Ya Bezzer!

We are playing the 2nd top team in the league with the chance to go 2nd but to be honest I'm not feeling much buzz for this one which is odd as the games between the teams have been high scoring affairs and we have a pretty good record against them. Seems to me the season is just about over already with Celtic running away with the title, no 2nd place Champions League spot and Dundee 100% guaranteed to be relegated. I tend to be cautious in my expectations but even I would be amazed if we didn't get a Europa Cup place. Where is the excitement coming from? I go to every match I can and I enjoy the matches once in the stadium but in terms of build up and getting the non die hards along to matches I think it could be bleak for the rest of the season.

I'm old fashioned and reckon you judge a striker on his goals tally at the end of the season (or loan period) BUT if you take away the St. Johnstone match and someone else took the penalty against Hibernian his record goes from 18/10 to 17/6. I think the later figures better reflected his actual quality. He was an average player who had one extraordinary match. I can't see him being good enough to play at Premiership level but of course he could have matured and added to his game since we saw him.

The thing is last seasons average attendance included two Rangers matches and two Celtic matches, while this seasons only includes one Celtic match. These games make a huge difference to our average attendance, especially as they are mostly paying away fans. We will get a second Celtic vist but we will miss out on about 20,000 from the Rangers matches, mostly comprised of paying Rangers fans, replaced with perhaps 8,000 from Dundee matches, mostly comprised of already paid Motherwell season ticket holders.

Last season our average home attendance was 5,496. This season it's 4,465. So if that's 1,000 less people on average per game at say £20 per person, i.e, £20,000 per home game. I make that £250,000 less over 12 home league matches. Of course it's not as simple as that because season ticket holders could have paid and then not come to games as well as other factors but I think the point is we are probably going to bring in less by a six figure sum in attendance money than the previous season. I suspect the fall is mainly due to no Rangers match (usually our highest attendance of the season) and falling away supports, especially the bigger clubs like Hibs, Hearts and Dundee Utd. Our home match against Dundee Utd attracted 3,941 fans. The Hearts match barely scrapped over the 4,000 mark. Our last home match against St. Johnstone was just over 3,500. If we don't attract more fans any cup success or high league placing is going to be negated by the steep decrease in league match income.

Perhaps others will remember a Scotland U21 match at Fir Park against Italy when the two best players on the park by a mile were Thomson and Mark Wilson. They were head and shoulders above anyone in the Italy team. For some reason our emerging talent doesn't kick on between that and senior level. I'd still take him 'in a heart beat' though to echo another poster.

Whether a cup game is home or away doesn't really matter much since the gate money is split. Although I suppose the home club will make a bit more money through other sales.

The problem with this is it will have an appeal to at least a chunk of the Scottish League clubs due to the fact that they will get more money and more opportunities for promotion to the top tier. It's been quite clear for a while that it's been the SPL's strategy to detach the bigger clubs in the SFL away from the minnows. With this scheme they might well get their way. Clubs like Dunfermline or Partick Thistle are in no position to vote in any other way than self interest due to the dire financial position most First Division clubs are in.

More concern to me than Houston leaving is Dundee United's away form which is much better than their woeful home form. They'll probably be looking forward to getting away from Tannadice as we have from Fir Park on occasions. In fact Dundee Utd have taken 17 points away from home this season, the same number we've taken at home. I think this will be a difficult match.

The last few matches against Dundee Utd at Fir Park have been dire performances! We've not even got so much as a goal against them in the last 3 matches. Hopefully we can do better than our recent history suggests. As others have said with the likes of Russell, Daly and Mackay-Stevens available to Dundee Utd we will probably have to score twice to get anything out the match.

Next time the whole 'Is Higdon Any Good' debate sparks off, the Nay camp can chime in with the 'Scored less goals than Colin Nish!' argument.

Would only be interested in individuals to be honest. I suspect I know why you are getting rid of them (or being forced!). Having 15 shoe boxes full of the things takes up a hell of a lot of space.

Down the spine of the team, the central defensive and central midfield areas, we are weaker in three out of the four slots. Lasley is a year older and while still a good player on the downslope. Jennings is gone. Although people were critical of him I maintain Craigan was an excellent presence in the team. We would have been much better organised at the back if he had played another season. My big complaint earlier in the season was the lack of entertainment. That's turned around recently so I don't have a huge problem with the tactics and team set up as long as we are scoring and winning. However it's clear we are, more than ever, dependent on a couple of players to keep us competitive. What happens if Lasley gets injured or someone comes in for Hutchinson during the window? With Murphy gone we are almost wholly dependent on Higdon for goals. I don't know if there is much that can be done about it in the current financial climate at the club.

Didn't see the last 5 minute or so as I had to leave early but it was a scrappy performance and I felt our goals came against the run of play and St. Johnstone could feel a bit hard done by. Wouldn't blame Hollis for either of the goals it was just us switching off defensively.

He's done that before with young players on the fringe.

The few times I saw Steven Lawless he looked a real player so I was very disappointed when he was released. I can't say Johnny Page had quite the same impact on me but I'll echo the sentiments of some and say he never struck me as a significantly worse player than some of the guys that have been turning out for us this season in defence. Should he have been given a chance instead of bring in Fraser Kerr on loan? Perhaps.

Henrik Ojamaa 8 Nicky Law 5 Tom Hateley 4 Chris Humphrey 4 Michael Higdon 2 Jamie Murphy 2 I think Humphrey will get an assist for Murphy's goal today so that would be 5.

I knew I had heard the name before. He had a spell at Falkirk.

Murphy for me. He was our best player for most of the match and was unlucky not to get a goal in the first half when his volley was cleared off the line and then got us back into the match with his goal.

Option A. I think ZFA looks more like a first team player than Carswell.

Strange game. Although we didn't play any where near as good as we were against Aberdeen I thought we were creating more chances and pressing forward more than Kilmarnock but we weren't clinical enough and Kilmarnock took their chance with a peach. Second half Kilmarnock matched if not slightly bettered us and Randolph had to make a couple of useful saves. Then at 2-0 it looked like it was all over and Kilmarnock would be taking the 3 points. However when Murphy scored, Kilmarnock seemed to fall apart. Ojamaa got an excellent goal soon after and I felt, probably like most Motherwell supporters, we were going to get a winner. We certainly had their backs against the walls and perhaps should have got a third. Overall though, a draw wasn't a bad result all things considered and the last 15 minutes or so were certainly exciting.

Jamie Murphy is surely worth more to us staying, than going at £100,000. Between them Higdon and Murphy have scored 21 of our 35 league goals, we can't afford to lose one of them and only have one regular scorer in the team.

Five teams in the SPL have better away records than home this season - Celtic, Inverness, Motherwell, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd. You'll notice Kilmarnock aren't one of those teams but playing at home doesn't seem to be a major advantage these days.

The list with up to date league stats START+SUB (GOALS) Aberdeen Russell Anderson 19, Gavin Rae 17 (3), Isaac Osbourne 13+1 (1), Ryan Fraser 12+2, Josh Magennis 11+8 (3), Chris Clark 6+4 (1), Gary Naysmith 5, Rory Fallon 4+4, Mitch Megginson 1+2, Jason Brown 1+1, Rob Milsom 0+2, Danny Rogers 0. Celtic Paddy McCourt 2+6, Thomas Rogne 2+1. Dundee Rab Douglas 19, Gary Irvine 19, Jim McAlister 19, Iain Davidson 18 (1), Kyle Benedictus 15+2 (1), Matt Lockwood 15+1 (1), Ryan Conroy 12+6 (3), John Baird 11+6, Kevin McBride 11 (1), Nicky Riley 10+3 (2), Declan Gallagher 9, Steven Milne 7+3 (1), Davide Grassi 6, Mark Kerr 5, Neil McGregor 5, Stephen O'Donnell 4, Mark Stewart 3+5, Brian Easton 2, Martin Boyle 1+7, Graham Webster 0+3, Alex Baird 0, Carl Finnegan 0, Jamie McCluskey 0. Dundee United Willo Flood 19 (1), Jon Daly 17+1 [8], Barry Douglas 12, Steve Banks 0. Hearts Marius Zaliukas 18 (2), Darren Barr 18, Ryan McGowan 18, Andy Webster 16, Danny Grainger 13 (2), Andy Driver 11+6 (1), Arvydas Novikovas 11+5 (3), Scott Robinson 5+4, Kevin McHattie 5, Dylan McGowan 4+3, Dale Carrick 2+5, Gordon Smith 2+2, Jack Hamilton 0, Brad McKay 0, Fraser Mullen 0. Hibs David Wotherspoon 20 (3), Eoin Doyle 19+1 [8], Alan Maybury 16+1, Gary Deegan 10+1, Lewis Stevenson 8+4, Ivan Sproule 2+8, Shefki Kuqi 0+12, Danny Galbraith 0, Pa Kujabi 0, Sean Murdoch 0. Inverness Aaron Doran 20 (1), David Raven 20, Andrew Shinnie 20 [8], Gary Warren 20 (3), Owain Tudur-Jones 16 (2), Ross Draper 16+1 (4), Antonio Reguero 13, Shane Sutherland 5+9, Gavin Morrison 2+7, Nick Ross 1+3 (1), Scott Mathieson 0. Kilmarnock Liam Kelly 17 (5), Ryan O'Leary 16+3 (1), Cammy Bell 13, James Dayton 12+3 (1), Borja Perez 10+1 (1), Danny Racchi 7+4 (1), Kyle Letheren 6+1, Mohamadou Sissoko 3+2, William Gros 0+6, Garry Hay 0, Anssi Jaakkola 0. Motherwell Michael Higdon 20 (12), Nicky Law 20 (3), Tom Hateley 19 (2), Darren Randolph (19), Jamie Murphy 18+2 (9), Chris Humphrey 17+1 (1), Simon Ramsden 11+1, Zaine Francis-Angol 5+8, Omar Daley 2+8 (1), Robert McHugh 1+10 (3), Steven Saunders 0. Ross County Scott Boyd 20, Iain Vigurs 20 (4), Grant Munro 19+1 (1), Richard Brittain 19 (4), Marc Fitzpatrick 18+1, Stuart Kettlewell 16+2 (2), Rocco Quinn 16 (4), Michael Fraser 15, Mark Fotheringham 11, Mihael Kovacevic 10+2, Sam Morrow 6+5 (1), Mark Brown 5, Alex Cooper 4+4, Steven Ross 4+2 (1), Mark Corcoran 2+3, Paul Lawson 2+2, St Johnstone Alan Mannus 20, Liam Craig 20 (2), Frazer Wright 19 (1), Chris Millar 15+1, Gary Miller 12+3, Rowan Vine 11+6 (3), Pat Cregg 10+2, Callum Davidson 9+1, Dave MacKay 9+1, David McCracken 4+1, David Robertson 1+5 (2), Jamie Adams 0+4, Craig Beattie 0+2, Kevin Moon 0+1, Liam Caddis 0, Zander Clark 0, Jonny Tuffey 0, St Mirren Craig Samson 20, Steven Thompson 19 (9), David van Zanten 18+1, Marc McAusland 17+1, Gary Teale 11+7, Graham Carey 11+3, Paul McGowan 8 (1), Sam Parkin 7+9 (2), Graeme McGregor 0, Chris Smith 0. Looking at the list I think realistic signings that I think would be good additions would be Iain Davidson, Craig Samson, Scott Boyd.

I think we are in danger of building this guy up a bit too much. He's come in and done reasonably well. I agree with the school of thought that he's not a left back and would be better up the pitch a bit. He played well on Saturday and if he keeps his place in the team for the Kilmarnock match he deserves it. But some folk need to calm it a bit with 'Hammell is finished now' talk. Stevie Hammell has had a couple of ropey matches but he's also had 300+ games as good as anything Francis-Angol has produced in his short career. Give the guy time to develop, he's a teenager and still has a lot to learn.

Agree with Shaka, looked more like 3-4-3 to me. I think the reason it worked so well was because you had a sort of 'spear tip' up front with Higdon as the 'point' laying off balls to Ojamaa and Murphy who were playing through the middle and just behind. Francis-Angol and Hateley provided the width. The central midfielders could sit more instead of straining to support one up front. I'm not sure if it's going to be as effective next time though as I think we completely foxed Craig Brown as to the way we were going to play yesterday and managers will be on to us now but it's worth a try. The thing is that Kilmarnock are a team that try lots of different set ups but it looks to me, by looking at the recent team line ups, they might play a 3-4-3 themselves although I'm only guessing from looking at the personnel(Bell - Tesselaar, Nelson, Sissoko - Fowler, Pascali, Kelly, Harkins - Perez, Heffernan, Sheridan or possibly Pascali could play at the back, Fowler move into the centre and Tesselaar play right midfield) so if that was the case it would make sense to match them up.