Kmcalpin

We were in the same boat. Despite having prepurchased tickets we had to wait in a general PATG queue; no when I think about it it wasn't a queue at all, just a general melee. I believe others queued up for over 20 minutes and missed kick off. Representations have been made by others to the club to pass on.

Had Kurtaz been rightfully shown a red card, the final 35 minutes or so would have been 10 V 10 and Accies would not have had it quite so comfortable. I recall Derek Adams being shown a red card in Perth for a slightly more minor indiscretion. Their playacting, diving and timewasting rattled me.

Yes, thats the one. Kurtaz lifted his hands to him and struck him in the face after play had stopped. Now thats a straight red card in my book. The referee should have ordered MacDonald off as he sustained a head knock but didn't. Skippy in fact went off voluntarily later to be checked by the doctor. I'm not saying he didn't make a meal of it, as he did. Lucas deserved to go for a two footed tackle but again Donati made a complete meal of it. He was so badly injured that he lasted the 90 minutes! The game was played in difficult conditions on a dodgy pitch so it was never going to be a classic. As to the game itself, our line up suggested a cautious conservative approach with little creativity in midfield and thats how it turned out. We were the better side until Lucas' dismissal but after that Accies had all of the pressure. For all their pressing however, Woods was by far the busier keeper. We dug in well and deserved our point. I felt sorry for both full backs as they had little cover in front of them. Despite playing a 4 man midfield we were very narrow. I was very impressed by McHugh who did well again after a lengthy lay off. Campbell too did well in a very difficult debut. He's a real terrier who is not afraid to get stuck in and his off the ball work was very impressive - chasing, harrying and hassling. Thats a quality we lack as team. However he didn't seem to be the most creative of players - time will tell. I'd like to see him in a better balanced midfield with at least one creative player alongside him. Unsurprisingly we played the long ball to, our strikers a little much to my liking but being a man down its excusable. All in all a deserved point against a streetwise Accies side who conned the ref a bit too often. It was gratifying to see Wood's blatant timewasting reap the reward it did. There's only one Louis Moult! We now enter a short break, with a cushion above 11th and 12th places, that should allow us to bring back some injured players and perhaps secure one or two new ones. Happy days!

Referee had a shocker. 2 stonewall and obvious red cards but he only awarded one. That had a huge influence on the course of the game.

I couldn't care less about odds as long as we do the business on the park and seize the 3 points. Each to their own though.

If there are 2 "vacancies" I'd imagine we will be looking at an attacking / creative central midfielder and an out and out left winger. Mark McGhee may have other ideas though.

Accies, as always will be a very tough nut to crack tomorrow. They'll give no quarter but will certainly expect it. Guys like Seabourne and Gillespie can dish it out so we shouldn't expect a classic. Hopefully we'll be up for it and if both teams play to their best we should collect a point if not 3. We'll need to watch Crawford on the edge of our box and make sure we don't allow him a clear sight of goals. The best means of doing this is to cut off his supply and also not concede free kicks on the edge of our box. Much too will depend on who is fit. The loss of Cadden would be a blow, Lasley less so. The problem spot will be left midfield. COYW

Is Scott McMann not also banned for his straight red on Tuesday evening?

From the way it was portrayed in the media I thought Fon Williams had Clay's shot well covered until the wind gave it a horrific swerve or dip. Neither set of highlights show this although the angles weren't good. From the admittedly limited evidence I tend to give Clay a bit more credit - however significant the swerve or dip was, it was a damn fine shot.

Yes, we'll take it. By all accounts though Inverness had some good fortune too. Did Ainsworth not hit woodwork and Cole was seemingly lucky to remain on the park. A very important result for us which will ensure we're not bottom at Hogmanay irrespective of the result at Hamilton. Credit to the management and players. Great to see Carl McHugh return and last a full game. A huge sigh of relief from me. Safe journey home for our fans.

Does anyone know about our long term injuries? Jacob Blyth: seemed to get injured early on; then out for a spell; back briefly with the Under 20s a month or two back. Hasn't been seen since. Joe Chalmers: seemingly had a groin injury a few months ago and due to have an operation. Hasn't been heard of since. Kieran Kennedy: apparently suffered from a nasty virus early in the season. Made a brief comeback a few months ago and hasn't been heard of since.

He didn't impress much either in his 45 minutes against Kilmarnock. Its hard to assess on his limited game time to date but decisions will have to be made soon.

You can also add Inverness, Ross County, St Johnstone, Partick and Kilmarnock (you beat me to it Superward) to that list although in a few of these cases its not by much. Most of them will be on similar budgets. While it would be great to bring in some really talented players I often think what we lack as much as anything are solid, reliable, hard working, no frills kind of players in central midfield and defence. The kind of players who can't make defence splitting passes but by the same token won't make many mistakes either. They play steadily week in week out without getting noticed. I know Inverness are having a hard time just now (hopefully even harder after tomorrow), but in recent years they have built up a reputation for successfully bringing in just this kind of player from English non league clubs. So, it can be done on a limited budget.

The bottom line is that it is a wish list, nothing more. I don't think for a minute it'll all come to pass, but hopefully it'll generate some discussion on here and we'll get an idea of posters' views. Football is all about opinions. There are many unknowns eg exactly how much cash is available right now or how much would be freed up by departures. Players may not want to leave or indeed join us. Other clubs may predate our best players and submit offers we can't refuse. Then there's the manager's views. Almost certainly he'll have different opinions from me. On top of that there'll be competition from other clubs. Last, but not least, deals can break down over contractual details. I fully understand that transfer dealings are a complicated business. All that said we cannot afford to enter February with the same squad, as it needs strengthening and quickly. Relegation for us would be catastrophic and the Directors have the unenviable task of balancing the financial cost of that against the costs of spending on new faces. Almost certainly we'll have been tracking players for months and I don't doubt there will be a surprise or two. January is a difficult window in which to do business and I don't think for a minute that we'll see activity on an Ian Baraclough scale.. Any player we bring in will need to hit the ground running.

Its obvious to most of us that we require some fresh faces next month. I'm not in favour of the January shutdown but on this occasion it may just help us. Money, of course, will be tight and the more players we can ship out the better. Its totally dependent of course on other clubs wanting our players and the players themselves being amenable to a move. Here's my initial thoughts. Loan out Hammell or Chalmers; Laing, Campbell, Thomas, Mackin, Moore and a keeper. Release Lucas. Sell Ainsworth (if possible) Bring in: a wide left midfielder/winger, 2 central midfielders including one box to box/creative type, and a new goalie. Some of these of course could be on loan. We also need a bit of pace and some competitive/combative characters. McHugh is a bit of an unknown. He alone won't be our saviour but he looks as though he'll add some steel to our defensive shield. Pearo? Time will tell. Thats my Christmas wish list.

Just watched the TV highlights and its oversimplistic and unfair to blame Samson for everything that went wrong last night. Yes, he made a blunder at the first goal but Tait was well out of position at Heneghan's error. No cover in the middle either. The second was never a penalty but again our midfield was AWOL. For Aberdeen's third where was our defensive midfield that allowed McGinn all the time and space he wanted to pick his spot? Our defensive record is poor right now but its not just the keeper whos at fault. He is the last line of defence but is receiving precious little in the way of cover.

I agree with much that you write but not all. Our game in hand is at Pittodrie and I don't hold out much hope of picking up anything there, on current form. The game tonight was always going to attract a poor crowd but it was better than Kilmarnock or Ross County managed. It was also on TV. You're on the money about central midfield and thats a weakness that should have rectified years ago but wasn't.

We've arguably got the weakest midfield in the league, Cadden apart. We don't have a single decent central midfielder (maybe McHugh?) and we don't have a left sided midfielder. Both full backs (Hammell and Tait) are decent going forward but poor defensively. Our keeper is not Premiership standard. Yes we do have some talent in the squad ie Ainsworth but that isn't enough that has to be married to character. All in all this is why we are doing so poorly. The midfield needs a complete overall next month or we are in serious trouble.

Have we got a midfield tonight?

Yes there was. I think it was something along the lines of in the distant past he had to catch a train and a bus to get to games.

Its with deep sadness that I have to tell you that "Trainbus" (Colin Smith) has passed away. Colin was a member of the Fife & Tayside Supporters Club and was our Treasurer for a number of years. Although only in his early fifties, he had bravely fought serious illness for some years. He was big in stature and personality and will be very sorely missed by us all. A great guy. Condolences to his family including his wife Sandra. RIP Colin.

I'd imagine so yes. No doubt there'd be the usual arm twisting and horse trading behind closed doors though. Club A "If you vote for this then we'll agree to change X or we'll give you Y".

Good post. Healthy competition is fine in my book and parents can decide where to send their mini Messis. Hopefully it would encourage clubs of all sizes to upgrade their facilities and generally improve the standard of youth coaching. The problem is however that cash may be limited and the more that goes to smaller clubs the less can go to bigger clubs. I agree change is due but this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. The way things have been organised so far however has/will led to unhealthy competition. There is a very real danger that the 8 potentially elite clubs, in addition to upgrading their own facilities, will seek to actively undermine competing clubs' claims. Now thats unhealthy. The members of the existing committee will possibly change the goalposts if a competing club is in danger of meeting all the necessary criteria for entry to the top 8. Our club has been made aware of that possibility. Instead the committee, whatever its called, should have been selected from independent members with no vested interests. I have little doubt that if this flawed scheme goes ahead as is, there could well be a legal challenge from a number of clubs left out in the cold.

It will be a poor crowd on Friday due to a number of factors - televised game; predicted poor weather; 2 days before Christmas and a night out on the lash for some. That said, i don't know if the attendance would be much better if the match was to be played on Saturday. A lot of the problem over the entire season is this daft "winter break" which means fixtures have had to be shoehorned in to a shorter timespan.

Totally agree. Did Willie Collum not give a penalty against us in an Aberdeen game a couple of years ago? Someone blasted the ball against Stephen McManus's hand at point blank range - penalty awarded and McManus sent off (red card later rescinded). There was also a clearer claim on Saturday when a defender gave Moult a full blooded push in the small of his back just as he was about to connect with the ball. I can also recall a penalty given against us at McDiarmid Park due to Stephen Craigan "facing the wrong way" at a corner kick. Add to that 3 good goals wrongly chalked off this season already. No conspiracy theory from me but as you say we're not getting the run of the green just now.