joewarkfanclub

Im pleased the manager has found a winning formula. Whether by design or default, I dont really care. The football is infinitely more entertaining and pleasing on the eye. The fact that we are seeing some of "our own" deliver it, is a welcome bonus. I must confess, I was starting to waiver and thought maybe his time was up. Hopefully this vain of form has further to run and we can end the season on a high.

Some great performances today. All mostly in first half (second half was pretty comfortable if unspectacular). Gorrin, Campbell, Tait, Ariyibi, Turnbull and Main all played well. MoM though has to be Jake Hastie. Great performance capped by a great goal and unlucky not to get a hat trick.

My point was we shouldnt just try to match them up like we did, particularly in the last game at Fir Park where we tried to out muscle them. The game turned into a shitfest which they won. Im not suggesting for a minute we roll over. We have plenty of players who can stand their ground, but we need to play a little more football if we want to win the game.

I hope Robbo has learned his lesson from the previous 2 games against them and we dont try to match them up physically man for man. They have out battled us both times. Not sure of the best formation, but stay solid at the back and get the ball down and play. Keep the energy of the younger ones in the team and try and move the ball quickly around them. Their defenders will lap the long ball up all day long.

That maybe . But he grabbed his chance with both hands. The manager would need to be very brave / mental to put Frear back in over Hastie now. I agree that Frear probably isnt surplus yet though, as Ariybi is only on loan.

In what formation? Johnson cant do what Main does up front on his own. He is a penalty box player. He appears to be a better finisher but if you merely swap the 2 you dont necessarily get more goals. If you change the formation again, you may not get the same level of performance. Catch 22.

Tough one tonight. Thought it was between Gorrin, Campbell, Grimshaw, Hastie and Turnbull. Went for Grimmy on that second half showing. Phenomenal! Hope he passed his drugs test afterwards!

Fair enjoyed that tonight. Best performance at home since the Aberdeen game, which was the best since the Rangers game. Good to see the manager ring the changes and for once he got it bang on. The team looked balanced, lots of energy and we played ENTERTAINING PASSING FOOTBALL! Campbell, Turnbull and Hastie were all magnificent tonight and should be keeping their places for Saturday. They showed the standard required and it should give some of the more experienced players something to think about. Gorrin was excellent and teamed up well with Campbell. Between them they gave Turnbull the freedom to go and play. Main put in a helluva shift up front. He got battered by their defence all night but just kept coming back for more. He desperately needs a goal and with a little more composure in the first half he would have had one after being played thru and taking a decent touch away from the defender. He should be keeping his place as well, unless we can pull another rabbit out of the hat before the window shuts. More of the same on Saturday please!

Looks like Maurice Ross has got the job. Far better candidate than McCulloch IMHO......

Not a fan....

Craig Brown was a very good manager for us and clearly managed at a much higher level than any of our managers since. The fact that the majority of us were absolutely raging when he did dirty on us with his 3 day turn around routine, should be ample evidence of how good he was for our club at the time. Unfortunately Scottish football, and the nature of our club has changed too much since then and I dont see us being able to attract a "Craig Brown type" to the club any time soon with the finances available to us. Id love to be wrong, but I think our choices are either one of the usual suspects, or take a chance on a young up and coming manager who will cut his teeth here and move on to better things Ive not 100% given up on Robbo yet but Id be happy to give Crags a proper shot or someone like Gary Naysmith who is doing well at QoS with very limited resources.

Good!

Id go with something similar. We need the extra body in midfield and Turnbull is our most creative player so he needs a little freedom further forward. If Tait isnt fit Id play Grimshaw in there. Main up front on his own isnt ideal but at least he can run the channels and try stretch them in behind. Id be tempted to give Scott a run out as he seems best suited to playing loan striker but I dont see Robbo risking that. Id also like to see Frear and Gboly continue to swap wings like they did briefly on Saturday. It unsettles full backs and might help them get closer to whoever the loan sttiker is if they are coming inside onto their good foot. Probably end up nothing like that though.

Gillespie. Without his saves it could easily have been 4 or 5.

Where to start with that? Having no way of knowing the fitness of players and how we would actually set up, I have to confess to bring just a wee bit excited when I saw the line up. I fully anticipated it to be 4-4-2 with 2 wingers and us going after their full backs. However, it became fairly evident early on that they were playing a high press and we were being overun in midfield (which contributed to the defence having to launch aimless balls forward). It was crying out for us to sub a clearly unfit McCormack for someone who could actually help out the midfield and give us a foothold in the game. Not for the first time this season the managers substitutions were utterly perplexing as they did nothing to address what the actual problem was. Grimshaw or Campbell (or even Gorrin) would have made for a much more sensible first substitution, especially as we were still in the game at that point. What followed after just compounded matters. In short, the manager got the starting line up wrong and his substitutions did nothing to effect the course of the game. He cant keep on making such big mistakes. If he does we will be dragged back into a relegation battle and it may well cost him his job.

Some very decent finishes there, and pace to burn. Fingers crossed he can adapt to Scottish football. We might have unearthed another wee gem.

Good luck to big Bowie. A good honest pro who gave his all in every game. The way he rattled SEVCO in the League Cup semi final and the seethe from the zombies in the aftermath was glorious to watch. Shame he was so vilified by the press aterwards. Wish him all the best down south.

Dougie Imrie is a pantomime villain. We love to hate him. He loves that we hate him and plays up to it. Its entertainment and the game would be much more dull without characters like him. Not sure what ripping seats up and lobbing them on the pitch adds to the spectacle.

I think thats harsh. Hartleys performances last season before his injury were excellent. The fact that he had a bit of swagger only enhanced his popularity with the fans, so it was an easy choice to make. Obviously his performances this season havent hit the same heights. That and his unfortunate outburst before the Rangers game have caused some to question whether it was a wise choice, but thats hindsight of the highest order. I didnt hear anyone saying it was the wrong choice at the time. That said, given Hartleys injury problems, Im more than happy for Richard Tait to wear the armband. He has earned it.

Re the head clash. McHugh made up his mind really early it was his ball. You could here him shout "Carls" as clear as day from the East Stand. Unfortunately Dunney either didnt hear him or couldnt get out the way. Just one of these unfortunate incidents that happen in contact sport. Re Bigi. I thought it was very clear from the minute he came on that he had been thinking long and hard about the criticism he has endured. He was running around very busily trying to close people down. It just doesnt come naturally to him so he ended up looking a bit like a headless chicken. He also had plenty opportunity on the ball but repeatedly made poor decisions. Im afraid his time is up.

Dont think the "Big Man" was on our side today. All those injuries? Pen decision? Sending off? I think he is in the huff with us for some reason!

Frear looked promising on the occasions he was able to get on the ball. Mostly in the first half. Grimshaw made some good forging runs in the 2nd half and generally put himself about. MoM for me though by a country mile was Richard Tait. His performance at centre half after all the injuries was just immense. Won every header, every tackle and put his body on the line for the team. First class.

This is getting really boring. We wanted a change of selection today. We got it. We wanted a reaction from the players after the St Mirren game. We got it. But for a series of circumstances the manager had absolutely no control over, we may have got a result today. Even with everything we had to contend with we were still in a game against the new "cuddly toy" of Scottish football, right up to the final whistle. Nothing has changed. Robinson will be given this transfer window to sort the squad out. If he does and we get a decent cup run and improve our league performances, he stays. If he doesnt, he may get his jotters in the summer. Until we are actually dragged back into the relegation equation the board wont act.

Hard to know where to start with that today. Firstly, the level of application was much better today. You cant fault the team for effort. I wasnt sure about the starting selection but it was good to see Tait back on the right and Frear getting an outing from the start with some actual defenders behind him. Unfortunately we never got to see whether it would work because of the injuries. I dont think Ive ever seen 4 head knocks in such a short space of time. The McHugh/Dunne collison was a sickener. Hopefully both will make a quick recovery. Not much in the first half. Thought we had more possession but Killie made the better chances. The goal however, was just one of those freak crosses that flew in the top corner. 2nd half continued in the same vain. Lots of huff and puff from us with Killie happy to sit in and play us on the break knowing they had the quality to hurt us when they did. We rode our luck a bit and could have been further behind had they converted their chances. Thought we had a good shout for a pen when Bigi appeared to get cleaned out in the box. He should also have converted our best chance of the game near the end when he put his laces through it when a sclaff into the ground would probably have done the trick. No real complaints about the sending off although I do feel some sympathy for Main who just lost the plot after a series of incredibly inconsistent decisions from the referee. Thought he could easily have sent off Gregg Stewart for an earlier incident in the box. Overall a very frustrating game. Hamilton is now massive.

We need width. Frear is our only wide player. He isnt a wing back so needs a defender behind him. I think we all agree Tait needs to get back playing on the righr so its Dunne or ATS. Id pick Dunne. He has been honking since he came back but he needs games.