Andy_P

Rangers game chat, open for business.....

Steelmen Online - Man of the Match After St Johnstone 0-2 SPL (A) *** FINAL STANDINGS *** 1. Henrik Ojamaa (47pts) 2. Darren Randolph (29pts) 3. Nicky Law (26pts) 4. Jamie Murphy (25pts) 5. Shaun Hutchinson (24pts) 5. Chris Humphrey (23pts) 6. Michael Higdon (21pts) 7. Keith Lasley (16pts) 8. James McFadden (14pts) 9. Zaine Francis-Angol & Stewart Carswell (10pts) 10. Tom Hateley (9pts) 11. Fraser Kerr, Adam Cummins (8pts) 12. Omar Daley (6pts) 13. Simon Ramsden & Lee Hollis (2pts) 14. Steven Hetherington, Steven Hammell & Bob McHugh (1pt)

Thoughts and votes please folks.....

Love Street. Guessing after the League Cup win a couple of years back when Darren Smith scored?

The Paisley natives are revolting!

That strikes me as an odd thing to say. That surely goes against the grain of everything we've produced since the start of the season when Craigan, and indeed the whole of the defence, have set the tone by spraying the ball about between themselves until an opening has presented itself. It's surely impossible not to have them heavily involved if we want to play a patient, passing style of play.

Yep my mistake. He did ofcourse tip the shot from Jennings wide. Forgot about that.

Since the chat has evolved into more of a game thread rather than just about an individual player, I've amended the topic title as such.

What a very pleasing result!! The team should be high in confidence anyway given the start to the season but they should be flying after that today. Beating a similar mid-ranking SPL team is great, getting a clean sheet a decent point against another similar side where you were pumped on your last visit is great too. But taking three points from a team who folk were saying could potentially be splitting the Old Firm should be one you can really take confidence from. Doubts and fears if there are any should be melting away after that. First half wasn't up to much. Thought that both teams were looking to play a similar game of drawing the other out and then trying to break at speed. Worked a couple of times for both teams. We didn't force a save from their keeper whilst Randy produced another two toppers to deny them. Second half we looked to have upped the tempo considerably even before Black walked. After he went I thought it was largely intelligent and measured displayed against the 10 men. Up until about the last five or ten minutes when it began to get a bit frantic the composure was good. There was no panic or mad charge to get a goal just because they were a man down. Important not to forget that these bams have had so many red cards over the past few seasons that playing with 10 men won't be anything particularly different for them. Great to see Murphy get another goal after a quiet game last week and more key involvement from Nicky Law. Brilliant too for a sometimes maligned defence to have another clean sheet too. Other than the red card for Las you can't help but feel positive.

I thought the boys at the end of the East Stand really came into their own in the latter part of the second half today. How many times have we gone into the last 5-10 minutes of a game holding a narrow lead or hanging on to a draw where the crowd are getting edgier and edgier and the pressure just builds and builds. That was great today. Any tension there was, was overwhelmed by the positive, loud encouragement that was being generated down the bottom of the East. Fine work again lads!!

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Can only be psychology at play. Heard his interview after their game on Thursday. Came across very well I thought and had a perfect grasp of English aside from two or three of the Radio Scotland team translating the "Paolo, Paolo. Geeze a wave" chants. A slick surface should help our passing game....but I fear make it all the easier for Bambi on ice Templeton to go sprawling...

Bully fan at work has text me to say he believes it's 7:45pm on Wednesday 24th August. Prices he understands are £12 and £5.

Make one on them play on the Thursday afternoon. Step back and enjoy the outrage!

I'd be interested to know if the club keep track of the numbers of past juvenile season ticket holders and monitored what they've done once they've outgrown that juvenile ticket. Have they got a Concessionary ST after moving into further education? Have they made the leap from juvenile to adult ticket? Have they fallen off the radar and are PATG or in a worst case have been priced out of going? I remain of a mind that its a helluva of leap for some laddie used to paying £80 or whatever leaving school and finding low or modestly paid work suddenly finding the season ticket leaps around £200 in price. It would be great if my concerns were misplaced and there is evidence of a progression from most younger season ticket holders but I do have worries that the progress being made and the money invested in getting new younger season ticket holders in, might be stalled or even lost if they find that leap between a juvi and adult ticket too big a bridge.

Saw someone say in the shoutbox last night that our game with Rangers would likely move to the Sunday with them going into the Europa League. Following that one through then I guess that would mean our game with Clyde would be in Wednesday 24th August otherwise we'd be looking at Sunday-Tuesday games.

Bully fan in work suggesting some debate internally at Clyde as to whether to try to pitch the prices as a low as a tenner for adults - albeit anything has to be in agreement with MFC also. Seemingly before the draw there was some kind of committment that this is what they would charge for any home games in the competition - not anticipating they would be hosting an SPL side at home. He says their Commercial Manager is keen to go with that as it will help attract some locals as well as increase the visiting support. Others however more inclined to try to price a bit higher. He says as a club they are really just treading water until they can leave Cumbernauld. Budgets are cut to the bare bone with, he detects no real ambitions to do anything other than get a season closer to leaving Broadwood and perhaps sell on a player or two during the season along the way.

Notice it saying on SSN there that McLean had joined Preston. Also noticed that Devaney punter that was mentioned yesterday had signed for Tranmere I think it was too.

I can't really say I'm too surprised. Disappointed for Murphy ofcourse but not really surprised. Within minutes of that charge being dropped last week both Houston and Levein were talking about Goodwillie being in the Scotland squad. That was before Saturday and it was pretty much the signal for me that he wasn't going to get a look in soon. Remember too that McGuire, ex of Aberdeen, is likely to be ahead of him in the queue as well. Its clearly apparent that Levein attaches more kudos to being a reserve player with an English Premier League club, even if they can barely reach double figures in appearances in that league than someone doing the business in the SPL. It really does appear the case that he needs to move to England or to one of the Old Firm where the media will immediately crank up the hype to have him included.

Are you mental? Why would they possibly want to generate some excitement and make a showcase of the draw live on the telly and on radio when they can draw it on a Tuesday afternoon when most folk are at their work and keep you guessing that bit longer.....

Would have to be Clyde I think. Didn't they finish bottom of the 3rd Division last season? Although so did Alloa "that" year....

As has already been said I think its fair enough to show some appreciation pre-match to returning players like Sutton who did a turn, put in a shift and didn't leave under a cloud (albeit in this case there was the was he or wasn't he offered a deal question that we never quite a got a definitive answer about). After that I'd prefer that we ignored them and pretended they didn't exist. Whilst Sutton may yet count most of the 'Well teams as friends, and his jumpers and golf gear be the topic of the occasional jibe between the players on twitter, I've little doubt that he'll be out to put one over on MFC. Let's not give him any added incentive by abusing him or winding him up from the stands. In general though a player is going to move on I always think its better he remembers his time at Motherwell fondly as possible. Given the spirit that seems to be fostered at Fir Park with so many returning who knows whether they might have an opportunity to return. If that positive relationship still remains on and off the park then that can only help. As for Sutton himself I've little doubt he'll get the Jambos the 10 plus goals a season he has generally done for St Mirren and Motherwell before them. Haggis mentioned he thought Jamie Murphy was a "streak" player but Sutton's goals are even more so with clutches of them coming in a spell before he goes quiet for a few games. He'll get there with them. Just hope it isn't at the weekend.

Perhaps something to do with the lost European place this season, where in recent times 5th place might normally have got you into Europe? Just that whilst we only got four places this in Europe this season the format of the League Cup still means there's provision made for 5 teams to get this round off.

I think classing McHugh as amazingly shite is pretty harsh to be honest. Without question there are still some serious doubts as to whether he'll cut the mustard in the longer term but at this stage I think that's pretty harsh. Maybe the time to offer a more considered analysis will be a few months further into the season. In no way am I speaking about him in the same breath as Jamie Murphy in terms of ability but Murph, and perhaps David Clarkson before him, illustrate that it can be a pretty long road you have travel down before he get to the point where you getting the starts and sufficient game time you need to show what you have to offer. I've some sympathy for McHugh in that the vast majority of his appearances can't have been more than 10-15 minutes tops and even last season when we was going to get a spell of that on loan at Thistle he ended up injuring his wrist. Given that its been his first start in the SPL for how long, and that he might get another next week, I hope to see him learn from the starts he gets and we see some progression over the next few months. Only then when he's had those games will we get a better idea of whether he can cut it.

Could have been better, could have been worse. How good the results and points collected are thus far will only really become apparent once the league settles down but I agree with the poster pre-match who said as a general rule a point away from home in the SPL is not to be sniffed at. I thought we were going to be in for a tricky afternoon when Killie grabbed the initiative early on but we coped with that and gradually got on top of the match. Prior to McHugh's effort it was still Kilmarnock who looked more dangerous in front of goal but we had more of the possession. In the 2nd half I thought again we were slightly the better of the two teams but similar to the first half Killie were never out of it and they were worryingly pushing on strongly towards the end of the game. Bumped into siebsbarmyarmy after the game and he queried the lack of changes which might have given us some fresh legs at that stage - in Chris Humphrey who looked shot after about 70-75 minutes. It seemed a good shout and it might have been worth trying Lawless or going for Smith instead of McHugh, though at the same time I could see why McCall might have wanted to stick with what was out there. But we got a point in the end allied to a second successive shut-out that's not too bad an afternoon's work. I wouldn't go quite as far as the ultra-enthusiastic Kenny Shiels in his praise of the game but it was far from being "crap" as has been suggested by PostieJim. The overall quality of finishing might have been lacking at times but both teams generally attempted to play some good football.