The Mantis

I reckoned I needed Russeldinho in there in front of the defence ballwinning, not creating. Can't think of anybody better, certainly not Cherry who couldn't play at that level and cost us games by his indiscipline. I had 10cc in the middle for the creativity and Wilson/Robson either side, so sadly no room for Peanut.

Probably everybody’s seen it all on the telly already but I just need to vent a bit as that was pretty dreadful. As one of the 134 I made up for Johndo’s absence by getting huckled by the stewards. The first half was pretty dire so I started cutting my nails with the Swiss Army knife and the cctv identified me as a threat to Laura Norda in Dundee. Have to say Dundee were better than I expected and all the predictions of McPake getting sacked by Xmas look a bit silly now. He certainly did a number on Robbo. They only need 3 at the back since they’re all brick shithouses. That means he can commit 2 up front, Johnston and Nelson, with McGowan lying behind them. Meanwhile their 5 in midfield left us floundering for decent possession. Some of their movement and link up play was pretty good, but still our defence was coping well enough till the disaster of an opener. Interesting to see what might have happened if we had nicked a goal earlier. With a total lack of room in midfield we were treated to the all too familiar sight of the back 4 humping it long to poor Jordan, who had very little to work on, but on the odd occasion he got possession he reverted to the traffic cone mode of early last season and big Forster had him in his pocket. For a big fellow he’s really not very good in the air. I thought we might have come out fighting after half time, and to an extent we did, but it was the reverse of the first half with Dundee happy to sit in and hit on the counter. We might have nicked a draw but nobody really seemed to have any belief. The referee didn’t help and two or three decisions were bizarre. Todorov is very good in the air and caused more bother in the 15 minutes or so than big Jordan, but I suppose Robbo has his reasons. Vincent was pretty ineffective, Doran had too many unforced errors and Walsh had a frustrating afternoon when his final ball went awol. As forTrafford... well he started to show a bit towards the end of last season but today he was back to his usual headless chicken act and it seemed to me that Robbo took him off before he was sent off. His replacement Carson was very neat and tidy, a more energetic looking ginger version of Joe Chalmers and that’s the second time I’ve seen him in midfield and been impressed. Shame for Curry who was only on a few minutes and seemed to go over on his ankle. And how many times did our players slip? On to Tannadice and surely a better performance.

Excellent stuff ? Never actually seen that extended footage before. Or the aerial shot of the park.

I seem to remember it being half and half.

The good ol’ beeb still has East Fife on 7. Haven’t added their bonus point. P.S. Let’s do this.

Just been watching the Ian Black interview. When asked about the best players during his time here, Russeldinho was the first named followed by Barry. Just saying likes ?

Busy man Don so I rely on caley100 to give me the lowdown ?

I take it Carson was played at RB again. Shame as he seems to have been poor every time. Against Hearts I was impressed by him playing as a defensive midfielder.

Sad to hear. RIP John. Fat John, Skinny John’s Barmy Army.

Megginson sent off???

You must have been in the middle of quoting that post as I was deleting it after I realised it was wrong. Thought I'd got away with it ?

Cheers big yin. As I said, Billy Dodds ?

BBC were saying we lined up 3-4-3 with Tremarco, Coll, McCart, at the back and Walsh, White, Keatings up front? Mind you, it might have been Billy Dodds.

“Footy” - automatic fail ?

The boys done good.

It’ll just be a transfer to the stand once you’re in.

I've had high hopes for Keatings. He had a good chance to win it late on, lost his composure and blasted over. Would have been robbery though.

Only used the main stand which was pretty well filled. Never announced it. Usual Tynecastle shambles though when they get a minor game, u21 international etc. Only a few gates open and long queues. Missed the first 15 mins.

Hearts could have had a barrowload tbh, Rodgers made a few good stops. We had plenty of attacks mainly through Tom Walsh down either wing, but the final ball was poor. Might have nicked it at the end but would have needed the Dick Turpin masks on the way out. A decent test for us though, the wee trialist looked impressive. Edit - apparently that’s David Carson, his international clearance from Morpeth hasn’t come through yet. p.s. Think it was Curry who scored, very scrappy goal away up the far end. Todorov spent half an hour at centre back when McCart went off.

Hitchcock. Photo doesn’t show the sheer numbers of gulls ?

But I only just got in so anybody’s guess. OopsWe’ve just conceded. McDonald comes back to haunt us

Looks like a 4-1-3-2 with wee ginger trialist holding.

Kevin McNaughton (36) started for East Superleague Kirrie Thistle JFC yesterday against East Fife at Kirriemuir. Danny Denholm, a name that some might know from his football blog, newly signed from Arbroath, scored 2 and missed a barrowload in a 4-1 win for the Fifers.