Kmcalpin

Another hand injury again, unfortunately. Allt the best to him and a speedy recovery.

Or, as the MSM call it "taking one for the team".

I'm with you on that. Media pundits need to call it out for what it is.

A huge win for us yesterday as its all very well to play entertaining football but its points that count. So, it was job done. We started off well in the first 20 minutes or so with nice possession football, and had Livi penned back. However we were toothless up front and did nothing in their box. That combined with a resolute defence rendered Prior surplus to Livi's requirements. They grew into the game for the rest of the half without dominating possession and looked dangerous on the break, aided by our disorganised rearguard. O'Donnell suffered a torrid time on the right and Longelo looked out of sorts. Although they scored through a stupid penalty, in truth they could have been 2 or 3 goals up by half time. That said, Ward didn't have much to do. The second half started much the same as the first half ended although we did up our game slightly. Again, Prior had nothing to do. Ward had a couple of good saves. As the subs were introduced, we started to improve and it was good to see Slattery reappear. A cast iron penalty evened things and in the last 20 we really began to open the game up. 2 exceedingly tight offside decisions went against us and goals chalked off on the say so of VAR. At the time I thought Just's first effort was way off but after looking at highlights it was toenail tight - not what VAR should be checking. Just got his rewards with a well taken move and finish. Game over. Ye cannae beat a late winner! Did I feel sorry for Livi? Yes and no. On balance they probably deserved a draw but their cynical tactics make me think twice. They played a weak Nick Walsh like Aly Bain on a fiddle. Within the first 4 minutes they committed 3 fouls. It was easy to see why they have amassed the highest crime count in the league. Still, we won without any help from VAR. Whilst we are battling VAR, Falkirk have lucked out for the second week in succession. Swings and roundabouts hopefully.

Agree with that Joe. Given the degree of inaccuracy and uncertainty built into our budget system you'd think that the VAR operators would not place too much weight on very tight offside calls unless they're "clear and obvious". But, that's not how they're using it.

Yes, if you believed the highlights, then Livi were all over us in the first half which they weren't.

I thought he was very inconsistent and weak. Livi committed 3 fouls in the first 3/4 minutes alone and its easy to see why they top the league's crime count. Despite Livvy players escaping cards for several bad fouls, it was odds on we'd collect the first card and lo and behold we did. The lad who suddenly went down injured after a long VAR delay and just as our penalty was about to be taken was clearly at it and everyone but Nick Walsh could see it.

Yes just watched the highlights. Both offside decisions were very very tight. As for the first I thought at the time that Just was well offside but on TV it looked as though he was just on. Millimetres in it and certainly not clear nor obvious. VAR rerefereeing the match.

Yes, despite all our pretty football and possession, Livingston created more chances than we did. They were deservedly ahead at the break and had we gone in 2/3 goals down, we couldn't have complained.

Absolutely. Time and again we broke up the park, but dithered on the ball and failed to pick out one of our lads running into space or only did so, once he was covered. An early pass would have caught defenders out.

I see that Livingston are releasing blocks of seats in the same way that the Hampden authorities are doing. Best views are released later. Its one of my bugbears that clubs like Livingston constrain seating to tight sections. I'm not saying that most of the stadium should be opened up for our benefit but its annoying when most of the available sections are full; latecomers can't find seats and they steadfastly refuse to open up another section.

We'll see on Saturday. I'm always sceptical of pre match injury stories. Shane Blaney injured again.

Jim Paterson had been coaching with club for some time; I'd guess almost 2 years but I couldn't say in which precise capacity. Despite what many may think he was one of the fastest players on our books at the time.

I would think that more than a few would be annoyed and rightly so. Nothing wrong with that, providing its not OTT. If they didn"t care that would be more of a concern. Usual caveats apply, of course, appalling refereeing etc

Absolutely, plus bringing on subs at the right moment i.e just before individuals start to tire.

Slattery shouldn't start. Maybe give him 15/20 minutes when we start to flag late on. Swap Gordon for McGinn as Livi will be very physical. Will Longelo & Koutroumbis be fit? If we are in a position to do so, we shouldn't risk anyone unnecessarily.

I don't like Hampden for several reasons, the main one one of which is parking. For me public transport is not an option. Although I don't live out in the sticks, I would need to take 2 buses and 3 trains to get there at god knows what cost. Being somewhat naive, I thought the best place for parking advice is the Hampden Park website. As much use as a chocolate fireguard. It tells you roughly where you can't park but no more than that, unless you're familiar in detail with the area. "Glasgow City Council has an Event Day plan which will be initiated on the day which restricts parking in the surrounding areas to residents only." It then redirects you to a City of Glasgow Council parking website..........which is broken.

The same as foul throws and tackling from behind. All very random.

I think he said that McGinn's jersey was pulled in the lead up. Having said that, jersey pulling seems to be an acceptable part of the game now. Players are rarely penalised for it. Remember Scott Vernon's ahem... penalty box "tug" on Shaun Hutchinson in the 2014 Pittodrie classic (he almost ripped the shirt off his back)? By concidence, Steven MacLean was the referee, the same as last Saturday!

Aye, I'm not sure how this myth has originated. Admittedly I don't know thousands of Rangers fans personally but of the dozen or so I know reasonably well, all are Scotland fans and almost half are in the Travel Club. Our granddaughter's partner has Scotland memorabilia plastered all over their house.

Generally a good post. I'll offer some defence of Koutroumbis though. He did suffer an injury earlier and that clearly affected him. Also, he's never a left back and its questionable as to why he was asked to play there. McGinn and O'Donnell can both play there in an emergency, which it was. Longello is the only proper left back we have. Why?

Not sure about that Gaz. Yes, of course there's some; there always are. Our support like all others contains a mix of types. Some purists like pure entertainment end of. The result is almost a crude outcome. At the other extreme you have those to whom the results the end all and be all. That doesn't mean that it's about "Look at me". You're probably too young to recall the great Dundee side of the early 60s. The exact same discussion was had about them.

I sincerely hope they do, but don't think they will. If we see more performances and results like yesterday crowds will inevitably fall. I spoke to a few punters post match and commented, tongue in cheek, that both sets of fans would leave the ground happy. Our lot for having been thoroughly entertained even if only for 45 minutes, and the other lot for have taken the 3 points. That was met by a few choice remarks, which I won't repeat. Not happy campers! To attract larger crowds and retain them we need a balance of entertaining football and good results on the park. We're not doing that presently but can we achieve it? I don't honestly know - time will tell.

A disappointing outcome yesterday but in fairness Falkirk deserved all 3 points. I didn't like their tactics however and at risk of annoying the MSM, thought they were overly physical and relied on the long ball. They played a weak ref like a fiddle. In the first 45, we looked world beaters with some excellent expansive and fast football. The best I've seen for some time. However we were totally powder puff in and around the box and hardly troubled Bain for all our possession. One solitary goal was never going to be enough. If we'd gone in 4-0 up and break few would have argued and I include John McGlynn in that. We were never going to keep that level up but I was surprised that the game turned as early as it did. McGlynn made some tactical and personnel changes and JBA was outthought. On the park our midfield crumbled and we had to endure mishit passes, unenforced errors and a drop in work rate. When Falkirk pressed our defence, we looked totally uncomfortable with panicky passing. Falkirk's first goal was late in coming but come it did and the second was inevitable. Thankfully we managed to avoid losing a third. For our part I echo much of what has already been said. We're conceding too many cheap goals and I just wonder if McGinn's best days are behind him. It was noticeable that Falkirk targeted our left wing before, but especially after, Longelo retired. We sat too deep and just didn't have the midfielders to cope. We are very vulnerable under pressure. Up front our troubles continue and have now emerged as a very serious issue that threaten our season. I'm not an Ap Stam fan but presume he wasn't fit enough to start. Callum Hendry, even when match fit is not the kind of striker we need. He's not a natural chance converter. We're making too many wrong decisons in the final third. I only hope lessons were learned yesterday.

Can't fault your assessment. Martindale will have us well sussed out and will draw sustenance from the manner of our loss yesterday. Give us the ball to knock about with aplomb for 60 minutes or so, occasionally testing our defence, then make changes and go for it in the last half hour and capitalise on our errors. We simply can't go with the same approach and expect to win. Now by that I don't mean ripping our entire gameplan up; but rather introducing tweaks here and there some some personnel changes i.e. swap McGinn for Gordon. Hopefully Longelo is fit but, given our injury record, I'm not holding my breath. JBA also needs to learn tactical lessons.