Kmcalpin

Comonplace now in games and we saw it most recently when Dundee United players were harassing the ref. As for Nicky Cadden, he was very lucky to stay on the pitch, but in reality wasn't even yellow carded. He put in a late tackle on SOD (worse than Sparrow's yellow card tackle) and was warned by the ref. Then as you say, he went head to head with SOD, lifted his hands and pushed him aggressively in the chest (not merely pushing him away). Still no yellow card. After that he put in another bookable late tackle and wasn't even warned.

A fair summing up Joe. I thought JBA made some mistakes today with his line up and appraoch. It looked to be an overly cautious approach designed to ensure we didn't lose. Longelo was a huge loss, the midfield looked congested and we lacked venom up front. The early plan of shelling long balls over the top for JT to run onto was fine in theory but the execution was very poor and was rightly stopped. For most of the game we lacked any penetration up front and Hibs were happy to soak it up and their keeper was larlely unemployed. Ward was slightly busier but again didn't have much to do. Not sure why Priestman was taken off as he was our most industrious midfielder. I thought we were too late in making changes. Our chalked off goal was very tight and certainly not clear or obvious. Thought David Dickinson had a poor game. Both Cadden and Suto were very lucky to escape 2 yellow cards each with the latter being substituted to save him. In my view, if you lift your hands to someone. Not quite sure how the 4 minus additional time was calculated. 7 second half subs @ 30 seconds each; blatant timewasting and several 2 protracted injuries. Overall, 2 points dropped. A slight blip is now gradually turning into a bit of slump. Other teams seem to have sussed us out. A change in plan now required for remaining games? Some positives though: another shut out and a 9,300 attendance. 2 asides. The media now needs to starts to start calling out cynical thuggery when teams target Eli Just (but it won't for fear of offending old boys) and the POD was an accident waiting to happen at half time (queues down the stairs for the kiosk, those wanting to visit hospitlaity and those wanting the toilet).

We're currently 6 points above Hibs with a 13 goal advantage. That seems a fairly safe cushion. However, before the break we face Falkirk at home and Hearts away. I reckon we'll take 1 point from those games. Hibs have Killie at home and Aberdeen away. They should be good for 4 points from those games. IF, and it is an if, it pans out like that, then our lead is cut to 3 points. That then takes us post split and we'll be due Hearts and Celtic at home. Maybe one point from those games? We'll play Hibs at Easter Road and they'll fancy their chances. On top of that, our record against current top 6 sides isn't great nor is our away form. We might well secure 4th spot, but it will be very tight and the game at Easter Road will be crucial. Yesterday, was defintiely 2 points dropped. In short, a 50/50 chance is realistic.

Thats what it looks like to me. Falkirk will change their approach and they might not win, but they'll be good enough to nullify us. We've taken one solitary point from them in 2 attempts and at the moment, we've gone off the boil.

We were weak in both full back positions today with no surging runs. Longelo was a huge miss. Likewise, Sparrow doesn't convince me at FB.

Agreed. I think though that our starting line up was a bit cautious but it could be argued that it did its job as we shut out Hibs.

Top 3 is way beyond us but in fairness it was never on. I'd say 4th spot is now 50/50. We'll go into the break maybe 2 points above Hibs.

Oscar Priestman was my MOTM by a country mile. Can only assume he was subbed because of injury or tiredness.

I can't see us just releasing the Ox, as he still has a year left on his contract. He's highly rated at Dunfermline and they, seemingly, have money to burn (whose money is another question). A loan deal - maybe?

The March review shows mjust how big a problem refereeing/VAR actually is. Totally inconsistent. I don't get the comment about Callum Slattery. Are they looking at footage from the St Mirren game? If so, thats downright ridiculous. If we're going to review decisions from a month ago how far back do they go? If so, that should open the floodgates.

Pretty much agree with that although I'd also try to move Callum Hendry on , if at all possible. Jordan McGhee seems to be out of favour and I wouldn't be surprised if we try to move him on. .

The Pars "could easily" afford to pay a 6 figure fee for him.

Whilst I still like to see the national team doing well, I no longer take an active interest in it and haven't done so for many years. I used to organise buses to Hampden for all internationals but my enthusiasm waned as I began to see and understand the politics in play behind the team on the pitch.

Apologies I was referring to Callum Slattery.

I would think that the chances of him re-signing are neglible.

Agree 100%. Its not always obvious at games but look at pictures post match and the amount of shirt pulling that goes on. Its either a foul or it isn't. If it is clamp down on it. Same with foul throws. If they aren't going to be given then make them legal.

Just in case anyone was wondering, and they're probably not, Willie McCallum and Bobby McCallum weren't related.

As long as they're not the Hibs psychos. 🤣

The dangers of AI. Was it not Willie McCallum? Bobby was a LB. Don't know what happened to him. He seemed to have a short career which came to a sudden end.

Jumbo Muir? Bobby Watson? Brian Heron?

Thats a fair point and we won't know the answer about mentality until the dust has settled on this season. The proof of the pudding and all that. I was speaking to a Hearts fan during the week and after complimenting us for our refreshing style of football he said that he thought his team would falter as their character and mentaility were not what it takes to be winners. For all of the top 6 teams there are hard games coming up and there will be no hiding places. A good start for us will be to beat Hibs next Saturday. If we are to be ruthless, I'd like to do so in a manner that impacts negatively on their confidence. Just read Joe's post on P & B and I agree that we need to mix things up a wee bit. Maybe we've become a bit stale and predictable in recent weeks?

100% agree Joe. It was a clear penalty and possible red card - I don't know the exact rules about the card in such circumstances. Longelo appeared to elbow his opponent in a bout of wrestling - was that what it was for? If so why wasn't Sevelj red carded at Fir Park for a similar elbowing incident at Fir Park a few weeks ago? Its always hard to tell from carefully edited BBC highlights but on the limited evidence I saw, our defence was pretty poor on several occasions and Ward seemed to have an off day.

My target this season was 7th spot. So, we've more than achieved that. Bottom line its been a great season results wise. Performance wise even better. As the season progressed and we settled in 4th spot I became increasingly optimistic that we could finish there. I never thought, at any stage, that a title challenge was even a remote possibility. Ambition wise, that left a top 3 finish, and I always felt that was extremely remote and is now well outwith our grasp. My disappointment at Dens was our chance to win our game in hand and pretty much seal a 4th place finish and we failed. To put things in perspective, this is JBA's first season in charge and he's introduced a completely alien way of playing. I've been surprised at just how well the squad adapted. Our possession stats rocketed and just look at the number of clean sheets we achieved - unheard of in my time. Its the best football I've seen from us since I was a young lad i.e. the latter days of the Ancell era. Is it the best Motherwell team I've seen? No. The team of the mid 70s, which won nothing, was a better all round team. Why am I questioning our mentality in big games? Rangers in 2 home games; Hearts at Tynecastle where we blew a 3 goal lead; 2 losses at Parkhead; League Cup Semi Final defeat to St Mirren; Aberdeen loss in the Scottish Cup; and Dundee at Dens. Now I'm not saying that all of that was down to our mentaility because it wasn't. JBA settling in tactics wise; poor refereeing/VAR; and sheer bad luck have all played a part, but lack of that hard mentality has been a theme running through these games. As I'm finishing this post, I've just read Thewellfan's post. To crib from him/her our away form has been fair at best. Our possession stats haven't always translated into hard goals and results. We are where we are and I'm more than happy with that. I'm confident these weaknesses will be rectiifed in time for next season. Apologies for the rant and straying off topic.

The 2 home games against Hibs and Falkirk are absolutely critical to finishing 4th. I can't see us winning both games. From that lot I can see us picking up maybe 6 or 7 points. Thats not to say, of course, that we still won't finish 4th. Hibs may well pip us at the post, but they're not perfect either as their failure to beat Livingston yesterday shows.

Not for us though. They'll be sweating in Paisley tonight!