Tweed

If Brown can get him to apply himself he is a good player. Sadly he rarely did apply himself.

Someone obviously rates him though. Benfica v Lyon tomorrow night he's got.

Creative quality in the centre of midfield is a problem and I think Saturday showed the problems we face when one of Humphrey and Murphy are missing because the Accies could quite easily double up on one of them. If they had to do it on both of them even an uncreative centre pairing could have driven a bus through them. Blackman isn't bad at holding the ball up but Gow doesn't get close enough to utilise it. Forbes had an OK game on Saturday but he isn't going to keep getting to the by line and causing the merry hell for defences that Murphy can. If Murphy aint back on Saturday I'd be inclined to give Fitzpatrick a shot.

Last year first game was Boxing Day but no idea when they went on sale.

I think his biggest failing was not clamping down on time wasting. Every time a goal kick was given it was the best part of a minute before the game restarted. You can deal with timewasting in two ways - one by booking someone or two by adding on 10 minutes or whatever at the end but he did neither. The penalty looked generous from where I was and I spoke to a level headed sensible Accies fan who had a much better view than I did and he agreed. But again having given the penalty it looked like Blackman was going to roll the ball in and again we agreed it should have been a red. Imrie turned the ball round the post with his hands - he apparently admitted so at full time. I thought Forbes' booking looked fair enough from where I was though I don't dispute the Accies player made a total meal of it. I really felt that for Scotland's best referee (and I don't normally have a problem with him) he was very poor today overall. But I want to keep saying this though - we were murder today and the fact the referee was rotten should not be used as a smokescreen for us being miles below our best.

Aye - is on the SFA website. I believe we have only ever won one game when we've had him. And that was v Inverurie!

Not for a second saying the referee had a perfect performance but that above post was harsh. Thought he tried to let the game run and as a result he missed a couple of fouls. But he also gave a couple our way after howls of derision from our fans. Think a couple of things happened that a more experienced referee may have clamped down on but for a 'rookie' I think he showed more promise than some and he certainly gave me the impression he understood the game which some, like Dougie McDonald, clearly don't. Linesman - total fanny.

Thought Blackman was our best edging Gow and Humphrey. Blackman got involved in the game when things weren't going our way, Gow didn't show that willingness and Humphrey while immense in second half was quiet in the first.

I think the thing with Gow was that there were long spells of the game he wasn't seen. When he was involved he was excellent. He has been here for six weeks now? He still looks far from match sharpness. Think Gow is a bit lazy and as such will never realise his potential but his ability to turn and ball control are good for this level. A bit more application and yes we have a player.

To be fair he was influenced by the home support a couple of times as well. As for the game from when Lasley went off until they scored we were poor but before and after that we did very well. They were poor throughout. I've not seen Goodwillie so quiet in a game for a long time. However as the game stretched Craigan and Reynolds looked more and more likely to make a schoolboy error that would let them in. But had we not won that it was an absolute travesty as we were miles better. Also the 2nd own goal may have been an own goal in name but came from a wonderful passage in play and all that is good about Motherwell. As for the penalty what a fucking muppet bet he was as relieved as anyone when we scored.

From the highlights it looks to me that we over commited when we broke and our strikers were too far ahead of the midfield and we ended up having to go too long, didn't win the ball and were caught out of position. To make effectively the same mistake three times in four minutes is unbelievable. All that said from an attacking point of view all four of their goals were excellent.

They never lost a game at Ibrox in the whole of last season so I don't think its a Motherwell problem.

Sorry what I meant with the Hamilton comparison is that no more than 1000 Motherwell fans bother to travel about FOUR miles from our ground to watch us in an away game. Hamilton Accies have a number of reasons for their attendances being poor; the main one being the one you cited about playing in Glasgow, Cumbernauld and Coatbridge where they lost a lot of young fans as they were not allowed to go without their parents. Interestingly a problem fatcalf mentioned. Whilst the scale may not be the same as the Hamilton problem was it is still a possibility.

I know cost will be part of the reason but all you need to do is look at our support at Hamilton over the last two seasons to see that fatcalf has a point.

He was yards ahead of the last man but in our half - no justified complaints from them. Actually thought we played well first half and last twenty but in last twenty couldn;t see the goal coming. Over the ninety we deserved the win. Not lovely to watch but deserved three points.

Bragas.

Rangers next? Aye yer probably right.

Just listened to them. He was fulsome in his praise. Actually I thought his summary of the game was spot on.

I thought the ref was on the whole good. That was a foul though and to be fair he was directly behind it and as soon as it happened he looked over to his linesman as he clearly couldn't see if he'd played the ball or not and he got no help. Some of the shouts for fouls from the 'Well fans in the early part of the 2nd half were ridiculous.

Humphrey unlocked them twice - would we have won the game without him? Doubt it. Would we have won the game without any of the others? Possibly not but none of them were as irreplacable but without exception they played well

First half we looked slightly more likely but overall we cancelled each other out. Couple of exceptions was our wonderful swift move when Murphy hit the post and then Calum Elliot appeared to be scythed down in the box but we got away with one there. Second half we ran over the top of them. Humphrey was less involved today than in other games however when he was involved today he had more impact and he can be chuffed to bits with his efforts. If he crosses like that every game then we have a player here that could earn us a lot of money. But for now its swallows and summers for him. Our back four were immense, especially the middle two. We just have a great knack of playing away from home. Limiting Hearts (and they aren't the best Hearts team ever but they aren't shite) to one shot on target is a cracking effort. Randolph apart from his showboat would have been as well sitting next to me for all he had to do. All in a good day.

Midnightish. I did it for the friendly and we got home about 1220 but we got food before we left and it was incredibly wet so much so I could barely see so I wasn't driving at full speed all the way. As for the game Two or three changes to keep it fresh and also to give people like Gow, Forbes, Page and Fitzpatrick a bit of game time as we'll need these guys at some point during the SPL but not wholesale changes as this competition can earn us some money, either through telly money or a Hampden appearance so to disrespect them and go out would not be clever. But the guys listed are still good enough for us to go through if we play as we can.

Sure I read you could PATG. No idea about phone no though.

I always say an away draw is a good result in the SPL but rarely do you see a team playing for one. Though I think the coverage that they got has been a bit unfair as to me their tactic was to soak up the pressure and hit on the break and certainly not to dig in all the time. However I just listened to Brown's interview and he is spot on. Reason we didn't win was our decision making was poor. Odd flashes of quality but overall disappointing. Gow's cross at the end was delightful by the way.

Reynolds. After the mare against Hibs has had some of his best performances in claret and amber since then.