Caley Stan

It was a definite penalty. Rooney's standing leg was taken from under him and the referee didn't have a good view. I think it hasn't been mentioned much because everyone agrees that we deserved nothing from the game.

Well i have now and i don't feel any better for it. One of our players gives a very poor, nervy, performance in a big game and the response from the txt generation is 2 boo him and campaign for him to be removed from the team. It's pure bollicks.

Perhaps you could fill some of that spare time by enrolling in a basic literacy programme.

And Keogh. We were just about to get going with Richie Byrne before that pleasure was cruelly taken away. Rooney had a great chance to level the game and fluffed it. I think it was definitely a penalty which could've given us an undeserved equaliser.

-----------------ESSON----------------- TOKELY---BULVITIS---MUNRO---LDZ HAYES----DUNCAN----COX----MCBAIN ----------------SANCHEZ----------------- ------------------FORAN------------------ A few dilemmas for Butcher ahead of this one. Does he bring Tokely back into the middle? Bulvitis hasn't convinced so far. Does he bring in the old gaurd to shore up the midfield? Does he stick with Sanchez or give Rooney a chance? As you can see, i think Bulvitis and Sanchez deserve another chance to gel with their respective partners - this game is less important than a league game so it's a good opportunity to do that. Rooney missed while clean through again on Saturday. If he's going to get back in the team then he has to score from the bench. And yes, bring back Russell and Roy to show the new boys what it's about.

I'm not long back from Inverness where i succeeded in forgetting about the traumatic experience at TCS on Saturday afternoon. Now, as i sift through all the threads on this board, it's coming back to me in all it's horror. We were terrible. Very similar to the Ayr game in that we looked completely inacapable of creating a chance. The difference was that County were much better than Ayr - their midfield drove past us repeatedly and they should've scored more than they did. I don't think we should dwell on it though. We were good in Dundee and some folk started to get carried away - the same thing is happening now. It's a new team and we can't judge it yet. My feeling as that the midfield is lacks grit and experience - hopefully Butcher realises that now.

Defensive midfielders always take flak for being "anonymous". How often have we heard the same complaints about Russell Duncan and Roy McBain when playing in that position? Having said that, i do have concerns about Stratford. The fact that he's reached the age 24 without playing first-team professional football is one of them. What does a guy who's been playing college football in U.S. know about the physical scrap that's involved in playing in the Scottish First Division? The other major concern i have is that he isn't closing down space quickly enough. After all, that's what defensive midfielders are supposed to be doing when we fans (myself included) don't notice them. This was particularly striking at East End Park when Dunfermline midfielders were allowed to shoot from the edge of the box repeatedly. On Saturday, i thought the whole midfield was dominated by County and all four of them have to take responsibilty for that. I'm still not sure about Stratford. He might turn out to be a devent sqaud player in the future but for now we need grit and experience in the form of Russell Duncan.

I don't think motivation is an issue with Butcher. Here's what Morais had to say about in the SoS:

Lionel was terrible but booing him is counter-productive. For all his faults he does have some qualities that could shine in this league and the fans' response to his poor performance should've been to urge him on.

Are you referring to Celtic's famous 4-2 victory over the mighty ICT?

It's the result of an extremely convoluted attempt to expand the number of countries who have representatives at the group stage, brought to you by those great champions of the weak and impoverished - Michel Platini and David Taylor. UEFA changes

I had a quick look at Wikipedia to find out who the hell Unirea Uriziceni are and found this: I like to support all Scottish clubs in Europe but these ***** make it difficult.

Ideal goalscorers. Good confidence boosters for Eagle and Rooney.

Hi Robbo, Since you were in Dingwall on Saturday i thought i'd ask - just how bad are Ross County and how many goals do you think we'll pump them by next week?

No it's not.

Interesting quote from Butcher in today's P&J: He's right, there could've been a few more goals in the game and i wouldn't have gambled against somebody scoring a winner in injury time. If we're going to see more games like that this season then we'll all enjoy ourselves - promotion or not.

Cox Foran Munro Good performances throughout the team, as reflected by the fact that all but Eagle and Stratford have points.

The bit in bold is the bit that's relevant. If there's an argument against allowing people to smoke at half-time then that's it. But i don't really think it would be too much hassle or expense to cordon off a small area (inside or outside the stadium) for people to smoke.

Great. We'll just leave it at that then.

So we should pay ?250 for the privilege of having a fag at half-time! Do you seriously think this is reasonable? I didn't notice this as one of the benefits of joining. The fact is that the people who congregate at the front door to smoke at half-time are breaking the rules. Many of them are employees of the club, agents and journalists and therefore don't pay anything at all to attend the game. It doesn't happen very often becasue films don't tend to have intervals. When they do, it isn't a problem. Same goes for the theatre, music concerts and clubs. It's probably clear that i get very wound up about this issue. I think some people are being extremely unreasonable and i can't understand why. Smoking has been banned in enclosed public spaces. This is great for non-smokers who don't want their health and atmosphere polluted by cigarette smoke. Enjoy it by all means, but why complain when people want to smoke in a way that doesn't harm you?

Get a grip. What we are asking for puts nobody's nose out of joint. The example you give would require the club to invest in facilities for said addicts. As has already been pointed out, allowing smokers to pop outside for a smoke costs no money and harms no one but those who choose to do it. Instead of criticising people's self restraint can you just tell us exactly why it is that you have a problem with this? Yeah, of course. If you've got enough money you can do whatever the feck you want.

People can but some people don't want to. Why should that bother anyone?

I'd like to see both of them. As well as experience, they add a bit of steel to a midfield which is likely to have less of the ball. I don't see Butcher changing it though. He picked the same midfield 4 last night and clearly thinks they just need time to gel. I hope he's right. Does anyone know how many first team games Dani Sanchez has played?

I disagree, i think the t-shirt was completely immoral. CaleyD should be hung by his baws for this.

We were robbed that day.