Kmcalpin

I would say Illic and MacIver. I can see why they were given a chance though. Perhaps Manzinga and Ndjoli could have started with O'Hara coming on later, if required. I don't think Seedorf contributed anything when he came on. MacIver looks promising and showed some nice touches but is lightweight and to me looks more of an attacking midfielder rather than a main striker. Nobody on our books though looked capable of facing up to Jackson. Others may know more about MacIver than I do though. The lack of a main striker in our recruitment process this season is puzzling to me.

Overall I was quite pleased with a share of the points as neither side deserved to lose. We had far more of the play but Hibs defended extremely well although we outgunned them in midfield. Rumours of Hibs having a poor defence turned out to be way off the mark. I thought their huge centre back (Jackson?) had a great game and gobbled up everything in the air we threw at him. I've seen one or two comments referrring to their style of play as agricultural but thats paying them a disservice... they were ruthless and cynical and I have real doubts as to whether that was down to spur of the moment decisions or whether it was premeditated, which is more likely. Despite having far less of the play than us Hibs had almost as many efforts on target as us. Our defence looked a bit shaky at times but Gallagher strolled through the game. Our midfield bossed their Hibs counterparts and that was largely down to Donnelly, who took a real beating, and the energetic Campbell. Polworth had a reasonable game but but got caught in possession 3 or 4 times. Illic did nothing of note and I was surprised he wasn't hooked at half time. Up front we were very lightweight and although Scott started well he faded once he was snuffed out by 2 or 3 defenders. MacIver looked promising but was out of his depth and maybe centre forward is not his role. Overall our attack was very lightweight, which was my fear going into the game. We could have played until next week and not scored. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I think we got several selection decisions wrong today. The referee was very poor and bottled a big decison not to red card the lucky Omeonga. The point will please us more than Hibs and it was another clean sheet. I'm not convinced though that had Long played we would have fared any better. If we seriously want to go for 3rd spot then I'm afraid we need to sign an out and out striker very soon. Not easy, I know, to find the right man this month and Robbo's record on signing strikers isn't anything to write home about. Next Saturday will pose us another challenge and we have to come up with something different. Its a great position though to be writing about going for 3rd place...its beats a relegation struggle every time!

A toss up for me between Gallagher and Campbell but decided to go with Mr Consistency big Declan.

Interesting. Maybe youth will get a chance.

I'd expect us to play Scott and either Manzinga or Ndjoli up front.

I think 20% is very slightly less than the capacity of the East Stand.

Rightly or wrongly, he does split opinion Busta as he did whilst at Inverness and for the same reasons. That could be changing though, as it is in my case. What isn't in doubt, as far as I can tell, is his talent and his ability to create chances. His free kick for the goal at the chiller on Wednesday was an absolute peach. He definitely isn't a finisher or or a winger. The divergence of opinion centres on his work ethic, defensive capability and physicality. As far as I'm concerned he's not the best defender in the world but then again I don't mind so long as he is "adequate" in that regard. Is he lazy? I'd say no, but others disagree. Where I have continuing doubts is his tendency to disappear in a scrap of a game (a Hibs' fan's comment), although one moment of magic can change that. Its unfair, I suppose to compare him with David Turnbull, but I' m going to do it nonetheless. Leaving aside technical ability Turnbull still can turn it on whilst being closely marked and can ride tackles and shrug off boneshattering challenges whereas Polworth does struggle when games turn into urban hand to hand combat. However if Polworth can be anonymous for 89 minutes but help to create a goal or two I can live with that - Andy Ritchie anyone? A lot depends on who is playing alongside him.

It wouldn't matter if he thought Gallagher got the ball or not, I think I'm right in saying its the amount of force used re Carl McHugh appeal where he got the ball but also his opponent. It looked like a stonewaller to me certainly. Its also possible that he realised in hindsight, or was told by another official, that the foul immediately preceding the incident (the one allegedly committed by Grimshaw) was a dive, which it was. Minimal contact and the player goes to ground very easily.

I'm still concerned at our lack of options up front. Taking Long out of it, the likes of Scott, Manzinga, Ndjoli and MacIver aren't exactly experienced at this level. Apart from our loanee, the others are work in progress and haven't been seen much in the first team and James Scott isn't yet ready to play in the middle. That said goals have come from quite a few players.

I'm surprised as they have a stand named after him at Pittodrie.

We're suddenly looking very short of strikers. Currently Scott and Manzinga?

Great result tonight away to very close rivals so credit to management and players. Just hope our injury list isn't growing. Relegation now avoided, top 6 place very likely and top 4 place very probable and it's still only January. Happy days.

Well that makes a change. Over the years they've benefitted from quite a few dodgy penalty decisions against us including 3 in the 1 game as I recall.

Not the BBC then!

Agreed but we mustn't neglect our flanks either. We need to guard them closely and prevent unnecessary crosses and incursions into the box.