Kmcalpin

It wasn't foul play, let alone serious foul play. Don't believe all you read in the media. As an aside how do we know the Compliance Officer is investigating? Has she issued a note of complaint? If not, has there been some kind of leak to the media or indeed has someone from the media raised the issue with her? All said and done though, Peter Hartley should not have made these comments.

I agree with most of what you say Weeyin, but not this. A foul is a foul and if Johnson is deliberately elbowed in the face I will most certainly be complaining. Its a ref's job to remain impartial but we all know they aren't when it comes to Celtic & Sevco. Bowman's elbow on the Rangers' player wasn't a foul, although it was reckless. Hartley's comment, inadvisable though it was, almost came as result of a loaded question, as Andy P says. As it is, Hartley has given Craig Thomson more leeway to make poor decisions, although he won't require it.

Absolutely. If we play both Gorrin & Bigi the defence will take a roasting. Of the two, Gorrin looks to be slightly more of an all rounder. I agree that Main & Johnson should start.

Like many others, I got a bit of a shock when it turned out that he hadn't retired after all. As far as I know our club made polite noises through the proper channels last season about his performances, unlike Celtic and Sevco who use their pet redtops to blast their complaints to all who all who want to hear and those who don't. This appointment in a relatively high profile game seems to me to be a clear and blunt GIRFUY message from the SFA to us to put us firmly in our place.

Final score 2-0. Maybe being pedantic but was this not our reserves playing today, although it was a young team. Do we still have an under 20s side?

I agree about Sammon but Main, although powerfully built, is "only" 5-10 or so, not especially tall for a striker.

All our strikers are a bit different but only time will tell if they're different enough. In the end it'll all be about the right combination. Bowman is an out and out target man. Johnson is more of a goalscorer in the Louis Moult or maybe even Dougie Arnott style. They're poles apart in terms of style. Main is somewhere in between. Sammon - I haven't quite got to grips with yet but he certainly isn't a target man despite his build - give him time.

Just shows how we see things differently. I thought he had a very good game on Saturday ably assisted by Aldred and McHugh. Not back to his best yet though. The fact that Carson, in goal, had little to do for much of the game was largely down to Hartley and his colleagues, not our midfield screen, which left them somewhat exposed.

I was referring to the midfield Andy. Yes, we were far more creative and tried to play football which was encouraging and delighted those around me. So that was a clear positive. We created far more chances than of late and our ball retention was vastly better than it has been. Up to about the 60 minute mark they also supported the strikers very well. On the debit side we lacked a bit of muscle and defensive capability and lost a few more 50/50s than I was comfortable with. Also defensively the midfield as a unit gave Livingston far too much room; didn't work hard enough off the ball and left the back 3 exposed. Fortunately, Livingston were pretty toothless up front and Hartley and co. were in fine form. In the second half Bigi and Gorrin disappeared a bit as they unsurprisingly ran out of steam. When Allan Campbell came on he brought with him fresh legs and a much needed competitve edge. I doubt very much if the manager would have played that midfield combination had he had fewer injuries. Unlikely that he'd play Gorrin and Bigi together. To be fair to both lads they didn't look fully fit or match fit but they'll come on and they both have far more to give. Overall the midfield was what it was - creative and effective on the ball but lightweight and defensively suspect. I think Bigi and Gorrin showed they have what it takes to retain one starting place between them and I look forward to them both being fully fit. I haven't mentioned Andy Rose much but there was a lot resting on his shoulders yesterday and he had a reasonable game doing a lot of dirty spade work.

Encouraging to see Hartley coming back to form despite having a difficult afternoon.

Johnson was rightly taken off as he was knackered.

Main followed by Hartley for me. Main was one of the few players who kept going for the 90 minutes.

Absolutely. First and foremost job done and we progress to the next round. Overall we deserved the win and registered a clean sheet too. First half we started off very shakily and almost lost a goal or two but gradually we imposed ourselves and created a few chances and ultimately scored what proved to be the winning goal. Livi maybe outmusceld us but we played what little football was on display. We looked far better on the ball than off it. The midfield created chances, which it hasn't been doing and tried to play football on an horrific pitch. Not blistering stuff but they tried. Defensively though they left the defence exposed and a better side would have punished us. Still we played to our strengths. The second half was a non event. We sat back and parked the bus and Livi imposed themselves on the game but we stayed the course and the rearguard protected Carson pretty well as Livi looked toothless. They had plenty of pressure; they outcompeted us, but ultimately had a lack of quality up front. Although the midfield was somewhat unbalanced, the likes of Gorrin and Bigi proved they can play football on the deck and will improve with more game time. Johnson played well and Main looks to be regaining his sharpness. The pitch was awful as illustrated by a glorious pass from Rose to Main. The latter anticipated it and ran on only to find the ball had hit the surface behind him and stopped stone dead, making him look silly. Willie Collum gave us nothing all day but thankfully didn't make any major howlers. Finally a class gesture by Richard Tait for coming into the stand in front of us and checking on the youngster who was hit by the ball.

Exactly Iain.

A word of warning to everyone going along to the game today. Don't expect a classic football match as you'll be disappointed. Given our direct style of play and the plastic pitch it won't be a classic. I'm going along to see us progress by almost any means possible.......great goals, refereeing errors, deflections, good luck whatever.

I have some unpleasant news for you .......its never ever going to be spot on. Never. No manager ever gets its spot on. All you can hope for is that a manager gets most of them right. Its far too early to judge our new signings. Some have hardly played and others are nowhere near match fit. Give them a chance, please. I'm far from being an optimist or happy clappy fan, but I'm genuinely surprised by the negativity at the moment. As always our first priority is to avoid relegation and off the field its to repay our debts to Les and John Boyle, which we're doing. Once we've achieved that then we can move on and really improve the squad. So, for me the issue of whether we play so called "hoofball" or not is largely, but not entirely irrelevant. Yes, I'd prefer us to play better football. Still, I understand that folk go to our games for different reasons. Each to their own.

Seems we have quite a few injuries ahead of the game tomorrow. Tanner, Dunne, Bowman, Newell, Donnelly, Cadden and Grimshaw. Our squad doesn't look quite so big now. As for Bigi, I've always said that there was reason why Bigi didn't feature last season and not just because of the popular line that "Robbo doesn't like creative players". Robbo knew what kind of player he was before we signed him. As his job, as manager, is on the line if we fail why would he not pick his strongest side as he sees it?

Yeh. Almondvale is easy to access from the M8; parking is relatively easy; and we haven't been there for a few years, unlike your Easter Roads, Tynecastles, NDPs, Rugby parks etc etc .

There are car parks to the north of Almondvale Boulevard (don't know if they're still free) and there are also parking spaces beside the various offices there too if you're early enough. You might be cheaper parking at McArthur Glen than forking out £4 at the ground which is a rip off.

I've never seen a decent game on a plastic pitch either but on Saturday the result will be all that matters. Teamwise lets hope that Tait is restored to the right side and that Johnson starts. Midfield? Perm any 5 from X amount. Looking forward to visiting Livingston again.

Our problem, as it was last season is trying to prise open packed deep lying defences. Against such teams if you score first you can then afford to sit back a bit and deploy fast runners to catch them on the counter attack. On Saturday we didn't have a clue how to open up Accies parked bus. We weren't able to hit the by line and didn't have the calibre of player to create meaningful chances for the strikers. Against such teams players like Frear and Cadden are of limited use. Who else could have deployed or could deploy in similar situations in the future? Possibly Johnson up front and maybe Gorrin and Turnbull in the middle. We can't rely on the likes of young Turnbull yet but he does have the ability to sling in precise crosses and set pieces. Lets hope that Livingston are confident for Saturday and have taken heart, but not learned lessons, from our defeat on Saturday. We'll have more of a chance if they feel able and confident enough to play an attacking game.

Thats not unusual this early in the season. Its usually the end of September for a first pick 11 to emerge. Its happened in years gone by and it'll happen again this time. To some extent strange selections and substitutions can be explained by the fitness, or lack of, of the new players coming in and injuries. They are not all at the same stage. For example I expected to see far more of Taylor-Sinclair, even although he has had a fitness mountain to climb. Many on here don't like the long ball game or "hoofball" as its now being termed. I have no problem with it whatsoever providing that its effective but the problem is that currently its not effective. We don't seem to have the strikers with the aerial ability to play it well or the midfielders to provide the appropriate ammunition. We also seem to have deserted the energetic pressing game of last season.

Next up Livingston on Saturday. We're clearly not good enough right now to play our own game and will have to adapt to play Livi on their plastic pitch. Does anyone know what kind of team they are; or were last season? A big performance and result are a must. No ifs and buts.

I agree with a lot of that Iain. Its worth pointing out, as Steelboy has done, that of the team who started yesterday only one, Sammon, wasn't with us last term. The two new lads played a grand total of 40 minutes when they were brought on. In the main its the established players who aren't doing it, for various reasons. As for Alan Campbell, he's one of my favourites in the squad, but yesterday he just wasn't up to it. When he was subbed, the guy next to me said, rightly, that he hadn't been involved in the game and had done nothing. Most unlike him. I just wonder if he was fit? Yes we need a performance and soon to kick start our season.

A morale sapping defeat yesteday but we can take 2 positives from such a match...no one carried off and no one stretchered off. Despite having some new players, Accies played exactly how we have come to expect them to - very combative and streetwise. As the game wore on into the second half and we bored the Accies keeper through inactivity it became more and more likely that they'd snatch the winner and so it came to pass. We've seen this type of game at Fir Park countless times before. I think Robbo made some critical errors in team selection and tactics especially in midfield and up front. Cadden was wasted at right wing back; it just wasn't Rose's type of game; Johnson ought to have started and Sammon was misused as an out and out target man which he isn't. I'd like to have seen Frear start, when his pace might have been slightly more useful. Substitutions were odd although I understand why Rose and Campbell were hooked. As for the players, no one single player was to blame lets make that clear. However as Mintymac says they were all worth maybe 4 or 5 out of 10 individually. We certainly missed the pace of Dunne and Kipre at the back and the latter's physique was sorely missed. McHugh was no worse overall than Hartley and Aldred at the back but lost a helluva lot of headers in the first half. The combination there just didn't seem right. Midfield was where our real problems lay. The mix of players wasn't right. Players who can charge up and down the park like Cadden and Rose aren't much use against a deep lying defensive formation and so it proved. Campbell was not his usual combative self at all and even shirked a couple of challenges. Not surprised when he was taken off. I agree with Mintymac about Bigi - and his expression "flattered to deceive" was exactly what I thought. Tried to play on the deck and, apart from a couple of flashes maybe, didn't actually do anything. Being fair though, perhaps he is not match fit. Main and Sammon were entitled to feel hard done by as the service they were given was crap no other word for it. The strikers then? I agree that Main and Sammon don't appear to play well together. Despite his size, Sammon is not a target man and likes the ball at his feet. So why pump high balls at him all day? Even with what poor service they were given both strikers were ineffective. Like Campbell, Sammon shirked a couple of 50/50s but maybe understandable given his relationship with the referee and Ziggy Gordon. Presumably Sammon was given a new shirt at half time and Gordon will be billed for the cost of damage. We could have played till next week and not scored. Despite enjoying the lion's share of possession we failed miserably to get decent crosses into the box (credit to Accies for denying us the space and time), let alone get efforts on target. Massive improvement needed next week in what's shaping up to be a crunch game. Someone please tell Robbo its a plastic pitch at Livingston and we have to adapt our game accordingly.