Kmcalpin

When I heard word of the Everton closed doors friendly I thought it was an odd fixture and something more to it than a bounce game to get some players match fit. Handsome Devil on P & B has beaten me to it by suggestig that we might be looking at 1 or 2 of their players for a loan or permanent deal. That would make sense.

A more flexible approach by the club is required to address this issue. Apart from contacting Brian Caldwell could I suggest that you also contact the Society? This query sounds right up their street.

Today's attendance was about 240 down on the same fixture last year.

Given our line up, which was almost identical to last week's against Partick and our lack of "progress" so far in the league cup, I would happliy have taken a draw at 3pm. In other words, I had very limited expectations. Just relieved that Ross County didn't snatch a late winner. In normal times, if there is such a thing, I would have looked to win this game. Over the piece we deserved to win the game by a clear margin. Ross County spurned 2 very good chances but we wasted far more. They came for a point and achieved that. As expected they were very physical and our strikers simply couldn't cope with that. Midfield too took a bit of a battering with Davor and Miller suffering more than most. In the former's case the old boxing adage that a good big un will always beat a good little un was especially true. I had to admire his courage and determination though. He was flattened several times but always got back up again without complaint and with a smile on his face. Defensively, I think we've got a bit to go. Ostensisbly, the Ox has improved us between the sticks and thats a start. Wing back is still a concern with a chronic lack of pace hampering SK's preferred set up. I thought Blaney had a poor game although Gordon was more impressive. I'm still curious about Balmer's absence. Still we did achieve a rare clean sheet. Midfield is a continuing worry, not least because of injuries. Mostly through necessity, the balance is all wrong and we struggled badly today not just in an obvious attacking sense but also defensively. Neither Halliday nor Davor could compete against bigger and faster opponents who put themselves about, much to Lennon Miller's detriment. Up front, Robinson and Moses looked very lightweight and toothless against a huge Ross County defence. Either one might be ok playing with a big physical sort but we don't seem to have one. I don't know much about Stuparevic, who was inexplicably absent or the newly arrived Ap Stam, but hopefully they they offer something a bit different to our 2 starters today. Ewan Wilson was my MOTM. He had a decent game and it was encouraging to see his annoyance with himself when Laidlaw saved his decent shot; he knows he could have done better, had he connected properly. Whee do we go from here? Answers on a postcard.

At 6' he's not so big. He looked absolutely tiny when standing next to Akil Wright.

It's in Liverpool. An odd friendly but if it gives some players much needed gametime then fine.

I felt very sorry for Lennon Miller today. Despite me being 15 minutes late, I saw him suffer 3 very bad tackles before half time. He simply looked intimidated and should have been hooked at half time for his own good.

Very much so. With SK's preferred system you need one big physical striker up front (plus others of course) and we haven't signed one. We knew months ago that Bair might move on. Despite knowing months ago that Spittal was leaving we haven't replaced him.

If we go with 2 up top then it has to be 2 up top and not one playing deeper. We don't have a player, yet, who can play on his own, Bair style. They also have to play close together to work as a cohesive unit.

We should thank Jim for his years of service and he did some positive things. Its a pity that he made a wrong choice latterly, albeit it was a serious one. There have been some big personalities on the club board in recent years but, they have now moved on. Let's hope the new Board when its appointed, can work on a more democratic and collective basis.

I've read the official statement. Going by the wording, I assume he'll stay on as a club Director? Maybe semantics but it doesn't say he's resigning from the Executive Board.

Yes, I think I saw a comment recently that Stirling Albion was not the right club for Ewan Wilson. Mark Ferrie got no game time at Stenhousemuir. On that basis, some adjustment is necessary.

Interesting that Partick's statement on their official site made no reference at all to the facf that they asked for replay, yet their comments last night confirmed that they did.

Good post. However this problem is not peculiar to our club. It affects most of Scottish football. I don't know the answer to it and it is a risk to the business strategy of the club. That said, how many of our young lads have moved on to "bigger things" but then had to come back down to our leagues? Alan Martin, Reece McAlear, Jake Hastie, Stuart McKinstry. I'm sure Bailey Rice is making an obscene shed load of money at Ibrox short term but where is his career going?

Give him a big plate of barramundi and chips. That should make him feel at home

Partick's plea for a replay has been rejected.

Rubbish Allan. You're just a young thing!

Ap Stam just officially announced.

Has the Society set up a new website yet? I seem to recall getting some emails (deleted them now) with a website link which worked ok. However when I try to locate it again, all I get is redirection to the Club's official website, as before.

Can he play as a number 10? If so, sign him up for Saturday!

No need to replay the whole game again surely. 3 minutes added on time played. So, if they wanted to bring on the sub at the 82nd minute, replay the last 11 minutes. The error had no bearing whatsoever on the previous 82 minutes or whatever. The SPFL being what it is anything is possible. However, if a replay is ordered for an officiating error then that could open the flood gates to a plethora of other erroneous decisions. The most sensible outcome would be to pay Thistle some compensation. Why should we be punished as we've done nothing wrong?

No mention of this in their official statement Allan. Do we know exactly when they wanted to bring on this sub? The situation is unfair but no more so when an obvious refeering error is made regarding disallowed goals, red cards or penalties.

Yes, I suspect many would.

Why were the 2 respective clubs approached for comment? Not normal practice for post match disorder is it? The clubs probably wouldn't even know the identities of those involved, or indeed what took place. It'll be interesting if the OF clubs are approached for comment after traditional post game derby trouble.

Good post. We took the field with the wrong attitude and made Partick's journeymen look a class above what they actually are.