weeyin

League Cup ties have been causing us problems for as long as I have been watching Motherwell.

Ross County v Ayr United Forfar Athletic v Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock v Berwick Rangers Raith Rovers v Hamilton Academical Queen of the South v Morton Dunfermline Athletic v Dundee Partick Thistle v Falkirk East Fife v Motherwell Hibernian v Stranraer Airdrieonians v Rangers St Mirren v Livingston

Aye, given our inability to create chances (or even shoot) in the first half of last season it's nice to see such a larg number yesterday.

Time for Leitch to step up and claim his starting place. Or maybe Chalmers can move over once Ainsworth comes back. Disappointing if true, but not exactly the end of the world. Baraclough's signing philosophy was to have 2 players competing for each position and to give youngsters a chance. So let's see it in action. It's not exactly an unusual footballing problem to solve, but feel free to get depressed and miserable.

Yes - you don't ask good players to stop doing what makes them good players. I think the Beeb is just reporting what Baraclough said immediately after the match, so hopefully we'll know more on Monday.

Given his press statement, I doubt he'll be signing a new contract. Regardless, I'm sure he wasn't our only option and whether we get him in October or someone else sooner, it's not too big a deal if it's the right player. We need to be playing the long game here. I don't have a problem with Leitch stepping in for a few weeks if necessary and it sends a good signal to our youngsters.

Aye, let's look on the bright side of today's performance, eh?

Full time. Nice start to the league. Beeb has us with 13 shots, 8 on target, which is a decent stat away from home.

Wonder if Fletcher can take a pen.

I didn't see anyone mention "hurt feelings" anywhere in the thread. I did see a few concerns about throwing a guy in the team that just drove up to Motherwell yesterday morning, but we'll know soon if that works out.

While it's not unreasonable for the fans to think the new keeper is coming in as Number One, Baraclough certainly hasn't played it that way to the media. Regardless, even if the plan is to make him first choice, I'm not sure he should play tomorrow purely because he might need a few more days just to settle in.

Lazy journos everywhere are getting ready to print their "Ripley's Game" and "The Talented Mr Ripley" headlines.

That's what everyone said That's what everyone said about Dan when we signed him.

With those credentials, he might even be allowed 2 games to settle in.

Seriously, though - excellent news.

Stuart Ripley's boy I see. God, I'm getting old - I remember him playing on the wing when Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League.

I hope so. And, of course, on the bright side, if he's mince, we can ditch him in January

Great to have a new keeper in, but I guess the gaffer didn't manage to get the permanent signing or fulls season loan deal he was looking for.

And, of course "definitely not replacing Scott Allan".

I hope that means will get him for free at the end of the Irish season.

Maybe not replacing on form, but we can't afford lack of cover there like last season if Hammell is injured even short term.

I gave up complaining via email about a year ago. They were always quick to reply, but nothing ever happened. I had my dad raise the paypal issue at one of the recent meetings, and he got the "we're working on it" response. That was a few months ago. I raised the issue of not being able to participate when the first Well Sociey meeting was planned and was fobbed off with the "we dont have internet or phone lines" excuse. I raised it a few more times and only ever received more of the same. Same when I raised the issues about most of the membership benefits being of no use to anyone except locals. There came a point when I was just wasting my energy to even write the email.

That seems most likely. We missed Hammell last season with no natural left back to cover him and I'm sure Chalmers was brought in to remedy that situation.

In his interview yesterday, Baraclough said that a couple of keeper options they were pursuing fell through and, while he was open to a loan, he'd prefer to buy (or at a minimum get a full season loan). I agree that defending has been a weak point the past few seasons, but with 2 central defenders and a left back signed, at least it seems we are taking steps to address that.

So more than 20 minutes and less than 2 years would be reasonable. My bigger complaint is the general treatment of overseas and long distance members. There was a lot made at the outset of how global the Society was and all these members from all these different countries. And here we are today with no facility to make payments online and, more importantly, no way to participate in, or even listen to, any of the Well Society meetings. More and more it feels like we are an afterthought. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have contributed to the Society and help out the club as it's one of the few options open to and expat. I would stop short, however, of asking a friend to join unless they lived within spitting distance of Fir Park because otherwise they won't be able to participate at any meaningful level.