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There are 9 teams in our league who would love to be where we are .

Probably the biggest factor in a poor overall performance today was players that have been pretty heroic all season apparently having off days. Draper's passing was very poor; Raven similarly so; Shinnie, in the first half at least, seemed very reluctant to take people on; and Christie's brain seemed to be working just a split second ahead of his feet, so that the ball didn't always follow him to where he wanted to go. The opposition and conditions also played a significant part: Motherwell set up really well against us and stopped us getting into any sort of rhythm, a tactic that worked really well for Partick earlier in the season, and the pitch became increasingly heavy as the game went on, which made it difficult for us to establish any sort of fluency once we came into the game. Apparently there has been some criticism of Ofere on social media. I don't see why. He worked hard, showed a decent first touch and tried to bring people into play, and considering he must know next to nothing about his teammates, I thought he did well. Could be a decent signing as we push, now, for what is a very realistic and achievable third place finish.

Was at the game today and I felt that the first half was a non-event from our perspective. Our passing was not slick at all and very sloppy and slow. If we want to dominate next week then we need to pick up in the intensity especially in the first half. Second half, they started well and there was no chance that Esson was getting anywhere near that bullet header from Laing. After we scored our equaliser, we sat back to try and defend the point but when they brought on Ainsworth we couldn't cope as Ainsworth is a very pacey player but I need to see the second goal as I think it took a wicked deflection. In terms of Ofere's debut I thought he done well considering he was only brought to the club 24 hours before today's game. I felt he added a good bit of strength up front to hold the ball and interesting to see him drop very deep at times to defend but I could see the logic when defending set pieces because of his height. Anyways fair play to him getting a goal today and from today seems like a very welcomed addition but I agree with Yogi that he is a few weeks short of match fitness, once he is training with the lads and settled in the team, we could see a decent player on our hands. Credit to Motherwell, despite being the 'Whipping boys' they put up a great performance today. A must win game next week - very important to get to the next stage of cup!

Notice how Ciftci was wearing gloves? It's not because of the cold, it's to avoid leaving fingerprints.

John Hughes gives a personal message for the fans in the interview

Well....i for one aint got ANY complaints about sitting in 3rd place in the league, going into March. i think its remarkable and i think Yogi should be handed the Manager of the year award right now!

Looking on the bright side, the fact that Hamilton, Dundee and St Johnstone all failed to win and bearing in mind that St Johnstone still have to play both Hamilton and Dundee, today's results have confirmed a top 6 finish for us

Draper up front? Are people drunk?

Rings true with what i've heard, hear we are looking to sign two players, one most probably being Kink but heard that Prince Rajcomar and the other lad have left #notintheknow Yeah according to my source you are correct Your source being Wickipedia ?.. Wickipedia? What's that? Similar to Wickileaks - which people have in toilets "up ee rodd" Then there's "email" - which is brought to them by "ee postie".

I'm actually rather disappointed with the notice of complaint. It only makes reference to the Warren incident and offers a 2 game ban if accepted. Ciftci's actions deserve a far more severe punishment and having been able to view the footage at leisure, the SFA should be able to see Ciftci's premeditated and dangerously violent conduct for what it is. The shove on Shinnie was a forceful one which sent Shinnie sprawling. It was a deliberate, malicious act and seemed designed to send him hard into the path of Meekings. Fortunately they did not collide but they could easily have clashed heads with serious consequences. It was worthy of a red card and how the referee failed to give even a foul simply beggars belief. It also beggars belief that the SFA who will now have seen the incident also feel that no punishment is warranted. The 2nd incident was even worse. This was way off the ball and whilst Warren was watching the play, Ciftci launched into him from behind and sent him sprawling. That was not a foul in the course of play, it was an unprovoked assault and if you or I did that to someone in the street we'd get arrested. Warren obviously retaliated in some manner and whilst I am not defending him, a reaction is entirely understandable. Surely the original offence (which the SFA have seen) is a far more serious offence than Warren's reaction so how can they only slap on the same punishment as Warren will get? Players get suspended following red cards when they bring down a player in a goal scoring position even when genuinely going for the ball. They get suspended for badly timed timed tackles again where there is no malicious intent and they get sent off for raising an arm to push away an opponent who has fouled them or who is threatening them. Fair enough. But Ciftci's behaviour is far worse than that. It isn't spur of the moment, it isn't accidental and it isn't in reaction to being fouled. It is deliberate, malicious behaviour designed to harm an opponent - and on Tuesday night he indulged in at least two such acts of unprovoked thuggery. If the SFA had any balls about them they would be banning Ciftci for the rest of the season. What also disgusts me is the news that Dundee Utd are appealing the notice of complaint. They should consider themselves extremely fortunate that the offered ban is only 2 matches. What they should be doing is apologising for Ciftci's behaviour and announcing that internal disciplinary measures are being taken against him. I would hope that behind the scenes our club has complained to the SFA.and will do so again in the light of the leniency of the offer. By appealing the notice one can only assume that Dundee Utd condone such behaviour. The SFA's response should be to significantly lengthen the ban and perhaps Dundee Utd should also be fined as condoning such behaviour surely brings the game into disrepute. I know this is a bit of a rant but there is a really important principle here. Football is a hard game and we know that when players are giving 100% there will be times when players are hurt by mis-timed tackles and in the heat of the moment players will over-react to incidents. Players will get sent off and take their punishment and that is simply an inevitable part of the game. What is not an inevitable or acceptable part of the game is when players deliberately try to harm opponents. If the powers that be are not prepared to distinguish such thuggery from the normal inevitable consequences of committed competitive play then we have no chance of ever addressing some of the more innocuous forms of cheating such as holding and shirt pulling at set pieces.

What this thread requires at this time is some psychological words of wisdom from a professional perspective. What a poor week. 2 feckin points out of 9, lose a lead 3 times at home, can't beat a team who went down to 10 men and 1-0 after 5 minutes and fail to beat the whopping boys of the league. And then we show more indiscipline and make the squad depletion even worse. What a feckin disaster. But WHOA - let's reflect and take in the bigger picture. Have the footballing gods been with us or not ? We are now possibly in a stronger position than we were before we kicked off against Kille. Just look at the table. And then look at the fixture list. MASSIVE game next week but what a feckin booster a win would be. And then - well time to recuperate, regroup, refresh and hopefully RETURN. It gives us time to get the injured back, it gives us time to get the newbies more aware of the system, blend in and increase their fitness levels. It also serves suspension and highlights the need fer discipline to ALL concerned. This is actually the time to get behind the team and the team to repay the loyalty of 3000 frustrated followers. That is all fer now as I need to let my kilt in the mothballs and dust off my passport. Looks like old IHE will have to don the outfit again, at least twice, show of the tat and embarrass his family.

Good old Eddie

Good luck to the new boy on hid debut. We've even managed to fill the bench!

Is it not next to Thursopedia?

Really struggling for numbers so this now looks increasingly likely: Esson Raven Hughes Meekings Shinnie Tansey Latapy Ross Christie Williams Draper Subs Tommy the Groundsman, etc.

I apologise, cif73! I stand corrected. I didn't realise Lecce were in Serie A back then. That's quite a pedigree. Obviously he's lost his way a bit more recently, but hopefully we can get his career back on track. On paper, he looks a better acquisition that Sekajja, so fingers crossed!

So we have 3 guys on trial and then sign this striker from leftfield, so to speak. I recall Hughes saying a few weeks ago that he wouldn't sign a player unless he's personally seen him play. Has he? It's an intriguing signing though, however it came about.

Won't it be a bit on the small size?

Ofere has been allocated shirt #7....so he's got a bit to live up to in terms of replacing the previous occupant.

He's not played in Serie A! He has....Lecce were in Serie A when he was with them.

He's not played in Serie A! He has ...and scored in it ... Check this out ... For Lecce :) http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/edward-ofere/profil/spieler/35761

I don't know who specifically voted 'YES' when the Highland League chairmen got round the table to discuss the pyramid proposal. But, it's publically acknowledged that it was almost unanimous - with 16 clubs in favour. Rumour has it that Keith FC abstained (or rather, didn't turn up!), but the identity of the dissenting club has never been found to my knowledge - as it was a secret ballot. If anybody knows otherwise? The Highland League, in tandem with the Lowland League is now effectively the 5th level of Scottish football. Any clubs not keen on progressing should leave and play at a level more suitable to their ambition.

I mentioned this in a another thread but Dundee UTD will miss two weeks with cup commitments. Now we will also miss those weeks because of the cup and the fact we were supposed to play them when they face Celtic at Hampden but they have to face them three times. If they take a battering in any of them then there morale is going to be shot especially if it is in the cup final. The weekend we should have played them we won't be involved and so from Raith a week sat we get a two week break so if the players are feeling fatigued then it may be a nice break for them to recharge the batteries. We then then face Partick who we know are our bogey side but if we can perform like in the cup and this time actually kill it then Utd face Celtic at Parkhead same day so we may go further ahead. They have to travel north in that rearranged fixture so although we worried that we may burn out and miss out on Europe we still hold all the aces and we still remain unbeaten. I did see one post on another thread that said we may not get by the first qualifying round so it may not be a bad thing to miss out. Maybe we will get knocked out but we are the same if better that St Johnstone and they have had a few mini adventures so we cant we. It may at a cost if we get some obscure eastern team but it may help us attract players and it raises the profile of the club to be involved in Europe. And aside from Europe we get more money from finishing 3rd than 4th so for me its a no brainer. Unless we pull far away it will be a nerve wrecking final run but we can do it and lets get fully behind the boys.