While I am delighted that a quarter through the season we are sitting 4th equal with the same goal difference as Hearts, I am happier that we are 3 games clear of bottom placed St Midden ( presuming they are capable of winning 3 games to close that gap, having only won 1 out of 9 starts so far).

Is it just me, or how many of us look to be out of the relegation zone first and then as far up the table as possible?

Is it just me, or how many of us look to be out of the relegation zone first and then as far up the table as possible?

It's just you, CrownJaggie!

I look at the top of the table first, then work my way down until I find ICT - I call it "the power of positive thinking"

Because we're sitting up high, I am looking from the top at the moment... but delighted (and prioritising) the fact that we are 9 points above st midden.

I have to say that *this season* i have been looking from the top down as we are doing pretty well .... but then I scan down the table, ignoring most of the teams between us and bottom and just make sure St Midden are still down there ......

most other seasons - assuming we are in mid to lower end of the table, i have tended to scan 2 or 3 teams either side of us and ignore the rest, especially the top two.

Only because we have had a good start, i look top down....and it feels great

But of course, priorities are staying away from relegation as possible, and wherever that takes us is hopefully as high up the table as possible.

What scares me is i will feel so sorry for any team that goes down, having felt relegation last year. Is this weird? However, i didnt feel the slightest bit sorry for Falkirk last season....in fact happiness

I was delighted Falkirk went down. Tw@ts.

Also did anyone else notice that we are the only team to have beaten the Midden at their own ground so far this season.

I get fewer broken windows in the greenhouse since I started using it.

You know what they say Don, "People in glass houses shouldn't walk about naked".

I think going 4-2-3 in our first nine games is pretty good going. It's our best SPL start, I think, and we haven't looked out of our depth. The last time we were promoted we went 1-1-7 over the same time period, St Johnstone went 1-3-5 in their first nine games last season and Hamilton went 3-0-6 in their first nine games the season before, so we are doing pretty well compared to recently promoted teams.

In terms of our performances I think we've been solidly good. Up front, Rooney, Hayes and Odhiambo have looked at home in the SPL and have all scored a good few goals. Foran is just getting into his stride since coming back after injury and I think he'll come into his own during the second quarter. Defensively, I feel we've been relatively poor, conceding some bad goals. We looked disorganised against Hearts in that defeat and gave away preventable goals against Hamilton, St Johnstone and Hibernian. However, we have the best defensive record outside the Old Firm so perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on us.

I think going 4-2-3 in our first nine games is pretty good going. It's our best SPL start, I think, and we haven't looked out of our depth. The last time we were promoted we went 1-1-7 over the same time period, St Johnstone went 1-3-5 in their first nine games last season and Hamilton went 3-0-6 in their first nine games the season before, so we are doing pretty well compared to recently promoted teams.

In terms of our performances I think we've been solidly good. Up front, Rooney, Hayes and Odhiambo have looked at home in the SPL and have all scored a good few goals. Foran is just getting into his stride since coming back after injury and I think he'll come into his own during the second quarter. Defensively, I feel we've been relatively poor, conceding some bad goals. We looked disorganised against Hearts in that defeat and gave away preventable goals against Hamilton, St Johnstone and Hibernian. However, we have the best defensive record outside the Old Firm so perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on us.

Encouraging stats. I'd agree with the comments about the defence to some extent, but I've been fairly encouraged by how Munro and Tokely have coped in the centre so far. I was concerned about Tokely as a CB in the SPL, but I think the Hearts game was the only one where the central defence looked dodgy. Other than that, most of the defensive weaknesses have come in the full back areas, which is understandable given some of the injury problems. Duff replacing Proctor at RB has added some solidity. The central midfield has struggled to exert control for any meaningful length of time during games, but I guess we can't hope to dominate for long periods having just come up, and retaining Duncan in there will always give us some commitment and experience.

Re the original comment, I always start from the premise that avoiding relegation is the priority, but it's nice to bask in our current position and dream of going on some mad undefeated run - starting tomorrow.

Re the original comment, I always start from the premise that avoiding relegation is the priority, but it's nice to bask in our current position and dream of going on some mad undefeated run - starting tomorrow.

We're on a mad undefeated run - have been since St Midden on the 25th of September....

Long may it continue!

I am in favour of the SPL Green Cross Code and I look both ways after every game - IMHO the safer that we become from the threat of relegation then the more the chance of a Top Six finish. I would love to see an ICT side this season released from the shackle of relegation and then we could really give it a go.

And as I have alluded to in several other threads - to me the biggest "plus" this season has been the form of Ryan Esson plus we have unearthed some "kids" who can hold their own at this level.

I've been looking at the table from both sides this season and am delighted that we have the chance to go third next weekend without any other results having to go our way to make it happen, yes it's still early but is still nice to say that we have that chance. It could be the springboard the team needs to some good home form.

Saying that I was slightly disappointed that St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Hamilton all won this weekend as I like to see us getting further away from them although I still believe that relegation will be battled out by these three. I will always keep an eye on the bottom of the table until mathematically we are safe.

Still look at the points difference between us and bottom. But hey we have still to click completely, as most games we are still only playing well for one half only. Cant wait until it all clicks. Celtic at Parkhead would be nice or Aberdeen in a couple of midweeks time just to show Mark McGhee it wasnt just injuries that made the difference!

I was trying to see if this seasons performance is anywhere near of that from Livingston in 2001-2002 when they finished 3rd in their first season in the SPL. Sadly their record was better than ours and after 10 games they had 17 points where we only have 15.

I was trying to see if this seasons performance is anywhere near of that from Livingston in 2001-2002 when they finished 3rd in their first season in the SPL. Sadly their record was better than ours and after 10 games they had 17 points where we only have 15.

My thoughts exactly, mate, but look what happened to them. Just the old cynic in me doesn't want to see a crash and burn later in the season or the next one.

delighted to be where we are in the league at the moment but avoiding relegation has to be our number one priority this season. So the higher up we are at end of the year the better. But I believe we have a fantastic squad and if we can keep injury free there is no reason why we can't finish top six - or even end up on a tour of Europe! How fantastic would that be for a "wee diddy team" from outside the central belt?

I don't look at the bottom of the league I look at 7th place, even if we were in 3rd position at 4.45 on Saturday I would still be looking at the points difference between us and 7th, league position doesn't really matter to me at the minute,I'm more interested in getting as many points on the board between us and the team in 7th place as possible.

The more points we get now the better. I don't think we can make a realistic perdiction till about christmas.