Ya Bezzer!

We have a better chance of winning a cup than normal but I think some people are getting carried away. Results this season seem to show me that we are only third or fourth favourites to win the cup. We've been beaten pretty comprehensively by Inverness, Aberdeen and St. Johnstone this season and we didn't beat Dundee Utd. The win over Hibs, while a good result, was hardly a convincing performance. The idea that 'our name is on the cup' just because Celtic are out the competition is ludicrous. We will need to put in performances and work bloody hard to even get into the next round. I hope we do it, but I dislike the idea that the cup is just waiting for us to pick up. Most years it's not the OF that put out us out the cup and this year will be no different unless we actually get our attitude right.

I thought Aberdeen beat us pretty convincingly back in the first home game and the fact that we seem incapable of beating any of the expected Top Six teams this season I find a bit worrying. Aderdeen, Inverness, St. Johnstone, Celtic....I see a theme developing here, almost the opposite of last season when we had a very good record against the good teams and dropped a lot of points to the struggler. On the positive side our recent home record is very good, Aberdeen match aside.

Lot of truth in this. We've seen this kind of thing before. I said in the chatbox earlier that they always say in football that they will 'take each game as it comes' but we certainly don't.

Agreed. If I had to pick a MotM, and thank god I only pick them for games I actually attend, McHugh would be one of the contenders. The midfield was absolutely shocking today and so was the defence. A goalkeeping howler was inevitable today due to the conditions. Maybe if we'd put them under as much pressure it would have been their guy instead of ours.

Maybe it's because they have one of the best home records in the UK, including a comprehensive win over us last time at their place.

This could be our biggest game of the season as I'd put winning a cup higher than a runners up spot in the league. Even though they needed two penalties to beat us last time I thought they were impressive and thoroughly deserved the win. They have height, pace and experience and are the best team I've seen this season. I think this will be a tough match, especially as Aberdeen have an extra days recovery time which will probably tell in the latter stages but hopefully we get that little bit of luck that seems to have gone against us lately versus Aberdeen, especially in the cup. A penalty for absolutely nothing would be a start!

You can get a non peak time ticket that is only about £14 or something from Queen Street. The £28 one is the any time ticket. Burd used to live up there so I know all about trains to Perth.

This is the case. Anderson is a long term injury case and Wright got sent off last weekend although I'm not sure when the suspension kicks in. Gary Miller has come in for Anderson and I suspect Tam Scobbie might play at centre half if Frazer Wright is out. We have bad memories of Tam Scobbie playing centre half with Falkirk! St. Johnstone have a very good home record over the past couple of seasons so I think this will be a tough match where the key will be getting the first goal. St. Johnstone have scored 7 goals in their last two league matches and have already beaten Ross County and Inverness 4-0 on their own patch, so we will have to be defensively strong.

I can't get rid of it. It's 'stuck'. EDIT. OK, fixed it!

Ramsden was talking about the team spirit in the match programme. It's good to see and I reckon a big part of our recent success. Guys like Hammell and Lasley are gold, not just on the field but off it as well.

We haven't played as well as at the end of last season but I'd say we are playing better than we started last season. With quite large scale changes to the team during the summer I think that's pretty incredible. After the first round of matches last season we had 16 points. With a game still to play this term we have 19 points. With confidence and more games, I'm sure we will gel better and play good football more consistently instead of in patches as we are currently but even if that doesn't happen we'd have very little to complaint about if we maintain the same level of form.

With this being a Sunday match at an odd time, on live TV and at St. Johnstone who have been struggling to attract fans I suspect the crowd could be pretty sparse. Maybe even in the 2,000's.

Is 13p of 66p on the opposition excessive? Personally I rather like reading about opposition teams as it keeps you up to date on the other sides in the league and gives you a different perspective.

There is usually a grain of truth in what Steelboy says even when it's not popular on the forums and its true our big summer signings haven't performed as well as we'd all like. However there is something fawlty about his attitude. We came from behind today to win, again. We have now won 6 of the last 7 league matches at Fir Park and have only lost 2 in the last 19. We also have young players coming through this term who look like holding down first team slots. The reason Lawson hasn't played (and therefore can't really be judged) is because of the excellent form of Carswell. To a lesser extent Francis-Angol has also challenged Vigurs for a spot. Also slating Vigurs after probably his best 45 minutes of his Motherwell career seems a bit bizarre. Sure, he has flaws but today I felt he showed a touch and range of pass that was better than anyone else on the field. If he can build on what he showed today in the second half he'll be a very good player for us. We are looking like a Top Three team this term. Fir Park is becoming something of a fortress, we are scoring goals and even when we go a goal behind we are not only coming back but winning. The fact that our summer signings haven't done as well so far would be a good point if we were struggling but we aren't we are doing well, it's almost as if Steelboy can't deal with the fact that we are a pretty good side these days. ENJOY.

Lasley for perspiration, Vigurs for inspiration. Difficult choice but went for Vigurs.

Thought the first half was quite poor, neither team looked to have much quality and chances were few and far between. We probably had the best of it in terms of possession and opportunities on goal but we had to rely on Nielsen making two very good saves right before half time. Apart from that though I don't remember him having very much to do. Second half was much better, Vigurs started to play and with his touch and vision he gave us something extra that we hadn't had before. We had about 4 good chances before the inevitable happened and Hearts scored with I think their only shoot on target in the second half, a deflected one at that. Have to say I feared the worst at that point but cue Craig Moore and his amazing introduction. On about 15 seconds and hits what will probably be our goal of the season! Absolutely superb strike. After that the momentium was ours and although Hearts looked dangerous on the break, mainly down to our own defence getting stretched out and some poor passing, I felt the winner was coming. Though Anier and Francis-Angol were disappointing today but others stepped up to the plate. Lasley and Carswell were excellent and Vigurs probably had his best half so far. Also lets hope Moore shows more of the same. We have now won 7 of the last 8 league matches at Fir Park, touch wood we can continue that excellent record.

As far as I'm concerned Randolph is the best goalkeeper we've had since I started watching us in 1982! Hollis should not be compared to Randolph either negatively or positively. Is he as good as Ruddy, Randolph etc, probably not but I have no complaint about his performances so far this season, although I admit I was away last weekend and didn't bother watching the Celtic highlights. Even if he did, that's one match.

It's supposed to dry up this morning and afternoon. Pretty gloomy stuff though, flood lights on at 3 o'clock!

Hearts have conceded 2 or more goals in 4 of their last 5 league matches. If we score twice we should win because Hearts have only scored more than one goal once all season.

I tend to be on the cautious side when making predictions but I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't win this one. Obviously Hearts have a very young team at the moment and their form isn't great, 5 games without a win and 4 defeats and haven't scored too many goals. Their away form is even worse, they have only won once away from home in 18 matches, more than a whole calendar year. I won't be expecting a thrashing but I think we should be going out to get all the points from this one.

He also has Scotland U21 experience, Scotland B team experience and full national side experience, probably 20+ Europa League/Champions League matches, plus he's the undisputed left back at the second best team in Scotland. By the way the other left backs in the SPFL eligible to play for Scotland, that get a regular club game, are Kevin McHattie, Clark Robertson, Tam Scobbie, Graham Shinnie and Aaron Sinclair.

He's coming in to replace Lee Wallace. LEE WALLACE. Difference between saying he's not international class and isn't good enough for Scotland.

This will come in handy when I'm flying my Spitfire.

I don't think we are a dirty team, I don't think there are really any dirty teams in the league like the teams of Airdrie or Hearts of old. However we do have a few players who are likely to pick up bookings over the season, Ramsden, Hutchy, Lasley etc. If players are getting three match suspensions for 18 yellows in a season perhaps some action is required but picking up bookings is inevitable, especially in certain positions. Would you make Lasley a less combatative player to avoid a 1 match suspension over a season - don't think so.

Sadly I think McFadden is running out of time to make an impact this season. We can't afford to have a shirt filled by reputation and that alone. So far this term Anier, Sutton and McHugh have done well up front, Francis-Angol and Vigurs look a better shout on the left and Ainsworth, on the right, hit a beauty last week and changed the game on Saturday. McFadden is my favourite ever Motherwell player and no one wants to see him end his career with us with a damp squib season but I think the time is coming close where he might not be a first XI player unless he improves his performances dramatically.