Ya Bezzer!

I never said the pitch isn't a joke. What I said is you have to play the conditions. We didn't. And let's be honest, does anyone think it would have made a huge difference today? Livingston countered our set up very well and virtually the entire team was off the boil. Blaming the pitch is a cheap and easy get out for a poor performance from the players and the manager.

Has to be Gillespie but even he made quite a few mistakes today. Don't often see him completely missing crosses for instance.

The match today was better than against Dumbarton which is a real grass pitch. Simple fact is you have to play the conditions. Its not down to the opposition to make it easier for us. Last 15 - 20 minutes of the first half Livingston played the surface fine and were giving us the run-a-round. We just didn't play well today and blaming the pitch is a deflection tactic. Livingston deserve some credit for executing their game plan and pretty much nullifying us for most of the match.

Improved to mediocre in the 2nd half. Poor but an away point is reasonable. If you forget about the performance.

2nd best by a distance. Getting completely bossed in midfield, can't win a header, getting done down the sides. Last 15 minutes of that half was a proper pumping. It's still 0-0 though, we need to make that work for us cos it shouldn't be.

One of the keys will be getting a level of consistency out of the wide players. Hylton has shown that, the other guys have shown flashes of ability but perhaps lacked that level of consistency over the four matches. Felt that we weren't at maximum intensity in the last two games, when the season starts proper I think there will be more edge and a faster tempo. I like Scott, I think he's the real deal but due to the formation we are playing we really need the wider players to put a shift in otherwise he's isolated.

Seedorf took a hissy fit about 20 minutes into the game and then just didn't ever seem focused. Caught on his heels, being a bit lazy, not getting into the right positions, trying to showboat instead of doing the basics. Perhaps he needs a wee bit maturity and game experience. He's got pace and ability, he needs to supplement that with a better attitude than he showed today.

Got to go for Donnelly.

Easy win at half pace. Best player in the first half - Polworth - was taken off at half time and that took a wee bit away from us until Hyltton and Scott came on as subs and pepped it up again. Sloth came on and looked decent. Fair play to Donnelly for the goals but most likely the goal run ends here and we'll need to concentrate on his ability in his actual role. Was disappointed in Ilic and Seedorf today and we definitely missed Gallagher and Campbell today despite the easy win. And I'll say it again - James Scott should be starting matches as our first choice striker.

Went for Gallagher. Made it look easy and never put a foot wrong. Contrast with Hartley who put himself in trouble a few times and who's passing was a little wayward. Thought Maguire did well also but in terms of consistency over the three matches Campbell and Gallagher have been our best players so I'm giving it to big Declan.

Turned out to be a tricky match. Grass you could hid elephants in, uneven, tight little pitch. Hot evening as well with no sight of sprinklers. Dumbarton didn't cause us any problems, outside of Hartley thinking he's a footballer and giving the ball away. However the game was squeezed into a narrow area with Dumbarton usually playing with 11 men behind the ball. First half couldn't really get the wide players going and didn't create a whole lot despite having must of the possession. Second half Hylton came more into the match but often the final ball wasn't great. Thought Maguire did fine, Gallagher strolled through the match again and Hylton gave their number 2 a grilling in the second half but with a very crowded penalty box he couldn't quite pick out a man. Overall this one in terms of the opposition and the conditions wasn't suited to our strengths but we got through it comfortably in the end.

This. But as I said after one of the matches we have a technically stronger squad than at any time under Robinson. There are more than a few guys there now who are actually footballers. If he's going to break into the Top 6, this season might be the one.

Outside of Rangers and Celtic the Scottish Premiership is garbage. Hearts and St. Johnstone were pish last year and still finished above us. Kilmarnock, in the last 5 months of the season were already falling back under Clark, they will fall further back this season. And I suspect Heckingbottom at Hibs is going to be found out as the arrogant little toerag that he is. So that's 4 of the 7 that finished above us last season. The quality in the league is low, there are teams that have 4 times our support that play SHOCKING football, any team that can play a bit of football, score goals and get a bit of consistency is going to do well.

Dumbarton have been taking pumpings and are really struggling to put a team in the pitch so you'd hope we can at least match what Morton and QoS did to them. Gillespie is nailed down number one now but perhaps you could give Carson some competitive game time in the next two matches although you'd hope he didn't have a lot to do. For me Tait has been poor over the last 6 months or so, so perhaps Grimshaw could come in and turn the heat up a bit for a first team place. I'd like to see Maguire get a shot at the 'Gorrin' position. For me he has more quality on the ball than Donnelly. The other positions seem fine, you don't want to make too many changes and disrupt any rhythm we've got going, especially up front. For me Scott has been excellent since coming into the team, I think he's a real talent, and with no established striker at the club, for me he is the number 1 right now. Tonight will be another chance for him to get a goal or two and further up his confidence.

For me Campbell and Hylton were the top performers. I'd separate them by the fact that Hylton also scored a goal. Hylton it is.

Remember too that Stranraer should have won in normal time and missed a couple of sitters. My worry about this seasons team, besides the 'Gorrin' position is at centre back. I like the look of Gallagher in the two matches we've seen but I'm not Dunne's biggest fan, as I've said before, he's fine when he can depend on pace and strength to defend but when he comes up against technically good players he gets hung out to dry and then behind him if there is an injury is Hartley who's not good enough either if we want to improve on finishing around 7th/8th/9th. With teams like Kilmarnock, Hearts, Hibs looking like they might be going backwards as well as a hardly formidable St. Johnstone side, I think we have a decent shot at finishing Top 6 this season but I'd like to see another centre back come in because you can't go through a season with one strong centre back. I know we've probably spent our transfer budget at this stage but if I could have one wish come true.....maybe I'll find an eye lash.

He did more than a decent job. Turnbull, Hastie and Gorrin transformed the season. And while Gorrin could be rash he was 45th on the leagues worst discipline list compared to McHugh who was 3rd. Gorrin didn't do the flashy stuff like Turnbull and Hastie but finding an adequate replacement is going to be crucial to the upcoming season, especially when we play similar level teams.

Yep was McGhee. Frear made his debut in Jan 2017 coming on as a sub in a 0-2 defeat to Rangers. The other players brought in in that window were Zak Jules and Stephen Pearson.

Donnelly is better than McHugh but not as good as Gorrin. Ultimately I'm not sure if he's technically assured enough on the ball. As I've said before I'd like to see Maguire get a shot in this position.

Managers are only as good as their results. If we lose the first five league matches he'll be under as much pressure as ever. Personally though I'm pleased he's put into place all the things I said he should have done a year before he did and that we are all the better for it. Perhaps I should charge a consultancy fee? For the record Robinson's actual league record is 32 wins from 88 for a 36% win ratio. It should be noted though that his win ratio has been pretty low prior to 2019. Since then we've won 10 out of 17 with the emergence of Turnbull playing a big part in that..

Fairly comprehensive dismantling of Morton, was 4 going on 5, 6, 7, 8. We should probably reserve judgement until we are playing teams at the same level but in my opinion the standard of player in the squad is much higher than it has previously been under Robinson. From home growns like Maguire, Semple and Scott to the guys brought in like Hylton, Seedorf and Gallagher. For me there are plenty of positive signs there. Even the type of football we are playing, playing the ball out from the back with the centre halves or short passes from the goalkeeper to the full backs, is almost unrecognisable to the type of football we were playing this time last season.

Seedorf and Hylton changed the game but over the 90 minutes it has to be Allan Campbell.

Just to make the older fans feel even older I noticed yesterday that only two of our players who took the field yesterday were even born when we last won the Scottish Cup and they both had yet to celebrate their first birthday. Tait and Gallagher for the record.

Carroll looked OK going forward but defensively maybe not so much. It was only one game but the impression I got that the left hand side of our defence might be a weak spot.

I'd like to see Maguire play there too.