Kmcalpin

Stuart McCall got his tactics almost right but not quite. Agree Murphy can't play wide left, and he should not have played there. In the first half we played far too deeply and that possibly cost us the tie. Rangers' first goal was horrendous defending and there really was no need for it. Second half we were too slow to make changes. Still SM managed to prevent us from sustaining a hammering so he did something right. Report card: reasonable but scope for improvement.

On the basis of a total 58,000 attendance, I'd guess about £150,000 net plus programme and catering sales tomorrow.

I and a good few others think the same. Over the years he's been relatively steady with the odd blunder here and there but over the past 12 months his weaknesses have become more frequent, and he's also lost a bit of the albeit limited pace he had. We need to plan for nwext year. If he wanted to stay he'd provide good back up to younger players.

Surprised that the highlights didn't show Chris Humphrey's amazing sprint back to save a certain goal when Darren Randolph advanced up the park for a late corner. One the most amazing sights I've seen for a long time. What a run! Probably the only highlight of the game for me.

Good post and I agree with a lot of that. Giles Coke wasn't the greatest and he was a bit mercurial but we badly need someone to fill that role - someone with a good engine to motor up and down the park (a Vauxhall Insignia rather than a Bentley). The central midfield hasn't been right for some time now and neither has the striking partnership. Many of our problems stem from these areas of the team. Its worth noting that CB couldn't get it right. Jamie Pollock and Steven Meechan may make it time (equally they may not) but right now they are not the answer, and we shouldn't expect them to be.

It may have looked greener but the surface was poorer - one of the reasons why the ball was in the air so much. During the game the ball also took quite a few horrendous bounces.

An interesting comment, if you don't mind me saying so. Yes, it is very early days - far too early to judge SM. We have to wait until he's had time to bring in his own players and put his own stamp on the team. However, usually when a new manager takes over there's some kind of uplift in a team's confidence and performances. This simply hasn't happened. When you say you haven't noticed any dfference, do you mean compared to Craig Brown's team or Gordon Young's temporary reign?

That about sums it up. A dire, lacklustre performance. Although we may have had a lot of possession much of it was in our own half, passing back or across the field. St Johnstone weren't great but had much more desire to win than us. We came off second best physically helped by yet another shocking referee. A controversial penalty settled the outcome and the players' reaction at the decision speaks volumes. I can stomach poor play, misplaced passes and errors but I can't accept lack of effort and bottle. Too many players simply weren't prepared to go into 50/50 tackles and thats no good in my book. The defence, Humphrey and Jones (who had a good second half) can be exempted from that criticism. Whatever the reason we showed no fight whatsoever and thats not acceptable. Our build up was painfully slow and the front men showed no movement off the ball. Central midfield was nothing short of abysmal - no fight, no pace and no creativity. John Sutton is simply not cut out for this style of play and Stuart McCall has to learn this quickly. We played to St Johnstone's strengths and our weaknesses. All too often our only ploy was to pump the ball up to Michael Duberry in the air. Substitutions came too late and were ineffective in any event. Apologies for the downbeat view but it really was that bad. Our players are no world beaters but they are capable of turning in better displays than that - someone has to ask why they aren't.

If you're going to Perth on Wednesday you'll see a really poor pitch. As for tractors damaging the surface...a complete red herring. Every club uses them as it simply isn't realistic to do everything manually.

The Kingom Dossers will be there. A poor rutted pitch won't make for silky football but it'll be a good test of character for the team.

I missed the numbers yesterday - does anyone have a note of the winning ones?

Don't know about now but it used to be the definitive way of knowing if a game was on or not.

Disappointed in the media reaction the game. Most of what I've heard on the BBC or read relates to Hibs losing - barely a mention of who they were playing against. The SoS takes the biscuit though - querying the legitimacy of our first goal; taking the ref to task for not playing the advantage rule when Hibs were about to score and only giving Steven Saunders a yellow card. Once again its time it lived up to its name SCOTLAND on Sunday. Really should be renamed Edinburgh on Sunday. Still we have the satisfaction of being awarded the 3 points.

A lot of the young grass has died off but at least the growing medium is remaining solid. That said its no worse than many other more established pitches - Tannadice comes to mind. Tynecastle looked pretty poor as well.

Another poor refereeing performance today and we were not the beneficiaries. Very pernickety when it suited him. How Ian Murray & Kevin McBride remained on the park is beyond me.

A good win today with Sutton and Hutchinson putting in impressive performances. Stephen Craigan concerns me though - he's been very reliable in the past but is now showing cracks most weeks. Jon Page did a job when he came on. Not a great second half but that was down to tactics and SM's options were limited when Tom Hately had to retire. Hibs were very poor and Ian Murray put in his usual impersonation of a drunken thug at scaling time. Steve Jones looks to have a few tricks in his locker when fully fit. Not so sure about Steven Meechan though. Given time and space he looks fine but will other sides afford him that. After the game, Catweazel's Ring aptly described him as being like a right footed Ross Forbes and that might prove to be a reasonable summing up. Not a classic but the 3 points were important. Now who'd swap Darren Randolph for Graeme Smith?

John Sutton for me - what a shift he put in. Shaun Hutchinson a clsoe second.

Seconded. Great post.

Well said. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Presumably those most vociferous in their criticism of the club have never made a mistake? Thanks for being honest Leeann, I just wish more folk would be the same.

Echo what Spiderpig said. My condolences.

Its all very well having talent but you have to convert it into performances on a reasonably consistent basis. Ok even the best players don't turn it on every game but they should be able to perform in most games. In his second second season Hughes may have turned it on once every 4 or 5 games. Another similar player in theory, although not nearly as good was Brian Kerr. Again a guy with talent in bucket loads but he rarley showed it.

Good to see some experienced signings today albeit they're loans. That'll give Stuart McCall some breathing space. Stephen Hughes? A very, very talented player who was nothing short of electric on his game. The problem was that in his second season with us he was hardly ever on his game. I seem to recall someone on these boards calling him the "Invisible Man". In too many games he was anonymous. Cast your minds back to a critical game at Rugby Park when we needed the points badly (0-0 draw), and on paper stood a good chance of collecting them. A perfect stage for him to show off his undoubted talent. What happened? He didn't turn up and did little until the closing stages - all too little too late. Cup replay at Paisley on a good pitch - same story. No thank you.

Please make it be Hibs or Aberdeen...please.

Definitely. This would encourage clubs to encourage their fans to travel, but be warned such a suggestion might upset the OF.

Yes.