grumpy

It was also Davor that tracked Duc when their left winger outstripped Wilson and cut the ball back to Duc, when they broke from our corner. Davor made the block and the ball then spun back off Duc and out for a Goal Kick. Arguably a goal saving block. He also wins his fair share of headers for such a small guy. I wouldn't have him as a starter under normal circumstances, but I don't mind him being around for back up.

Fair enough, and I get that, but, a badly directed punt could have seen the ball come straight back with the imbalance of players then in their favour. I was pretty happy with the way we slowed it down.

That stat is based on this season alone, and as always stats can be made to look like anything you want. Dig a bit deeper and over the last 3 seasons, since they were promoted, they have picked up 82 points at home and 38 away (68.33%). The first year up it was 32 at home and 8 away, (80%), and that doesn't take into account any points picked up at Livingstone or Accies in those seasons. For comparison, we have picked up 63 points at home and 60 away during the same period (51.22%). Their pitch most definitely gives them an advantage, in my opinion. And yes, I am sitting at home bored, which is why I bothered working it out.

I thought we saw the last twenty minutes out quite comfortably yesterday. I sit in the Cooper and the number of shouts at Oxborough in that period to get the ball up the park quickly was astonishing, holding on to the ball as long as possible then keeping it short was working well at that stage, much better than the twenty minutes before that when the defence was lumping it aimlessly and letting them run straight back at us. Sometimes I despair at the fans "Game intelligence".

We started slowly today but grew into the game as the first half wore on. Oxborough had one good save at 0-0 but we could easily have been 2-0 up before the first goal. Typically, we reverted to type and gave the opposition too much respect during the second half. That said, after they hit the bar, at no time did I think they were getting back into the game and we actually took the sting out of the last 20 minutes quite efficiently. A very enjoyable 3 points. Nick Walsh should be removed from the refereeing list forever.

Maswanhise for me, Oxborourgh, Wilson, Halliday and Balmer all played well. Also Davor and Watt put in shifts and the work they do is much underapprecisted.

No need to apologise. I hate their manager too.

I don't know about pubs, but you could park at Ingleston and take the tram in to Haymarket*. It isn't too long a walk from there to Tynecastle. *(Closer tram stops may be available)

Quite a few candidates today, Paton, Maswanhise, Ap Stam & Liam Gordon all due consideration. I went with the Ox though, blameless for the two goals and looked back to his best at coming off his line after a few shaky displays. Good to have options.

Miller, McVie & McLaren would last about 20 minutes between them today.

Wilson for Seddon was the substitution that was made, my point was the knock on effect of only having 4 more subs. I thought Kaleta was well off the level of the previous week and being replaced with O'Donnell would have had a beneficial effect for the team balance (IMO). My point on hindsight was that the timing and personnel involved in the substitutions ended up with us getting a point despite a numerical dis-advantage, a plus in my book, different choices my have ended in a different result. I wasn't being (over) critical of Kettlewell, I actually quite like him. I was just voicing an opinion that he possibly could have done better with his substitutions. The bottom line is, I'm glad I'm not the manager 'cos results don't rest on my opinions.

The argument could be made that the Seddon injury, and substitution, caused a necessary rethinking of the later substitutions. In an ideal world, Seddon would have lasted 90 minutes allowing O'Donnell to replace Kaleta, giving us more defensive nous at the end when we were under pressure. I agree that the subsequent substitutions should have been earlier, both due to fatigue (Ap Stam, Watt & Halliday) and tactically, getting TJ into the fray earlier. We could have risked Paton or Watt playing 90 minutes and replaced the other one with O'Donnell allowing Kaleta to move forward, or to put O'Donnell on instead of Moses, but everything is easier with hindsight.

Pass marks to the Ox, Gordon, Ap Stam & Paton, we lost sharpness after Seddon's injury and only got it back with the introduction of TJ & Moses. Went with AP Stam for his non stop effort.

I fair enjoyed today, we played some good football, scored some good goals, there were lots of discussion points and we won. I then spent an hour post match with my brother-in-law (a 'Well fan) and four of his pals (Dundee U fans) and we agreed that it was an entertaining match with some terrible defending by both teams and an inconsistent referee. I hope I would be so gracious if the final score had been 3-4. I suspect I couldn't have spent that time with too many Old Firm fans. The bottom line is that if you want to watch a team dominate the opposition and not give up any chances, you shouldn't be at Fir Park or Tannadice, go to watch Celtic instead. I know where I would rather be though. Edit, Meant to post that in the match thread, sorry.

Two goals and an assist make it a very easy choice today. A lot of good performances but Apostolos Stamatelopoulos was the stand out. (Yes, that was a copy and paste effort)