CoF

My instinct is that it was a good tackle however having seen highlights, I think the height of McHugh's foot (half-way up the ankle), his pace and the fact he didn't get a particularly clean contact with the ball gave the ref a decision to make. However, given the fact he did make contact with the ball first and it was one footed, straight red seems extremely harsh and I don't think many would have complained about a yellow for following through. I honestly feel like I don't know the rules anymore.

Strange one, I thought Cads delivered yesterday.

A couple of poor balls yes, however he also played a few belters to no-one in the box. Moult was constantly being drawn out wide which is part of the reason Cads play was ineffective.

Harsh in a few of ways in my opinion. 1st - Las has a decision to make - press on and leave their man on his right free, or sit off to see what he's going to do. Not sure he anticipated a shot from a fair distance and moved pretty quickly when he shaped to shoot. 2nd. Again, players with a decision to make on who to press. The midfield have pushed on to try get an equaliser and are busting their arse to get back, however that's left Mcmanus and Heneghan in 3 v 2 situation. Jules looks burst by that point. 3. See above. Jules looked burst and that's a mistake from a tired player. As McGhee had pointed out - if McHugh hadn't been sent off and Tait went off injured he would have had the option of bringing on McMillan for a tiring Jules. As things transpired, we had to ask for far more from the team than expected.

I'm surprised to hear comments about negativity today. Tait and Hammell were clearly far enough forward to be playing as part of a midfield 4, not a back 5, - both of them capable of delivering excellent balls into the box and with a rare front 3 in Moult, Cads and Ainsworth I was really looking forward to our forward play. As it transpired, there were simply too many individual errors in the final third which made us look fairly impotent. I think signing Pearson and (hopefully) Frear will see a more attacking mindset coming through from our midfield.

That's us through the best part of the winter and it's still looking outstanding. Massive credit to those involved.

Really looking forward to this. Hopefully Hearts bring a decent support.

Fair point - I think my concern is that while we've now got an competitive selection for midfield while the frontline is paper thin. Lose one of our front two and we could really struggle. Bowman has unfortunately not impressed at all and Blyth - well, we'll see.

A few calls for Ainsworth up front. I'm sure that's been tried (Baraclough??) and he really looked lost in the centre of the park. Some players just need the big white line doon the side to keep themselves right.

Pearson is a welcome addition however we've now got a midfield selection of Pearson, Lasley, Cadden, Clay, Las, Mchugh, Lucas, Ainsworth, Maclean, Frear and Campbell. Add Mcmillan and Chalmers and that's 13 midfielders. 13 midfielders yet I can't help but think we're fucked if we lose Moult or McDonald for any length of time. I can only think McGhee has some faith in Blyth (or Bowman), or thinks that Pearson's addition will give us some flexibility to operate without Moult or McDonald.

Highlights up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMfIYdT9TtI&feature=youtu.be Not too sure what is expected of Samson for the goal. Their boy on the line is exactly where Samson needs to be and has done well to get in his way - or fouled him if you look at it another way. Not quite the clanger I was expecting to see. Anyway, that's a great 3 points in such a tight league which just sent 4 other teams down the table. Credit to the manager and players is well and truly due.

There's been nothing in McGhee's comments over the last week and a half to suggest we are looking for anything for him. A bit of an odd situation. I wonder if it's a case of trying to do right for a senior player who has served the club exceptionally well. Treating players well who have serve the club well is the very reason we've been lucky to have so many return and put in a good shift - this may be just be part of a wider ethos which benefits the club in the long run. Alternatively, if he wants to go McGhee simply might not want a player here who doesn't want to be here however McDonald simply doesn't seem like a guy who would lose his motivation to play or down tools and run down his contract.

+ Las. No clear left winger. 433 I wonder.

Any update on Chalmers? Is he available tonight?

I'm surprised he isn't more of a regular around the first team. He got a few first team starts when Barraclough first came in and I thought he didn't look out of place....... (that can be taken either way - I mean it as a compliment).

Now that I've seen the closeups I'm fairly convinced that wouldn't have been a red if they weren't down to 10 men. A poor tackle, but with no pace or malice. It should have been a yellow. Poor stuff.

Lots of posts about our defence / midfield over the last 2 games however it seems one of our star strikers mistakes have gone under the radar. His cut-back at Ibrox in the 90th minute and absolute sitter from Cadden's cross yesterday (see 2 mins into the highlights) are as bad as anything our defence served up. I'm not actually advocating playing the blame game - I just think it's too easy to point out defensive errors when there are often other incidents at the other end of the park which could have turned the game.

I'm not so sure. You've also got to consider pace - McDonald stepped into the tackle from a jog whereas Kiernan has a good few yards run at it. Aside from the game, I've only seen the replays in the MFC highlights -I thought both were yellow at the time and I still think both are yellow although my mind may change if I get a closer view of Mcdonald's.

??!? That's just not true. We've finished outside the top 6 once in the last 3 seasons, including last season where we finished 5th and 14 points clear of 11th. We also need to accept Hearts and Aberdeen have finally got their shit together and St Johnstone have taken over our mantle as plucky outsider. They'll have a quite bit to go before the replicate our achievements over the last decade though.

I actually thought Mcmillan coming on made sense. There is no point in expecting Ainsworth to defend, he needs freedom attack, and for that to work requires absolute solidity behind him. Unfortunately Hammell isn't that guy anymore. On paper, McMillan at least gave us some defensive sensibility down the left with a bit of pace. I thought he was good and periods throughout the first half, particularly cutting in however Hammell and him weren't on the same wavelength at times. Whether it worked or not is a different matter, but at the time it didn't seem like such a bonkers change.

I'm not sure things are as bad as they seem. 21 points from a possible 63 is relegation form in any normal year, however this is panning out to be an abnormal year. If we are aiming for the top 6, we're only 2 points off it with a game in hand, and if we are looking to avoid relegation our record against the 'bottom 7' is W5 D5 L2. This is an exceptionally tight league where the margin for error is tiny however I think we've got enough quality to stay safe. Personally, I do think we have the players to get the results to see us climb up the table. Our problem is that they are taking it in turns to put in a good performance, rather than the majority clicking in the same game. I'm not without my doubts that McGhee can make this happen, however I'm not sure there is a manager out there better equipped than him to try. Also, as an aside (for some I'm sure this undermines any credibility of my comments above) - I find him quite likeable.

Samson. Despite the recent run of poor results - he's done little wrong and produced a few great saves. Today was no exception.

Interesting interview - talking like a guy who has been told he's possibly going straight into the starting 11.

Not sure if McGhee has been misquoted, but I wonder how many other players would be given a week off to decide if they want to leave the club then be asked if it's okay that they are only on the bench?

I don't think anything needs to sink in. Mistakes happen for a variety of reasons and each circumstance is different. We've lost late goals because we've spent the last 15 minutes of a game blootering it up the park and never releasing the pressure. Others (Saturday) we've tried to retain possession and calmly build from the back. It's down to individual errors and mistakes aren't necessarily a result of bad decision making. Saturday was a tired pass from a footballer who had spent the previous 90 minutes having to be more mentally and physically alert than in almost every other game of the season. Fatigue sets in and we don't have the depth on the bench to bring on effective fresh legs. We're just playing with what we've got - a realisation that we need to stop conceding late goals is an irrelevance in my opinion.