pretzel

Yeah, I thought he was a decent player at this level, I think the general consensus with the St Mirren support was that he wasn't scoring enough goals but surely Curtis Main would fall under the same bracket. Brophy has been sent out on loan to Ross County until the end of the season, I know it might change but it doesn't seem like Roy MacGregor is digging deep this January as we usually get the County renaissance from this point, I think the other addition they made was another loan from the league, Kennah for Hibs.

Despite a strong start to the season for St Midden they're now going through a blip and the last ten league games they have played almost mirrors our form. Robinson always seemed to enjoy great wee runs of form with us then would go off the rails for a bit, let's just hope we aren't as generous as we were with Hibs. Thankfully they have no Bobby Madden to bail them out and Eamonn Brophy who seemed to score a few last season. I think the line up will likely be the same as Arbroath.

I don't watch lower league football tbh but I was just wondering have the likes of Cove, Kelty and Darvel generally always been better at paying wages than some of the professional league sides or have has this come about since the introduction of the pyramid system. I remember tagging along to an East Kilbride game five years ago and noticed Craig Reid playing for them only a few seasons after being with us, plus they had a few other recognisable names.

The BBC are doing the old school type coverage where our game is the featured match on the highlights package.

That's what happens when you have a daft wee piece. Sadly for Shields he has absolutely no composure in front of goal, you think back to the numerous chances he has had this season, it's either a back pass to the keeper or a wild effort into row Z, that one at Tannadice was shocking. Good luck to the guy, hopefully he kicks on wherever he ends up.

I'm sensing Penney will not be back after seeing his Twitter goodbyes.

Willie Collum the ref for this game.

Apparently that was the reasoning for staying in Scotland with Celtic originally. I don't think it would do any harm to ask the question but I think we would be more likely to get someone that rarely features such as Welsh or Montgomery (obv away to St Johnstone). It's going to be an interesting few weeks.

I always felt that Spittal was one of those players who seemed to stand out when he played against us but in a 'Well jersey you do tend to forget he is playing at times. He must be apart of what is the slowest midfield I've ever seen at Fir Park. A bit like Ricki Lamie, he enjoyed some great form from January to May 2022 which no doubt fooled Alexander to pounce for his signature.

According to the Daily Ranger, Penney's loan spell expired after the County game. Obviously Hammell has mentioned he wanted to extend it but going by what the Ipswich gaffer is saying I wouldn't be surprised if they want some dosh from someone for his services.

I throughly enjoyed his first half performance on Saturday despite those conditions, he was unfortunate that his early shot hit the outside of the post and the County keeper made a decent save but thankfully he wasn't to be denied. He is certainly a massive creative spark going forward but defensively is something that he can improve upon. I think Saturday was only his tenth senior start, as David put it he is still a young, raw player with plenty learning and development to do.

I know players fitness vary from one to the other, but St Mirren signed a young defender from the second tier of the Irish league and he went straight into the side and has played two games already for them. I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply a case of Hammell viewing Lamie and Sol as our strongest centre back partnership and just hoping they will eventually click, but after the Hibs debacle both were deserving of a spell on the sidelines. I wouldn't be surprised however to see Blaney against Arbroath.

Getting nightmare flash backs of Jordan Jones, Alan Forrest and David Templeton breezing past him on the wing, circa early 2020/21.

Regarding Penney, was it not mentioned that his future would be addressed post County game? He's a player I actually really liked but judging on his last two outings if he feels the need to move on I won't shed a tear.

In regards to Lamie I think we can all admit we fell for it hook, line and sinker. He was honking for like 18 months but found himself back in favour due to injuries and then enjoyed a bit of form around the time he agreed a pre contract with Dundee. It's a shame to see him revert to normal. The worrying thing is no matter the combination in centre defence since the first game this season we have been throwing the ball literally in our own net, since that weak headed back pass by Mugabi against Sligo it has been been comic cut defending at times and the whole defence has been culpable. I thought it was a tough watch today due to the conditions. I enjoyed the marauding runs of young Johnson, it would have been nice to see him bury that effort in the first half. I thought Crankshaw done alright, certainly and upgrade on Shields. The ref was quite poor, every time a county player screamed and hit the deck was enough to warrant a free kick. Obviously it was powderpuff but it looked like Callachan punched Goss in the back when he reacted to getting his shirt pulled. Anyway I think the biggest frustration over the last few games has been we had the chance to bring Hibs right into the mix and today we could have been 6 points clear of County with a game in hand. Hopefully next week proves to be a positive distraction. We're better on our travels tbf.

After signing a few players in the last few days and with others en route I highly doubt that will be the case unless he packed it in himself. If we do fall to defeat I can see you arriving at the main entrance on the back of a horse with a bunch of villagers carrying torches.

Juhani Ojala has found himself a new club in Cyprus Doxa Katokopias, I see Christian Ilić also plays for them.

I remember phoning club call back in the 90s and they announced the new signing Michel Doesburg, felt great being in the know when friends seen it confirmed in the tabloids the next day. Can't imagine how it used to be in nineteen canteen. I know I'm going off topic here a tad, Willie Falconer rescued us when he signed, but the day he signed he lined up against Killie and missed a pen as we got beat. One thing that truly annoyed me was that I'm sure he was denied playing in a Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen as he had to be registered two weeks before the match or such, SKY choose our game for TV and the tie was moved to a Monday which meant he should have been available for selection but the pedantic SFA said they are sticking by the original date the game was going to be played. Anyway it's good to see a rumour on the transfer front filter through.

I was hoping Josh Morris would move on to free up a wage, I assumed thats why he had been missing from the squad recently but I think he was either ill or injured. Plenty others I would happy drive to other clubs but sadly we'll be stuck with them until the Summer at the very least. It's the hope that kills you, both Burrow's and Hammell mentioned last week that they had hoped to get new faces in by the end of last week, apparently we came close but nowt else was really mentioned. Hopefully though the patience pays dividends and we can unearth some gems. A new signing would certainly lift the morale a bit, it's frustrating seeing Aberdeen and Hearts have no trouble bringing in many new faces the last few days but they obviously have far more dosh than us.

Quite a few 'Well connections in that side, Jake Hastie, Euan Murray and the Mikael Ndjoli.

Peter Hartley joins Hartlepool United.

Roberto Martinez named the new Portugal head coach.

We're just a handful of games past the half way point and this fixture already feels like it's a must win. A defeat here will bring them level on points but a win for us will give us a six point cushion with a game in hand. It's actually torture looking at your nearest rivals at this stage to see how they're fairing as I'm sure there will be many twists and turns. Killie face Rangers next Wednesday as they have a League Cup Semi this weekend and Dundee United face Hibernian. It's frustrating as the results over the weekend were quite favourable to us and we weren't able to take advantage. It'll be interesting to see if we finally add an addition or two to the squad. Personally I'm still supportive of Hammell and I hope it gets it right but you can't help but fear the atmosphere if things go badly this weekend. We blew them away in Dingwall earlier in the season with a magnificent second half performance, I'm confident we will score against them but not so confident we will keep a clean sheet. It would be nice to get the three points on board then be able to enjoy the Scottish Cup fixture.

Did he not already knock us back a few years ago?

Same ref as last week vs Livi. He booked Slattery for diving in the box last week but wasn't consistent today when the Hibs guy done it. Newell kicked the ball away numerous times, actual launches down the park. Also the very last chance of the game, Porteous swipes at Solholm at edge of the box tripping him right under refs nose, just as Van Veen is about to swipe at Johnstons cross Porteous cuts the cross out, no foul of yellow. It's a shame how poor the officials are in our country. But yeah I agree we have bigger issue at home needing addressing.