The African

After another weekend without a fixture, is it time to start seriously thinking about this game again? As I see it, this fixture will define how the rest of the post split fixtures pan out. A defeat and we are back in the mire. A draw and we remain too close to the edge for comfort. A win and we will have a cusion of sorts and will hopefully be in amongst the clubs just above us. So not a "must win" but any sort of victory will be a great result. The big unknown is whether Dundee will get any kind of reaction from the change of management. We need to be really up for this and grab the opportunity to make the remaining games slightly less nervy. During the Baraclough era, when we were heading for the play off, we had a number of fixtures where we had the chance to get a result and improve our standing, when other results had gone our way, and we almost invariably failed to take advantage. I genuinely hope that this side has more fight and ability, and we can get the points that guarantee safety earlier this time.

Wright was what might be called an honest toiler or a journeyman. Never going to be a world beater but was a first team regular who was not even the worst player in the team at the time.

Need to start picking up ointment, so this seems a pretty good place to start. Any kind of win will be happily accepted. Inverness will turn up for a battle and have previous for physically overpowering us, so we better be up for it.

Predictive text on an iPad will make a fool of us all. Having said that "Lasley and Freak" sounds like a cracking show. They have a specific channel here in NZ where they show a load of old series, relying on nostalgia for viewers, they had Rawhide and TheVirginian on yesterday and are currently showing the original Hawaii 50. I will keep an eye open for "Lasley and Freak".

Our best starting eleven? I'll have a crack at it. Samson - because there is nobody else. If there were, surely they would have been given a chance this season. Tait - not the greatest but better than the alternatives. Delivers a decent cross but could do with being more tuned in to his defensive duties. Henegan - still a little raw and prone to mistakes but has potential if playing with the right partner and if some of the scars from this season heal. McManus - has been sorely missed. His experience more than makes up for the lack of pace. Hammell - still best of a bad lot at left back. A shadow of the player before age and injuries but still a better bet than Joe Chalmers. Camden - we are probably guilty of forgetting that he is still a young player learning the game. Plenty of potential if he can recover the form that promised so much earlier this season. Lesley - still better for the half a game that he will likely last than the alternative, Clay, would be for the whole ninety minutes. McHugh - key player who would also make the team at centre half if he could be cloned. Freak - slowly finding his feet at this level and currently offering more than Pearson who has disappointed since his return. Moult - best finisher and our main goal threat. Has been missed for his work rate and attitude when not available this season. McDonald - always gives everything and has a good understanding/ partnership with Moult. Will be very hard to replace when he goes. Honourable mention to Bowman who has improved and would be pushing for a place in the team if we wanted to chase the game or play something other than 4-4-2.

Three points right now will be excellent. Goal difference can look after itself for now.

Ainsworth is now a luxury we simply cannot afford. He is on decent money, by our standards, and we are getting no kind of return whatsoever. Even half a dozen goals and a hatful of assists between now and the end of the season would only beg the question why can he not be more consistent? He is a very good player on his day, and I do not blame him for our situation now, but if he is drinking in the last chance saloon, they have just rang the bell for last orders.

You would also have to expect that we will accept any half decent offer for Moult, as this would seem to be the optimum time to cash in on him.

I would agree with that.

I don't usually buy into the "must win" scenario. At least not until the arithmetic starts to show otherwise. However, with ten games to go, we need to realise that points won now are undoubtedly going to make the fixtures after the split a lot more comfortable. We don't "need" to win this game, but it would be a great result if we could pick up more points than the teams around us. The same goes for every match up until the split when we can then see where we are placed. The home games against access and ICT are genuine "six pointers", "cup ties" and any other cliches you'd care to mention.

As I said earlier in this thread, this should really have been an appointment for two jobs. Firstly, securing our top league status for another year and secondly, the task of a serious rebuilding job for the first team squad in the summer. If that was the approach then it would appear that the Board are happy to entrust Robinson with both. Now it could be argued that if we do stay up then the manager will have earned the right to have a crack at the second part of the job. I am not sure that I would go along with that as I think they are two very different tasks. Major changes, again, are looming for the squad and I am not convinced that the safe, known quantity, appointment that Robinson appears to be, is the way forward. Any talk of a "relegation clause" being some kind of safety net for the club seems a bit daft, as we will have been relegated, with all the hardship that that will entail just making the rebuilding job of whoever takes over, more difficult.

The truth of the matter is that there are two jobs going at the club, and the right man for one may not be the right man for the other. The first job is getting us out of the current hole we find ourselves in and remaining in the top flight for next season. The second job is the major rebuilding job required in the coming close season to replace players that move on for various reasons ( too old, too good, too shite). The success that anyone has with the second proposition will depend greatly on whether someone is successful with the first.

I would rip your arm off for a point. Performance is very much secondary as it really is all about points right now. Based on what happened the last time we went there,anything beyond another hiding is probably a pipe dream.

One decent result doesn't make Robinson the answer to our prayers, but it does raise a few questions. Given the less than inspiring names being thrown around, I'd be tempted to give him another couple of games to see if this is more than a freak result. It would be about points rather than performance as we are at the stage of the season where it is only points that matter.

Showed some fight and got a result. As for getting lucky, to paraphrase Gary Player, the harder we work, the luckier we become.

The season we won the championship under Davie Hay was fun, playing very attractive football and scoring goals as if it were going out of fashion. The other seasons were best forgotten. For what it is worth, I can see why some would enjoy the novelty of playing regularly against some different teams as the monotony that a small league brings with playing the "same old same old" is exhibited clearly in the Premiership. However, that novelty would soon wear off and the financial hit does not bare thinking about. Unlike the likes of Hibs, I cannot see our crowds increasing just because we are winning more regularly in a lower division.

Was getting a bit worried with all the Jim Duffy chat until someone mentioned the possibility of Barry Ferguson. If that is the standard we are looking to bring in then the decision to get rid of Mark McGhee will come back and bite us on the arse, big time. Things did not go his way, but I reckon McGhee is a decent manager and a decent man and I wish him all the best for the future.

Great result. Onwards, and hopefully upwards, from here!

When he first became manager he had a great run of games before the infamous pitch invasion fixture with Rangers. I am pretty sure we had not lost a goal under him until then. I think we then went out of the cup the following midweek in a rearranged tie against Queens Park. The wheels well and truly came off! Just another reason to hate and despise Rangers. RIP and my thoughts are with his family and friends.

Almost a game we can discount as it seems so improbable we will take anything else from it beyond a hiding. Setting ourselves up to try and keep things tight seems pointless given we cannot defend. Perhaps we should start a couple of our youngsters with the hope that they gain something from the experience? With the caveat that we can replace them if things are not going for them. Seems more sensible than throwing them on when we are three or four down.

Baraclough was worse. So was the half season with Bobby Watson, though he inherited so much crap from Jock Wallace I don't really blame him as an individual. We are not relegated yet. We have enough decent players and staff to get us out of this mess and at least survive for another season. After that? A major rebuilding job in the close season, as usual. I've said it before, I doubt there has been a time when the manager's job at a club of outsize has been so difficult.

The worst performance ever. Or at least since the last one. Being a Well fan was never mean't to be easy. Celtic at the weekend should be fun!

Key will be how our midfield goes about supplying and supporting Moult. I am not convinced about him playing the lone striker role and we will more than likely need a goal or two to take anything from this game. COYW!

Anything from this fixture is a bonus, even a half decent performance. I think we will get the performance, but end up on the wrong side of a two one defeat. No more red cards please.

Indeed. His personality on the park can seem petulant at times, but there can be little doubt about his general effort and commitment to the cause. Long may it continue! He will be very difficult to replace whenever he does leave.