Kmcalpin

Agreed. A very useful lesson today I just hope its taken on board. To bang Ya Beezer!'s drum, for once, its highlighted that we badly need to bolster the defence and defensive midfield. Its no use standing still because our immediate rivals certainly won't. To those who bemoan our paltry budget and say its very difficult to source decent players just look at Livingston, who achieved a goalless draw at Parkhead yesterday and have conceded 10 less goals than us so far. Irrespective of impending big changes in midfield and up front we simply can't afford not to strengthen at the back.

Pretty much my take on it. Despite a fairly bright early period (in which we looked toothless up front) things just didn't seem right defensively as soon as the game kicked off. Overall Sevco deserved their 3-0 victory and truth be told it would have been far more if they'd punished us for all our defensive blunders and general defensive weakness. They weren't great up front but were a class above us in defence and in midfield. They worked far harder off the ball than we did and showed us no respect whatsover. Early doors we left too many gaps and simply didn't pressurise them when they had possession. Covering and marking was abysmal. We never looked comfortable with their high pressing game. The blunders, of which there must have been at least 8 or 9, were just one part of our game. We looked devoid of confidence and s**t scared of our opponents and defended far too deep. I just wonder if Gillespie was fully fit - hence the high number of poor throw outs. Attacking wise we began brightly and created several chances but just didn't have the ability to convert them. Main, despite being strong, was outmuscled by bigger guys and failed to make much impact. This type of line up just doesn't suit him. I was puzzled by the substitutions, although I agree they were required. If you're a few goals down why play without a striker? Scott should have been on sooner like half time and I'm afraid Frear is just too lightweight and made no impression. Tactics wise teams now have us sussed and we need a change of plan. Some positives though. In this kind of game its great to avoid red cards and injuries and we did. We were also matched against one of the best teams in Scotland and hopefully will have learnt more about our shortcomings. Again not so much about ability, but more about attitude, work rate and reliability. Nick Walsh? Shocking performance throughout.

It wouldn't be my priority but yes we could strengthen the defence. Our goalies are just fine. The central defence though lacks a bit of height as we've seen in recent games, but I think that the potential signing of Declan Gallagher will rectify that. The defence still requires better screening as we saw on Wednesday night but that might be down to Gorrin's absence and Campbell's inexperience. Left back? I'm coming round to your way of thinking in that we required an out and out left back.

At the time there was fair bit of debate about this on the media and in social media. Almost all non Rangers/Sevco fans referred to the new club as Sevco or something similar. Very quickly however media pundits, especially on the BBC began routinely referring to them as Rangers, a club with a continuous history. This was quite a sea change and very noticeable at the time. It later transpired that the BBC Trust had instructed its employees to do this. Debate was quickly quashed.

No real shocks. I suspected that we'd play Accies early to avoid a potential "relegation" party. Sorry sbcmfc.

Sevco will have do without Morelos and Kent who are both banned. No further word yet about Mark Gillespie, who allegedly has a dead leg.

I think we'll need at least one striker, depending on who moves on. Newell and Sammon will definitely leave. Johnson and Main may do so. That would only leave the relatively raw but promising James Scott.

Time now to kick this topic off.

Maybe time to start a 2019-20 Rebuild thread.

Yes, maybe aimed more at others, some of whom are not getting a game (ref Pie and Bovril). We have quite a few players who are likely to move on in the summer.

I no great fan of the SPFL but as usual I suspect that the TV companies and Police will delay matters. As Sinjy says the Celtic/Sevco game will determine other fixtures.

Interesting post match comments from Robbo (Ref: Casagolda and Captain Oats on P & B). He said that our play in the final third wasn't good enough but also said that any player with his eyes on other things (or words to that effect) wouldn't be selected post split. Presumably that comment referred to those moving on, of which there could be a few. Agree with Superward about McHugh. I'm not anti McHugh as he's done a decent job for us in the past but for me he's more suited to central defence and is limited in midfield.

Just watched the TV highlights. On admittedly limited evidence, Aberdeen seemed to outbattle our midfield. Their first goal was a fluke but the second was down to us defending too deeply and the third down to poor defensive cover. Hastie took his goal well but what a pass from Tait! Hopefully lessons will be learnt. Just hope too that Mark Gillespie is ok. He's done really well this season.

I suppose it depends on how the management rate Rohan Ferguson. Don't know much about him at all.

Tonight's results were pretty much as I expected and I don't envisage any further change in bottom six league positions or points totals before the split. If we go into the break a point behind St Johnstone and 2 in front of Livingston I'll be content. Our recent away form has been poor losing 3 out of 4 games, scoring 2 and losing 9 in the process. I assume that Gorrin was being rested and that change would have upset our midfield balance. Disappointing tonight to lose Gillespie and I just hope his injury isn't too bad. On the bright side, a chance to assess Rohan Ferguson, albeit for a short time, in a competitive but ultimately meaningless, fixture.

Probably. After the last game or two Gorrin has had his knee in an ice pack.

No cause for complaint certainly, as they played within the rules, but Hearts did field a far more experienced side. Their starting eleven had 189 Premiership appearances behind them compared to our 35. Edwards (112) and Morrison (25) as opposed to Donnelly (6) and Johnson (25). Their average age was about a year older than our lads. As others say its the system thats wrong.

By the looks of things Hearts fielded a more experienced side than we did and that may have contributed to the outcome.

Presumably we will be awarded 3 home games and 2 away to balance fixtures out. We're then due to meet Dundee and St Mirren at home and Accies, Livingston and St Johnstone away. So, it would seem that one of the latter three will travel to Fir Park to make up our 19 home games. Thats the theory anyway.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that Carl McHugh wants to return south at the end of his contract and that Alan Burrows has quashed any chance of us holding onto Ariyibi.

I don't get the chance to watch our reserves/Under 20s so I can only presume you're referring to the likes of Liam Brown?

You could well be right. I think the defence will be pretty much ok, its the midfield and strikers where we might see most movement. Up front Sammon will definitely move on as will George Newell. Danny Johnson has a year left but looks to be out of favour and doesn't suit our current playing style, so could be moved on. Curtis Main is out of contract and I suspect he'll move on. So we could be looking a completely new stikeforce with a still raw James Scott waiting on his chance. In midfield its possible that quite a few from Cadden, Frear, Turnbull, Gorrin, Campbell, McHugh and Hastie will move on. I think this will be the area of biggest change for us. So it might be prudent to give a promising and talented youngster like Reece McAlear some time on the bench before the season comes to an end. As always time will tell.

Did Saints not win the toss? I agree that the sun is an unlikely explanation.

We just deserved to win yesterday, but perhaps not by 3-0. St Johnstone surprised a few of us by parking their bus and defending in depth, presumably setting out for a draw. Credit to them they'd done their homework as I knew they would and they defended exceedingly well and high up the pitch. They hassled, got in our faces and closed us down. Thats where the plaudits, if I may call them that, end though. They were cynical and set out to nullify us at all costs. Their intentions were clear from the kick off as they conceded 2 fouls in the first 90 seconds. I was wrong in thinking that they'd double up on our wingers they trebled up on them. Their attacking intentions were limited to set pieces and the odd breakaway, fuelled , in part by our careless passing. Not surprisingly we struggled to break them down and showed a lack of creativity. Oddly ,we played the long high ball too often and this played straight into Saints' hands as they highlighted our vulnerability at high balls. Had the tractormen scored first with the penalty or otherwise it would have been a very different game. This pattern pretty much continued until our inspired substitutions about halfway though the half. The introduction of Cadden and Frear turned the game in our favour and we scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes. We also started to play decent football. Despite his long lay off Cadden looked fresh. Robbo will want to learn lessons from the game. In particular, we still lacked a bit of penetration and we were vulnerable in the air. A good win though which allowed us to leapfrog Saints, at least for the time being. I thought Euan Anderson had a poor game throughout and was far too lenient with Saints' cynical and niggly approach and allowed himself to be conned all too often. Davidson and Kane were the main beneficiaries of his generosity. Having just watched the TV Highlights I'm sure he blundered badly by awarding the penalty. Kane and the other Saints player collided and went down and whilst Gorrin may have made very slight contact it was never a penalty and they should be hauled up for simulation, but we all know that won't happen. What is it with us & St Johnstone and wrong penalty decisions?? Still a good day at the office and we're safe from relegation in 7th place.

The opposition. I accept that if it happens once it could be pure chance, but when it happens twice and involving teams like Accies and St Johnstone it looks like a very strange coincidence.