Kmcalpin

I've decided to give the highlights a miss. Agree with the rest of your post. I'm getting the impression that JBA might not be the best tactician in the world, although he has other strengths. Yesterday wasn't the first time that we've struggled tactics wise; its now occurred several times, espcially at half time when opposing managers make changes and JBA doesn't seem capable of reacting effectively. It could simply be, of course, that he's still acclimatising to Scottish football. As far as Slattery is concerned, I appreciate he is still recovering from injury, but maybe it wasn't the best idea to give him a full 90+ minutes on Wednesday. As you say, the focus will now be on JBA to see if he can lift the team and alter his gameplan, if only slightly, for the next fixture.

I didn't like St Mirren's style of playing but it was effective. Strip out the cynicism, playacting and fouling and you are left with a sound gameplan that succeeded. They bottled up the wings and were quite content to let us knock the ball about nicely in areas of the pitch that didn't matter. Sit back, test us and wait for the mistakes. It worked a treat. I'm still not 100% sold on our brand of football. Call me a dinosaur if you want. Yes, I like attratctive flowing football, but it has to have some purpose, some end product. There has to be a solid defence and an attack thats lethal. As it is, we knock the ball about nicely but too often in an aimless way. If, and its a big if, St Mirren win the League Cup Final how many of our fans will stick to their principles and say that they'd rather be knocked out 4-1 in the semi trying to play modern football than win it playing ugly. Our experiment still has a way to go and that must involve personnel changes in January, but I'm still not totally convinced we can pull off our switch to modern possession based football. I hope I'm wrong.

Good post. Apart from poor passing and being lightweight, our build up was laboured, slow and predictable. It seemed to me that we were pacing ourselves in the first half for a full 90 minutes or extra time. Someone forgot to tell St Mirren. Agree that we need a RB, CB, goalie and striker in January. Other managers will have learnt from St Mirren's tactics today.

A typical Hampden performance from us. Oh how I hate the place. The seeds of that disgrace were sown before kick off with an odd line up. No Welsh or Slattery. Presumably the latter was being kept fresh to come on later and help us defend a one or two goal lead? We were outhought, outfought and outplayed, although 4-1 flattered Saints. Robinson had our gameplan well and truly sussed. Not one of JBA's best days. Only passmarks go to Hendry and Slattery. That game ranks alongside semi final defeats to Airdrie, and will remain in the memory of many for years to come.

I seem to recall he's due back after New Year.

The referee will be crucial and I fully expect St Mirren to put the boot in. First bad foul he needs to stamp his authority on the players and card the culprit. If that's in the first minute or two so be it.

Don't know if it was luck just a very poor finish.

No, it was nearer the halfway line. They were at it all night.

A thoroughly deserved victory tonight against less than ideal opponents and an invaluable 3 points. We played very well in spells but looked vulnerable down our right side in the second half. Watt's goal was an absolute peach. United played a physical game just as I thought they would and despite 21 fouls being awarded against them we e lucky to have a lenient ref. Highlight/lowlight of that was the United player being told to go back at throw ins twice and still ignore the ref. Why no yellow card? A good midweek crowd too. Only concerns from me were possible injuries but glad to hear that JBA is not "overly concerned". Some looked more precautionary i.e Welsh.

Don't know about being arrogant but they do love a good boo, and have done for years. .

Very strange.

Presumably, although ticket details are now in apps, the QR code is not issued until Saturday?

The thing is that Slattery can defend, whereas that was never Spittal's strong point.

Another hand injury again, unfortunately. Allt the best to him and a speedy recovery.

Or, as the MSM call it "taking one for the team".

I'm with you on that. Media pundits need to call it out for what it is.

A huge win for us yesterday as its all very well to play entertaining football but its points that count. So, it was job done. We started off well in the first 20 minutes or so with nice possession football, and had Livi penned back. However we were toothless up front and did nothing in their box. That combined with a resolute defence rendered Prior surplus to Livi's requirements. They grew into the game for the rest of the half without dominating possession and looked dangerous on the break, aided by our disorganised rearguard. O'Donnell suffered a torrid time on the right and Longelo looked out of sorts. Although they scored through a stupid penalty, in truth they could have been 2 or 3 goals up by half time. That said, Ward didn't have much to do. The second half started much the same as the first half ended although we did up our game slightly. Again, Prior had nothing to do. Ward had a couple of good saves. As the subs were introduced, we started to improve and it was good to see Slattery reappear. A cast iron penalty evened things and in the last 20 we really began to open the game up. 2 exceedingly tight offside decisions went against us and goals chalked off on the say so of VAR. At the time I thought Just's first effort was way off but after looking at highlights it was toenail tight - not what VAR should be checking. Just got his rewards with a well taken move and finish. Game over. Ye cannae beat a late winner! Did I feel sorry for Livi? Yes and no. On balance they probably deserved a draw but their cynical tactics make me think twice. They played a weak Nick Walsh like Aly Bain on a fiddle. Within the first 4 minutes they committed 3 fouls. It was easy to see why they have amassed the highest crime count in the league. Still, we won without any help from VAR. Whilst we are battling VAR, Falkirk have lucked out for the second week in succession. Swings and roundabouts hopefully.

Agree with that Joe. Given the degree of inaccuracy and uncertainty built into our budget system you'd think that the VAR operators would not place too much weight on very tight offside calls unless they're "clear and obvious". But, that's not how they're using it.

Yes, if you believed the highlights, then Livi were all over us in the first half which they weren't.

I thought he was very inconsistent and weak. Livi committed 3 fouls in the first 3/4 minutes alone and its easy to see why they top the league's crime count. Despite Livvy players escaping cards for several bad fouls, it was odds on we'd collect the first card and lo and behold we did. The lad who suddenly went down injured after a long VAR delay and just as our penalty was about to be taken was clearly at it and everyone but Nick Walsh could see it.

Yes just watched the highlights. Both offside decisions were very very tight. As for the first I thought at the time that Just was well offside but on TV it looked as though he was just on. Millimetres in it and certainly not clear nor obvious. VAR rerefereeing the match.

Yes, despite all our pretty football and possession, Livingston created more chances than we did. They were deservedly ahead at the break and had we gone in 2/3 goals down, we couldn't have complained.

Absolutely. Time and again we broke up the park, but dithered on the ball and failed to pick out one of our lads running into space or only did so, once he was covered. An early pass would have caught defenders out.

I see that Livingston are releasing blocks of seats in the same way that the Hampden authorities are doing. Best views are released later. Its one of my bugbears that clubs like Livingston constrain seating to tight sections. I'm not saying that most of the stadium should be opened up for our benefit but its annoying when most of the available sections are full; latecomers can't find seats and they steadfastly refuse to open up another section.

We'll see on Saturday. I'm always sceptical of pre match injury stories. Shane Blaney injured again.