IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

Well unless Draper is dropping back that could be another 3-5-2 !!

There is not much choice and it all depends what system Yogi prefers. Let's hope he does not display the Butcheresque stubbornness and adheres to the 3-5-2. Given the players left I fail to see why he would not go 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. I would go for the old reliable 4-2-2-1-1 following the "squad" named by jaggiesoverstaggies. I suspect that Yogi will go for Vigurs and Tansey as the middle two. He may well Wedderburn to them in a Ross Draper role. I would prefer to play Polworth and Ryan Williams wide, Mutumbo in the hole and Hughes up front. Hopefully that would give us Storey to come off the bench. And if we are fortunate to take the lead then please, please go fer the jugular and do not defend. The Well result did not do us any Top Six favours but we need to put that thought out of our heads and start putting points in front of Hamilton, Kille and the Arabs.

Now that is a good accompanying chant

Working nights and enforced sobriety has sadly taken its toll

Tinkerville – 4 to play – minus 2 – 39 points St Jones Town (a); ICT (h); Dungdee (a); Plastic Whistle (h) St Jones Town – 4 to play – minus 2 – 39 points Tinkerville (h); Jam Tarts (a); Arabs (h); Killie (a) Dungdee – 5 to play – minus 2 – 36 points Jam Tarts (h); Arabs (a); Tinkerville (h); Hamilton (a); Cellic (h) TBC Muvversmell - 4 to play – minus 10 – 35 points Arabs (h); Aberdire (h); ICT (a); Cellic (h) Plastic Whistle – 5 to play – minus 7 – 34 points Jam Tarts (a); Aberdire (h); Cellic (h); Hamilton (a); Killie (h); Arabs (h); Tinkerville (a) ICT – 5 to play – minus 6 – 33 points Hamilton (h); Hearts (h); Tinkerville (a); Muvversmell (h); Arabs (a) Hamilton – 4 to play – minus 17 – 30 points ICT (a); Plastic Whistle (a); Aberdire (a); Dungdee (h) Killie – 4 to play – minus 22 – 28 points Aberdire (a); Cellic (h); Plastic Whistle (a); St Jones Town (h) Arabs – 5 to play – minus 22 – 20 points Muvversmell (a); Dundee (h); St Jones Town (a); Plastic Whistle (a); ICT (h) I agree that we have to start pulling away from Killie and the “goal” this season has to be 10th place BUT the Hamilton game has suddenly become a Relegation six pointer – BUT if we get a result then we could potentially be back in sixth place. Again we have to be thankful that Killie have the worst run in of all. It is far from over yet which is why our recent performances and suspensions are so annoying.

Sorry again but Yogi really has to take a degree of the blame here. He is the person who is putting out the 3-5-2 formation. Most punters totally disagree with that - and IMHO it is to accommodate Tansey, Draper and Vigurs - and again that does not work. And it is Yogi who has asked for the sideways tippy-tappy style. Yogi is responsible for the team playing far too deep. We are playing with 5 across the middle and yet we have no width and the wide players, especially Williams, not driving at defenders. Yogi has also chosen to play one poor ******* up front with little if not no support. Has anyone here played in a team where you do not feel that you are being played in your best position or that the formation and tactics are wrong. Well I have. And I can assure you that bred resentment towards the people who were in charge, it brought about frustration, it caused rifts with team mates, it led to poor performances and losing games. What changed it. Well for me it was a change of management. I have backed Yogi all the way but he has to eat humble pie - he has to go back to a 4-4-2 (it doesn't matter who plays where - you just stick to the same system). I would persevere with Hughes up front, abetted at his side by Storey or Roberts - with one of the two on the bench waiting to come on at the hour mark, letting the other run his feckin socks off. Disallow tippy tappy and look to hitting Tansey or Vigurs or the two wide players early doors. Then there has to be a sense of urgency and a sense of forward motion. Then you get the fans behind you.

I really can't believe some of the optimism on here. This season is now ALL about survival. We have a lot of casualties, we are playing poorly, our confidence is at a low ebb, the level of indiscipline from our senior players is shocking, the backing of the fans is brittle - and Yogi, from a tactical and man management perspective appears to have lost the plot and it appears may well be losing the togetherness factor as well. You simply can't keep chopping and changing the way that we have been. I would take 3 points against Hamilton above beating the Hibees. If we carry on NOT picking up points we are in BIG trouble when the bottom six games kick off.

Frustration ? Is the togetherness infected ? Nuff said mun

So just to finish it off Tansey gets booked for diving and Vigurs joins him in the book. Let's just feck it up with indiscipline.

Thank you Gary Warren

Even Twitter is peed off Zero shots on target

Could have happened on Sunday. Warren is the most indisciplined eejit we have had fer years. Take away the captains role asap.

What's the craic with Roberts ?

0-0 - Quelle surprise - merdre

Storey had the flu before the Hibs game and Mutumbo fell foul as he was outside with no shorts on. Hughes Out ?

Draper at centre half ? Hughes up front ? Please not 3-5-2.

Mikey Diamond - please look after this fine young man

Placed in a "new topic" due to indolence and memory impairment of a certain ageing administrator Didn’t we have a lovely time the day we went to St Jones Town ? Well the answer is a bit of a yes and a no. The stadium itself and the facilities are above average, the stewarding is usually friendly but it is not in a location where train travel is the preference. If you are not travelling by the roads it is a nightmare. Social club and local hostelries are rather dull as well. But there again there is the football to entertain you. According to the stats we have won only 3 out of our 14 meetings in Perf. A worrying statistic is that we have only conjured up 10 goals in those 14 matches, an average of 0.71 per game. Although that sounds about right for this season !! We have had two draws and a loss since the Gary Warren winner in February 2014. We have also lost 4 points because of last minute lapses in two of those ties. Lets hope we keep our concentration tonight and not throw away any vital points. If we beat them by two clear goals we will leap frog them and back into the Top Six. With Hamilton at home coming up on Saturday four to six points would be a heaven sent and maybe ease the nerves for the Hibees cup replay. Lets hope we can go somewhere meeting our record 3-0 win in Perth and avoid the record 4-0 drubbing. Games at McDiarmid Park will last in the memory of many. The Challenge Cup win over Airdrie and the final defeat by Dundee – although the first 45 was possibly as good an ICT performance as there ever has been. My favourite game was the 2-1 win in August 2003 when we were treated to the David Bingham show plus a classic goal and celebration by Stevie Hislop. We had a remarkable away record in 2010 when we remained defeated for the whole year but went down 1-0 on 02/01/2011 in Perf. But of course the favourite St Jones Town memory will be of 15/05/2004 and the helicopter trophy arrival at the Dump after goals from Ritchie, Bingham and Wilson. Or perhaps fond memories of a defeat in the Alan Hercher Testimonial in 1997 when we had to loan them Fridgie for the night as they forgot to bring a keeper. Doubt if the same fate will befall Ryan Esson tonight. Lets all hope that we return to playing four at the back tonight and stop playing like obsessive crabs. It will be interesting to see if Horner and Mutumbo return after their super-sub performances. I do feel that Miles Storey needs to be rested. And will we finally see Meekings and Vincent back on the bench. Prediction – always seems to be low scoring affairs of late – only 6 goals in the last 4 matches. My heart says 1-0 to us but my head says 1-1. I would gladly take either of those.

Requirement for a dose of the Ballachulish Bagpipes methinks

I have got a mobile proctoscope with its own tripod, clamp and Duracell batteries. It is great for streaming and I would be only too happy to use it with Hibs supporters.

Well we are still in the cup and IF we beat Hibs - at home - we have avoided the Old Filth and the Arabs were clearly the best option, as they are probably saying about us or Hibs. Prior to the game I was really positive and optimistic. I had been talking to some Hibees on the train and they were staying that a lot of their mates were staying away. They were of the opinion that they would be getting thrashed. They also clearly dislike Mr Stokes as well. Pre-game in the Iona the spirits were flowing and “highs” all abounding. And for fifteen minutes that appeared to be the case but then it dawned that we had eight Ray Wilkin crabs in action. I am all for experimenting with systems but not away from home in a Scottish Cup Quarter Final. Personally I felt that was a sign of disrespect to Hibs. I feel that we totally underestimated them, we were cocky and we got what we deserved. Well in fact we didn’t – we didn’t get beat – but God knows how not. Perhaps I should also have read the stats for the cups this season as Hibs have knocked out Aberdire, St Jones Town, the Arabs and the Jam Tarts. We were the better side early doors but it was the side to side, tippy tappy style that I detest. Pretty patterns but NO penetration whatsoever. 3-5-2 simply did not work. I wonder whether it was to accommodate Tansey, Vigurs and Draper in midfield. Tansey played too deep, Vigurs did not get the time and Draper was wasted. To me they are three players of similar ilk who all want the ball. Polworth never really went wide and spent a lot of time covering for the back four and our intrepid central midfield. How many times did Danny Williams get the ball but instead og going at defenders stopped and played a ball in to our midfield trio. And how may times was Storey caught offside – guilty mostly of not watching the line. Two shots on target in a Cup Quarter Final is absolutely ridiculous. Hibs had 5 on target and despite our sideways passing Hibs had the bulk of the possession. And even when we were ascendancy Hibs could have scored in the 9th minute when Gray and Fontaine produced great stops from Fon Williams and what looked like a third save of a goalbound effort in the melee that followed. And then four minutes later Keatings had the ball in the net but he did look offside. Following this we appeared to play a bit of side to side and either hoof or deliver a dreadful last ball. Polworth was the first to go in to the book and again our disciplinary problem of needless cautions may end up with us having half a team for the remaining games IF we progress. I had hope that the second half would produce an immediate change in tactics but it all stayed the same. Keatings had another shot on target, the eejits shouted fer a penalty against Devine and, of all people Stokes started the move to their goal. Keatings finished things off for his first goal in sixteen games. I thought that Tansey, Warren and Storey were beginning to lose the plot and we were lucky that one of them did not get a red card. And then a miracle happened. A fan from the away support made a Van Gaal like message on his notepad, did a bit of origami and fired it into the Leith sky. It landed next to Yogi who handed it to Polworth. He read it and it started “get Polworth off” so he handed it to Warren. And that was the turnaround. We ended the game better although it was still end to end. And then fortunately we came up with a divine move. Lets give credit to the two substitutes who did both look lively. Horner produces the first overlap of the day, Roberts gets his first decent pass of the day, lays it off to MBUYI-MUTUMBO and goal and GOLD erupted on the terraces. So we live to fight another day and we have Hibs away to Spain and hopefully going to penalties in the League Cup Final. They will have their missing stars back but I am not sure if that is and advantage or not. And the 800+ away support heaved a massive sigh of relief. 9800 altogether was a very disappointing turn out and I bet there were quite a few Hibees who wished that they had turned up, even if it was to boo Anthony Stokes. And as for Crawford Allan ? Well at least he managed to maintain the performance status of Scottish refereeing and the main stand official must have been sponsored by Specsavers. It was all Hibs bias to begin with but at least he managed to even things up later. Lets hope for a better performance and a better result on March 16th and back to our second home on Sunday 17th April. Better to end on a Yogi quote - "I felt we were lacking a little bit up top but we have great team spirit and effort and I can't ask for anymore." No **** Sherlock. SMILEYMOMETER: Out of 10 Fon Williams (7) – My MOM as he basically kept us in the Cup. Polworth (5) – Completely played out of position and his safety zone. Almost swopped with Warren in the second half which was not tactical. Warren (6) – Some may say Captain Fantastic and that is true to a degree but his “gung-ho” attitude in the second half left the defence stranded – and Polworth filling in – and could have easily got a red. He may well miss another trip to Hampden Devine (6) – Thought he had a good game and at least he stuck to his task – but again he probably had no choice. Tremarco (6) – I actually thought that he did OK. He was stranded as well at times but did not let us down. Roberts (6) – Really felt sorry for him as his movement was good and he must have been screaming about the number of times that he made space and the ball went sideways. Tansey (4) – Sorry but he was played too deep but he made no impact on the game whatsoever. Draper (4) – Well probably played too far forward and bypassed. Vigurs (5) – Probably the best of the central midfield three but that is nothing to be proud of. Danny Williams (5) – As soon as he remembers what driving forward and taking defenders on is about the better Storey (3) – Sorry but I thought that he was terrible. He looked as if he couldn’t run after 75 minutes and I was amazed that he wasn’t hooked. His vitality appears to have been sapped as has his confidence which may be linked to the goal drought. Or is he carrying an injury. For obvious reasons I will give Mutombo and Horner 7 each.

Or you could be going to Dumbarton and Preston.

Who gives a toss about media attention. Lets feckin get there, enjoy ourselves, roll in the spondoolachs and Europe.

That is very helpful for any Hibees logging in to CTO

Who is picking the balls out ?