Lobey_Dosser

Decent conversation on Sportsound just now involving McDonald and Derek Ferguson, echoing much of what has been discussed on here. Motherwell not appealing McHugh's sending off. Burrows and McDonald came away from Hampden last week knowing that due to a rule change, you can rarely go to ground when tackling, regardless of whether you get the ball, as the tackle is inevitably going to involve force. As an aside, Hearts' can't appeal the mistaken identity yellow. Joke!

This fixture was going to be hard work at the best times but without Skippy and McHugh missing it's likely to be a really tough night. Having said that, some of our best results in recent years have came at midweek away games up north. When does Tait's suspension kick in?

Consensus across Scottish football media is that McHugh was rightly sent off.

We are not the only team budgeting for 10th. Not much seperates the bottom 8 clubs and if anything, we will be spending slightly more than most in that group. Regardless of budget, our approach to games could be more positive to fairly reflect the attacking quality we have at our disposal. We've beaten Ross County twice this season yet they are unbeaten against Rangers, that comes down to a lack of belief in our part. Good points made by Melvin and Andy. We are in for a pivotal summer, although we have been there many times before. Regardless of who is in charge, my hope would be that we widen the net beyond the English non-leagues. We've unearthed a couple of gems and a couple of steady players but the well may run dry at some point.

Yeah, credit where it's due. Never imagined we'd have such a good pitch.

In hindsight we probably shouldn't have signed Bowman. Clearly not rated. He might even fall behind Jacob Blyth in the pecking order...

Agree entirely, McGhee seems to have succeeded in driving down expectations. Yes Hearts are a superior outfit but they were far from firing on all cylinders today. McGhee was in the paper this week, disappointed that our home gates are in decline. Obviously there are various contributing factors (e.g. ST price increase) but this obsession with setting up to nullify the opposition as opposed to working on our own play isn't helping. Our attacking players deserve to be playing in a more forward thinking team. As good a pro as Moult is, he must get scunnered from time to time. When's the last time we played really well? Good performances for more than 45 minutes are few and far between this season.

Cadden was my motm while the appearance of Lucas and Pearson left scope for some optimism. Thought Jules' performance was underwhelming and he made a couple of bad mistakes, think he'll take some time to get up to speed.

Pearson and Lucas did have a positive impact. With Tait injured, I'd have been inclined to move Cadden to wing back and brought a midfielder on. McMillan may have a bright future but he doesn't look ready yet. As inept as Dallas may be, he got the biggest decision correct.

McHugh's tackle was a dangerous one. Don't think there is much doubt it's a red card, particularly in the current climate.

Never really got going today as our system was more about stopping Hearts than getting our good players into the game. You would expect McDonald, Pearson, Cadden and Moult to keep us out of trouble but we are carrying a few that are not currently ready for this level.

McGhee has picked the 11 I'd have picked, hopefully Ainsworth or Cadden are asked to play close to Moult.

Clay ahead of McHugh? I assumed Pearson wouldn't be ready?

Pearson is one of the most accomplished midfielders in the league so I'm delighted to have him back. It's just a shame we couldn't have had him back a bit earlier to increase our chances in the Cup but appreciate he had other offers to consider.

It's today.

We were relatively comfortable in the cup tie after Skippy came on and we went 1 up. However, we were poor in the first half and rode our luck thanks to poor refereeing and a powder puff Rangers frontline. After a promising start on Saturday with the one man advantage we put in an abject performance once Skippy was sent off. Many neutral observers commented that we looked beat the minute it went to 10 v 10. Poor tactics imo to leave Moult isolated and play for a draw.

We know we don't have the same budget as Hearts but that doesn't excuse our approach. Rangers are average at best with a terrible defence yet we were too feart to have a go at them.

It was evident in the first half at Ibrox. Even though we put no pressure on them they were jittery as fuck at the back. We beat ourselves that day.

The inexperienced Cathro giving Mark '950 games' McGhee a lesson tonight on how to take on a bang average Rangers.

Thinking similar while watching Hearts here. If Jules impresses in training, I wouldn't be surprised to see us go with a back 3.

Crossed my mind that we'd look to offer him an extension with a minimum release clause. We might be able to offer him a few extra quid if we didn't spend our full budget in Jan.

Clay is on a 2 year deal.

SFA website confirms Laing was released.

Going by BBC Radio, Ciftci's agent was waiting for a call from Motherwell in the last hour of the window and it didn't come. He's a player I'd really like to see at Fir Park but not at the expense of losing McDonald.

Tom Fry out on loan to Annan.