The Mantis

Thought the highlights made that look even worse tbh. We competed well enough in the first half despite Hibs better quality but again, no shots on target so nothing to show on the telly, and it looked ominous when they had players like Youan to bring on at ht. Losing Samuel on the eve of the match was a big blow. But no point in moaning about losing to a Premier team as we have a more serious situation in the league, although even last season’s team would have been expected to give Hibs more of a challenge than that. If we’re going to play with wing backs then why aren’t they doing what wing backs do? Cammy Harper has the ability to run full backs but he’s obviously been instructed not to. We’re committed to low-risk football it seems. Every time we have a promising situation we the fans turn to each other and joke that it’ll end up back at Ridgers, and usually the joke turns out to be true. Playing the ball is not his strong point so he hoofs it and we lose possession. Shot-shy… the story of the season. Even an attempt at goal gets the fans on their feet. One of the few tv highlights that showed us going forward down the left was so typical- screaming out for a first time cross but instead we pass it inside and try to walk it in like Barcelona. I still have faith that Dunc can build a side for next season - the away performances have mainly been excellent but that doesn’t help the poor souls watching the home games. And obviously he has to keep us up first. I have the fear for next week as Brian Graham hasn’t broken his duck against us this season. With the Pars in freefall will they get a new manager bounce by dumping McPake?

Keith Bray got on for the last 15 in Elgin’s 2-0 defeat at Bonnyrigg last night.

Bonnyrigg @1.95 please

If Bonnyrigg can get praise every week from League 2 fans for their highlights, we’ve really no excuses for how poor ours are.

You should get a free mug for providing all that detail.

That was sweet. Never in doubt even after going behind. When I saw the orange strips it took me back to November 2001 when we went behind to a Nacho Novo penalty and won 5-1. Sure the last 20 minutes were nervy but that was all in our heads. A lot of that spell was Rovers knocking it about in their own half looking for a gap. The players looked composed and some of the passing was superb. Hamiltons goal was really sloppy on our part with two newbies in the back three so they will need to work on who is picking up at corners. No failures today and we looked physically strong and made Rovers look a shadow of the side which was flying earlier in the season. The double- barrel Jeremiah looked very impressive apart from his blunder which let Vaughan away to score for 3-2, which made the second half a much less comfortable watch. The other three were solid too. Cammy Kerr, Savage and of course Samuel - Machine #2. What a warrior. On another day Billy might have grabbed a fourth but his touch let him down. A bit risky changing defenders late in the game but hey, it made no difference to the result and we got a chance to see Duffy’s haircut. We have lost 10 games and have probably left too much to do for the playoffs but we should be looking up at Dunfermline, Ayr and Airdrie. At least watching ICT isn’t a chore any longer.

I’ll go for Stenny to win at Peterheid, 2.00.

I found it a bit confusing as at first glance I thought you had to save your ST seat by Tuesday. After the 30th they go on general sale but they must be avoiding selling ST holders seats to others as you can still keep your seat till 6th feb. Thought it would make more sense to do it the other way round - buy your own seat by the 30th then just have an open sale with what’s left?

Speaking to a hibby pal this morning and he was claiming they would bring about 3000. I said they would get the south stand (2500) but didn’t think they would sell out. He said they had 3000 at Forfar so you never know.

The problem is, it took him nearly 3 years to have a decent game in the cup final as anybody who watches the team regularly will tell you, but if he can shine on the big stage you could always give Roy Hodgson a shout £££. It shocked most of us and obviously shocked Dodds into awarding him a new contract as most people thought he would be released. By July he was back to gifting goals against league 2 Dumbarton. We're well covered now on the right side it seems, and Cammy Kerr is a much better player before you count Carragher and Carson. As a CB he's far too skinny and gangly and easily bullied. As a RB or WB he gets 10 yards into the opposing half before he gets a nosebleed, whether he's been instructed to or not. But next time you see him play, I'll happily give you £5 for every time he plays a forward pass, as long as you give me £1 every time he plays it back.

…and Airdrie have managed to sneak into the top 4 by scoring only 19 goals, 4 fewer than Arbroath and us. And 4 of those 19 were against us. In Dunc we trust and all that, but it’s as plain as the scowl on Wee Deek Adams’s face that if we could score goals we wouldn’t be where we are.

Davidson and Duffy too much to hope for …unless Boyes is going back.

I was listening to the pod there in the car and the guys were predicting how many points we would get - I think they did it on a game by game basis and they were mostly getting 37-39 which in recent seasons hasn’t always guaranteed 8th place. How I looked at it was, Dunc has (I think) 20 points from 16 games which is 1.25 ppg (you’re quoting nearly 1.5 but I can’t see why, and over 15 games 1.5-1.25 = 0.25 ppg is significant ). On that form we would expect another 18.75, say 19 points which makes 40. But we can only hope that the new signings can improve that as you say. btw I sent you a friendly wee dm a couple of weeks back just in case you don’t see these alerts on your phone, as you haven’t read it

He’s 29 and still getting a game in the prem for central belt clubs as a journeyman. Might get him back when he’s 33

Aye, juggle Davidson back to Queens and save a wage

Made a start on it today, sitting in the car waiting on Mrs Mantis in the bucketing rain.

Bonnyrigg have a rearranged fixture against them on 6 Feb so I’ll pop along. Always good to see how much Ross Draper’s waistline has expanded too. Any of the Edinburgh contingent free that night, it’s not really the Wild West and you can get a direct bus from the city centre right to the door.

more bait required…

Big team, big cup Wee team, wee cup

2 goals up at ht

ICT v DUFC DRAW @4.20

Nobody fancy a punt on Ed City then?

I hope they’ve learned from the experience. All the women will be used to seeing the weekly coverage on BBC and would be aware of the standard of the Prem clubs, especially the big 3. I thought maybe 12-0 when I saw the draw but scores like this happen in the prem as well.