Kmcalpin

Falkirk's run of good luck seems will continue on Saturday as they're set to benefit from the SFA's very public and historic keel hauling of Callum Slattery. We need to get right behind the team for this game. That and loudly call out any instances of "gamesmanship" from Falkirk; anything that breaches rule 77 in fact (no abuse please). Lets channel that resentment into someothing positive. Don't expect them to come to Fir Park to entertain us, if his time at Stark's Park is anything to go by. Certainly a decent manager but one who knows how to employ the dark arts.

I see Ross County fans are complaining about results and especially entertainment value. They're not happy bunnies. I can't think why.

That then stems from media coverage. I used to think that the Compliance Officer's staff ploughed through every single minute on the previous weekends Premiership games, on a Monday. Not so. They simply homed in on the action that the media chose to highlight. If the media like you then all is fine if it doesn't then watch out.

To be fair, she'd scare most folks.

As Busta said above, King wasn't completely blameless. Whether contact was made or not, his red card should have stood, as the intent was there.

Dylan Wells playing for Stirling today.

Agree 100% Busta. The club made this very same point at the initial hearing. The bottom line is that footage is inconclusive. The lack of contact was not proved beyond all reasonable doubt. The facts have been manipulated to suit a particular narrative and thats unsafe and downright wrong. Something doesn't smell right.

Not that I know of. The worst case of that I can recall was Craig Gordon at Fir Park a few years ago when he collapsed several times feigning serious injury to waste time. I lost all respect for him that day and have had no time for him ever since.

Could it be worse than that?

Yes, its a catch all. "A recognised football body, club, official, Team Official, other member of Team Staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall, at all times, act in the best interests of Association Football." Now if the SFA is going to continue applying that in games we can expect a deluge of such cases. Many every weekend in fact. How about investigating all such cases since the turn of the year or even since the start of the season? Cheating by shirt pulling Cheating by stealing yards at throw ins and free kicks Harassing a referee Cheating by simulation Managers openly wanting their players to dive to win penalties. Cheating by committing off the ball fouls A referee treating players with disrespect The list is endless. How often do you hear pundits in the media saying "he had to take one for the team"? A phrase I detest. You're right Bobby. Mr Slattery will have to be cleaner than clean in future.

Slattery was apparently found guilty by the Compliance Officer some weeks ago. A panel, comprising God knows who, was then convened and met today. It was these unknown individuals who settled on a 4 game suspension. Where is the transparency and accountability in that?

A good point made by Ropy on P & B and I quote " I look forward to other players being suspended for the officials getting it wrong. "

So, how is a referee to know why a player dives or feigns injury? Should that apply to every over reaction that could lead to the "offender" being carded? Could Slattery have said "I only ever meant to get him yellow carded". As I said, this has opened a can of worms.

Does anyone know who was on the disciplinary panel?

Sorry, double post.

A ridiculous decision, which opens up a mega sized can of worms. Others have made good points. So many angles to this. * How far back will the SFA go to look at retrospective action? 1 month perhaps 2 months or even 3? What is the benchmark? * Had Slattery rightly been disciplined at the time it would have been a yellow card. Why not a yellow card now? Thwe fact that he wasn't yellow carded was down to the referee. * Is this now a benchmark? Will we see a spate of retrospective punishments or is a 4 match ban now the norm for simulation? * A related issue - what about players harassing the ref to have an opponent red carded? We see plenty of that. I just hope MFC holds them to account.

But, is that what we want? SOD is a good squad player now, but at his age, has lost a bit of energy. Tom Sparrow is a decent midfielder but is never a full back.

As always he's theirs for the taking if A) the rumour is true and B) they meet our valuation. Otherwise they should do one.

Given the league table at present, Falkirk will want to win and that puts pressure on them. They'll know that if they do what they did before, in our 2 previous games, that will probably be sufficient to earn them a draw. However that would come at the cost of deserting their normal game to nullify us.

Will Manwhanise and Just be fit enough to start after their international travels? I can see this game being a repeat of last Saturday unless we can produce a rabbit out of the hat and surprise Falkirk with an unexpected game plan.

It transpires that Elijah Just suffered a bloody nose when he was injured yesterday. Surely that constitutes a head knock? All the odder therefore that David Dickinson ignored him for quite some time.

Not me! My lowly ancestors came across the Channel with William the Conquerer!

Comonplace now in games and we saw it most recently when Dundee United players were harassing the ref. As for Nicky Cadden, he was very lucky to stay on the pitch, but in reality wasn't even yellow carded. He put in a late tackle on SOD (worse than Sparrow's yellow card tackle) and was warned by the ref. Then as you say, he went head to head with SOD, lifted his hands and pushed him aggressively in the chest (not merely pushing him away). Still no yellow card. After that he put in another bookable late tackle and wasn't even warned.

A fair summing up Joe. I thought JBA made some mistakes today with his line up and appraoch. It looked to be an overly cautious approach designed to ensure we didn't lose. Longelo was a huge loss, the midfield looked congested and we lacked venom up front. The early plan of shelling long balls over the top for JT to run onto was fine in theory but the execution was very poor and was rightly stopped. For most of the game we lacked any penetration up front and Hibs were happy to soak it up and their keeper was larlely unemployed. Ward was slightly busier but again didn't have much to do. Not sure why Priestman was taken off as he was our most industrious midfielder. I thought we were too late in making changes. Our chalked off goal was very tight and certainly not clear or obvious. Thought David Dickinson had a poor game. Both Cadden and Suto were very lucky to escape 2 yellow cards each with the latter being substituted to save him. In my view, if you lift your hands to someone. Not quite sure how the 4 minus additional time was calculated. 7 second half subs @ 30 seconds each; blatant timewasting and several 2 protracted injuries. Overall, 2 points dropped. A slight blip is now gradually turning into a bit of slump. Other teams seem to have sussed us out. A change in plan now required for remaining games? Some positives though: another shut out and a 9,300 attendance. 2 asides. The media now needs to starts to start calling out cynical thuggery when teams target Eli Just (but it won't for fear of offending old boys) and the POD was an accident waiting to happen at half time (queues down the stairs for the kiosk, those wanting to visit hospitlaity and those wanting the toilet).

We're currently 6 points above Hibs with a 13 goal advantage. That seems a fairly safe cushion. However, before the break we face Falkirk at home and Hearts away. I reckon we'll take 1 point from those games. Hibs have Killie at home and Aberdeen away. They should be good for 4 points from those games. IF, and it is an if, it pans out like that, then our lead is cut to 3 points. That then takes us post split and we'll be due Hearts and Celtic at home. Maybe one point from those games? We'll play Hibs at Easter Road and they'll fancy their chances. On top of that, our record against current top 6 sides isn't great nor is our away form. We might well secure 4th spot, but it will be very tight and the game at Easter Road will be crucial. Yesterday, was defintiely 2 points dropped. In short, a 50/50 chance is realistic.