Kmcalpin

Cabin fever might work both ways. In parts of the east, transport problems will take their toll as conditions are still poor. Some roads still very dodgy and train services from Edinburgh reportedly very poor. Probably around 7 of us, some with tickets, won't make it now and will have to settle for watching it on TV, which I normally loathe . According to the forecast more blizzards on the way. I reckon the weather will knock a few hundred off the gate. COYW!

I seem to recall that the crowd was over 8,000, with most coming from Lanarkshire.

Maybe you ought to read and try to understand their arguments perhaps? If we ended up in the top six, the highest we would finish would be 6th. We'd also be liable to lose more games than if we finish in the bottom six. Its also more likely that we'd end up with one home game less than if we finish in the bottom 6. Financially we might be slightly better off but thats not clear cut. To me safety and a good cup run are more important this season. Its also possible that Robbo might be able to blood more youngsters in the bottom 6. For me there are pros and cons to finishing in the top 6 this season and posters' preferences are not as clear cut as you think.

Uncle Roy doesn't tolerate failure and so I suspect Mr Coyle was given a gentle push.

Good to see our young players make their mark on the international stage.

Absolutely. There's too much negativity going around just now about the team's playing style. In our situation a manager's first priority should be to stabilise the team and sort out the defence to reduce the goals aginst column. Thats what Robbo has done. Once thats been achieved then the next stage is to concentrate on improving the attack. You're right, some of wee Tommy's early teams were "dire" to watch - soaking up pressure, not conceding too many, and then breaking away to score the odd goal. Jim MacLean adopted the exact same approach at Tannadice and was lauded for his "attractive" footballing style. I've only ever deserted our team twice, albeit temporarily, once during the dire Alex Mcleish era; and once in the mid 80s when I went to Tannadice to watch Dundee United and Hibs in preference to our own game. I'd been brainwashed by the media into thinking that Jim MacLean's team was the finest footballing team Scotland had ever produced. I got carried away and just had to see this game for myself. Hibs pounded them for 89 minutes and penned them back in their own box but couldn't score. United broke away twice and scored twice to win 2-0. The Arabs went crazy as did the media over this footballing "masterclass". It just left me cold. I decided there and then that there was nothing wrong with following our own club. Much more recently our 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock seemed to go down very well with the Ayrshire fans despite their style resembling two parked doubler decker buses. I didn't hear many moans and complaints at the game from their fans or read scathing comments afterwards. Maybe some of our fans have unrealistic expectations? Right now I'm perfectly happy with us winning 1-0 by playing defensively, playing the long ball or whatever. Yes, playing flowing silky soccer is nice but that comes later. All that said, it seems to be in vogue for certain fans to criticise fellow fans who wanted Stephen Robinson sacked a few months ago. All I would say is live and let live. These boards and football in general, are all about opinions and no-one should be sneered at for holding a different view. Our team is doing quite well just now and despite internal differences our fanbase should stick together. There's room for all shades of opinion so long as we show mutual respect.

Just watched the replay of the St Johnstone Rangers game last night, when Steven MacLean was in the middle. Morelos was cynically wiped out by Mannus and was denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and yet only received a yellow card . Compare that to the red cards dished out to Dunne, Carson and Kipre earlier this season for similar but less clear cut offences. Where is the consistency?

Aye, it was touch and go and was almost called off at the last minute I believe.

Officially the South Stand holds 4,800 but the police may have ordered the club to reduce that to allow for a cordon at the eastern extremity. If there's restricted view tickets on sale it probably would be the POD Stand, worse luck. However like Andy I suspect that the South Stand has sold out.

I think common sense will prevail by the parties involved if the foul weather comes to pass. However we can all envisage a situation where the weather is shocking and travelling conditions are very poor (resulting in a low attendance) but a TV company is keen for the game to go ahead as the armchair audience would be maximised.

Not quite sure on what their position would be TBH. Presumably Police Scotland could overrule them if their was any disagreement?

Pretty much my view too. I don't really think we'll make the top 6 but yes, I can can see Killie's run coming to an end shortly. They've done very well to be fair but they were lucky against us and also against Hibs. I've just seen the penalty and it was a ludicrous decision. To go on a run like Killie's you have to be a decent team but that in itself is not enough you have to have good luck and of late they've had that in spadefuls. That can't last.

Pretty impressive I'd say. Does anyone know though how much is currently owed to Les and John Boyle?

Agree that doesn' t make much sense Andy. Allowing for cordoned off seats I'd have thought about 4,300 maybe?

Good points. Dundee could easily have had a few players yelow carded. Kusuinga again put himself about and was fortunate not to puck up a card, as was Moussa for standing on Tanner's foot. Murray could easily have been carded for dissent. Some suggestion also that MacGowan was yellow carded again after the final whistle. We were no angels, but Dundee know how to look after themselves and won the physical battle yesterday. I agree about Ciftci and think he's more of a penalty box player. the goal was definitely onside and Dundee knew it. Yet another shut out and 3 away points. I'll take it.

This. An important result for us. How Dundee must hate Craig Tanner! Onwards and upwards! Going by his post match comments Neil McCann wasn't happy at all. Had a go at match officials and singled out Curtis Main. Maybe he should look closer to home. he's obviously under pressure.

County's team contained a few home grown players, but also contained first team squad players such as Melbourne, Dingwall and Draper. They picked up other youngsters from Highland League clubs and also from the likes of Bolton, Bury, WBA and Rangers. Maybe not quite so inexperienced and raw as we first thought.

Like any signing he's a gamble and was signed as a young long term prospect. To date, I agree he hasn't set the heather on fire. That said he's hardly been a first team regular and has been playing mostly in the Under 20s. he could aslo take a few months to settle in to our club and the Scottish game. i doubt too if he's on massive money.

Equally as good or as poor a case in the East I'd say. Dundee & Dundee United and Hearts & Hibs are two examples. There's also 3 senior clubs in Falkirk. The whole would be less than the sum of its parts as Goggles & Flippers suggests in the case of the forced marriage in Inverness. Its not how football works.

In the match at Fir Park, the penalty was correctly awarded when O'Hara brought down Kipre. I don't call that good luck. O'Hara made a slightly rash challenge and rightly got penalised for it. In the same game Andy Rose was incorrectly yellow carded for diving; I term that bad luck. In the previous league game at Dens, the referee had already blown and play stopped before the Dundee player put the ball in the net. As far as the recent cup encounter goes, Tanner did well to get his shot on target and the keeper made a blunder, just plain poor goalkeeping not good luck for us. Aldred's goal was wrongly chopped off; that was bad luck. For our second goal Main did well to harry the defender. The defender, Holt I think, made a blunder and Parrish didn't look clever either. Again examples of rank poor defending, not luck. Had Holt aimed his header outwith the posts and the ball had taken a random and awkward bounce at the last minute and landed in the net, I would have termed that bad luck. Dundee were very fortunate not to pick up 2 red cards and yes we should have lost Ciftci to one. I also want to reassure Al B that I don't maintain a spreadsheet going back 48 years or whatever detailing every single perceived injustice or instance of bad luck; but I can't speak for other posters. I simply look back over a season or half season and take an overall view. Last season was memorable for not being awarded goals when the ball had the crossed the line and several wrong offside decisions, and this season, so far, for wrongly given/not given penalties. Do many posters really believe that our luck against Rangers & Celtic has evened itself out over the years? Before I finish I'll readily admit that on some occasions we do benefit from good luck, but they are in the minority. Apologies for wandering off topic.

Saturday's game at Dens Park will be very different to our recent cup game there. With a couple of new players Dundee will be a different proposition although I suspect they'll be just as cynical. A draw will represent a decent outcome.

I used to think that but not any more. Last season we suffered from a number of good goals being chalked off because the ball was deemed not to have crossed the line and that never balanced itself out. This season we've suffered from a barrowload of poor penalty decisions (most recently 2/3 on Saturday) and that hasn't evened itself out so far. General speaking the big city teams always benefit from refereeing errors at the expense of smaller clubs. Thats the way its always been.

Can't agree with you, on this occasion, Superward. Going back to the Accies game in December, we had a stonewall penalty denied when the Accies defender armed the ball away in the box In the Thistle game Osman ought to have seen red but didn't. Doolan's goal was touch and go offside but was allowed but Kipre's seemingly legit effort was chalked off. In the Dundee game they should have lost 2 players to red cards (and us one) but didn't. Also Aldred's disallowed goal seemed fine. Killie game: we could have 3 penalties (2 clear imho) when Ciftci and Aldred were pulled to the ground. Also Broadfoot's attempterd clearance cannoned off the post. Hearts game I admit some penalty calls went for us. As a caveat I'm not saying that we'd have scored with all the disallowed penalties or that 10 men would have been easier to beat, but chances are that we would have fared better. As far as own goals are concerned I would say that in the Accies and Dundee games it was down to downright poor defending. If you argue it was simply bad luck in respect of our opponents then you should argue that O'Donnell's goal yesterday was bad luck on our part. In conclusion I'd say, although I'm biased but have tried to eliminate that, that our bad luck hasn't been repaid recently.

Yes he did. His main contribution was holding onto the ball or running away with it at our free kicks.

I don't disagree with most of that Iain but I don't class own goals as being lucky. If we're being consistent then Killie got lucky with their goal as it shaved the post on its way in. Our own goals against Accies and Dundee were down to very poor defending. Broadfoot's effort too yesterday was down to poor defending and he got lucky. A measure of our luck yesterday was when two Kille defenders collided with one another and the ball spun away randomly.....landing right at Mulumbu's foot on the edge of the box allowing him to break upfield. We just didn't get that kind of luck yesterday. In all my years of watching football I never believed in bad/good luck but events have changed my mind in the past 3/4 years.