Kmcalpin

An important and indeed deserved win for us last night. For me, Moult, MacDonald, Johnson stood out although Thomas, Gomis, Cadden, Lasley, Hall, McManus and Ripley all performed well. Hammell and Law had an off night and gave their opponents far too much space. It was an exciting and open game and perhaps United just deserved to be head at half time. Fortunately we scored the equaliser just before the break and were the better side in the second half. I didn't like the way we sat back in the late stages but we did see our the added time very well. United were brutal and deserved what they got and more. Anier and Morris should have walked before half time for sly and totally unnecessary off the ball assaults on Johnson. MacDonald was out of order for his elbow admittedly but Paton should have been red carded for his efforts. The bottom line is that the referee lost control of the game. No two guesses what United's pre match meal comprised - raw meat. Although not a major incident, the foul given against Dom Thomas was of for the worst decisions I've seen in years. Thomas took the ball cleanly in an innocuous 50/50 challenge, with no physical contact whatsoever and was deemed to have behaved unfairly. All in all though a good performance and an excellent fightback. This will do the squad's confidence no harm at all. Credit to the management and players. Things are looking up.

I don't think so - remember Darren Randolph's challenge on Callum Paterson - upgraded from a yellow to a red. However I seem to recall that the ref changed his mind in his written report and said he'd made an error in letting Randolph lightly.

That wasn't a game to judge our strikers on - service to them was appalling.

We're not quite safe yet but not far off it. Killie could overtake us with 4 wins and 2 draws. Accies could achieve safety by winning 3 and drawing 2 games. I'd say another 2 wins will seal our safety. You're right though - both Accies and Killie won't achieve this rate of return. There will be some twists and turns to come yet though.

Your assumption is wrong.

Good to hear from you Big Yin!

Given young Turnbull's brace at Dingwall and goal at Forfar it seems he's one to watch especially as he's a good bit younger than the players he's faced in these games.

On the basis of our league position and performances, we've made progress this year, but it has been modest. Mark McGhee will start by looking at the players out of contract and then perhaps those he would like to move on. Then young players likely to break through. He'll look at the balance of the team ie too many strikers and not enough midfielders and only then will he look at areas of the team he wants to strengthen. Certainly the squad looks to be unbalanced in terms of age. We have McManus, Pearson, Hammell, Lasley and McFadden all on the wrong side of 30, some considerably so. Certainly if we can finish above 11th place we'll be able to make decisions and start recruiting a bit earlier than we did last season.

I remain to be convinced. When I see several thousand Rangers or Celtic fans identified and banned for sectarianism or crowd disorder then I'll believe it.

Stewards will also be acting on Police advice as to what they should or should not do. At big games, its unlikely that stewards would do very much without Police sayso.

I've no problem with the pitch statement. I'm not suggesting a detailed rebuttal of every point nor a comprehensive justification of every action - just a summary to prove to the fans that we simply didn't roll over to the SPFL's kangaroo court. For example - stewarding - "the club provided twice the minimum level of stewarding required and there is no further official guidance on this". Next point.....

That may well be the case Andy but I would have liked the club to have released a slightly more detailed response - not a blow by blow account but a summary of the key points to mirror the SPFL's statement. There are still some unanswered questions in my mind ie the conduct of some Rangers fans who threw missiles onto the pitch.

Apologies. At any rate we do seem to have a few promising youngsters about to break through. That can only be a good thing.

Apparently he's been a hot prospect for some years now having signed with us at an early age. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/motherwell-beat-top-clubs-sign-2437181#QT7PjHVAdrx4R5X1.97 Certainly notching 2 goals would suggest that he's got talent. Just hope he can continue to develop and we can hold onto him.

I'd release Clarkson, Moore, Fletcher, McFadden, Leitch and try to move on Chalmers and Law. However I'd also release probably two from McManus, Hammell and Lasley - don't forget these elder statesmen will be a year older and even slower. All three are losing their legs and this is manifesting itself in slumps in the latter stages of games, which have been costly. We do need a blend of experience and youth however. Don't forget we also have Pearo who is on the wrong side of 30. If we have 2 players over 30 in the side that will be enough. The jury is still out on Gomis - he's not had time to settle in yet and we haven't seen enough of him to make a considered assessment.

Absolutely. I don't know if a cup final appearance brings the club any material benefits like prize money or sponsorship or even gate money but yes it should milk this for all its worth. Could it not organise some hospitality packages for example?

I'm sure Colin McNair was reported to have punched Jim Griffin and broken his jaw in a training ground bust up. As a result of that he was fired or so the story went.

Just watched the highlights and two minor incidents caught my eye. Just before the final whistle the ball went over the fence and a couple of fans were slow to release it and an Accies player went charging over aggressively to them. Fortunately nothing happened but it could have been nasty. Also does anyone know who Pearo gave his shirt to at full time?

I'd guess we'll finish around 8th or 9th, which given the season we've had, will do fine for me. Historically our average league placing has been about 8th. If we can avoid 12th or 11th place that will give Mark McGhee an opportunity to reshape the squad in the summer. Critically however if we do better than 11th then that will give the club a head start on recruiting players, unlike last year when the continuing uncertainty arising from the play offs cost us. Its looking increasingly like Dundee United, Accies and Kilmarnock will be in the mix and I wouldn't care to bet on who'll end up in the dreaded bottom two. I've always had a feeling however that United will survive - there's been too much nonsense spouted about them in the press and amongst their support which just doesn't wash with me.

A massive win for us yesterday and that gives us some some breathing space. So credit to the manager and players. Accies played pretty much how we thought they would do and fortunately were a bit toothless up front. On this occasion their customary start earned them 3 yellow cards and the ref got those and the penalty right. However throughout the game he was inconsistent and allowed himself to be bullied and conned by the Accies players led by our old friend Imrie. One absolutely ridiculous dive early doors ought to have earned him a caution but didn't. Annoying also to see a restarted ball sportingly kicked to Conor Ripley by an Accies player being chased down by Morris - no need for that. Another incident that really riled the support was when Cadden won a fair challenge in the 2nd half and hared down the wing only for his beaten opponent to fall to the deck and roll about. Ref was conned and immediately stopped play. As soon as the game stopped the player jumped to his feet. Rant over now onto positives. Not a great game football wise but we played quite in the first half without really creating much. Accies were allowed a bit of space on the wings and just like Perth were able to get into our box unchallenged from the right. However they proved sterile up front. Great to see Laing net the only goal by lashing high into the net at a vital time. Second half stared off not too badly but for the last 20 minutes or so we elected to sit back and taunt Accies. They were given licence to throw over cross after cross, luckily to no avail. Hall and McManus struggled to clear their lines as the midfield sat so deep. Also worth noting the way that Accies played our central defenders - by hitting long balls just in front of them. More often than not the bounce of the ball deceived them. Thats the benefit of playing on articificial pitches most weeks. We were awarded the penalty rightly and Moult did everything right but was unlucky when the keeper guessed right. No outstanding individual performances - more of a team effort but MacDonald did show up well. Cadden had a lot of good runs taking the pressure off us at vital times but they lacked an end product and his defensive work needs improvement but he's young and is developing into a fine player. Laing is making a good comeback but will need to coordinate better with Cadden and vice versa. Great to be a Well fan yesterday. The team showed real character to grind out a result.

You're right. Tena is a mere 6-3. Its Tagliapietra who is the tall one at 6-4. Either way we should instruct Scott MacDonald to mark Tagliapietra at set pieces the way Dougie Arnott used to do with giant defenders. Just stand on their feet and impede them from jumping. More often than not it worked.

Adopt the same tactics as Accies - wait until officials aren't looking then clobber someone off the ball. They know precisely when to fall to ground, when to time waste and when to leave a boot in. In the last few games at NDP they have targeted someone like Ainsworth, Johnson or Lasley early doors with a brutal tackle and the referee has bottled it by taking no action. If one of ours did that they'd be straight in the book and the target of Accies' wind up merchants.

Given the very political and high profile nature of football policing and stewarding, its often very hard to make much sense of any incidents that occur from the reporting, unless we are present. Whether we like it or not, incidents involving football fans are treated differently from other types of incidents.

I'm a bit more confident about this one although your post seems to be a good summary of the kind of game we can expect. We, as fans though have to play our part and take a leaf out of Dundee United fans' book, and scream and howl at every jersey pull, foot left in, elbow in the back etc etc. In short constantly pressurise the referee. Accies are streetwise and as we know will employ every trick in the book to intimidate us and con the referee. If Johnson is playing expect a brutal tackle on him early on. We have to work hard off the ball to close them down; not defend too deeply and above all don't let them have a clear attempt at goal.

There is no stereotypical football fan just as there is no "average" person. Some like to sit some like to stand. Some like a lot of noise in close proximity ie a drum others avoid it at all costs. Some like an end view and others like a centre of the pitch view. The trick is for clubs to try to cater for all tastes within the current legislation. Most fans do like a bit of atmosphere in the ground as a whole. Each to their own.