The African

Watched it again and yes, there is some contact with the ball, probably by both players. The flight of the bouncing ball is affected, though not by much and you would have to assume, by the way the ball travelled afterwards, that Cadden got more of it than the Dundee player, which makes a mockery of the referee's statement to McGhee that he didn't get any of the ball.

Agreed, the squad s now large enough and just about versatile enough to cover most eventualities. There are still some flaws in the squad with the likes of Chalmers, Kennedy and Laing still to prove their worth, the youngsters still to rove they can make the step up, and the older players still to show that they can last the course. It will be interesting to see who is still around at the start of next season. Replacements for the four senior guys will need to be found, even if we retain the services of two or three of them, and the oak keeping issue willed to e addressed. McGhee will have his work cut out. The good news is that the current squad looks good enough, on paper, to give us every chance of rebuilding in the summer with the prospect of top flight football to look forward to.

Just watched the penalty again. It looks to me like neither player got any of the ball. There is a coming together of boots as they both try to get the bouncing ball and the Dundee player goes down like a sack of spuds. Now perhaps Cadden caught him on the instep which can be painful, but it was an honest clash with both players going for the ball, and both equally guilty of " high fever" whatever that may be defined as, and never a penalty. An older and more experienced player than Cadden might have realised that he was facing the wrong way and simply moved towards the bounce of the ball and milked the foul for the Dundee player diving through him, but with this standard of refereeing you have no guarantees. He may still have given the penalty.

Reid is a journeyman who came in on a short term deal and did okay. He then scored a goal of some significance in what should really have been his final game and somehow managed to gain a two year deal out of it. Lazy management by the guy in charge at the time and a sign that he had been in the job too long. Reid was perhaps worth a year after his initial performances and the Pittodrie goal which may have increased our budget, but given we then signed Josh Law who has turned out to be a reasonable right back, he became surplus to requirements. The off field issues cannot have helped matters either. Good luck to him. Hope he sorts his life and career out and finds a club at his level to take him on.

If neither Marv or Lionel are moving,it would make sense to get a loan move for Dom Thomas. He needs game time to develop and he won't get it here at the moment.

Is it possible to arrange loan signings out with the transfer window?

Possibly not a bad one to have postponed. Play them when we have some better form behind us.

If Locke had stayed at Killie, even for another month, I would have been pretty confident of avoiding the drop, even if we had not added to our squad With hindsight that was ever going to happen. As such, we probably do need to add a couple of players to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding the drop. No real reason to panic buy.though. The level of player we can afford or who would look for a move to a club of our standing, is just as likely to be available as a free agent after the window closes.

A draw is better than nothing. I would probably have taken it at 3pm. We need to stop giving away penalties though. Two soft ones have cost us four points. Who knows what difference they might make at the end of the season. As for new players coming in, I'd be happier with a few good rather than a good few (did you see what I did there?) as we don't need to go through the messy process of trying to integrate four or five new players into the team, like we tried last season. We are by no means a decent side, but two or three experienced professionals who know what they are about will get us the points we need to survive for another season and then we can rebuild properly in the summer. The Thistle game now takes on more significance. A win there will bring a couple of other sides back into the relegation/play off equation and that must work to our advantage. Much as I would love a cup run, three points on Tuesday may be of more importance, in the long run, than anything we get next Saturday. Being a little greedy, I would hope we can get results in both games.

Good luck to Dan. Certainly not the worst goalkeeper we have seen at Fir Park. Be interesting who we manage to bring in to replace Ripley in the summer. Craig Samson would probably deserve a crack at the job, but he has never really impressed me at St Mirren or Killie. As others have said, Reid is probably the next squad member to be deemed surplus to requirements. Then hopefully get someone in that can add a bit of much needed dig in midfield.

Given that he probably is not on big money, and genuine quality is thin on the ground in our price range, he would be worth a deal until the end of the season if he is fit enough to give us an hour starting one week with a half hour off the bench the next. Our squad needs thinning and a team of hammer throwers might get us to safety this season (we definitely need to harden up) but it would be good to have some quality as well.

Bad pie at half time? I suppose it is possible.

Poor result, whatever the performance meritted. We now find ourselves back in the relegation mix. No need to panic as at least we are not on our own but I reckon we do need to improve the quality of the squad to give ourselves the best chance of getting out of this. It is a glaring sign of previous mismanagement that an injury to an aging left back has such a negative effect on our perceived prospects. If you are going to operate with a small squad, it needs to be both versatile and adaptable. Our squad is probably larger than we would ideally like and yet it is neither.

I wonder if we will ever see Gannon back at Fir Park? After all, just about everyone else makes a return at some stage in their career.

Seems about right. Otherwise he would have been a better option than Hammell at right back for Tynecastle. Anything we can do to clear the dead wood and help ease the wage bill this January has to be positive in the longer run. We have a substantial squad but unfortunately a large proportion of it is deemed unfit for purpose.

Well if there were any doubt that we needed to bring in a couple of ew players, then hopefully this dispels it. I fear that Grimshaw will be difficult to replace but we need to try. Our good run is over with a crash and we can only hope that there isn't a hangover for the County game.

As we look like fielding a makeshift midfield, I'd be happy to take anything from this fixture and keep the unbeaten run going. For once, in a three points for a win league, a draw would be a decent result.

I suppose the issue is that he could have picked up an injury. If they are picking up a fee then they wouldn't want to miss out, though would £200k or whatever really matter to Man Utd? He was never our player though, so we cannot do anything about it. With the bigger clubs signing mor and more of the available talent, it is something clubs like ours will have to learn to live with.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least. There is nothing new in this world!

Shame how this has worked out, but that is the way with players on loan. Good luck to the lad at Preston. He undoubtedly did us a turn and I reckon we have been good for him as well, once we got our management problems sorted. No need for panic signings. Might be a little bit makeshift against Hearts but there is more to be gained in recruiting the "right" player rather than the "right now" player. Did you see what I did there?

I know it is temping the mocker Gods, but McGhee is not McCall so we should be alright. Treat the opposition with all due respect and put out a strong team to do the job and we will be in the next round. I think three nil sounds about right.

With regard to our players moving to the old firm, it has never been good business. It hacks off our fans to see them go to a rival and then play against us and the f*ckers always seem to want our players on the cheap. Their fault for being the ****s that they are? Or our fault for accepting the scraps offered? Not really hypocritical of us with regard to us picking up players from them as they are generally deemed sur plus to requirement and we are helping the player to resurrect a career ruined by the ugly sisters.

If Ainsworth goes, I hope itsn't for sweeties. Okay, we are all selling clubs in the SPFL, but when you look at what is paid for players down south, some of the fees we attract are bordering on the insulting. He has to be worth at least £300k. Always been inconsistent but a genuine game changer when in the mood. I will be sorry to see him go.

Yeah, I get that point about the difference between being bullied and being kicked off the park, but it does seem that when we go into contact we get called up for it more than the opposition. Poor technique in the tackle? Do we lack physicality because of poor conditioning or is it down to the type of players we have on our books? I would rather have a side of footballers than shot putters but if it is costing us points then we need to look at the problem.

What seems strange, viewed from the other side of the world, is how we complain that we get bullied by other sides, yet the stats on fouls etc seem to suggest it is us that is dishing out the dirty stuff. What gives? Shite referees?