IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

What game ?

On ma way Dude - the wummin in Dumbfries are probably singing on their way home from the Hole In The Wall but I am disappointed in ya - did ya not get a feckin carry out fer yer brekkie.

Strange thing for someone who claims to have a direct video link to future events. I am very sceptical about your soothsaying abilities, so much so that I believe you to be little more than a charlatan. We are going to win this league. As I have said before I have to abide strictly by the Soothsayers Code of Conduct - all will be revealed soon.

You really need to talk to a shrink -

Feck you Dungdee you'll never win the league....... Has to be Sloop John B by the Sneck Boys.

Round 1 at Morton - 9/10. Should have gone fer the jugular at 1-0 - should have hooked Eric at half time - otherwise - not pretty to watch but totally effective - used what he has to the best.

Lets play Queen of the South tomorrow and think about it in retrospect.

When is yer happy hour Harry ?

Sex drugs and rock n roll.

Behind the times mate - it was mephedrone.

Ryan Esson made a fantastic finger tip save at morton in the opening minutes. It was sweetly struck and it was going in the bottom corner until Ryan tipped it past. Our defence has evidently got huge confidence in him as they appeared to allow Morton to hit anything from outside of the box. How many "saves" did he make in the first half - 5 or 6 ? As an ex defender I can tell you that you feel a lot more confident when you have full confidence in the keeper behind you.

To be perfectly honest I would take a point at the moment. We didnt look that good at Morton and Queens are a far more difficult opposition away from home. Losing or drawing tomorrow would not be the end of the world - there are lots of points to play for before the end of the season. I just really do not want it to go to the last game of the season.

In my defence my ratings and comments pertained only to the Morton game - I would agree that he could develop and he has the pace to worry the opposition - still think that he is the ideal type of player to take on in the last 20 minutes - especially if you are either chasing the game OR on a heavy pitch when the opposition is tiring. I would also say that I could see how he would be a better player at home rather than away. Reckon the line up at Palmerston will tell us what TB's thoughts are. But who are the Queens going to allocate as his man to man marker. :023:

Like I said - Eric was static and simply wandered around a 20 yard square area - too far behind Rooney to be effective. As you said Baldy Mac is experienced and, as the holding midfielder, that was his territory. How many times did you see Eric drfiting to either wing or busting a gut to get beside Rooney - or what he should have been doing - busting a gut to run on to any Rooney flicks. Rooney basically was all on his own and the large majority of the time had no outlet, was forced to hold it up and the majority of the time his outlets were Foran and Hayes wide or Golly going well back. If you are man to man marked you drift all the time, taking the marker with you to crete space for team mates, the bottom line was that Eric was shocking. Anyone else at the game care to comment ?

Book in to the Govan hilton and join me at the lesbian karaoke, We could share a room again :023:

No no no no no, I join my ship on the 19th, it has to be the Dunfermline match, you will still get your party when the flag is raised at the Dundee match. lol, ayr away is better for me though. as the next poster says doesnt matter where it is won doesnt matter where it is won

Well at least it aint her feckin birthday and dont ya feckin dare leave 15 minutes early.

Must have missed that !! :023: Why the feck would they man to man mark Eric - MacFarlane was simply in the holding midfield role and Eric just so happened to be in his area most of the time. I wish that it had happened as it would have made more space for us. Eric practically marked him feckin self.

I am going ---- going ----- going

Sir Alex Ferguson remarked : I look at Chelsea winning 5-0 at Portsmouth the other night, which brought their goal difference level with ours, and I think that could be crucial I havent seen it mentioned a lot but shurely our goal difference is worth at least another point to us : ICT - PLUS 28 DUNGDEE - 7 points arift, game in hand - PLUS 13 (and who are they going to hammer) TINKERVILLE - 13 points adrift, 3 games in hand - PLUS FECKIN FIVE !! QUEENS OF THE SOUF - 16 points adrift, 3 games in hand - PLUS 11 Goal Difference could win us the league - The trick will be to stay at least three points ahead until the showdown with Dungdee. THEN unless Dungdee score a proverbial barrow load it will be job done.

Had to respond to this as I am gaurded but becoming increasingly optimistic. Dungdee have had a good 90 minutes and no more and to take 15 out of 15 would be asking a hell of a lot at this time of the season - especially away to Plastic Whistle and a doubler against bitter rivals Raif within a few days. If they get 10 out of 15 they would have done well. Irrespective of the Cellic score the pressure of games on Tinkerville is just too much - they have been unfortunate that the weather and their cup run appears to have put pay to their title challenge and I felt that they would have been one of if not THE main contender. Queens dont have anything to lose but I doubt if they will look at it as anything to win - psychologically that can mean a lot. Dundee and Chisholm would have had an even bigger boost if ICT had fallen to Raif and/or to Morton. We are scraping wins but that is a very positive thing at this stage at the season. We were in a position where we could not afford to lose any games or drop points - that is no longer the case - we are now in a position where we are in charge of our own destiny and this team has been berated and at times in the season written off - That is a real psychological angle to utilise. I bet if you ask tokes and co they would feel that winning the league this season would be a far greater achievement than in 2004. Every game is the most critical of our season - the last gasp winner versus Raif and the scrap at Cappielow showed the committment and the motivation of the players. I suspect that you are also confident but more gaurded than I BUT I would go as far as saying that three points on Saturday could just be enuff to get us through. I would even take a point at this moment in time. But then Dumbfarmlife becomes our most critical game of the season - and then Hair Untied. I really want the title to be won before the final day as that is where we would be at our most fallible - plus Dungdee have a hoodooo over us. So lets move on to palmerston and be as loud as we can be - BRING IT FECKIN ON.

Eric to me is the type of squad player that you take on for the last 20-30 minutes - now if that had been the case last nite then he could have ran a fading defence ragged and his speed in reaction to the "hoof" would have been far more productive. I can see the logic behind Butcher starting him as the Morton central defenders were more static than Granty and Rosscoel and i suppose the ploy was meant to be that eric played off Rooney. Unfortunately Eric mainly got bullied out of things - and even worse pulled out of a few tackles - the big morton boys must have been smirking as Eric looked like Brer feckin rabbit being chased out of the carrot patch. Having said that I could see him coming on to a heavy Palmerston pitch late on and causing some problems or distractions with his undoubted pace. If TB starts him I am afraid it would be worse than his blind loyalty to jimmy Zadi last season.

I havent caight much action recently prior to Morton last nite but I was surprised to see the formation and tactics that Butcher deployed. It doesnt look pretty but it is very effective away from home plus we have had quite a few clean sheets as well. It is very defensive and a bit of a throwback to the 4-5-1 days - except we prioritise defence instead of attack. Again it appears to be a case of Butcher looking at the opposition but mainly trying to play to our strengths whilst limiting our weaknesses. He has stuck by experience at the back but has evidently told them to play a "safety first" game and Bobby Mann would have had a seizure if he had been privy to this. So it is no nonsense stuff on order from Munro, Tokely and Golly. They are also holding a medium high line and none of them are drifting apart from dead ball situations. He put Bully at right back last night and i reckon that he will stick with this against Queens and play a bank of four with a bank of three in front of it - Proctor,Duncan and Cox - again it wont be pretty but it will kill the game. Then he has three "outlets" - a bank of seven allows Hayes to stick wide on the rite, allows Foran to drift on the left and the order of the day will be the "hoof" to the ever willing Rooney - the reason he was hooked early last nite. Butcher had sussed that Morton have players at the back who can pass a bit but they had a very immobile forward line which suited Tokely and Munro. Queens are a different system with individuals who can get behind defences and they do tend to try and pass through midfield. So you stop them from doing that, defend and hit on the break. Frustrating for Queens, frustrating for us - many would say a "dangerous" tactics but we do have the back up of Sanchez if it goes awry. So I expect another "back to the walls" display at Palmerston and it could be a long afternoon but hopefully worth it. The class of 2010 are poor relations to the class of 2004 but they are heading in the same direction, albeit taking a far more treacherous and slippy path.

I reckon Butcher will go fer: ESSON BULVITIS TOKELY MUNRO GOLLY PROCTOR DUNCAN COX FORAN HAYES ROONEY

It must have been an omen from the gods that the black clouds lifted and the sun shone through on Cappielow and turned the evening into one of Spring sunshine. And a bit of a retro party in the Norseman with a fine collection of old faces. As very the game it was pretty - pretty dire but pretty effective. In all honesty Morton passed the ball about and made some pretty patterns but they never really looked like scoring - although we made heavy weather of it. Personally I would have gone fer the jugular after Forans goal as Hayes was running rings round his marker and we looked buoyant. Still ya cant complain at three points, two goals and a clean sheet away from home. ESSON :( :022: :022: One excellent finger tip save early doors and two more decent saves in the early exchanges - but he was never really troubled after that and he looks high on confidence. It must do the defence a lot of good knowing he is behind them in such form. PROCTOR :D B) B) Secure enuff defensively but did little to impress going forward. GRANTY B) B) B) Solid enuff and won most in the air but relied on the hoof on most occasions - but he did a job. ROSSCOE B) B) B) Almost ditto to Granty but actually looked less rushed and more composed. GOLLY B) B) B) B) Came on to a good game although it must have been very close to a red card which at that early stage would have changed things completely. HAYES B) B) B) Obviously a crowd favourite but blows too hot and cold fer my liking. He tore the full back apart in the first half hour, was unlucky with a great strike that hit the bar, constantly looking to hit the bye line but then got pulled back more into a defensive position and he seemed to really tire at the end. Is it me or does he always fade ? DUNCAN B) B) B) Another solid performer who didnt really do anything to light up the game but held midfield. COX B) B) B) B) B) Despite the two goal scorers I will give him MOM. He was everywhere tonite and outshone, outran and outpassed Duncan. FORAN B) B) B) B) Stuck wide left initially but drifted inside as the match progressed. Powerful back post header for first goal which I thought he was going to nod back across the goals but it fairly flew in. He like Hayes takes "breathers" but he was very strong late on. ODHIAMBO :( :( Sorry, on such an eventful nite - but he was SHOCKING. ROONEY B) B) B) B) B) To me the most improved player in the team and in the league. He has evidently added goals but his hold up play was sooperb tonite and he is muscling out defenders at the same time. Ploughed a lone furrow with no support from Eric but led the line very well and deserved his goal - which was beautifully struck and placed BUTCHER B) B) B) B) : Firstly he had evidently done his homework as his tactics stifled Morton throughout. I was a bit disappointed that he didnt go for a quick second and almost immediately deployed two rows of four. It was certainly effective and the defence actually held a high line. Morton were allowed to play pretty stuff in their own half but it was almost zonal at times. I reckon he must have told Tokely and Granty to hoof throughout with Proctor and Golly joining in. There was a lot of reliance placed on Rooney to forage and hold the ball up, looking wide for Hayes - which worked well early on but Johnny was picking up the ball on the half way line in the second - plus the compusure of Foran. Bully fer Eric summed up the tactics - 4-5-1 - but we clearly deserved the points but with few bonuses for artistic impression. Reckon that he has to go for 10 of the 11 at Dumbfries but Eric has simply got to be benched. But will he play Sanchez or more defensive with the 10 plus Bully SUPPORT B) B) B) B) Spoiled by the stewards but 150 of us gave it a rite good belting.