Ya Bezzer!

I keep forgetting it's the 2010's! I'm getting old now and I'm it's convenient to think it's still a past decade! What I really meant was 'in the last 10 years' rather than THIS decade. In the end I wasn't a fan of Graeme Smith and was glad to see the back of him but even I would have to admit he had an excellent first season before tailing off in this second. Gordon Marshall also had an excellent first season, in fact I'd go as far as to say he was the instrumental signing that turned us from a bottom of the league side to a Top Six side. He became a bit of a liability at the end which is perhaps what people remember but for most of his time at Motherwell he was an excellent keeper. To my mind his performance at the League Cup semi final is perhaps the best one I've ever seen from a Motherwell goalkeeper. Marshall got us to the final just as much as Fitzpatrick's goal and he also oversaw a huge improvement in team league form to which he contributed 22 clean sheets in two seasons. And Ruddy isn't infallible like some people will tell you. We could easily have lost on Saturday due to a couple of howlers from Ruddy at NDP. I also think he was partially to blame for the goal against Rangers. I think Ruddy is a bit of a lucky keeper actually in that his big mistakes have generally gone unpunished - think the McLaughlin chance on Saturday or the Deuchar incident on the first day of the season. There have been others but he's got away with them so people tend to forget about them. If Ruddy came back next season and played as well as he has this season I'd definitely rate him as the best in the last 10 years but since that hasn't happened yet I can only say 'maybe'. Overall I'd perhaps just go for Marshall over Ruddy because he was good over a longer period and had a more dramatic effect on the team in that he got us to a final and saw the team leap 6 places in the league.

Sorry, I didn't mean to do this! Delete if you want.

Hibs have a very strong team and won't have many fears about coming to Fir Park. Could go anyway to be honest but I'd take a point like some others above me. A win would be on a par with a win over OF in my opinion.

Better than the last one - definitely. Best one this decade - maybe. Best one in my time as a supporter - no. Best ever - obviously not.

Well that's true

Which is why we tried to forget.

Aye, we've come a long way because there is no booze at the football. Totally against it and frankly if you can't go 90 minutes without a drink maybe some kind of 12 step programme should be your priority!

As a cynic I'm saying you can never be 100% sure things haven't been photoshopped these days. Someone needs to do a shadow analysis on this 'new evidence'.

Good news; Falkirk score against Hearts. 1-1 there.

Scotland. You are a parochial bunch aren't you?

Same team as Wednesday except Coke in for Forbes.

Don't underestimate the amount of energy the players expended on Wednesday. I think we might be a bit leg heavy on Saturday, certainly in the latter stages. I'd be hoping for some early goals and hope we can either demoralise Accies or see the lead out but I wouldn't want to be going into the end stages with the tie still close. We are on a good run of form so you'd expect to take something from NDP. I wouldn't be wailing if we came away with a point but obviously a win is better especially if Celtic beat Aberdeen.

Wait - the linesman 'gambled' on disallowing a goal when he DIDN'T see if the scorer was offside and that's the explanation? Yeah, Forbes really showed selfishness and stupidity by trying to score a winning goal against Rangers! Dougal - just walk down to the beach at Largs and keep going West ya complete fucking trumpet!

'CRAIG BROWN - OUR WINNING GOAL AT IBROX WAS OFFSIDE BUT IT EVENS UP OVER A SEASON'

Said Chiba played for Morocco at the '98 World Cup. George Burley was in the 1982 World Cup squad but I can't remember if he played in a match. [EDIT] You could also add Davie Cooper and Alex McLeish.

We should secure a Top Six place before we start thinking about Europe but I don't really think Aberdeen or Hearts are significantly better than us and we have a 6 point led over both of them, although Aberdeen do have a game in hand (away to St. Johnstone). We shouldn't get to cocky though. With the upcoming fixtures Accies are a difficult team to beat despite being bottom, Hibs have pumped us twice this season and our recent record at Fir Park is dreadful against them and Kilmarnock look like they are reborn under Calderwood and won't be sitting ducks. We still have Hearts to play a third time (I assume at Fir Park).

Aye, one that WAS offside.

Did anyone hear Jack Ross on the radio the other night talking about it? He said the pitch didn't actually play that badly and a lot of the other pitches are just as bad. This coming the week after his team had lost there. The pitch is just being used an excuse by managers that drop points here. Get on with it. It's not great but deal with it.

Hateley has been brilliant. Reading will rue the day they let him go for nothing. I confidently predict Tam will go and play at a much higher level. He's that good.

We play better with Sutton up front with Jutkiewicz rather than with one up front or the three with two wider players and a striker. His goal scoring record isn't even that bad this season 23 starts 7 goals. In 51 starts he's scored 19 goals. Well within the acceptable range of a goal in every three matches. Sutton isn't going to make any all time lists but he is a good solid SPL level striker and bringing in someone better is either going to be a transfer coup or cost a pretty penny.

I said last night I wasn't so bothered about the result because I was proud of our performance. But when you see that decision on television replays you can't help but feel cheated. I'm the first to say officials have a hard job and they probably take a lot of unfair stick from supporters who only see things through partisan eyes but when a decision is as clear cut as that one was last night you really need to ask questions of the officials in charge. The linesman had a perfect view of the period of play. It was not a marginal decision and quite obvious to ANYONE that is was not offside. When it's as blatant as that you simply have to ask the question "Linesman, are you a cheat or are you completely incompetent?" It's not good enough that the linesman can hide away and not come under scrutiny for this decision. That decision could cost us a European place and deny the club hundreds of thousands of pounds. We demand answers. I'll be sending an e-mail to the SFA.

Only Motherwell supporters could all fall out after our best performance of the season. Of course fans are entitled to criticize but try to make the criticism fair. Calling Reynolds "murder" when he played very well last night and made one mistake (along with Ruddy) after we've had one of our longest run of clean sheets in recent times is just ridiculous. Just because Craigan was unfairly criticized earlier in the season doesn't make unfair criticism of Reynolds right. If Reynolds costs us points three, four matches in a row - fine, but jumping on one mistake in 9 hours of football smacks of total hysteria.

Reynolds shouldn't have left it but neither should Ruddy. Maybe TV pictures will show something different but it seemed to me to be one that Ruddy should have come out and got. Craig Brown said on the radio Ruddy himself was disappointed that he'd left it. Other than that I think both Ruddy and Reynolds played very well. In truth Boyd missed a sitter when I think Jennings misdirected a header into the box. Basically we played 90 minutes and made two mistakes in the whole game, unfortunately they both fell to the best striker of recent times.

He also made runs from midfield all night into the box and scored the goal that should have won us the match. Forbes is a young player with half a season of 3rd Division football and half a season in the SPL. There are aspects of his game he needs to work on and improve but what about accentuating the positive? If the goal had been allowed to stand, which it should have, it would have been his 9th of the season. He gives us an attacking dimension from midfield that we've not had since Stevie Kirk.

You are right for the most part and I don't go along with the Masonic conspiracy theories but I think there have been individual referees in the past and perhaps even in the present that had certain sympathies....