Kmcalpin

We'll be heading off for the game in the next hour or so. The injury list seems pretty much the same as last week but you can never really tell until the team is announced. Hopefully tonight our midfield will put in a performance lasting more than half an hour. This will be a critical area of the field for us. COYW.

The entire issue of safety and fan behaviour at football grounds is riddled with inconsistency and vested interests. As far as the cup final was concerned we had an absurd situation of one of our 2 footballing authorities investigating itself - with totally unsurprising conclusions coming from the report. Furthermore the legal representative of one of these bodies was engaged to fight the corner of one of the clubs against the other body. Bizarre or what? Going back to the end of last season, we had 4 games which involved pitch invasions, with one club even encouraging fans onto the pitch and yet nothing was said about them. As far as our own club was concerned it was taken to task over a number of issues including inadequate stewarding (not an issue at last season's cup final obviously). As most of you know the bible on this is the Green Book. Our club not only adhered to the level of stewarding set out in these guidelines but indeed doubled it. Despite this, the SPFL kangaroo court deemed it to be inadequate. I've never ever come across another organisation taken to task for doing something which was well in excess of the agreed industry standard. The Scottish Government has just said that its concerned at the lack of outcomes from the Cup Final Inquiry. Thats all very well and good but if it does take things further it might have to face up to very controversial and uncomfortable issues that have dogged our game in Scotland for years, unless it does so at arms length, which Scottish and UK governments tend to do.

Its difficult to make much sense of that to be honest as its certainly not written in plain english. However, I have yet to establish how Rangers were held to account for the behaviour of their fans at Fir Park ie throwing missiles, including ripped out seats onto the pitch, albeit under provocation. Again as far as Rangers were concerned what steps did the club take to identify those who indulged in sectarian singing at the cup final? Once again complete inconsistency from the authorities.

It was more complex and wide ranging than that. If I recall the main charge was that we were deemed to have taken insufficient action to prevent fans from running onto the park (work that one out if you can) and allowing an untrained steward to extinguish a smoke bomb; and a range of other issues.

Certainly blatant double standards here. The footballing authorities' inconsistent treatment of the issue of fans behaviour and strict liability is nothing short of short of shocking and unacceptable.

Was he pressurised to play? Some managers don't like players who play it safe with injuries.

"Every Scots football fan loves Partick Thistle" - quote from BBC about 10 years ago. It stuck in my memory.

OK, but where do you play him given that Cadden plays "widish" right?

This has been a very frustrating feature of our play for quite some time now and it leaves our defence, including the keeper, very exposed. Why? I suspect its a combination of tactics and the way our midfielders play. I never like to see our midfield defend deeply as any mistake can be costly and leaves defenders only limited time to react and recover. It also leaves Samson exposed to an unchallenged potshot from the edge of the box - Edwards yesterday? We do lack a mobile hard tackling defensive midfielder, someone to delay opponents attacks until we're organised at the back; get in their faces and close them down. If we had someone like that it would take the pressure of our defenders and cut down the likelihood of mistakes. We can but hope.

Pretty much agree with this. Its often a significant contributory factor when the strikers don't do much or the defence is having an off day. Admittedly McHugh's injury has affected us but the midfield just doesn't seem right in terms of balance or personnel. I like Cadden and I'd exempt him from criticism. However with the exception of right sided Ainsworth and the "Jury's still out" Thomas we have no width, especially on the left hand side. Chalmers is more of a defensive player and you could argue he's due a run at left back. In the middle, Clay although a decent all rounder, sits very deep and lacks pace whilst the committed Lasley lacks pace and is 37. We don't yet know much about Belic or Lucas. Maybe Pearo will return at the turn of the year? In short we lack a left winger; lack pace in central midfield; and lack an out and out attacking midfielder. The engine room doesn't seem capable of lasting for more than 30 minutes. The balance just isn't right. That said, we must be doing something right if we can get draws at Dingwall and Firhill and beat Accies at home.

Just watched the TV highlights - a few observations. A shocking pass by Hammell for Thistle's goal but I don't think Samson can be apportioned blame - he's on a hiding to nothing. I can't see why MacDonald's first "goal" was chalked off - he was clearly onside. So, although there's much talk about us being lucky Thistle also benefitted from a slice of good luck. As the Captain said, Tait's cross for the goal was an absolute peach. From admittedly brief clips it seems as though our midfield wasn't competitive enough. Still an away point isn't a bad result.

I wasn't at the game but it sounds as though our midfield was outfought and outplayed again. Although the strikers seemed ineffective was it down to lack of service?

No need to tell us about parking in streets near Fir Park as we've attended games there for decades. Most of us were also brought up in these very streets. The cost to us per head per game is about 50p and how we choose to spend our money is our concern. By way of comparison, we don't indulge in pre match drinks before games for example, unlike many fans (thats their right and their own business) - how much beer or spirits do you think they would get if they asked for 50p's worth before a match in a local hostelry? Unlike donations to local publicans, who benefit from MFC's support but don't put much if anything back in return, our cash goes to the club and doesn't line third parties' pockets. Presumably you also think that buying a weekly lottery ticket for example is a sign of reckless financial extravagance? Our money is our concern not yours and how we choose to spend it is our business. You have no idea about our finances and its of no concern to you. However I don't think spending 50p or thereabouts per home game on parking is throwing money about. We also have other reasons for parking where we do but I'm not prepared to discuss them in a public forum. How people spend their hard earned cash is up to them - live and let live I say.

Would you care to explain???

Just for the record I don't but I'd be ever so slightly put out if someone nearby did and the driver drove his vehicle at me or mine. Footballers are only human and I don't see the harm in "low level" banter but some of these chants are in bad taste. There's still no excuse for belting the ball at the crowd though.

I don't think that its a good idea for anyone to be smacked in the face irrespective of age but yes, perhaps some of us have overplayed the children argument. I agree that there will always be a risk of being hit accidentally by a ball in stadia and yes, sometimes the authorities do go overboard on H & S. However I draw the line at a player deliberately smacking the ball at fans - that is tantamount to assault in my book. All of us walk along pavements and roads and we accept that there's a risk of being hit accidentally by a vehicle but we don't expect to be deliberately targeted by drivers.

No, we buy a "season ticket" there every season. It costs £60.

I agree up to a point, that football needs characters. However, although you are commendably philosophical about the Dougie Imries of the world blasting the ball at you the folk sitting next to, in front of, or behind you might not agree, especially if they have young children in tow. I doubt these players could ensure 100% accuracy! Maybe the club should set up a section where fans who don't mind being target practice for the Dougie Imries can sit away from others who do mind. Just joking of course. No fan should be a physical target for wound up players. Fans aren't blameless however as you say.

I remember years ago, Stevie Kirk was investigated by the Police for a similar incident against Hearts when he booted the ball into the crowd with some force but that was entirely accidental and rightly, no further action was taken.

Mark McGhee did the business today as evidenced by the result but the whilst Accies substitutions aided their cause, the introduction of Ainsworth had the opposite effect for us. I agree that it was right to take a tired Moult off but surely the introduction of someone like Lucas or even Thomas would have been more beneficial. As has been proved in the past, Ainsworth just can't play on the left wing and when he came on he contributed nothing.

A good summing up for me. A great morale boosting win but we did make it unnecessarily hard for ourselves. For the first 35 minutes or so we blew Accies away and played some scintillating and clinical football. Moult, Cadden Bowman and Clay all stood out. However for the last 10 minutes before the break we took our foot off the gas as Accies fought doggedly to seize control of midfield and they didn't relinquish that until forced to do so by the final whistle. We defended far too deeply and gave them the freedom of Fir Park to showcase their talents and the impressive Crawford was very grateful for that. Over the piece, I thought Moult was MOTM for his 4 goals and impressive forward play. Bowman too put in a good shift and seemed to work well with Moult. I felt a bit sorry for MacDonald as he was played a bit deeper than he likes and was less effective as a result. Cadden too had a good game and provided an outlet through his surging runs. Both full backs, especially Tait were poor and Accies capitalised on that and made life difficult for our central defenders. I thought we'd struggle in midfield and so we did. Although Clay was impressive in the first half hour he inexplicably faded badly after that and in the second 45 was often caught in possession by the terrier like Accies engine room. Lasley disappeared without trace. I appreciate that part of this was down to tactics but we really do need a more combative and creative midfield who can compete and last 90 minutes. For whatever reason we simply didn't work anything like hard enough off the ball. Plenty of positives to be taken from the game especially the return of Moult and the power of Cadden and Bowman, but also some glaring weaknesses to be addressed. A special mention too for Ben Heneghan for his goaline clearance. Craig Clay continues to baffle me - he had a great first half hour but then faded badly. i just don't get it - surely he's fit enough to last for more than 30 minutes? Some perceptive posters rightly pointed out that the assistant referee who chalked off Moult's legitimate effort also chalked off a perfectly good goal by Ainsworth a couple of seasons ago. Some light relief was provided by Eamonn Brophy with his absolutely outrageous penalty box dive which I was sure would earn him a yellow card but Willie Collum must have taken pity on him.

I agree on paper we should be beating Accies but I've witnessed enough derbies to know that they usually raise their game to the point where they're fired up and get stuck into anything that moves, legally or illegally. I've seen too many such games where we've lost unexpectedly to take anything for granted. We'll have a decent array of firepower at our disposal today and given the right service that should be enough to win us the 3 points. Our defence isn't great, especially the full backs, but its no worse than theirs. Its the midfield that worries me. As a unit, so far this season it hasn't supported the striker(s) or shielded the defence. Now thats down to injury to an extent ie McHugh but also down to the makeup of the midfield. We're on the same pointage as Accies being one goal better off, so there's nothing between us although its far too early to draw conclusions. Its usually about the end of September before you can draw conclusions about the squad and I still want to see McHugh and Belic in action. We've also to see what Blyth and Bowman can do. So from that point of view there's a few unknowns. Over the years I've seen quite a few superior Well sides getting beaten by poorer Accies elevens due to lack of fight on the day. Can we win today - of course. Will we win today - that depends on which of our teams turns up. If our lads are fired up, and Willie Collum permitting, up they'll win.

It seems that you're right going by this evidence. That begs the question why we signed another right sided player. In any event I'm a bit surprised that he hasn't featured yet, even on the bench, given that he's only signed on loan till the end of the year. Its not giving him much time to make an impression is it?

I thought that I'd picked up somewhere that he was left sided and could play through the middle or on the wing. If that isn't the case, then we have a problem on our left flank. Thomas is the only other one with first team experience who can play there, if we elect to play 4 in midfield unless of course we deploy Chalmers there, and he is currently struggling with injury. Even at that he lacks pace and is defensive. If we decide to set up 4-3-3 then we lack the midfielders play that way. It'll be interesting tomorrow to find out our formation and midfield line up.

We'll struggle in midfield. Until we see what Belic can deliver and McHugh is fully fit we won't have a settled and 100% strongest side on the pitch. The chances are that Accies will best us in midfield although we have a better strikeforce. Ideally you'd want Cadden or Ainsworth on the right (few will prefer Ainsworth over Cadden I'd warrant), Lasley (if fit) and Clay in the middle and Belic on the left. I still think we're weak defensively and creatively in the midfield and that'll be our achilles heel. Accies will be up for a fight and I hope we can match them. All that said we can beat them, but if we don't I won't be overly concerned until we have our best 11 on the pitch, which could be a week or two away. Like Welldaft I'd be very surprised if Accies have a larger budget than us.