The Mantis

Yeah.

Here's two shots that you might fancy for your desktop if you're an old fogey hankering for the lower leagues. Gayfield 1 Gayfield 2

Aye they changed ends, so all the Lichties trekked round each time the team changed ends, ie all night plus the pens. Maybe you don't know this but there's segregation in div 1 so they had to install a whacking great double fence at halfway, years ago. Still it was open last night. I reckon 1 ball on the sea side and another over the main stand....

To be fair it's only about 2-3 km Alex, but a pretty boring walk with all those roundabouts. It's 4 quid to park at the stadium, but if you get there a bit earlier there's street parking if you look for it. If you park at the stadium at our end you get a quick getaway though. Some of us usually drink at the Cadger's Brae, just off junction 4 on the M9, ie south of the ground. I know there's another pub or two behind the away end towards the town, but never tried them.

A bit like watching Scotland really. It was exciting seeing Queens going for it but somehow you knew it was going to go pear-shaped before the end. Mrs Mantis had her head in a newspaper, not really watching the game, but when the equaliser went in she just casually remarked 'that'll be that then' and went back to her paper. We can learn so much from people like her

What Yngwie said. The pub and the harbour and the smokies and all that stuff. They even let me out at half time and I went up the hill and took photies of the wee ground all lit up. Also the Courier article is spot on. Also it was a right good cup tie and you couldn't grudge Arbroath if they had won. Glad Yngwie got in first and saved me writing all the same stuff. However I felt that we were fine up till Vigurs scored and then the players thought the game was won. As everybody knows it's hard to get the intitiative back in a game once you've lost it. We did have loads of chances to win it in the 90 though and then Barrowboy hit the bar in ET. We've got used to being the underdogs over the years and now the boot's on the other foot when we draw lower division teams. In the car going back home we were wondering what team will be playing against Falkirk. We heard that Vigurs is carrying an injury and misses the game. We desperately need Russeldinho and Granty back in the team. The Good - My MoM (and that of the sponsors) was Barry Wilson. Legend. Playing on the left, encouraging all the youngsters and showing a bit of pace too - where's he been hiding that recently? Plenty of promise from Vigurs and Duff too. Blackie. Esson. Rossco (even though his first 4 passes went astray). Very professional penalties. The Bad - I'm extremely worried about the season. I think the bottom of the table will be a real scrap this year with no Gretna to take the worries away. Apart from Aberdeen I've seen no evidence that we can cope. Has anybody considered that maybe Aberdeen and Hibs are poor sides anyway? We could be getting to play teams like Arbroath sooner than we think. I do think Hamilton will run out of steam like most promoted teams (except us, we usually start bad and get better) and I'd like to see what St Mirren and Falkirk are like. Barrowman - did he come with a guarantee? Can we get a refund before it's too late? Booked twice against a div 2 club and neither of them simply for fouls. Punt him. Imrie? Even the Arbroath fans can spot class (or the lack of it). Lost his head and got booked. Rooney? - a bit worried about his lack of pace. Difficult to tell if he's any good as he's getting no service at the mo, but not sure if he is showing for the pass anyway. McGuire? Obviously the Arbroath players and fans were noising him up as they know him from his Aberdeen days. I thought he might walk after both teams re-enacted the battle of the Somme in the middle of the park. Still not seen anything to convince me. Lionel? A bit erratic. Still struggling to decide whether he adds to the team. Garry Wood? I've been impressed but I thought he was poor last night. Rory? Don't get me started.

I just found this you barsteward......

These youngsters grow up so quickly nowadays.....

Looks like a lot of detail in the Thistle - what about just an eagle and a ball?

I certainly gave the last two Saturdays a miss in order to pay my dues to Barry on Monday, but then I'm coming from 170 miles down the road so my opinions don't really count for much. We're finding that we need pretty much a full car these days to make it worthwhile with the cost of fuel. The days when I would drive up on my own for the day are well and truly gone. Company on the road, and cost, are big factors. I feel that if I lived in the Sneck I'd probably make all the home games and not bother travelling much, but I have to say the style of play is pish-poor and has been since Brew returned. Even under CC we at least went down trying to pass the ball. I had a flash of optimism at Pittodrie where we were absolutely tremendous. We passed it well against Liverpool but that was a game with no pressure. Reading the comments here just reinforces what I already felt. I hope some of these players can learn quickly, but I fear Barrowman isn't up to the job. Imrie was so good against the Dons I was almost willing to change my mind about him, but it seems that was just a flash in the pan. I've never rated McGuire. We're missing Granty though. Also I've spent a lot of time in the past defending Russeldinho so no apologies from me if I say again we're lost without him. I hope Brew can keep us up but I fear he's got no clue. We'll see what happens when we visit pointless Falkirk next week. If we can win there it'll be an early pointer as to who's going down. However, given our recent form at their place, I think it's more likely that they'll get off the mark next week with a win.

I thought Zander looked pretty good on the other side too.

Shattered after that run back down the road in the rain and up for work this morning, not getting any younger. Wouldn't have missed it though. Must say thanks to everybody involved in making it such a memorable night.

Had to laugh today, the Olympics were on TV but I wasn't really paying attention, then I heard somebody say "Andy Baddeley Drawn in lane 1"

I hope she's reading this, nae rations for a month

Over the years we've given them a few hidings at our place, but they always made it hard at Gayfield and a few times we trooped off having played the better football and lost. The last time we were there we won 3-1 with two from Denzil and one from Hissy in March 2003.

Obviously agree with a lot of that Clacher. It's obvious when you go down the High Street and hear all the folk handing out the flyers - they're all from the South of England and very middle class. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but you can't escape the feeling, not just in Edinburgh, but in Scotland as a whole, that it's like two parallel universes. The people for whom Scotland is some sort of mystical fairyland where they can come with all their chums in the summer, and the real picture that the rest of us have, a place where people are born, give birth, fight, drink, live, work, fornicate, go to the football and the pub and the funerals, and eventually kick the bucket

Aye, took advantage of the rain being off for a day, went in and took a few photies....

Cheers Alan - hope we're not swapping places at the end of the season tho' .....

Just think of the response when the club wanted 1000 people to pay ?100 each to get their name on the away shirt.....

Interesting to see what happens against Hamilton in a week's time. Last year we had to wait a long time to play Gretna in match 11 to find out how poor they were. I would expect Hamilton to be fired up but looking at Billy Reid's signings there's very little quality there. We need to be fired up for it ourselves though. I remember 2 years ago when we lost at home to a very poor St Mirren team on the first day, after dominating most of the game.

Davie Caldwell was a bit mental. He got a second spell at Caley about 1993 and got a couple of sendings-off. Pretty good finisher. Last time I saw him he was playing in the juniors with Bon-Accord alongside Wilsie Robertson and he got sent off.....

Old git. Finished.

Seems not that long since I had to put a consoling, fatherly arm around the lad's shoulders after we lost to a last minute goal at Ayr. The poor wee lamb was about greetin

The Herald yesterday had us above St Mirren and Hamilton if it's any consolation Also a fan's view from our very own ICTchris

No sign of Guy Kerr then? Another good player who will likely be away then