Andy_P

A win would be nice...

Your thoughts and votes please...

I only saw the game today through Periscope which of course doesn't give you the full perspective (I have absolutely no desire to sit through it again on Alba!!) but even from that limited vantage point my perception was that it wasn't as bad as the bare facts would suggest. I'd be inclined to hold my tongue a little longer before getting stuck in with too much vigour. I thought there were a things that could have went either way. Possession doesn't win you matches but it does generally give you a good indicator of who is the more dominant team and I wouldn't have said it was Saints, certainly not until the latter stages. What we didn't do well enough was do anything much of a threatening nature when we got within their final third. Not great but without the likes of Frear, Tanner and Moult I can see to an extent why that might have been the case. There are likeable elements to both Bowman and Fisher's games but are yet to convince in terms of starting. Both do however look like they can offer something as impact subs. St Johnstone certainly were clinical. I thought their first was a little fortuitous but when they got the second, which I certainly think we could have dealt with a lot better, they were able to choose their moment to pick us off. I thought we were the better team going into the break and in the early stages of the half but it sadly regressed into something a little shambolic with the sending offs. Thompson is never a referee I feel particularly happy having allocated to us as he is generally petty and ruins the game regardless of how good or bad he is. The only one of the three that was relatively clear via the feed was McHugh's which at first view looked a hard challenge certainly but debatable if worthy of a yellow. I've seen plenty of utterly abject Motherwell performances over the years and yet whilst there is clearly miles of room for improvement and it was a horrible result, I just didn't get that sense that today was up there with some of those. It does remain to be seen though how we react. What has been good thus far has been the strength of character the team have shown. This will be a test of that

Krivokapic is the obvious footballing centre-half that springs to mind.

Your thoughts and votes please...

That's excellent isn't it!

That's pretty good. You should fire it over to MFC and see if they might make it available as a wallpaper for the weans laptops/mobiles etc.

About ten years ago our team had Jim Hamilton in it. Jim Hamilton played for 12 different sides. About twenty years ago our team had Owen Coyle in it. Owen Coyle played for 10 different sides. About thirty years ago our team had Paul Kinnaird in it. Paul Kinnaird played for 17 different sides.

"Theo! Theo! Theo's a shitebag and he wants to go home"

I thought we were really unlucky not to have taken a point. Much to console ourselves with I think but the frustration of getting nothing is hard to shift at the moment. Part self-inflicted, part bad-luck, part officiating of the likes which you can only shake your head and smile wryly at. I didn't think there was much between the sides. Some stand-outs on either side apart a balanced game. They certainly started better and did much of which you would have hoped we'd do. In such a difficult game to call it was important to set the tempo and take build momentum. We didn't do that. Pleasingly we did however get back into it and were arguably the better side in the latter part of the half. I remain utterly dumfounded at Moult missing his opportunity but the equalising goal was fully meritted when it arrived through Heneghan. It was a concern that half-time came when it did give how things had gone latterly in the half but no, we more than held our own and carved out some decent opportunities. Both Bowman and Fisher's chances late on were almost at the stage where you're so convinced the ball is going in that you're up celebrating like a dafty and baffled as to why play is still going on. I quite liked the tone of Robinson's interview which I caught after the game on the radio. A fair balance of being appreciative of the performance whilst acknowledging we won't settle for just the performance, we know we could and should have got better result wise. A frustrating outcome but I think a similar level of performance added to with greater accuracy in front of goal should see us okay this season hopefully.

But he's not Stevie Hammell so for some without even kicking a ball he was viewed as an improvement. Personally though I do quite like the look of him. Important to keep in mind that he's working his way back to regular game time also but I think there's a player there and he'll develop well in time. Both he and Kipre have a confidence and an unruffled air about them, at times bordering on the Krivokapicesque as they nonchalantly play there were around strikers. I do think it'll bite us on the arse now and again - Dunne getting caught out on the bye line today for example - but over the piece enjoyable to see thus far.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Kind of illustrates the point a bit that it's almost a no lose situation for the youngsters concerned. Who thought any less of Meechan at the time, or indeed Pollock, for being thrown in that day?

I'd be inclined to agree with that. Whilst you wouldn't want to overload a team with youngsters against either of the two it can be a good opportunity to give players a taster in a game often with low expectation levels on them. If they flop nobody's going to think anything less of them because of the opposition but if they rise to the occasion but if they do hold their hold then it's a pretty good indicator of their strength of character at the very least. To add to your Ross MacLean one of Lasley's first, if not the first games for the club was against Rangers at Ibrox for example. I remember Jamie Murphy getting a run out at Parkhead early in his career and Jack Leitch going toe-to-toe with Scott Brown quite early on in his. Even as recently as last season you had Jake Hastie making his debut away to Celtic if I remember rightly. ,

I don't know anything of the player but it seems sensible to have brought someone in at this juncture ahead of Sunday. With Heneghan, Hammell and McManus all doubtful the additional cover will do us no harm. The fact that there's a degree of versatility about Plummer has to be a positive in the medium term too with McManus appearing to be creaking at the seems a bit and looking like he's going to be a while away yet from being able to do a full ninety and Hammell frustratingly susceptible to niggly injuries that prevent him getting the run of games he needs, it seems a sensible enough acquisition. Again with the caveat that I know little about it.

Rangers game thread anyone?

Not so sure I'd call it an obsession. A carefully selected statistic to illustrate dominance certainly. Clever arguably too in the sense that using that particular statistic still highlights dominance but gently steers the viewer/reader/listener away from one of the more often quoted measures of dominance namely "efforts on target" or "efforts at goal" ratio, which I suspect wouldn't be as easy on the eye. But I wouldn't say referencing it on midweek and then following that up by saying Saturday was along similar lines was an obsession.

A wee skim through the previous dozen or so posts would surely have given the context. But point made, posts specifically relating to the League Cup moved across to that thread.

Interesting view, particularly in relation to McDonald. In this instance though I would tend to think, as steelboy has alluded to, that he was simply frustrated that things weren't going his way today. He can become visibly tetchy when things aren't going well. It didn't manifest itself in anything like it today but it isn't the first time I've seen him launch himself into a tackle that's bordering on the reckless because frustration has got the better of him.

A win certainly, but not perhaps the morale boosting emphatic win we might have hoped for going into next Sunday. Mind you, perhaps that might have glossed over some deficiencies. Certainly not going to be any complacency after late goals to snatch victories against Third Division teams in successive games, that's for sure. It was a fairly lacklustre stuff. Very one-sided as you might expect but with you little in the way of a cutting edge from us. I didn't really feel any threat from Berwick but I didn't see Edinburgh scoring the other night either, and in truth it didn't look like we were going to break the deadlock either. It was disappointing to see Hammell go off hopefully the injury proves not to be anything serious. With Heneghan having a niggle and McManus still working his way back it would be far from ideal having him out too. Still in terms of qualification we've done everything asked of us. Can't argue too much with a 100% record and going through seeded. Big step up required from a few though when the league action starts.

Your thoughts and votes please..

I guess it all depends on who needs the games most. Robinson stated in the press conference that they have been carefully "managing minutes" as I think he put it so no reason to think that won't be the case again today. All things being equal I wouldn't be averse to the likes of McMillan and MacLean getting another start along with involvement at some stages from Gordon and Campbell. I thought Rose was fairly anonymous in midweek but wouldn't be against him getting a further start to help bring him up to speed and see what he has to offer when he's at full fitness. Up front is perhaps the tricky one. Moult, you obviously wanted primed as much as possible for next Sunday so you would hope we'd get at least 45 minutes from him. Fisher I'd like to see included in the hope he'll get that first goal. Bowman has of course scored a couple in pre-season and at Hampden but it would do his confidence no harm either to continue to score going into the league campaign.

There's also the whole attitude change that some fans adopt towards a player whenever they have left us to the point that history is almost re-written in some cases as positive contributions are played down and any deficiencies highlighted. I dread to think of the meltdown that awaits if and when Thomas and Erwin combine to put us to the sword!

I've got some fond memories of Berwick away in those days. I went on the old Bellshill Bus with my old man who went to games with guys Bobby Allan, Jim Baillie and Joe Maguire (who now and again I still see faithfully making his way to and from Fir Park). I was only in Primary 2 so Berwick away on a bus was some adventure. Can't remember the result but was mightily impressed by seeing big oil tankers in the North Sea and being completely spooked by all these guys in red and white that I could not understand (Wales were playing at Murrayfield) when we stopped in Musselburgh, which in itself sounded like some mystical sea world. I also remember a few years later stumbling across the Diary we had to do at school of our weekends that the folks had obviously kept. I mind my old dear laughing because at parents night the teacher was telling them how most of the other weans were writing about going to parks or swimming or relatives and my stories were all about going on a bus to places like Berwick, Stenhousemuir and Ayr. All a bit sickly maybe but leaving the fitba aside I'm enjoying the thought of playing Berwick simply for the memories it has brought back of that particular time in my life.

Your thoughts and votes please...