Kmcalpin

Interesting. BC confirms that the Police took the decision to take no action against crowds in the South Stand. As we thought it s a case if there's enough of you feel free to do whatever you want. On another note, the club has no idea what its share of the semi final gate will be (almost a fortnight after the game), let alone actually received the cash. That will be pooled but we also get a share of the programme and catering revenue.

100% agree. He also looked tired and jaded at the weekend. Maybe we should rest him in Dingwall?

I didn't see anything wrong with the way they were dressed. They deserve a bit of respect.

Ferrie scored on Saturday. No sign of Wells or Ross.

An interesting take from Graham Carey in the Dundee Courier. "Carey had no complaints with Jack Sanders’ late equaliser from his corner being chalked off for handball. And he pointed out that the VAR decision to award Saints a penalty when his shot struck Andy Halliday’s hand is a part of modern football everybody has no option but to get used to. “For me, I don’t think it is a penalty but I will take it,” he said. “He’s unlucky. His arm is not really away from his body but that’s just the way they give them now.” “Big Jack said straight away that the ball hit his hand. “I think both decisions are right, going by the rules.”"

Thats exactly my take on it Joe. A simple attempt to protect himself, no more no less. On a related matter, St Johnstone's chalked off goal. I'm not sure exactly what happened but reports suggest that Sanders punched or guided the ball into the net with his hand. If true, I suspect he wouldn't have owned up? Now if a defender stops a certain goal with his hand or arm deliberately, he would be red carded, unless your name is Mark Reynolds. That being the case shouldn't an attacker who deliberately punches/pushes the ball into the net with his arm/hand also be red carded? Just a thought.

Yes, yesterday wasn't the first time we've seen this. Young Wilson was left exposed time and again, especially in the later part of the game. They managed to hit the by line 2 or 3 times.

Yes, I noticed that. No controversy obviously! Never a penalty in my book. That decision turned the course of the game but fortunately not the result. Saints do have a record for getting erroneous penalties against us though.

Overall, a good day yesterday grinding out a win against normally stuffy opponents. Whilst the game panned out much the way I expected possession wise, fans would be pleasantly surprised by Saints more expansive approach. This is a game we’d have lost last year. My MOTM were Kaleta, Seddon, Sparrow and Manwhanise. Enforced absences took their toll in defence and most likely in midfield. Great to see Harry Paton return late on and his strong running made a short but telling impact. Throughout the game we struggled in midfield, when not in possession, leaving gaps all over the place. Saints were good enough to dominate possession, but fortunately not good enough to do anything productive with it. I felt a bit sorry for Ewan Wilson as he looked a bit unsure of his role and was hung out to dry too much for my liking. Playing the game with no out and out defensive midfielder took its toll and our central defence was put under unnecessary pressure. Fortunately they stood up to it very well as the Ox will tell you. Lennon Miller had another quiet game although he was better in the first half. Maybe teams are wising up to him or the weight of captaincy is affecting him? He looked tired and needs a rest. Up front we still haven’t got it right. Stam was left isolated all too often against a huge defence and he really did look diminutive. Played in the right way, ie in the box, I think he’ll flourish. We’ll need to find him a partner though to give him space. Plenty of plus points though. We played some pretty good counter attacking football in spells in the first half. Great to watch and capped by 2 goals. Maybe the best I’ve seen for some time in fact. The game should have been over by half time. In flashes, Manwhanise was unplayable. The 2nd 45 was a huge self inflicted let down, although Saints did alter their set up to some effect. We sat far too deep and let Saints come on to us. Although they were toothless, the 2 VAR decisions showed the folly of surrendering territory easily. It just takes a dodgy penalty call, a freak shot, a blunder; anything really and you’re in trouble. We survived a nail biting finish though. As reported elsewhere the ref was poor throughout. His positioning wasn’t great for many calls.

Yes, a nice touch to see one veteran representing each team with their wreaths. Total silence and respect from the stands.

Yes, he is, but we're not getting the best out of him. He's not suited to to the role he's being asked to play.

I agree, but it's how we play at the moment. Saints were always going to dominate possession. Until we sort out midfield this stat isn't going to change. Returning players will help of course, but we didn't field an out and out defensive midfielder today and as the defence would tell you, it showed.

In terms of the type of game we can expect I suspect it'll be similar to previous games this season. St Johnstone will enjoy the majority of the possession and we'll rely on breakaways. Harry Paton and Johnny Koutroumbis may make the bench with possibly late cameo appearances as subs. St Johnstone may well wheel out their new defender Mikulic, all 6-4 of him. They also have keeper problems, but thats of no consequence if we don't pressurise him. So far their defence has been poor but their attack lively. Irrespective of whether Mikulic actulally plays or not, I'd like to see us keep the ball on the ground.

It might be a good read but thats one I won't be buying.

It is eye watering. The cost includes a high end stadium, 140 bed hotel, a brewery, 1,000 seat concert venue, housing and other components. You could build a decent standalone 12,500 capacity stadium for less than half that cost. That said, I don't how the financial package stacks up.

Yes, I think most of her family are too.

I agree with your thinking and analysis but I hope there's a role for the currently unfit looking Tony Watt. He does need more game time, and I hoped he'd get some more as a sub yesterday too. For whatever reason we're not getting the best out of him. I'd also like to see Koutroumbis start to get some game time to build up his fitness gradually. We might well need him in the coming weeks and months given our injury record.

As good a player as Lennon Miller undoubtedly is, he just doesn't fit into our team structure. Maybe a bit old fashioned and simplistic, but we badly need a mobile hard tackling No 6 to shield the defence,: a quick No 8 to link box to box; and a creative No 10 to support the strikers. That would give us more options and avoid having to rely on fast wing backs.

We go again. My immediate concern is whether Kaleta will be fit. If not who slots in at RB, if SOD isn't available? Koutroumbis is far from match fit, and at best might only be good for 15/20 minutes. We should be looking for 3 points, but Saints will prove to be a stuffy side. They'll try to bottle up our wing backs and smother Lennon Miller. if they're successful then what?

It was the kind of Hampden display we've sadly gotten used to in recent times. Overly cautious and showing too much respect to the opposition. Sevco were the better team and deserved to win. However we made it easy for them and as one well know "poster" of this site said to me afterwards "We let them win". I agree with virtually all the points made above so no point in dredging them up again. Our manager does need to learn. We've been a bit hamstrung in midfield due to injuries so far, but its the striking department which concerns me most and those issues were very evident today.

Spot on San. Week after week we see aerial balls shelled up to a 6' striker on his own up against towering 6'3" central defenders with the inevitable outcome. Nothing sticks. Despite signing a plethora of strikers in the summer they just don't fit together. Some just aren't good enough. Poor recruitment. If we must play a lone striker then surely we should have recruited someone who can play in that role.

Yes, that's very true. Our engine room is currently weak both defensively and offensively.

I had very modest expectations of today's game. Biggest let down for me was the empty spaces in the Sevco support. Less cash for us. However we'll make £500k + from today and thats great. Also great to see us score at Hampden. Its not a stadium I enjoy visiting.

Lets score a goal today. In too many of our games against bigger teams at Hampden, we've failed to score.

Aye, I'm of the same view. Don't get me wrong, I think its progress and a good thing and well done to those developing it, but I don't fully understand all of the benefits. Nowadays 99 people out of a hundred use their phones for directly for financial transactions, but the very odd fan won't. Will these benefits be available to paleolithic PC/Mac users?