Happy Dosser

The Davies "tackle" was indefensible but there may have been memories of Brown's shocker on Alex Schalk last season. Personally, I think Stuart "Wee Barra" McLaren would have been the best candidate to deal out some quiet, proportionate retribution to Sellick's Swaggering Clown, although Peter usually kept Kenny Dalglish pretty quiet. Meanwhile, in other news, Michael Stewart explainerises to us on Sportsound tonight that Brown is not protected by the referees. *Rubs chin, muses thereon*

We scored two today, actually. Bad referring decisions can change games, just like today, and our last two games against Sellick at FP.

The pundits, headed by Michael Stewart, are pretty clear it wasn't a penalty. Did anyone in the Cooper see Dunne's "handling" in the first half? I felt the ref. changed after half time and gave Rangers everything, perhaps after complaints at the interval about this incident, and the other shout when the ball came off Tait's side? I thought Curtis "The Shark/The Beast" Main really shook up the opposition and made the second goal, taken beautifully by Campbell. Biggest disappointment was Murphy's trademark "drift in from the left, hit it across the 'keeper with the right" equaliser, like we've never seen that before. For those who care about such matters at least he wasn't booed.....

Ross Mathie scored near the end with a diving header at the Taggart's end as I recall. I was totally gutted. There was quite a lot of bottle throwing and fighting going on during the game which I didn't tell my parents about. FP was packed.

Darryl Broadfoot, SFA Communications Officer (*hides all breakable objects*) was speaking about the Kipre/Brown Incident on Sportsound last night and even he was surprisingly dismissive of Thomson's decision, saying "violent conduct" simply wouldn't wash. All the other guests agreed that the sending off simply shouldn't have happened. For all that, I'm still not convinced the panel will do the right thing. Will Thomson be hung out to dry by the authorities? Hmmmmmmmmm........

Happy to say I'm still confused. Will have to think carefully: so many candidates today. Makes last week inexplicable, apart from the abomination of a pitch.

When Tait was remonstrating with Broon after the incident, the latter did a stamping motion as justification for the sending off. I don't buy the studs up theory and the tackle happened in front of me in the POD. There will be desperate attempts by some in the media to obfuscate but a surprising number of them seem to have been critical of the decision. As usual with these controversial decisions against The Ugly Sisters, you have to ask yourself, had the roles been reversed, would the Celtic player have been sent off? Kinda sums up Scottish football for me at the moment. Just waiting for Robinson being cited for his comment to Chic Young when asked if he thought we should have had a penalty in the second half. Words to the effect of, "I haven't seen it back on video but I know we wouldn't have got it."

Another game completely spoiled by Thomson. I thought we were playing well up both wings before Kipre's sending off. Main's chest-down to Ryan Bowman in the first half would have resulted in a goal if Ryan had put it either side of Bain. Every man a hero today but special mentions to Carson for his last-minute save and Curtis for giving Celtic's defence a tough time: he was a great out-ball and ran his guts out. Brendan continues to show himself up in the PM interviews: bizarre comment about the pitch and the usual sly attack on one of our players. His mention of Main's "physicality" was a nice little seed banked for the next game with them. And Celtic played so well adjusting to playing 10 men: unbelievable! Brown is a strutting buffoon who dishes it out but whines when he is tackled hard. Absolutely no respect for either of them.

I'm already getting worried we might over-celebrate our goals and upset Mr Rodgers and the super-sensitive Scott Brown. We can be so unthinking sometimes.

Loved some of the "robust" tackling, e.g. McDicken and McLaughlin, without folk rolling around in feigned agony. A very quick hammer and tongs match with The Incredible Rubber Man at number 3. Enjoyed being able to switch ends in those days: not so much dodging the flying Guinness flagons at some of the Hearts games when things got towsy. When you think of that now it was very dangerous.

How long will it take holier-than-thou Brendan to express concern about his physicality? It would just be like us to beat them after Saturday's shambles. I hate going to FP when either of The Ugly Sisters come to call but will travel in hope, since, as you say, Sellick's defence has weaknesses. Main's strength and aggression will have been noticed, though, so expect lots of lovely simulation from them. I won't even bother mentioning refereeing standards.....

Most annoying to be beaten by Panathonaccies' 2nd XI after last week's euphoria. The only concession I would have made for this potential shitfest would have been to play Main and Bowman up front with Tanner in behind and let battle commence. I suppose Robinson is inexperienced as a manager, unlike Clarke, but as long as he learns from this dreadful performance, all may not be lost. I thought we had got The McGhee Tinkerman performances out of our system but this brings back terrible memories. Trying to match Accies like this is like trying to wrestle a pig: you end up getting covered in shit but the pig really enjoys it all.

Quite, and if he persists in playing one up then it's a mystery why Louis was signed at all. I don't remember him playing well in that role with us and you would have thought their scout would have twigged that. He's not really tall or strong enough for that position, especially with the Honey Monster defenders you get in the Championship.

"You imagine him chalking off the first goal, if it had been Sevco or Celtic. No chance!" I quite agree, Yosemite Sam, but the same could be said of Messrs Thomson, Clancy, Madden, Beaton, I suspect. Like other posters, it was the latitude he gave to Hearts which really annoyed me, while getting other decisions right. It seems almost no player, pundit or fan knew the rule at Cadden's "goal". When playing I always thought that, unless the goalie had both hands round the ball, it was fair game. What if the GK doesn't have a hand on it, but lays a couple of fingers on the ball, just to be a smartarse? Still mystified why Main wasn't credited with the first goal. There's even a case Tanner might have had the ball over the line first after the Hearts defence made a # of the corner, so don't know why it's the goalie's OG. Who is the final arbiter in these situations?

Would agree with most of that. I was baffled by the referee's performance: over-compensation for his alleged childhood attendance at FP? To be clear, I've tried changing my name to Samantha Smoothigh to avoid confusion with your good self but it just hasn't worked.

Yep, the much-maligned Frear gave the Hearts left-side something to think about too and these changes stopped Hearts momentum. At one stage I expected the inevitable late winner of McCall/McGhie days. Hats off to Carson too: shades of Randolph.

Most of the POD, including self, wouldn't agree with you. He'd be quite a good player if he could control his inner muppet. I tried, and failed, to give Naismith a clean slate from his Rangers days. Glad Campbell stood up to him.

Yes, let's ignore a great result and start bickering about the turnout. A big Hearts support turned out expecting to horse us. They didn't. Maybe the tooth-grinding negativity of some on here drove a few of our lot away too. Someone should start a questionnaire. Meanwhile, in other news, I thought bringing on Bowman was effective. Ciftci just got crowded out but Ryan started to win balls in the air and annoy the Hearts back line with his strength. Why was Sclafferty not booked for clattering Aldred into the wall?

Glad to hear it. Our bus didn't leave immediately after the game but stayed on for a few hours. Most of the 26 buses (one from Corby) got some brick attention from the Dandy Don support as they left.

Clackscat: I think there's still private messaging available. That was a well-run bus and I enjoyed travelling all over Scotland on it until I got hitched, hem, hem. I remember us returning from our 1-0 victory in the cup over the Mutton Molesters in 75 or76 and leaving some poor bugger in Forfar after a toilet stop. Happy days!

Central Park was pretty grim as I recall that day. Our arrival in the EK Supporters' Bus coincided with the team coach and, as we watched the players get off, Wilson Humphries barked at me and a mate to carry in the 'Well hamper with the strips (presumably). The dressing room was tiny and really basic but it was great to meet the team. Can't remember much about the game apart from the grotty perimeter track for speedway (?) and grass terraces in places.

Is it too early for Craig Levein to express concern about our over-physical style and hope his ball-players will be protected by a strong referee?

"Ssome of wee Tommy's early teams were "dire" to watch - soaking up pressure, not conceding too many, and then breaking away to score the odd goal. Jim MacLean adopted the exact same approach at Tannadice and was lauded for his "attractive" footballing style. " Very true, Kmcalpin. I remember in the early days of Tommy's tenure all we had up front was a very young Andy Walker and old war-horse Andy Harrow. John Reilly was then a panic signing from The Arabs whose career was virtually ended soon after by a knee injury, so zero attacking options after that. There was one game at FP when Charlie Nicholas played for Aberdeen in which we actually scored early and spent about the next 70 minutes defending desperately to win, if my memory serves me correctly: nerve-racking stuff.. Our team has a strong spine now and I am sure Robbo will planning Stage Two of The Project.

Always enjoy his press conferences. He seems a pretty straight guy, the polar opposite of Saint Brendan, who despite having an enormous budget, takes time to sneer at other teams and pass comment on their players, while telling us how wonderful Broony is. His other great comment was post-SF, when he said, "I don't think some people wanted us in the final." All true of course, and it did explain the Bowmangeddon.

I think the reason is that Roma are seen as the working-class club of the capital while Lazio are the middle-class bunch, as well as having nasty fascist associations. Presumably the 'toon was syndicated in Italy, since I don't think many Italians read the Daily Mirror. Translating the strip into Italian must have been fun.....