Ya Bezzer!

A couple in Largs. Great first half. I thought we were brilliant at points. Inverness didn't look to bad going forward either and they had a few chances (Foran should have put them 1-0 up) but we could have scored 5 or 6. Humphrey, Higdon, Murphy and Law caused them all sorts of problems and Hammell played a stormer. Second half we took the foot off the pedal a bit and Inverness kept us pinned back a bit without really causing too many problems. Things were petering out when Las hit an absolute fizzer. If the net wasn't there it would probably still be going. A good overall team performance, at times very good. I was optimistic before the match and actually forecast a 3-0 win and I'm still optimistic. I just hope we can keep Murphy, if we can I'm very hopeful of a great season.

Couple of weeks ago I would have said St. Johnstone but I think they have brought in enough players to stay up. Kilmarnock are a big question mark this season. They have lost so many players and brought in so many unknowns its hard to tell what they will go. Could be Top 6, mid table or relegation. Actually if I was a Hibs fan I'd be really worried, especially if they take a tanking tomorrow and they start the season with all the pressure of last season back on them. I don't expect Calderwood to be there much longer but if they stick with him that could be a very big mistake, they should have let him go when they had the chance to get some compo for him.

Got a chuckle.

If you can't be optimistic for the first match of the season.... Motherwell 3 (Murphy, Law, Higdon) Inverness 0 Oh, and a red card for Tokely!

I'd vote for B but to make it truly retro we should play with black socks, a la League title winning side.

Jordan Halsman did well on Saturday against decent opposition, he played most of last season in the lower divisions on loan and he's 20 years old, hardly a wet-behind the ears kid. I'd like to see guys like Jordan Halsman get a chance this year. If they aren't good enough bring someone in in January but I think we should be giving them that chance. Robbie Neilson? Never rated him, in fact I'd say he's one of the worst players to get a Scotland cap in recent times, which is saying something. Kirk Broadfoot. Gets stick from fans but he's a good SPL player and he'd walk into our 1st XI. If he did leave Rangers he wouldn't be coming to us though.

Inverness are operating with a 19 man squad right now so they don't have a lot of options. They've lost Rooney who scored a third of their league goals last season and was the second top scorer in all competitions after Kenny Miller. He'll be a big, big loss. They have replaced him with Gregory Tade, who's been one of the best players in the lower leagues for a few seasons now so it will be interesting to see if he makes the step up but you can't see him matching Rooney's 21 goals. They have also lose a lot of their experienced players that had been there for ages like Munro, Russell, McBain as well as Chris Hogg, Chris Innes, Dani Sanchez and Eric Odhiambo. Aaron Doran who did quite well for them last season returned to Blackburn from his loan. In fact they only have three players that scored 2 or more league goals last season. Ritchie Foran and Johnny Hayes, probably their best players, and Shane Sutherland. Wouldn't be surprised if they bring in someone before the match because they look quite a bit weaker than last season at the time of writing. You can't afford to take things for granted but for me we look a bit stronger than Inverness and we are at home so, fingers crossed, we can start the season with a win.

Higdon makes John Sutton look like a speed merchant but he did OK holding up the ball and flicking things on. But if you are expecting him to sprint away from defenders forget it.

The strip yesterday was cracking. Better without a sponsor but even with one it would be our best strip in a long long time.

On yesterdays performance Forbes should start ahead of Jennings for the Inverness match. That's three seasons in a row that Jennings has come back from pre season looking overweight and unfit.

Unlucky to lose, thought we matched Leeds for most of the match and dominated a spell at the beginning of the second half. Some room for improvement, Randolph made some good saves but made a real howler for the goal, basically I think he was just trying to show off. Big Hutchy had a bit of a nightmare, Jennings was his usual early season self, ie. slow and not on the pace and Humphrey was frustrating again although he was better than against Partick. However, overall I thought it was a decent performance against a team that is probably better than most of the SPL. Law showed again that he looks like a player, Murphy was a constant thorn to the Leeds defence and I thought Forbes and Halsman did really well when they came on. Created plenty of chances, perhaps we will need to be a bit more clinical in front of goal but still quite upbeat about our chances next season, we'll see how it goes next week!

Halsman got a fair bit of experience out on loan last season, played 30 odd matches and scored a few goals as well. I'm assuming though he was playing left midfield considering the amount of goals he scored. He's 20 years old now as well, not really a kid.

Well Hammell took quite a bad knock against Partick but he seemed to run it off. Higdon didn't look fit in the first place! McHugh will get another chance. This is his make or break season at this level so I'm glad he's getting the chance. Wonder who will play at left back though? Halsman perhaps?

If it's £10 all stands I think I'll abandon the East Stand this once and get me a seat in the POD.

Sorry, slightly ambiguous statement by me. I meant the most league goals he's scored in a season has been 8. He's scored double figures at most of his clubs because he's been there for 2 or 3 seasons.

The most league goals Steven Thompson has ever scored in his career is 8. And that was at Rangers.

Andrew Little didn't make a single league appearance last season for Rangers. He started 2 league cup matches and scored in one of them and that was his lot. I'd imagine he'd be more than happy to sit on the bench at Motherwell if he was going to get game time.

Playing Saunders and Hutchinson as our first choice central defensive partnership is crazy. You'll do much more to develop both players by playing them along side Craigan. Randolph Saunders - Hutchinson, Craigan - Hammell Humphrey - Jennings, Lasley - Law Murphy Higdon

Dundee Utd can put out a midfield of Scott Robertson, Willo Flood, Danny Swanson and John Rankin, still one of the better midfield quartets in the league I'd say. The kid Scott Allan is also supposed to be a player and he'll probably get his chance this season. With Goodwillie, Daly and Russell up front I don't think they will struggle for goals. I've said it before but if you can get a striker to chip in with 15+ goals and an other couple to get 10+ each then Top Six is almost guaranteed.

I think his wage demands will come more into line provided he still doesn't have a club at the start of the season. I don't know exactly what the state of his fitness is, although I know he has had serious injury problems since he left us, but if he can pass a fitness test I'd be happy to offer him a season deal. And I'd bet he'd be just as fit as Jeffers was last season.

I was a wee bit disappointed last night that we didn't see more younger players like Carswell, Pollock and Halsman getting on or even starting last night. Anyway, they didn't and it looked to me as if McCall started with his strongest line up and the one that barring injury and suspension that will start the season and probably the match against Leeds. Looked to me as if we were playing with a front 'diamond' with Higdon or McHugh up front, Murphy playing centrally behind them, Humphrey on the right wing and Law on the left wing, with the full backs filling in in midfield when attacking (1-3-4-2) and the wingers dropping back when defending (1-1-4-4). Be interesting to see if we set up like that against Leeds, if so, I think that will be our default setting for the season.

It would probably help if more than 8 out of 10 left the grass. I've never seen a player that failed to get that many crosses into the air. It's a while since I played football and football boot technology has moved on but I see that he wears 'speed' style boots and I wonder if that actually effects his crosses because frankly you expect even fat old school team players like me to at least get the ball into the air most of the time.

Half paced, not a lot of contact, typical friendly fare. First time I've seen Nicky Law and my first impression is he's going to be a big player for this season. We'll see how he does against better opposition in a competitive match but I was quite impressed with him tonight. Didn't show blistering pace or anything but definitely has good feet and a football brain. Steven Lawless did quite well in the short period he was on. Looked a bit gallus which I like in a young player. One last thing, I said a wee while back when we were missing all our penalties that Craigan, as the Captain, should be taking them - there's your proof! Now bring on Leeds Utd and can't wait for the new season, I'm feeling positive about it. Oh, and well done Thistle, brought a good support tonight.

Probably about 90 percent of the matches he's ever played for us he's not played as a striker. He started off in midfield, he's played wide and off the front, but rarely as a out and out striker. When he has done his record is a lot better than 1 goal in 6 games. I don't think he'll ever be a 20 - 25 goal a season kind of player but he'll get into double figures if he's consistantly played as a striker I'm sure. I'd compare him with David Clarkson in that regard.

Will always remember one of Crags first every appearances for Motherwell cos I skipped off work to go to the game! It was against Rangers at Fir Park, a midweek match, and although he was just a young, inexperienced player at the time and I fully expected Rangers to hump us, Crags was an absolute rock and the match finished 0-0. I remember thinking "that kid has a future at Fir Park" and then McLeish released him! But I was right in the long run.