The Mantis

Feck me. Jabba sure is scary without his make up.

Only Smarties have the answer.

I'll get in before Chibber comes back and rips me to shreds  :015: :015:

EDIT- too late  :021:

Stirling's a wee place. The ground's out at the Springkerse industrial estate, that's E of the centre, and just off the A91 which connects the M9 to Tillicoultry etc. It's easy from the south. From the north I would wager you're just as quick going through the centre and following the signs  :023:

Blackies disciplinary record has evidently deterioated since CC took over

I think you'd have a job arguing a case for that.......

I think you also have to look at how often he actually started. According to my memory the answer is 'not very often' as it's usually been Bayne and Dargo starting.

I thought he's been doing well recently, including the first half yesterday, but I think his heart wasn't in it second half, looked like a lost laddie  :009:

I still think it needs Dargo & Denzil to start, though I agree playing Bayne against the fragile Rangers was the right move.

HH, I just twigged yesterday about your username. D-OH!

Apart from Rankin's last minute goal, one or two people were wondering in the first half yesterday, whether he should have been playing, as it seemed his heid was still in the clouds from Wednesday night.....

BTW I'm not sure that Black or Rankin are actually better players than Charlie, though they'll probably develop by playing at a higher level than he did. If long time guys like Rossco and Royston can play in the SPL, Charlie would have been a hit I'm sure if age hadn't caught up with him. That's not being parochial, I don't even come from the Sneck, but Charlie was a gifted player for sure.

I thought sendings off in the league only affected the league games...

It wisnae a throw RIG!

Clacher, the only bit where I agree with you is that Falkirk are mince  :015: :015: :015: :015:

It's their good fortune they've been able to rely on Stokes to score every week. No idea who's paying his wages. Some people could argue it's a bit like cheating, getting loan players, something that kept County in a false position in previous years, but good luck to them anyway.

We (and Rangers) played on Wednesday night so had only 2 days to recover. All the others, including Falkirk) played Tuesday afternoon. Very few teams got a good result yesterday. Barry was rested. We missed him badly. All the other stuff, errors etc, you can't budget for. The fact is, Falkirk got all their goals in a 12 min spell when they were on top. You can forget the second half. 10 men 3 goals down, it was like a training match.

I think we'll do OK with the ar$ehole we've got this season, but I admit CC will have to find some answers next year.

Hope the Calf is healing, no jumping around like a young thing today when we score.

Nae chance of that, he was limping towards the exit as we all gave him a 10-minute start back to the car  :023:

Sounds like your heart is telling you dado, you're supporting the wrong team. You're not the first  :023:

Yngwie's right. Too many people (step forward EWS  :001:) passing judgement without seeing the game (and we could have done with another couple of hundred fans there today let me tell you).

I've not got much time for Rory but I finally found what he's good at. Working hard to consolidate a defeat  :015: :015: :015: Just don't bring him on if we're trying to win the game.

Seriously though, we've got another game in 48 hours and they looked tired enough today so I had no problems with CC using the subs to rest players. If we went for it with 10 men they would just feed Stokes to pick us off on the break and we'd lose 6-0.

Also Barry was rested and nobody was able to fill his boots, but everybody knows that already. If Barry gets a good 90 mins in on Monday, maybe we can risk Zander in the Cup next week, or more likely Morgan.

As for the game, well, until 32 mins we were the better side and Falkirk hadn't threatened at all. We hadn't done much more than them, but Latapy was being kept quiet by Black/Rankin and possibly CC was waiting till he tired after an hour, like last time.

It all went crazy in a 10 minute spell, when Rankin seemed to be letting the ball go for a throw, then at the last minute kept it in and passed it straight to Craig. Up the park to Latapy who plays in Stokes for a goal totally against the run of play.

Our heads go down and Falkirk have their best spell. Unlike us they make the best of it and score 2 more. Fair play to them but without Stokes and Latapy I think they'd be down alongside the Pars. Stokes is a class above the type of player you normally see in the SPL.

Haven't seen any TV, and all the goals were at the far end, so can't comment on any offsides, whether it was the 1st or 3rd goal.

Second half was just a formality, with the Bairns fans expecting a high score and the team passing it to death trying to break us down. Rankin's goal was another peach, but I'd rather have done without it if he hadn't given away possession at 0-0.

It's St Mirren's turn to be tired after their efforts to hold on for a point at Ibrox, and they lost Hugh Murray too. The players will produce a performance on Monday and get the points- you heard it here first  :021:

I've not been Blackie's biggest fan but I'm surprised at the turnaround in opinions since the last game. I was at the game and part of me says he's finished, but part of me says he needs a spell in the reserves till he sees what he's missing. He'll get a ban anyway so he'll lose his place.

For the record he never crocked the boy against Motherwell, the guy was booked for the challenge on Black in which he injured himself.

It was Brew who pitched him into the team as a regular. I would have used him more sparingly as he's still very young.

I think our stand counts as 'North'. As well as the temporary one behind the goals they have been using another temp one along the side this season.

Poof.

Well done big erse.

Today's results were bad for us, but looking at the fixtures this morning, no way could we expect to gain anything.

I still feel no club wins 20 points like we did and then stops winning any more. This is a bad slump but realistically I can't see us continuing it all season. Next season is where I would be worried if we lose players.

Anyway the difference between us and the Pars is, we get draws (9 out of 20) while they get defeats (13 out of 21).

Dunfermline are in a worse state than us, where are they going to get the points from? Kenny has not done much in his 5 or so games at the club. What miracles can he perform in January apart from maybe bring in 2 or 3 of the Derry lads, and who says any of them are up to it?

CC will know at the end of the season if he has the stomach to carry on.

If this sounds like scraping the barrel, remember I'm one of those who felt survival would be enough. I never went for the top 6 stuff. Five of those places are already filled by the teams who get 10 000 fans or more every week.

Ahem!!!!

Well summed up Wyness and CaleyD. I think also that Bonzo makes a lot of good points, but they're made in such a patronising manner at times that I sometimes think it's Cyril the Squirrel in disguise  :010: :010: :010: :010: He'd also rival a Tim for paranoia. We all disagree from time to time but he thinks he alone gets shot down.

Maybe Bonzo would elaborate on when we're due to go down the pan- is it this season, or next, or when? And does he ever watch the team away? Motherwell fans were just as animated when we went and did to them what they did to us yesterday (but to the tune of 4-1). Many people have said that  away teams is what the SPL is all about these days. Keep the home fans quiet, then get them on the team's back, then nick the points.

What does 'disatrous' mean anyway?

If we beat Rangers 3-0 we'll be 7th  :001:

I was saying the other day the Pars have got problems, they got another sending off today (Hamilton).

But that's what he's trying to say if you ask me, just a wee bit progress each year.

BTW that was your 1000th post, you can retire now  :023:

“The best thing we could have done is avoided relegation by one point in our first season and two points in the next."

I think everybody's reading too much into this. He means by doing so well, narrowly avoiding top 6, the team has just made a rod for its own back. He means nobody would have been disappointed if we'd just stayed up the first season, everybody expected us to fail anyway.

Yeah, seen it now. Barry seems to stamp/land on the player's foot. Thought Crawford had to go though. Definite yellow card for the late challenge.

Never mind the Italian Charlie- a good day in the hills will sort everything out  :015:

He's right though, as TM4TJ says elsewhere, everybody thinks they know better than him how to do the job.

RIG- 1st stramash. Barry got involved with Muirhead (11) right under the main stand. Muirhead pushes Barry who falls over the player on the ground, like what you used to do to people in the playground. Only Barry gets booked, never saw the start of it so don't know why. I actually thought Muirhead got booked later on, but the BBC site has only 5 bookings.

Heard today that Hart is out for the season, and Dargo has no chance of playing Wednesday.