ALSY

Feck sake. 0-1. He's gone with the same team I suggested on the 'Team for Ayr' thread. Oops...

Almost certainly, unless any unforeseen problems with work come up. Glad to hear you're going - Arbroathawayday can't make it and I'd assumed none of the Edinburgh contingent would make it either. Meet up in Glasgow beforehand?

On the basis of what I've seen this season, I don't think Cox would see the passes Sanchez does. I'd go: Esson Tokely Bully Munro Golly Proctor Duncan Hayes Sanchez Foran Rooney

Those colours would go beautifully with your kilt, Johndo.

I was surprised by this too. Levein's argument on the radio was that while he expects him to play a major part in later fixtures, McManus had not featured enough for Celtic and was still unsettled after moving to Middlesborough. I'm not too convinced by the logic - other reports say McManus has done well since moving to Middlesborough, and I'd have thought it would benefit him to be given the boost of retaining his place in the squad. The rest of the squad looks pretty decent, although I wouldn't have minded seeing Robert Snodgrass get a run out in a friendly, even if he is playing in the third division in England.

Spot on. I think this might well happen, but when you say "rightly so", do you mean it's right for the club that T & J should go if they don't win promotion at the first attempt, or right for them that they should move on to something potentially more lucrative for them? Despite the ambitions stated at the start of the season, I don't think a decent, but ultimately unsuccessful, title challenge should be viewed as a failure - we all know how difficult the first division is to get out of. I'd see it a decent foundation that the current management should be allowed to continue to build on, if they can retain the bulk of the squad; I'm more concerned that they won't want to stay because of the likelihood that they will have to lose some of their best players and won't have the finances to replace them.

Born in Bellshill, but he went to school in Alness as far as I remember. Maybe his old man was one of the central belters tempted north in the oil rush.

I'd agree with you again. Definitely my choice too. Eric couldn't get into the game today and also struggled to have any influence at Palmerston last time we played Queens. Duncan must keep his place after today's performance and Golly looks the better, if not ideal, option at left back.

That was another excellent away day. The result isn't really a reflection of the whole game though. As a few people have mentioned, the first half was dreadful: although we probably had more of the ball, I don't recall us creating a single decent chance. There was far too much long ball stuff from Munro and Golabek, and we missed Sanchez' composure and eye for a clinical pass in the middle. Odihambo couldn't get into the game at all - he wasn't helped by a succession of passes that seemed to land just behind him - and Hayes was double-marked and therefore much less effective than usual. Just as in the previous game here, Raith looked well-prepared and well organised, but very lightweight. They did, however, produce the best chance of the first half with Esson making a decent save from a downward header. We started the second half more brightly and it looked like Butcher had told the players to be more aggressive. Russell Duncan in particular had a storming second half and got all over the pitch: you can forgive him the odd misplaced pass when he drives the team forward like that. Odihambo had a couple of decent runs on goal, but seemed a little too keen to pass when he might have been better shooting. When he was hooked for Sanchez, the game did turn, but Sanchez didn't seem to influence it directly. The opening goal looked a bit fortunate - Rooney appeared to control the ball with his hand before finishing well - but as soon as it had gone in, Raith collapsed completely. Nice turn and finish from Hayes for the second, Bulivitis forced the third over the line from fairly close in and Stratford knocked in a nice diagonal shot from a loose ball around the edge of the box for the fourth. The positives were the obvious determination of the players to keep going for a win when nothing was coming off for them early on, the performance and influence of Russell Duncan and a very solid performance from Bulivitis, much needed after last week's mistake for the first Killie goal. Slight concerns are that despite his obvous talent, we still don't seem to know how to use Odihambo, and that left back will be a vulnerable area for the rest of the season: Golly did far better than Lionel did last week, but his lack of pace and hasty distribution might be problematic against more effective attacking sides. @Pele is God - you mentioned Foran. I didn't think he was at his best today, but I didn't really pick up on anything that suggested his attitude was wrong. What was it that annoyed you? Impressive ICT support, by the way - more than 200, I'd say - and good and vocal throughout. Hope we can keep this up throughout the run-in.

I bow to your pedantry, DC. "Soft rock" was a rather lazy description - I think I was just grasping for any generic term that would imply my distaste...

I think it's "Give it Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band - an early 80s soft rock masterpiece of nonsense.

Quite glad to have got Spain: it'll feel like a genuinely big game. It's been a long time since we've played them, hasn't it? The rest of it is pretty dull, but we've got a small chance. The Czechs aren't as good as they were a decade ago.

For 20 minutes or so we were decent and had more possession and chances than Killie. After the first goal went in the team looked panicky and lost its fluency. Bulivitis seems to be getting a lot of the blame for the first goal: I've got to be honest and say I don't remember the build-up to it, only the fact that the ball seemed to hang in the air for an age and everyone seemed taken aback when it dropped into the net. The second seemed to bobble nonchalantly through the defence and it felt like someone should have cleared it before it went in, but that might be being harsh; I'd have to see it again. Second half we had, or were allowed, more of the possession but didn't do a great deal with it. It's true that Cammy Bell made a lot of decent-looking saves, but I don't think any of them came into the "miraculous" category; rather, they were in the "you'd expect him to get that" category. The attackers worked hard throughout, though, and Odihambo looked decent when he came in. The deeper-lying midfielders were anonymous and the defence had a bad day at the office. It happens. There's no point in hand-wringing about it: let's see how they respond at Kirkcaldy next week. Our supporters were brilliant. "Jimmy says Aye to a Killie pie" semed to evolve out of a bit of casual abuse-slinging about him being a wee fat overdone b******; someone sang it, people laughed and took it up; it became hypnotic and took on a life of its own, inspiring waves and congas and dance moves. There was a lovely moment when a conga, inevitably led by IHE, came down the steps on its second circuit, met a steward with "immovable object" written in her eyes, and cheerfully executed a neat u-turn. 40 minutes of this, with the police and stewards poised and various people filming, and Calderwood never once acknowledged us, the sour-faced knob. Probably thinking about his next pie. It was disappointing to see us lose so cheaply to a very unspectacular SPL team, and it does underline the fact that we don't look strong enough to go on the sort of winning run that could give us a chance of promotion, but it's not a disaster and shouldn't inspire the re-emergence of some angst-ridden debate about the squad and management.

Just ordered. I have the original VHS but seeing the whole 90 minutes again is too much to resist (especially as this time, hopefully, I won't be touching cloth for the last half hour...)

Esson Tokely Bulivitis Munro Djebi-Zadi Proctor Duncan Hayes Sanchez Foran Rooney Assuming it goes ahead, that is. It's snowing pretty heavily again down here.

It's a bit ominous. Their defence has been superb tonight and they've looked quick and dangerous on the break, especially Chris Maguire. With any luck they'll hang on and then go into the game on Saturday feeling far too complacent.

Good question. It's been the main stand at least the last three times we've played there as far as I remember - both games last season and the 4-1 the season before that. A few years ago we'd have been guaranteed an end for a fixture like this, but I suspect we'll have a pretty small following again, especially with the clash with the event in Inverness: it'll probably be the stand again.

I was feeling uncharacteristically optimistic about this at the weekend, but I notice that Killie have signed a couple of players with a bit of ability and a lot to prove - Scott Severin from Watford and Chris Maguire from Aberdeen. Hopefully the Jimmies will still be trying to find their best team come Saturday and Hayes will rip their dodgy defence a new one.

And his one against Airdrie. not to mention his passing He's the most creative passer in the current team, no question. He did misplace one or two passes against Airdrie, but that's excusable as he was always trying to look for ways to open up the opposition. He has missed a few sitters in front of goal recently, but goalscoring is not his primary role in the team - providing opportunities for goalscorers is. Unless we find someone with better vision who can play behind Rooney, he should stay in the team.

I dont really have a problem with Butcher's signings, some have worked, some havent (yet?) and some parts of the squad - both good and perhaps not so good - he obviously inherited ... I pretty much agree with your assessment especially about the "working in more difficult circumstances" part. My growing concern right now is the often repeated phrase that "we dont know what division we will be in next season" as an excuse to justify the lack of contract offers to almost our entire squad. It just doesnt wash and if it is not sorted out before too long we may go into next season as favourites ....... but this time, favourites for the drop. I couldn't agree with you more, Scotty, but that seems to be one area the team management has little control over.

Probably of the same standard as Eagle, and Stratford... I'm a bit surprised by the persistent cynicism. Surely Butcher's signing record isn't significantly worse than those of any of the previous managers, and arguably, he's been working in more difficult circumstances. Eagle and Stratford haven't worked out; Hayes and Foran have; Bulvitis has played well over the past two or three months after finding his feet and Sanchez seems to divide the support (for what it's worth, I think he's been effective playing behind Rooney and has the potential to improve further, despite his profligacy in front of goal). So that's at least a 50% success record in the transfer market: not brilliant, but probably quite typical of most football managers. I'm as concerned as anyone about the future of the club, but I don't think we can lay much blame at Terry Butcher's door: any manager takes time to rebuild a team and there's been plenty of evidence that he's started to do that over the past few games.

A low mood does exist. Your comments have proved that. I dont know why it exists though. Its obvious that the attendances have dropped due to whats happened in the last year and some of the performances this season. But if fans have stopped going due to those reasons then thats fine cos i dont consider them true supporters. As ive said, being a supporter is all about following your team through thick and thin. I understand people cant make every game( including me!) but there has been an alarming fall in the home attendances. I really thought that all those years in the spl, we would have been able to build up a large following but it looks like we are gradually dropping down to our hardcore of about 1500. My point was aimed at our away support though. We have always had a decent sized faithful crowd going down to games and all im saying is that its a bit worrying when those numbers start to drop which they have done recently. Could we not expect a slighty higher percentage to go along? So what would be your solution to your low mood? What are these changes that need to be made that you talk about? CTID, I've got a lot of sympathy with your frustration and I don't think you intended to belittle anyone with your op, but I've got to disagree with your point above. I've been a fairly regular 'away' supporter for the past 12 years or so and have been to the vast majority of our away games in the last three seasons, and before this season our away support often numbered around the same as attended on Saturday (witness the "Smallest away support ever?" thread that some St Mirren-supporting tube posted on P&B last season). I've been pretty impressed with how many have turned out for away games this season: a lot of supporters seemed to buy into the "bounce straight back" scenario and seemed determined to back the team to do this. It's understandable if a combination of post-Christmas poverty and a more realistic view of our chances of promotion are now starting to erode the numbers travelling. And that's if; as a few people have pointed out already, Airdrie has rarely been a venue our supporters have travelled to in numbers. Historically, ICT supporters have always picked and chosen their away games carefully: the more fair-minded supporters of other teams recognise that this is because our fans and County fans have to cover a lot more miles than the other sets of fans in the league. The drop is home support is definitely more worrying, because that is a far more likely indicator of a general disillusionment among supporters. Anyway, keep the faith and make sure you do keep coming to the away games whenever you can - we don't want a repeat of the 18 we had at Ayr one time...

A decent performance yesterday, and a surprisingly entertaining game despite what the scoreline suggests. We should really have had two or three more, but Airdrie had a few chances as well, mainly because we were committed to attacking football for most of the game. What an odd, depressing atmosphere though: stands empty on three sides and almost no noise at all. It was reminiscent of watching a bottom-of-the-table Highland League game (no smartarse cracks about Thistle being used to those, please...) No real standout performances yesterday, but the workrate of the four attacking players was impressive. Imrie in particular tried very hard, but I don't think he was as effective as he can be yesterday - he tended to knock the ball past players and try to beat them for pace rather than taking them on, and his final ball wasn't always great. Good to see his commitment to the team though, despite the sh*t he's been taking from some quarters recently. The main concern I have for games against the better teams is the apparent inability of our central midfielders to really impose themselves on games. Cox and Proctor seemed to do a lot of chasing yesterday, but rarely seemed to be first to the ball and able to put a foot on it, slow the game down and see passes. Sanchez remains the player most likely to open the game up with his distribution and despite a few bad misses in front of goal recently I think the team needs him. It was encouraging that Hayes came on for the last couple of minutes: we were well in control yesterday, but I do think we will need him in the starting line ups against Partick and Killie.

I think pubs are few and far between in the vicinity of the ground. There is, however, a bar in the main stand where most people went last time out. I suspect the travelling support will be even smaller than usual tomorrow though.

Didn't even cross my mind that this might be postponed. I thought "New Broomfield" was meant to be one of the new generation state-of-the-art Scottish stadia... Anyway, obviously I'll be there if it's on. Glad you're able to make it. A wee warmer in the Vale before getting on the train, aye?