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I started a thread about unbeaten runs, so I thought I’d better balance it out with one about our longest winless runs in the SPL: I’d hate to be accused of being positive. Our longest (league) run without a win is 10 games, which has been “achieved” on 2 separate occasions. I don’t think anyone will be surprised when I say that these both arose during Brewster’s 2nd spell. [shudder] The 1st was in 07/08, January to March, and thank heavens for Gretna, who we beat immediately before and after that barren spell. This run included 7 straight defeats. Next season, another 10 match winless run finally saw the end of Brewster in January 2009, shoes off and all that. A record of 8 straight defeats was set. Reminiscing about the dismal performances and results from back then should make us even more appreciative of the great times we are having now. In 06/07, Christie actually endured a 9 match winless streak, which ended in spectacular fashion with Rankin’s brilliant late strike over Rangers, in a televised game just after Christmas. It takes something very, very special to get me dancing round the living room, but that was one of those rare moments. Our poor form leading up to the game made the victory even sweeter.

And what, may I ask , were you doing in your living room. I was at that game and had organised a rare stay over in Sneck. it was a very cold day and I had been sitting motionless for several minutes when Rankin let fly. I can still remember, almost in slow motion, erupting to my feet . As I climbed higher and higher.......so did the pain. I had ruptured my calf muscle......I actually felt it seperating as I went. The long limp back to the Travelodge was undertaken with equal measures of joy and anguish. Two weeks off my work soothed things. Was that the season of the squiggler? Note to self.........always warm up before exuberant celebration

It's nice to be enjoying a 7 match unbeaten run, which got me thinking about what our longest unbeaten run has been at this level. So I had a look back through this site's results section, and decided to take into account SPL league games only, to ensure a reasonably consistent standard of opposition. The longest unbeaten run was 11 games in 05/06 during Brewster's 1st spell. This comprised 5 wins and 6 draws between 29/10/05 and 21/1/06. The next best is 8 games, which we’ve managed 3 times: 06/07 under Christie, which was notable because it suddenly morphed into 9 games without a win. Early in 12/13, after a defeat to Motherwell we went on a great run which came to a crashing end with the 1-5 v Motherwell. But then we bounced back immediately with another 8 straight after that shocker. So that game was the only defeat in 16! Later that season we also managed 7 unbeaten. If you want to consider runs of straight wins in the league, then 5 is the record at this level, which we’ve done twice. 05/06 under Christie, winning all post-split games with clean sheets. 07/08 under “Brew 2”. I have particularly fond memories of this one because I became a dad after the 3rd win, and then we had all these visitors at the house but I just wanted to watch the televised game v Celtic, which we came back to win 3-2. Then the following weekend I escaped the nappies for a trip to Tynecastle on a freezing, icy day, and we also won that one 3-2, Bayne in injury time firing past an outfield player in goals. Absolutely magic.

I can see that, some of the draw's been made in bold type

Finally, vacancies that our manager isn't linked with!

Chaps….what’s the latest on Jamie Vincent, I believe he was out ‘til Christmas, can we expect a return early in the NewYear? : In a recent interview on the club's official YouTube channel, Yogi confirmed that James Vincent had been told that he could step up his training and move closer to full fitness. I for one am looking forward to the return of James Vincent however it's going to give Yogi a selection headache because although I thought Vincent is better in the CAM role than Nick Ross, he has been playing well. If you take Nick out of there and put him back on the wing then have the headache of Nick Ross vs Marley Watkins and I personally want both players on the pitch I notice that David Raven has been sitting on the bench since his return from injury, is Tremarco playing that well, or was Raven playing poorly before his injury: I think the reason for Raven's absence from the squad is basically that Graeme Shinnie and Carl Tremarco have been very good defensively there's no reason to put Raven back in - as the saying goes "Why fix something that isn't broken" I have also been watching Raven play in the U20 squad and he is still playing his usual game but tends to get caught out at times but the main thing for Raven to do is to maintain his fitness as he could be drafted into the squad at anytime and I personally feel happy to have a good back up in David Raven. Marley Watkins… I thought Vincent was the ‘find of the season’, but he got injured too soon, however Watkins has come in, in a different role and looks like he is providing a constant threat, the BBC report from the Hearts match yesterday said ‘he supplied most of the forward momentum in their engine room.’ He certainly impressed me when I came up, and from comments on this site seems quite highly rated…could he be a potential POTY? : I attended the game and I thought that Marley Watkins was the stand out for the team. As mentioned above it's going to give Yogi a selection headache when James Vincent comes back into the team but I have been very impressed since Watkins has come into the team. Dean Brill has come in, and not given Esson a sniff of the goalkeeping jersey, in terms of goalies over the last few seasons how do you guys rate him?: I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Dean Brill so far is better than Antonio Reguero was last season. During pre season I was very dubious on Dean's performances but then friendlies are only games that focus on match fitness but Brill has been a very consistent goalkeeper since Reguero has left but what makes Brill stand out is that I feel he organises the defence better than Reguero did. With Brill in goals I feel like we are in safe hands. Regarding Ryan Esson, no offence intended but I would like to see him as a coach for the club and we develop Nick Draper and Cameron MacKay into the back up to Dean. Aaron Doran… I see his name mentioned a fair bit in match reports, for good strikes on goal, and he has weighed in with a couple recently, when I have watched him he kind of frustrates me, as I think he could be a really good player, is he having a good spell at the mo? : When I think of Aaron Doran, I don't really expect goals from him. The style of play that he has is that he creates the attacking moves and that is something he has done very well since Jonny Hayes left. I feel that Doran hasn't put a foot wrong in the last two seasons and he's done really well for the team. Of course it's nice when Doran scores goals but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't... (Unless he misses a game changing opportunity) Billy McKay….scored two yesterday and already has a decent tally for the season, does anyone think he might be a transfer target for someone come January (and not just Butcher), and would the board let him go if decent money were offered?: I have seen people saying that various clubs scouts (Including Celtic) attended the game yesterday to watch Billy. I think that it's inevitable that offers will be made for Billy but it's down to club at the end of the day and if the offer is best for the club then we trust the board. Hypothetically if Billy was to go then it would be Yogi's choice to get a replacement and that would be something I would watch with interest. Toby Adgestein, I am starting to think he might be a goner with his contract up next month and then we would be left with Curtis Allen - No thanks. I wonder if the Arsenal link is still there after Philip Roberts and maybe we might be able to get a replacement there if needed. Remember Yogi picked out a young Anthony Stokes from Arsenal youths for Falkirk and then look what happened!

He is liaising with IHE with a view to organising a 150 mile conga line stretching from Inverness to Leith.