Kmcalpin

Not the BBC then!

Agreed but we mustn't neglect our flanks either. We need to guard them closely and prevent unnecessary crosses and incursions into the box.

Yes. Hopefully Grimshaw and Donnelly will return and Polworth is passed fit. Midfield will be critical and Donnelly and Campbell will need to be at their defensive and competitive best. If fit, this is a great opportunity for Liam Polworth to prove that he can turn on his undoubted talent in a big game. Central defence is a worry. I have no fears about big Declan but who should partner him? Aberdeen will not be as wasteful as Dundee were last Saturday and if we are are careless we'll lose a goal or two.

We could not afford his wages of over £4k per week. United blew other suitors out of the water.

You must like dirty hammer throwers too Geoff.

Some decent discussion on P & B just now about our striking options or rather lack of them. I could not put it better than "Casagolda" has done and have copied his post over; hopefully he/she won't object. "Massive fan of Long but his game is about pace and movement- see the 2nd goal on Saturday. When we’re on the back foot, he has a tendency to almost switch off and drift out the game. We could do with a forward who has a bit more experience and a bit of a physical presence. Cole was probably the pick of the bunch and we’ve replaced him with yet another inexperienced winger. It’s a huge ask to go through the rest of the season with Long as our only senior striker. He’s scored 5 of our last 8 goals and if anything happens to him, we’re humped." This weakness was very evident in the Accies game and also for a 20 minute spell on Saturday. We need someone, and reasoanbly quickly, with the physicality and experience to hold the ball up and take some pressure off the struggling midfield and defence.

Thats about it. Another away tie against Premiership opposition. It would've been nice to get an easier team for once.

Very true. Hopefully a lot of lessons to be learnt last night, both short and long term. It was a cup tie, we scored 3 goals, kept a clean sheet and deservedly progressed. Job done. Oh and a hat trick as well. That about sums it up for me. Some other positives like Long's hat trick, and good performances by Gallagher and in the main by Campbell. The loss of Hylton and Polworth did disrupt our play and I hope they didn't suffer anything too serious. I'd love to hang onto Long and pair him with an experienced No 9. Some negatives too though that should surely concern Robbo. Our defence, Gallagher apart was awful and a better team, as Ya Beezer says would have taken goals off us. From start to finish our 2 full backs gave the Dundee flankers far too much room and allowed them far too many unhindered crosses and free entry into our box (thankfully they were toothless up front). Hartley's passing was a bombscare all evening. Gillespie had one amazing save from a short range shot that was swerving all over the place, and flapped at one cross, but in general didn't have a lot to do. His distribution was poor. Midfield was ok in spells. Campbell played very well but disappeared for a 20 minute spell after half time when Dundee were all over us. Donnelly helped to steady the ship when he came on. O'Hara - not a bad player but not in our team (see Captain Oats' comments on P & B). Seedorf - oh dear. James Scott still has a lot to learn and at the moment probably doesn't quite deserve a regular starting slot. We were quite clinical against a strong Dundee team (on paper), but our alarming slump in the first part of the 2nd 45 was reminiscent of the Accies game. Had Dundee scored then we would have been in serious trouble. Once we scored the 3rd goal Dundee folded. A good boisterous, well lubricated, support but a shocking home attendance. I'd guess unofficially we'd have just over 50% of the total attendance. Thanks to Joe Wark the Legend for arranging secure local parking for our cars. Excellent turnout from the Fife & Tayside club. Hope the East of Scotland boys had a good time last night.

Still a few players out of contract this summer most notably Dunne, Hartley, Tait and Long. Of these 4 we only know that Long has been offered a new deal, and thats justified. Dunne maybe? I wouldn't be in any rush to extend deals for Tait and Hartley though. On last night's evidence we still badly need an old fashioned centre forward to hold the ball up.

Long for me although Gallagher was a strong contender. Campbell had a decent game too but went missing for a 20 minute spell in the second half when Dundee were on top.

Agreed Iain. Its worrying though that Donnelly might miss the closing stages especially if Dundee are throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at us. I'm not wholly convinced of him but we don't have any other 100% defensive midfielder. O'Hara is not a defensive player. Lets hope the team is 100% fit and up for a cup tie battle.

Yes.

Any team news in advance of Saturday? Will clearance have arrived in time for Ndjoli to join the squad? Is Donnelly still injured?

I agree that a striker should be our number 1 priority but I'm still concerned at at our lack of cover in central midfield. Yes, we have plenty of bodies who can play in central midfield but how many of them can play well in a defensive role? I'm not 100% convinced of Donnelly but he's the best we have and there's no-one to fill in for him when he's out as we've discovered to our cost several times. its quite a large squad that we have but slightly unbalanced in some areas.

Not much wrong with that sentiment in theory but I don't think we have any up and coming strikers in the youth ranks. others may know different, as I don't get to watch the youngsters. Jamie Semple was a striker now converted to midfield, but I wouldn't have thought he'd fit the bill for the vacant role. As far as Declan Gallagher is concerned this media rumour won't surprise any of us. At 28 he's due a chance to better himself but maybe not this window and certainly not at £500K. If that is indeed the figure we're looking for then we're seriously underselling ourselves.

Time will tell as they say. We've heard this line before as Robbo doesn't like to broadcast his intentions to rivals. We are very short up front and James Scott is not ready to play through the middle yet. If we are serious about retaining 4th place, never mind securing 3rd we have, as Spiderpig points out, got to strengthen our striking department.

So I noticed Andy so that should help but it would be nice to be allocated a bit of space rather than being crammed in whilst large swathes of nearby seats are taped off.

Hopefully Dundee will allow us a bit of space in their Shankly Stand rather than packing us in like sardines in a very restricted area. Not holding my breath though.

As I undersand it, we had sufficient cash to bring in a striker last summer, if the right man became available. Given that we didn't and we're now several months further on surely that "reserved" sum will have grown slightly?

If that's at least 3 of us, and I mainly use a PC, then there's a problem.

As you say Andy good news. If, as seems likely, Gillespie moves on that might save a decent wage if we sign/re-sign a promising keeper like Ferguson. I have the same problem as you with the Official site. It just doesn't load. I've given up trying to use it.

I seem to recall that £600k was mentioned in some context but Oxford couldn't afford that. Maybe they've suddenly come into some cash?

I agree with Frazzie over this. A loophole is being exploited. As far as Bosman is concerned, the effect on clubs has not been equal. In general larger clubs have benefitted and smaller clubs have lost out. Larger clubs can afford to hand out 3 or 4 year contracts, whereas smaller clubs can't. Its very unusual for large clubs to lose their good players for nothing.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Would Oxford have stumped up even £600K to us? No chance.

You're on the wind up Jim. Haha. I suspect that the SFA is on holday so no official transfer business can be done