Kmcalpin

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at Joe. I'm not critical of Robbo for punting Fisher, but hopefully it will make a difference to our season by freeing up a wage to enable us to bring someone else in. At least Robbo has accepted early on that Fisher wasn't a success and it was time to move him on. As for the wider pricture, Petravicius was signed as a long term prospect. Grimshaw looked good in his first spell with us and it wasn't unrerasonable to sign him again...on a one year deal. Plummer and Griffiths haven't worked out I grant you but all managers make their mistakes in the transfer market and Robbo is no worse than many of his predecessors. At least he's proved willing and able to move failures on quickly.

I think it was a left wing/full back.

I wouldn't go quite that far but yes I don't quite understand the number of posts calling for Dunne to be dropped. As with Andy Rose, Robbo must be selecting him for a reason. Why would he select a player if he didn't think he was the best for that position or for the team? Yes he has his faults ie his distribution but he is fast and is a good defender.

Thats the big question for me. Tanner is not an out and out striker, neither is MacLean; and Sid is a winger.

I was thinking along the same lines, although it didn't occur to me that we might have found a taker for him. When the team lines were announced I thought we were a striker short and wondered what would happen if Cifti or Main had to go off early or even if they tired, as they did. If we'd been trailing Ross County with say 15 minutes to go we could not have put on another striker. Fisher might just have been injured or ill of course but his absence hasn't been mentioned anywhere.

No he's now served his 2 game ban.

I plumped for him too. I think he's better than either and he'll only get better. He also cleared a net bound header off our line.

Those tactics were effective enough to win us the game, although I admit we played the ball in the air too much. Agree about Cifti and Tanner and indeed Main. As Robbo says though before you can play football you have to battle to win the ball. Its hard to score if you don't have the ball. Our tactics will change against better teams, but we are limited by the players we have.

My view too. Given the players we have and our budget we're not going to play flowing open football anytime soon. The important thing last night was that we won and halted the pre break slide in the process. Look round about us and which teams outwith the big city clubs can win consistently and play good football at the same time? Last night we won because we didn't make any critical errors and produced a fine footballing move which we finished off. Ross County didn't do either. Our failure to do exactly this before the break is the reason we lost so many points. Last night was never going to be a classic given the weather and our opponents style of play. I was quaking in my shoes when I saw the size of the Ross County team and I wasn't playing. Owen Coyle obviously likes very big physical teams. 8 of their players last night were 6 foot or over with 4 of them being 6-3 or over. That instantly tells you a lot about how they'd play and how we'd play. Over the 95 minutes (where did the 5 come from???) they outfought and outcompeted us. They had the bulk of the pressure but didn't look dangerous apart from high balls. It took us all of the first 8 minutes before we could get out of our own half. I felt sorry for the likes of McHugh and Campbell who simply struggled to compete against guys far bigger and heavier. As a team we played well and importantly, solidly. Cifti and Main are linking up well, with the latter looking to be a find. Tanner had a reasonable game but suffered from our tactics. Cadden stuck to his task well, despite not being fully fit, and snuffed out Gardyne, who has been a thorn in our flesh in the past. The last thing we wanted last night was him pinging cross after cross into our box. The defence looks good with Kipre and Aldred doing well. I liked Aldred's attitude when he went off. We got our tactics, which were geared to nullifying County's strengths, just about right. My only concern was that at times we played too much in the air and that was never going to be successful. Maybe Soutar's late signing caught us out; it certainly caught out McCarey! One final gripe was Kevin Clancy. From start to finish he was overly picky and totally inconsistent.

My thoughts exactly Allan.

Its ok it wasn't on the BBC.

I suspect the video will have taken a good bit of time to organise and shoot. Well done to our media team.

A great bit of business which has caught me by surprise. Peter Hartley is a great leader at the back and normally a calming influence on his colleagues, but maybe not on his opponents.

Apologies, you're right of course. This guy is a lot smaller at a tiny 6-3. Maybe a good signing but how fit will he be?

I think his main attraction to Ross County will be his height, but apart from that he hasn't done particulalrly well at any of the clubs he's been with, including Killie and Hearts.

A decent scout will see through the "fog" that frequently surrounds players. They look for raw talent and athleticism and can disregard distractions such as if players are being played out of position; asked to do things they are unsuited for or playing alongside players who don't help them.

I agree with your underlying reasoning Al. The question is how much more than £650K will we seek and get (+ a sell on clause). He will have one year left on his contract come the summer. The excess over £650K will depend on how much he's worth to us in a playing capacity in a season.

My thoughts too. Cue the usual patronising outrage from Richard Gordon & Willie Miller that we're thwarting Caddens' development. I reckon we're looking for something like £700k + and he'll move south in the summer.

Agree with others it was in excellent condition yesterday.

Dunne is first and foremost a central defender.

Newell pulled a hamstring in the warm up. We've had an inordinate amount of hamstring injuries this seasons. These are classified as being "soft tissue" injuries as opposed to impact injuries. During his reign, Ian Baraclough asked our then sports scientist to investigate why we were suffering so many soft tissue injuries as he deemed these to be largely avoidable. Does anyone know why some fans in the East Stand were reportedly told by stewards to switch off their cellphones in the gound? Seems very odd to me.

That would be a shock....... Yes we do need another left back, but what about a right back? Maybe, just maybe Rose has answered that question.

A win today and we progress to the next round and it some ways that is all. We were by far the better team and deserved to win but it was disappointing not to score from open play. No failures today and the lads outfought Accies. I was impressed with the new players especially Main. I thought we lacked a bit of a cutting edge up front and a bit of creativity from midfield. Still Cifti and Main will take time to settle in and develop an understanding. Tanner was my MOTM. Only downside was the injuries to Aldred and Newell and these need to be really need to be investigated by the club, given Cadden and Frear's absences. Credit to Alan Campbell for facing up to a bigger and stronger opponent in the form of Scott Brown Mini Me (Darian MacKinnon) and he refused to be intimidated. Given Accies' modus operandi it was never going to be a classic. Credit to the club for the state of the pitch and the surrounding pavements - I hope NLC was suitably pleased and appreciative. Not living in the town I didn't think the snow/ice/roads was that bad compared to other areas. Overall a satisfying day. For once it would be nice not to be drawn against another Premiership club in the next round.

Absolutely. Poor commentaries are all too common. My pet hate is when a commentator says something like Team X is kicking from right to left. At least with TV matches I can switch the sound off. Well done to the ground staff and volunteers who have turned up today to clear snow and ice.

I've never seen Adam Livingstone play so I don't know much about him except by reputation. Ideally, you'd want to introduce a promising young lad into first team action gradually to gain experience. Is he at the stage now where he could be introduced for a run of games, if Dunne was to be injured for say 3/4/5 weeks? If he is then all well and good and I'll respect your view on that. However we've seen decent young lads hung out to dry by managers in the past through necessity. Its a fine balance between giving young prospects experience and relying on them.