RiG

The team was always a good one. We knew that. It was a test for Hughes to maintain that and after a wobble he has done so. With Shinnie rumoured to be off to pastures new and players like Meekings and Watkins performing well and out of contract at the end of the season replacing them will likely be the biggest task that John Hughes will face.

Agree with IHE. he has now found the right blend between his style of play and that which brought the team so much success under TB. Long may it continue.

Also, the Wi Fi on Scotrail / Megabus is rubbish anyway.

£2 off the price of the usual adult ticket there. Better nothing I guess...

People are frustrated by the inconsistency. That's why there are so many negative comments about his performance I suspect. That's it in a nutshell. On another day, he would have booked a lot more players. He also appears to not understand what constitutes a foul at times. All in all, he is a dreadful referee and one slightly better game than the previous ones he has had up here does not make it better. The challenge from Imrie on Doran was a great example of serious foul play and warranted a red in my mind. Even if this wasn't the case, given he received a yellow for that challenge, his late challenge on Warren was also worthy of a yellow card which should have seen him sent off. Collum however didn't produce one which was in stark contrast to his handling of the Saint Mirren v ICT game.

People are frustrated by the inconsistency. That's why there are so many negative comments about his performance I suspect.

Elgin

You're joking right? No, I wasn't joking RIG. The facts speak for themselves. Billy's goals dried up long before the end of last season, and this season have been negligible. This from a striker who many on here were valuing in the millions this time last year (I wasn't one of them; were you?). I don't deny that he still puts a lot of effort in, but his finishing is just not up to the mark at the moment. That's why I thought a couple of games at a lower level might just be the spur he needs to refind his scoring touch. Your loyalty to him is touching, so what is your solution? To me it seems you advocate just sitting it out and hope things take a turn for the better. I understand what you're saying RiG, but it may be over-exertion on Billy's part to make sure he gets the final ball. The only person that could answer that is Billy himself. I personally think a short resting period would do him the world of good as he has been so ever present at all levels last season and this season. I don't think dropping him in the U20s is the correct thing either. Billy needs a confidence boost and I think a rest period would give him that. There's so much more to his game than sticking the ball in the back of the net. We've seen that from him so many times this season. His work rate up top is phenomenal. Remember, he is playing as a single striker up front and with our slow style of play compared to recent seasons, support is slower to get to him yet he still does a great job winning the ball, laying it off to team mates often when he is outnumbered. He has played a crucial part in this team getting to where we are this season and that's without scoring. I see no reason to deduce that he should no longer start because he isn't scoring. He has so much more in his skill set than just that. Dropping him to the bench or from the first XI altogether might end up being counter productive and damage his confidence. I don't see it as a risk to keep him in the side when we have been doing so well. You need to remember that his goal scoring exploits have slowed down for a long time now. It's not just this season that he hasn't been finding the net. As we've moved to JH style of play Mckay has suffered in terms of grabbing goals but, at least this season, the team has been getting results. Why would you want to mess with that?

Whether or not he had more in the tank would have made little different to the shot. He had the energy to get there, I can't see how he would have gotten there any quicker, he had the confidence to try and chip the keeper and it just didn't come off. I fail to see how having "more in the tank" would have led to a goal.

He's not looked burnt out at all. Against Saint Mirren, down to 10 men, he was still chasing the ball down and looked like he still had plenty in the tank before he was taken off.

You're joking right?

There is no way there was 42,000 there on Saturday. Celtic could have closed the top tiers of their stand, stuffed everyone into the lower tiers and still had spare seats.

Agree. Hopefully they can extend that to free adult season tickets as well and a share scheme in Harry Gows.

Yes.

I doubt Shinniesta is sitting somewhere in Birmingham wishing he had stayed at ICT

I loved the two men that vaulted over the seats to run half way down the stand to shout abuse at him for doing that until they got half way down realised he was long gone and slunk back to their seats

Is this the pre match thread then? Not having a go but is the fact we don't even seem to have a 'proper' build up thread an indication of how interest is falling away? Seems to be barely any match build up these days.

Hamilton have now beaten the top three teams in the league from last season without conceding a goal. Pretty incredible feat.

Aye. What he said.

Engineering works have been taking place the last couple of weekends. I think they have another couple of weeks to go as well.

Aberdeen suffering from failing to sign a left back and a decent partner for Reynolds.

Just a couple of days to go before this game and no thread? Is interest in ICT really that low at the minute? Can't say I'm expecting too many changes from the starting XI of the last few weeks: Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Draper Tansey Watkins Christie Doran Mckay In the league we have won 8 of the 21 matches between the sides in Paisley. Saints have only won five of those matches. The rest, shockingly, were draws. Last season we only travelled there once IIRC and were hammered for most of the first half and were lucky not to be behind at half time as the Buddies looked very impressive that day despite their recent poor form. Now we go into the game in much the same situation - we've been on a decent run of form whilst Saint Mirren have largely struggled especially at home where they have not gained a single point from their first four games with perhaps too much reliance placed on the form of Steven Thompson who has missed all, or at least a fair chunk, of this season through injury. However recent results have been better defeating Saint Johnstone in Perth and rallying from two goals down to draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Some signs that they might be starting to click so we can't take anything for granted here. I'll be there - anyone else?