Andy_P

Ha ha ha! Guilty as charged. I think in my head when I saw you I was feeling really chuffed for you that you after the years I've seen you spend on here worrying about disasters yet to come that I really really hoped you were enjoying it all (as you would do obviously anyway) I accept now that clearly has come across me sleverring incoherently in your face. But it was friendly well intentioned slevvering!

Most enjoyable reliving yesterday through the many posts. Someone rather foolishly forgot to record the game so watching a re-run will need to wait until tonight... But what a day. I was full of belief beforehand that if we didn't freeze we would have enough about us to win and so it proved. I don't think we started particularly well admittedly, nor indeed at many points of the game were we collectively at a level we've played at before this season, but when it's a Cup tie, and a Semi-Final at that, it's all about the win. What was however evident from the minute the game kicked off was that we were never for a second going to be intimated or out-muscled by Rangers. Time and time again against Rangers in the past we've lost games in our heads. We've folded when the going got tough or we couldn't match their physicality. I'm loving these pictures of battered Rangers players showing their war wounds or running greetin to the media about being bullied. It is an absolute joy that we stood up to them and it gave us the platform to win the game. Having seen them at Perth I was convinced that night we had an opportunity at a set-piece against them and so it proved with the opener. After we scored the belief I think everyone got, both on and off the park just settled things down nicely and when Louis the second away there was never any way they were coming back from back. We looked so comfortable. The celebrations for that second as it dropped under the bar will live long in the memory. A wonderful wonderful day. Got to go on and win it now!!

Outwith MFC TV best I could find was a re-run on one of the BT Sport channels at something like 1130 tomorrow morning.

I'm far too far full of gibberish to put up a coherent analysis of what has been a wonderful day but this line sums our team team perfectly.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Just glad now Sunday is almost upon us. It's certainly been a long week! I've tried to put the game to the back of mind as much as possible but the nerves are certainly kicking in a bit now. There will always be excitement ahead of such fixtures for teams like us for whom Semi-Finals aren't year in, year out events but I don't quite know if that mixture of nerves and excitement is because there that feeling that we are going into this with a genuinely decent chance of progression. Ahead of the Aberdeen game there was a definite sense amongst our fans that we owed Aberdeen something, particularly for the Cup defeats. I think you only need to skim through some of the posts about Rangers games past and that desire to set things straight is if anything even more magnified. How do we approach it? There's an argument for caution and easing yourself into the relatively unfamiliar surroundings in games like this. I don't think it applies tomorrow however. I think one of the beauties of the current squad is that we go into them hell for leather from the word go safe in knowledge we have a bench that can come, contribute and change things. We have a team that is sufficiently fit and look comfortable in the latter stages of games that we know that such an approach will not see us burnt out after an hour and hanging on. We have the benefit of the expectancy that is all upon Rangers. The bloodlust their support will have to make it an Old Firm final and the panic and pressure that will unfold upon their team when they find they aren't getting it their own way against us will be to our advantage. I don't know if it'll be ninety minutes, after extra-time or in penalties but I'm absolutely convinced we're going to win.

Too far about 4 days ago...

I saw a screengrab on Twitter and smiled wryly when I saw it. At first glance I agree it's probably better unsaid or answered differently. But with anything like that you have to be aware of what was said in full and in what context it was asked, consider what angle they are looking for and then see what was actually printed. You only have to watch the Motherwell press conferences when we've a big game and have "occasional visitors" asking questions for example.

Just be careful what you wish for. I dread to think what kind of atmosphere would have been generated on Saturday - and more importantly the game back in May when it was needed most - if those couple of hundred souls who wished to congregate together to try to generate some atmosphere had been split across that stand because everyone was duty bound to sit in their allocated seat.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Who is getting carried away and who are these people who think we need only turn up? Genuine question. I've skimmed through the last three pages that stretch back a good week or so and can't see anything that could be taken as a view that we need only turn up. If that's a reference to the observations made about their game with St Johnstone last night then that's quite a leap from spotting an opportunity where we can benefit to assuming victory is assured. For what's it worth St Johnstone had sixteen corners last night and fourteen free-kicks. Now we don't have a 100% success rate on set-pieces but we do have a guy in the last couple of weeks who alone has scored twice and provided an assist. To re-affirm if we can get close to that then there's an opportunity to be had in my opinion. And I concur with the view that there isn't anything to fear based on what I saw last night nor on previous encounters since they arrived in the top flight. There were long spells of that game St Johnstone were of their measure and I'd say that was without playing particularly well themselves. I think your and Milo's caution is well stated but I'm just not seeing or sensing the view that anyone is getting carried away with themselves and assuming a Final place is already in the bag.

Watching St Johnstone and Rangers and you have to think that if we can get anywhere near the number of corners and set-pieces St Johnstone have had tonight, then Peter Hartley et al will be licking their lips in anticipation.

I think as Desp has alluded to in his reference to the Peter Hartley interview, and backed up by Robinsons own presser, it genuinely feels like what the opposition do or don't do, who they have or don't have available is one of the least important parts in our preparations these days. I wouldn't quite go as far as saying they don't give a fuck about the opposition but there does appear to be a rock solid belief in our teams individual and collective abilities and that if we take care of our own business properly then it will be sufficient to give the opposition, whether at full strength or otherwise, a right good game of it.

It was on the SFA's YouTube channel. Was a little disappointed he didn't get on but they did say there was a second match with French scheduled for Saturday. Not sure if this is an official international or whether they'll cover it live again (they did say it was a closed door at that indoor place in Edinburgh) but fingers crossed he'll get an opportunity then.

It was far from the kind of game I expected. All I've heard for the past few weeks is how unlucky Thistle have been with their fixtures, that they've been so close to it clicking and that it's only a matter of time. You know who they reminded me of? Us, in the death throes of the Stuart McCall reign. In fact their display actually put me in mind of an abysmal performance we turned in at their place about five or six weeks before McCall walked. However you deal with what's in front of you and that we did with aplomb. I enjoyed the fast start and if we weren't exactly peppering their goal with efforts they couldn't get out of their half for about 15-20 minutes such was the pace and intensity of our play and how high we were squeezing them up the park. They did come into it a little but I would attribute that more to the fact it would be difficult to play at the intensity we did for the whole of the half rather than any great shift of momentum. We were actually so comfortable that I was concerned that the biggest threat to our lead might be through ourselves becoming overly complacent or something freakish happening like a penalty from nowhere or a daft deflection. I think the only thing you could feel disappointed in at half-time was that it was a only a single goal lead. Second half as has been said the goal came at the perfect time. Perhaps the free-kick they won on the edge of our box a minute or two before our second goal was a good thing as it may have served as a little wake up call on and off the park as we were already set to make changes but getting the second just gave us that breathing space and killed them off. The remainder of the game was saw out professionally with tweaks to formation and personnel nullifying the changes Thistle made completely and without any negative impact on the flow of the game and of course the icing on the cake came with Bowman getting the third. It was important to get back on track after last Sunday and I was intrigued to see how Thistle approached the game after seeing how Aberdeen attempted to strangle the game last weekend. If they did have any hopes of replicating Aberdeen's style the start we made simply never gave them a chance to implement it. A great win and the positive start continues.

Arguably Brian Kerr? But perhaps that could be qualified by the fact that many supporters were already underwhelmed by what he had brought to the team before it was announced by going to Hibs. How much damage those long term injuries did to him we can only speculate but there was a definite feeling he wasn't one who left it all on the pitch as it were.

That remains up for debate. Hammell's performance against Aberdeen in the League Cup was of a level that Dunne has yet to get anywhere near since he came to the club.

That made me smile. But to be honest for me McLeish could just about justify that transfer. Kirk was by that stage something like 32 or 33 and was falling out of contention. McGrillen was behind Coyne, Arnott and Burns. May was recognised as one of the best attacking midfielders in the country. What the clown will always struggle to justify however was to play him at right wing-back and bomb out Shannon had been perfectly capable in that position over the previous eighteen months. You like your statistics as we know so whilst the fact of the matter is that you are quite correct in what you say the margins of error have been so slight in some cases that the facts as they are could easily be somewhat different. You make the point about luck in terms of fixture scheduling but what if the luck had gone with us against Rangers with a contestable penalty decision, the two contestable penalty decisions at Easter Road or Moult's effort being six inches lower, what if the flip of a coin game against Aberdeen had gone our way? In short I still think it's too early to say with any assurance what the summit of our ambitions will be at this point.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Nah, it's a wee bit more than than 4k or 6k. Half the East Stand will be slightly upwards of 5000 and that's before you take in the South Stand sections which will be two or three thousand. You might have the option of the South Stand upper which could add a bit more to that again, although the only difficulty with the South Stand is ofcourse the prices are ramped up in comparison to other sections.

Quite a mixture of emotions following the game yesterday. It was disappointing to lose obviously and I think that disappointment was actually magnified because we've become increasingly accustomed this season to not losing. I still take a fair bit of heart from the game though. We certainly didn't hit the heights of Thursday but on another day we might easily have got a point many will feel we merited, or even sneaked it as they did. Whether it was a deliberate tactic to be cautious fully aware that Aberdeen were liable to be flying out the traps I don't know but if it was the case I'd say it was actually handled them pretty well. Apart from a five minute spell where they had a series of corners in quick succession there wasn't a great deal that troubled us and as the half wore we were getting stronger. It was actually quite unfortunate that half-time came when it did as we were building up a wee head of steam and it allowed them to regroup. The second half went along similar lines for me with the obvious exception being they managed to nudge themselves ahead. And again obvious it as it may seem given we had to chase the game it was encouraging that as we had at the end of the first half, it was us who were doing all the running. I'm presuming that since it hasn't been referred to much the apparent shove in the box towards the end had little in it although given the officiating the referee didn't strike me as someone who would have been overly keen to give us anything unless it was cast iron and directly in front of him. He appeared to be sucked in by Aberdeen's clever of tactic of highlighting how they were bullied the other night and afforded them considerable leeway in "standing their ground" to the extent where it was something like Considine's fifth or sixth aerial challenge before he *didn't* lead with his elbow. And as for both their full-backs being routinely allowed to steal five and six yards at a throw in unquestioned and then pulling us for it, well that did raise a chuckle. And if you want to be really picky you might also question why three or four days after Grimshaw gets booked half the Aberdeen team are allowed to leave the field to celebrate with their fans. What I do hope yesterday provides is a good opportunity to reflect and learn from the loss. So clear cut and clinical was Thursday's win that without question that we could no longer operate under the radar or be taken overly lightly. Robinson said he wanted Fir Park to be viewed as a hard place to come, well Aberdeen by the way they set about their business yesterday afforded him that respect. Other teams will have seen how Aberdeen played and the challenge is for Robinson and our generally youthful squad to find a way to deal with that the next time we experience it. So not too much between us and the favourites to be second on a day where we were far from at our best. It still bodes well.

Your thoughts and votes please...

On odds I thought the response over one of the bookies having a dead former Aston Villa player quoted for the Birmingham job was quite revealing where the bookie in question (whose name escapes me) tried to explain away the mistake by talking of pre-set templates with names and odds on them. The same surely goes for goalscorers too. I mean when casting a glance at our game on Thursday on Bet365 you could still get odds for McManus and Blyth scoring!

I think it was the 1-0 Scottish Cup win in 93'94 season not long after Coyne signed. I actually had a copy of the game at one point (it might actually still be up the loft in the old man's place in Chapelhall) which was broadcast on Danish TV also. Showing my age here but at the time I used to correspond with an Everton supporting guy in Denmark through a Play-By-Mail football management game we played. On the rare occasion we we were ever featured live he'd send over a video of the match. I don't think I ever got a package through from my Scandanavian chum that didn't have the big "Nosey Bastard Customs" sticker slapped across the re-sealed envelope. Somehow I don't think Motherwell videos were quite what they were expecting when they opened each package if you catch my drift...

As you may or may not be aware the fundraiser for the Motherwell DSA, for which the Lego Fir Park is the prize, is still ongoing. The model is I believe still on show in the shop but a few more images are attached below for anyone who hasn't been able to see it in person. Tickets are £3 each of two for £5 in the shop or by contacting Jillian Gillen on 07714462869 or at jillian@mfcdsa.com Winner will be picked on 28th October.