Kmcalpin

Barring any late injuries on Saturday or in training yes, the team will pick itself with the exception of that one midfield position.

Not life threatening I wouldn't think but what happened?

Good result. Well done to the team. Good to see young Turnbull make an impression.

When I commented about "more careful" selections I was thinking specifically about bringing in Barry Maguire to the central defence at the same time as resting Tait and Kipre completely ie not even having the latter on the bench. I was not thinking about Ciftci and Frear. A more cautious approach would have been to leave Tait at right wing back and have Kipre as back up on the bench. I'm not against bringing in young players by the way. For tomorrow evening a more cautious approach might be to give say Bigi or MacLean a start with another getting say 45 minutes. Turnbull could get say 15 minutes depending on how things were going. As a safety net, the likes of McHugh, Campbell or Grimshaw ie whichever one was rested, could be given a seat on the bench. As far as the bloodbath comment goes, Partick in their games against us have been a pretty "robust" side who took no prisoners at all (ok there are no soft sides in the Premiership). They are now engaged in a desperate do or die relegation fight; will be fired up and in their 3 post split fixtures so far have picked up 9 yellow cards. So as far as that comment goes I simply joined up the dots.

I'd be tempted to rest one or two regulars for this one, but carefully this time . Maybe giving the likes of MacLean, Bigi, Turnbull or dare I mention him, Hendrie a wee bit of game time. This game has all the potential to be a bloodbath unfortunately.

I appreciate all of that Andy but it should have been made clearer beforehand. Having bought a block of 21 tickets at the same time for the South Stand I would have thought though that they could have been kept together and not 8 rows (not 4 as I originally thought) apart. A pleasant problem to have I suppose. Still things should improve with the new system.

Absolutely. I thought beforehand that Saints would beat us but certainly not by 5-1. The game was a total mismatch in that Saints were desperate for the points whereas we really just wanted to fulfil the fixture, rest a couple of players and give them some exercise and most importantly avoid injuries. I understand the manager's team selection up to a point and the player's lack of effort but it doesn't make for good spectating. A word of warning for anyone thinking of going to Firhill this week expect more of the same and that advice possibly extends to next Saturday too. I understand Robbo resting 2 defenders but thats not a situation into which you throw a rookie central defender. Barry Maguire didn't play at all well but he was hung out to dry. He was given no support or protection by the more experienced pros either side of him and certainly not by those in front of him. Still the reason for our heavy defeat was in no way down to individual players; the whole team played poorly. I thought Ciftci was a big let down. Yes he has delicate touches but was very immobile and doesn't fit into our style of play. Even lads like Campbell & Grimshaw who are usually real battlers, were pulling out of challenges. The strikers can feel a bit hard done I suppose due to the lack of decent service. The midfield was awful and that was the root of our problems, not helped by a shaky and chaotic defence. Our normal game is based on a high work rate and effort and we fell well short of that yesterday. The cup final team almost picks itself and everyone, including Brendan Rodgers knows that. Most of the fringe players we've brought in, like Bigi, haven't been up to it. In short yesterday's debacle was a combination of 2 top players being rested and the others not wanting to over exert themselves. We'll be a different proposition in the final but I think we can write off 7th spot, the coming Partick game and maybe the Accies game. In the great scheme of things I don't think the management and players see our next 2 games, and certainly yesterday's game as being important.

Have they? We've attended 4 Hampden games this season and bought tickets by telephone for them all and this is the first time this happened. I was told that we couldn't pick up the tickets until after Thursday but thats not the same as saying they wouldn't be allocated to us until after Thursday and we'd be fitted in at the end so to speak. A breakdown in communication from the club here. I have no problem with telephone buyers being kept until the end so long as its made quite clear in advance.

I can't say for certain but the evidence points that way. I think his name was mentioned on 2 separate occasions but he was quoted as saying he wasn't interested because we weren't a big enough club or didn't have the cash to spend on players that he'd require. Something along those lines.

Curtis Main for me as he was the only one who looked up for it from start to finish. Bowman also put a bit of effort in but was only a sub.

We've had much the same experience. I phoned up early on the morning the tickets went on sale but our purchase was held back until last Thursday, 6 days afterwards . We asked for the South Stand lower and ok thats the stand we were allocated. However I asked for the rear and didn't get it and was also allocated the west end of the South Stand, which we didn't want. Not only that our party has been allocated two separate groups of seats 4 rows apart (despite all tickets being ordered at the same time). If we stick to our allocated seats it means that families will get split. I appreciate that holding back telephone purchases might be easier administratively for the club but its not convenient for many fans. Disappointing to say the least!

According to the BBC, James Scott is out with a broken toe and Ryan Bowman has a knee injury.

It seems that we are interested in two of Stranraer's young lads, who are coming on trial. Article below from Stranraer's website http://www.stranraerfc.org/index.php/77-latest-news/1162-elliott-scott-motherwell. We also played an under bounce game against Partick yesterday with some trialists I believe - maybe these 2 lads?

Yes, thats my take on it.

Is it possible that the number was constrained by the Police on the basis of congestion and parking around Fir Park? Does each bus have to be supervised by a member of staff?

Not really. Only one is a full sized ginger bottle. He wasn't prepared to offer two full sized ones.

Yes he's helped out our party.

I believe that was on Monday before season ticket holders/Well Society members who ordered by phone were allocated tickets and of course before the general sale began this morning.

Hoax Twitter account?

Not entirely sure about that. I wouldn't want to lose a couple from Carson, Kipre, Aldred or Main.

Yes. For this scenario to occur we need to lose our remaining 3 games and either Hamilton or Dundee need to win 3 out of 3. Then it would be down to goal difference and we currently enjoy that advantage.

An important win for us that ensures our mathematical safety, although it was never really in doubt. A strange game that Dundee tried to outmuscle us but came off second best. No doubt thats whre all the bizarre post match claims that we were dirty originate from. We had a tricky start but came close once or twice but Dundee were a real threat at set pieces and crosses and we looked uncharacteristically disorganised at the back. Caulker and co were causing aerial mayhem in our box, taking advantage of slack marking. Ironically the their goal looks like a clear handball and I'm expecting Neil McCann to highlight that today or tomorrow (ahem). Importantly we recovered quickly and score the equaliser. Lke a few others I thought Bowman should have been taken off PDQ as he was clearly struggling. We then had a good spell early in the second half and it was great to see Cedric score his first for us. After that it was batten down the hatches time but we held out to claim 3 just deserved points. I though the ref was pretty poor from start to finish and got a barrowload of minor decisions wrong (and also Dundee's goal but perhaps that was hard to spot). I don't know whay Moussa wasn't shown a yellow or even red card for hii shocking tackle on Tait. Not a dirty game bit some of the Dundee lads were just a bit quick to hit the deck at times and Caulker escpaed scot free for his persistent manhandling of Scott and Main. MacGowan's meltdown at the end was downright odd and he was picking fights with everyone. Surely he warranted a second yellow card? A good team performance and it was good to see Scott and MacLean get more game time. hopefully injuries to Bowman and Grimshaw aren't serious. Overall, Kipre, Aldred, Dunne and Grimshaw caught the eye. I'd like to see us secure Aldred on alonger deal. Now we're safe we can concentrate on getting deals done. League wise we will beat last season's position of 9th and that in itself will bring a little more cash.

Does anyone know of buses that have a fair number of vacant seats?

Any team news yet?

Pretty much it. A lot of behind the scenes horse trading went on behind closed doors but basically when the time came Aberdeen sided with Celtic over several issues and the chance was lost. Anyway thats our tickets, 23 of them, ordered and they should be available for collection by next Friday. A heads up for the office staff as they're doing a good job under pressure. Cup Finals are fantastic but they do put the whole club under pressure.