MJC

Okay. So who were you referring to here then? I’m not going to hijack the thread by making it about this so this is the last I’ll say on this subject but like I’ve already said I don’t see how it is relevant who the player who scores against us supports or previously plays for. Anyway, moving on.

Says you who brought Rangers into this discussion in the first place?? 😂 I don’t know about you or anyone else, but my only concern is Motherwell and how we play and if we get beat then I really couldn’t care less what team the player who scores supports/used to play for.

There’s no arguing with any of this. You can point to good football and ‘if onlys’ all you like but the bottom line is that we are now in mid/late October and have ONE solitary league win on the board. And when you take into account the points we have thrown away from winning positions in several games now then it really is damning reading. Today should have been three points but we have yet again thrown that away because we aren’t capable of making advantage count and seeing a game out when on top. The longer that goes on the bigger the issue it becomes.

Yeah cos it would have been easier to take us losing if it had been any other Falkirk player that scored would it? Or at least a non-Rangers supporting one??

It’s just so frustrating because we do have some really good football in us but we aren’t able to actually make it count in terms of winning games. And at the end of the day it counts for nothing if you don’t put points on the board. We are good in the middle but weak at the back and toothless up front.

Fur coat No knickers And yet another case of what might have been in a season of what might have beens.

We can blame VAR all we like, and in fairness from what I’ve heard we do have a case for the goal disallowed in the first half. But if you can’t finish teams off when you’re on top and leak like a knackered fridge at the back then you’re not going to win football matches. This will be a sore one if it finishes like this.

Totally dominated that first half and completely deserved lead. I have no idea what the ‘first’ goal was disallowed for but whatever it was it certainly couldn’t have been ‘clear and obvious’ as VAR is supposed to correct. As I said, jobsworth nonsense. Great finish from TJ to get us in front but we really need another goal as you get the feeling we will concede.

Jobsworth nonsense.

Well it is us and you can never be certain of a result. It could easily be one of those days and it just doesn’t go for us, only time will tell. I am fairly confident though.

Eli Just back in the team TJ makes it as well and Hendry & Welsh return. Like the look of that team.

There is definitely a big upturn in overall mood around the team and the club this season. Obviously there has been frustration that we've not managed to win more games but the team is actually playing football and some pretty decent football at that. Compare and contrast that to the disjointed, scrappy dirge we saw under Kettlewell, Hammell and Alexander. We do need more points on the board though.

It’s to be expected that Falkirk and every other side we face for that matter will look to pressure Ward as they will believe there is that error in him. And I don’t see us not conceding tomorrow so we need to help ourselves out by doing the business up the other end. These are 100% the type of games that we need to be winning and make home advantage and our good play count.

Of course we have every chance but it will be very, very tough and you can see them drawing us into a battle like they so often do. That will almost certainly be Robinson’s aim to get physical, get in our faces and disrupt our rhythm. My fear is that we just aren’t clinical enough and are ropy at the back and this is the type of tie that I reckon will be decided by a single goal or else on a penalty shootout. St.Mirren have already beaten Hearts and Kilmarnock on penalties in this competition and they’d be confident of doing the same to us should it get that far. On the other hand maybe we will finally find our shooting boots and we will sweep them aside 3-0 like we did with St.Johnstone in the Scottish Cup Semi all those years ago…

It’s a wee while away yet but I already get the gut feeling that this one is going to be a sickener for us. But we’ll cross that bridge nearer the time. I love Hampden and am more than happy to be going there for the SF. I don’t care if it’s half empty and therefore how it looks to the viewing public or what it does for the reputation of Scottish football, I’d much rather play a Semi Final there than at an Easter Road, Tynecastle or a Rugby Park type venue.

Club confirms over 7,000 now sold. I’d expect us to comfortably clear the 8k mark by the time the game comes around.

8000(ish) is about what I’d expect us to shift for this one as that has been roughly the amount we sold for our last three Semi Finals (last year, Aberdeen 2018 and Rangers 2017).

This will be a tough one but I think we might just get that win. On paper we are better than Falkirk but they’re no mugs and will make it a battle. 3-2 to us with us getting a late winner this time.

I’ll wait until the international break is over. Hopefully we don’t pick up any more injuries in the meantime and we can get some players back. What I would say though is that no result would surprise me from this game.

The only way Ward won’t start this one will be if he picks up an injury, which of course going by our luck on that front is always a possibility. He is clearly the managers first choice and he is seen as the better at playing the style JBA wants us to play, regardless of what happened on Sunday. We have to win this one, no two ways about it. We have one league win to our name and that needs to change otherwise all of our improved play and the undoubted good football we have played so far will become more and more in vain. And at home, against Falkirk we should be winning this one and anything less will be unacceptable.

Wise comments. I (really) couldn’t have put it better myself.

And he also had an excellent, yet almost forgotten save at Tynecastle with just about the last kick of the ball to rescue us a point that day. Granted he had cost us with the equaliser but similar to today we were done by that point and it wouldn’t have been a surprise if Hearts had won that 4-3. The goalkeeper is always going to be the most obvious target if he makes a mistake that costs a goal, but as a team we just don’t look capable of defending a lead.

Yes of course.

Losing like that is a lot more frustrating than losing 4-0. Its frustrating because yet again we have been in a good position only for poor game management, poor defending and poor goalkeeping to undo it all.

Correct and it’s been a recurring theme all season, we struggle at the back and look likely to concede any time balls are put into the box. Welsh was a big loss today but we knew he would be. We also need to learn how to properly manage a game when we are in the ascendancy because we are continually losing points from winning positions. It’s all well and good blaming Ward, and yes he does need to take the blame for the second today as well as Tynecastle and vs Killie at FP. Teams will know that Ward has a mistake in them and will then seek to bombard us at the back, but we don’t do ourselves any favours in terms of combatting that. Again, Halliday not brought on late on. Why? We’re probably not getting 90 mins out of him anymore but he’s an option for late on to tighten things up yet he’s never brought on. It’s just so, so frustrating.