little or nothing. Scott I might well have put on for either of the strikers for a bit of freshness in front of goal. I can't grumble too much at a manager trying to go for it when he did but earlier changes weren't really warranted and going for it as we did obviously left us that bit more vulnerable to a break away. If there was a failing in the second half it was the decision making on when to have a go and when to retain possession that bit longer. That and failing to take advantage of the numerous set pieces that came our way. More generally I think we need to find the balance between risk and reward now that teams know we are capable of playing a half decent brand of football and want to take games to the opposition. The theme of us being picked off, having lost possession and opposition players bearing down on us with most of our players ahead of the ball is one we seem to be getting caught with more and more. Disappointing to lose, especially having been ahead but far from the worst performance. A fair chance to make amends at Fir Park next Saturday.

Your thoughts and votes please...

A measure of truth in that for me. I recollect in the last minute or two at Ibrox getting a corner and he looked so done in he didn't even get past it the first man which was pretty infuriating. I also felt he could have done a little more to prevent the ball being swept wide in the lead up to Celtic's second. Stuff like that tends to stick in your mind. That said I don't think he's been particularly bad but I do agree whether it's through form, fitness or that the standard of opposition has been up a notch or two in some game he hasn't been just as effective as the first few months of the season. Still one of the first names on the team-sheet for me currently though.

Who will be in the Hibs dugout when we head east next Saturday? Who will be in the Motherwell dugout when we head east next Saturday?!?

That's fine. You don't need to stand in a safe standing area if that doesn't interest you. I doubt sitting behind the goal is some fans choice at games. I doubt some want to be sat in the vicinity of a vociferous section full of Bois or others the more sedate setting of the centre stand. But it would seem sensible to cater for as many preferences as possible when you have the opportunity to build something from scratch no?

Stuck away in the opposite corner I didn't realise the pressure on Tait was much less than it appeared through the line of bodies. At the time it was Polworth whom I was most disappointed in. On the back of a poor delivery from a set-piece that overshot everbody moments earlier he was very easily brushed off in the middle of the park before the ball even when don't the wing towards Grimshaw. Highlights might show different of course.

Let's leave the debate about poppies aside folks eh? From the match thread at least. Good old Compost Corner is your place for a good debate about them if the notion takes you.

I can't agree. The team selection was one, as much as availability allowed, that replicated a formation which helped us take the lead away to a team that currently separated by goal difference from Celtic two weeks ago. That had two forwards playing. That was a minute away from going in at the break ahead and that only lost in the last 10 minutes.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Sloth! Truly the greatest player we've (n)ever seen in claret and amber!* *that half an hour in the League Cup apart Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

I think my preference, were it financially viable, would always be to remain at a redeveloped Fir Park but important to remember that the world has changed since the likes of Airdrie built their stadium (there is no longer a requirement for x number of seats) and even St Mirren, given that safe standing is now a possibility would help in coming up with a configuration that would be more palatable than say a McDiarmid Park style stadium. It will also be worth keeping in mind that the area around Fir Park is not what it was when the club moved there and nor is Ravenscraig likely to remain as it would if and when we moved there.

As ever thing will come down to perspective and whether you want to emphasise a positive or negative. You can justifiably make the point that we've been two terrific late saves away from going four without a win. You could also argue that we've played three top six teams in a week, and despite often being remarked to be much physically weaker, too open in midfield and shaky defensively we've beaten two of them and only lost one goal in open play. I had been concerned in midweek that we might suffer from the exertions of Ibrox last Sunday but it never quite materialised on Wednesday. I felt there was a noticeable flatness and a definite lack of zip about us yesterday. It really did look like one of those games where at best we were going to draw 0-0 and at worst they'd sneak it with one of their rare, but fairly dangerous, forays upfield. The goal when it came was a bit of a gift but I guess it's the old saying, don't buy a ticket and you won't win the raffle. The conditions warranted such efforts and pleased that both our strikers and slowly but surely adding to their tallies. Livi's penalty looked a stone waller from my vantage point. A daft challenge and even dafter response by turning around and looking as guilty as one can be. But credit to the team and management for getting the win. The arrival of Seedorf brought an injection of pace at the right time and another piece of good fortune that Allan Campbell was in the right place at the right time to grab the winner. Enjoying being third for the moment but regardless of placings just now it is significant he gap being established between ourselves and the teams below us. Getting the win enabled us to move nine clear of Livingston is seventh. We often hear how the league position and prize money can determine the pace of contract negotiations so our good start may enable us to turn attentions to that earlier than might have been the case.

Slim chance but not no chance. I remember going in there after they'd beaten Barcelona the game before and had to chuck on Larsson to help rescue a point against us. Maybe we'll be able to take advantage of some post European weariness on Sunday. They might be going for however many titles in a row but I always feel marginally more confident of sneaking something in there as opposed to Ibrox.

No. 13. Unlucky for some they say. Celtic hopefully.