ALSY

Fantastic! Barrowman and McGuire both justifying selection it would seem. Killie players sound like they're losing it.

Get in! BTW Guy Krr scores for Elgin.

Just arrived home. Looks like the usual ICT-Killie match - plenty of goals, plenty of errros. Had 2-2 on the predictor but will be happy to be proved wrong if we win this one. Surprised Rooney didn't get a start after Tuesday, but very glad to see Vigurs in the team.

Devil's advocate, Alex Craig Brewster, as long as he retains as much determination to learn and develop from past mistakes and experiences as he would expect from his players.

Quite like the look of that, IHE, although I dunno about McGuire at right back. Would probably stick with Tokely myself. Rooney up front with either Imrie or Cowie coming up to support looks good to me, especially after Barrowman's performance on Saturday. One query though - isn't Vigurs left-sided? He's certainly played more on the left than the right for us so far.

I found his bbo too and all his albums are of him and his mates in abrs, didnt want to bring that up as you'd think i was too sad.........but there's two of us! This is a new one on me. Did you mean bars. Or bras, even?

I wasn't at the game and am interested in the opinions of those that were. Given that the players were pretty poor for the first hour and Brewster then made changes which improved the performance (and subsequently attained the win), I really can't understand why some fans are calling for Brew's head!! I think most fans would agree that the basis of the squad is about as good as we can get (given finances, geographical constraints, etc, etc) so what is the beef with Brewster? The starting line up was reasonable and pretty much as expected, it wasn't working, Brew changed it and we eventually got the result! Hardly a sacking offence is it!? I don't wish to defend Brew blindly, but I do think that some fans have completely unreasonable expectations of what this club is actually capable of. And before anyone says "beating Morton in normal time" - I accept that, but...... the quality of players that we have will lead to inconsistency of performance at times. The important things is how the manager, and the players, react to that. Ultimately, the response last night was what was required! I'm not calling for Brewster's head, but people's dissatisfaction is not purely down to unrealistic expectations. There are issues that should be within Brewster's control that need addressing: Why is the tendency to revert to the long ball as soon as we are under pressure not stamped upon by the coaches? Clearly the team don't start out intending to play that way, as the Aberdeen, Falkirk, Hearts and Morton games all showed, but it becomes our default tactic as soon as we start chasing a game, and we have had no success using it. Why has Ian Black, our outstanding player so far this season, been the midfielder to be sacrificed when Brewster decides to make substitutions? Why was the experienced central defender we still obviously need not made more of a priority over the summer, rather than a last-ditch token bid for James McPake being made on August 31st? Why does the team so often appear unmotivated and lethargic in SPL games (e.g. Hamilton, St Mirren, from what has been said by the home-based supporters) when our survival is at stake? If there are, as people keep mooting, divisions in the dressing room, are any steps being taken to resolve these? I'm aware that certain things, such as Imrie's and Duff's inconsistency, may be down to age and lack of experience, that players like Cowie will inevitably go off the boil from time to time, that errors will always be made in games, and that in these circumstances our relatively modest resources will not always be able to compensate for them; and I also accept that Brewster probably couldn't be expected to resolve all of the things I listed above; but the supporters do have a right to question whether they are being addressed at all.

Don't mean to slag off one of our players, especially one who did so much for us last season, but if they're watching him just now then they probably won't pursue their interest. He hasn't been nearly as effective, or looked as motivated, in the past few weeks as he was last season.

Also just back. Mixed feelings really - it was an enjoyable cup tie in the end but doesn't inspire me with any more confidence for the rest of the season after also witnessing Saturday's game. Team started brightly - ball on the deck, most things going through Blackie who, once again, looked a class apart. The defence allowed dangerous crosses across the face of goal a couple of times though, and it wasn't much of a surprise when Morton scored, although I didn't see it properly due to the fecking great pillar in my way. As soon as they went ahead, the composure disappeared and the long ball pish started again - Hastings, Munro and Duff the main culprits. Second half was mixed - a few nice moves but also a lot of scrappy football. Vigurs and Barry both made a difference when they came on - Vigurs in particular had one great run on goal and also a hooked shot well saved, and made a lot of intelligent runs and passes in extra time. In extra time we were the better team, as you'd expect, but Morton still made a few chances. Rooney was the main difference in this period - worked really hard and won the ball well for Imrie's goal, which was a beautifully-taken first time shot from the edge of the box. Because of the number of chances created by both sides, the atmosphere, which was pretty good, and the novelty of being back at Cappielow, it was a good night, but the bottom line is that we struggled against the team and the foot of the division below us, and that's got to be a bit of a worry. Positives - Rooney's workarate and ability to win headers against a big defence; Black's commitment; Vigurs' intelligent movement; and most of all, having had a go after Saturday, Imrie's all-round performance - worked his @rse off from start to finish, was willing to take on his man time after time and sprinted back to make tackles when needed. Cynics will say he's playing against "his level" in Morton, but if it gives him confidence and he's willing to try the same things in the SPL, we may have a truly effective player. Negatives - Rory, sadly, looked shot in confidence and probably had to be sacrificed at half-time, although I was praying for him to have a good game; Cowie yet again looked listless and off his game; Duff, unfortunately, looked quite shaky at times; and although he won the ball well as ever, Russell also give it away or passed into no-man's land as often as ever. Hastings wasn't great either, but did redeem himself a bit... Great to see the team celebrate at the end - it looked like it meant a lot to them, and hopefully they can take that fight into the rest of the season. I hope they're also aware, however, that performances as inconsistent as that in the SPL could see us relegated, and that a bit of fluency, concentration and patience needs to come into the play sharpish.

Fraser Proctor Duff Munro Hastings Wilson Black Duncan Vigurs Rooney Wood

Pretty depressing game. Hearts did very little and with a bit more fluency and commitment we could have taken 1 or 3 points. Unfortunately it was a day of aimless punts, misplaced passes and bickering - noticed Imrie and McGuire, I think, having a right go at each other in the second half. Alex's point about teamwork is spot on. Will be interested to see the goal again - my initial reaction was that McGuire started to come out to challenge then hesitated and stayed put, allowing the attacker to gain the momentum that took him though on goal. However, other posts suggest that someone else might have been to blame. Though Munro looked solid and Black and Rooney worked hard - more than can be said for Barrowman. I appreciate that he's a Boyd-type goal-hanger, but if we're not getting any width then he must realise that he needs to chase back and look for the ball sometimes, rather than standing on the 18-yard line bitching at people. Then again, Ruud van Nistelrooy probably couldn't have scored with the service we provided yesterday... Yet again I'm left with no idea what our most effective line-up is. Despite being impressed by the team at Falkirk, I thought, based on the comments of the people who were at the St Mirren game, that Brewster should give Imrie and Barrowman another run. Both were pretty awful yesterday though, and certainly didn't play like players with something to prove. Wonder if having Duncan back would have made any difference? He's not creative but him being there might release Black to play a little further forward and link with the attack more effectively. Mind you. Brewster cleaerly thinks Black is expendable, as he was the first taken off yesterday. What was that all about? Was glad to see him acknowledge the crowd as he went off - he clearly knew that we knew it was a ludicrous decision. If anything, I suppose yesterday reminded me that we're in for another season of bottom six scrapping - having only seen the away games so far, I had perhaps been fooling myself that we were capable of stepping it up a bit this year.

That is a remarkably strange post... Cheers Don. You're voicing pretty much what I suspected. Was interested though, because as far as I remember, Zander got first tem experience before Vigurs and has been our "next big thing" for at least a season now, but Vigurs seems to have overtaken him in the pecking order. Possibly less competition in Vigurs preferred area of midfield, or has Vigurs simply developed more quickly. yeah i would say vigurs has overtaken him but that might be down the fact that vigurs is physically a lot stronger than zander but once zander gets physically stronger which he will do, he'll be in with a shout. you cant compare vigurs and zander though because they are different players with different footballing styles. although iain is being played on the wing iain is a centre midfielder and zander is an out and out winger. i would like to see zander givin his chance this season but i wouldnt compare iain and zander for the above reasons. Yeah, having seen Vigurs at Killie last season, I always assumed he was a central midfielder. Was surprised to see him playing as our widest player at Falkirk. That suggests that Brewster does feel we need options on the wings but also, as you suggest, that he thinks Zander hasn't developed sufficiently to perform that role in the first team yet.

That is a remarkably strange post... Cheers Don. You're voicing pretty much what I suspected. Was interested though, because as far as I remember, Zander got first tem experience before Vigurs and has been our "next big thing" for at least a season now, but Vigurs seems to have overtaken him in the pecking order. Possibly less competition in Vigurs preferred area of midfield, or has Vigurs simply developed more quickly.

Was impressed with the youth at Falkirk, but maybe the more experienced players have a point to prove now: Fraser Tokely Duff Munro Hastings Cowie Black Duncan Imrie Barrowman Rooney Rosscoe's got a good record at Tynecastle - Hearts fan as a kid apparently, maybe still has ambitions to become a Lithuanian...

This is all a bit weird joining this Forum... Monty (Born Caley) gave us the head's up on some AGS chat... I remember that Photo being taken... I was really fecking hungover... Some things never change... Aah, I can feel the nostalgia coursing through my veins... Spent most of my younger years in DR whenever I could... Even tried to get my work experience away from school there... Really good memories... Met and still have good mates from that time... Got to listen to some great music... If only I could go back to it now... The place would be like a terasure trove... I remember John Menzies basement having vinyl... Cheers for the comment RednBlackComeback... Although i wouldn't call it Dj'ing... More of playing what I like and inflicting on other peoples ears... If you been there first hand you'll know what I mean... Have heard you a few times in Barfly and liked what you were playing. Am I right in remembering you were a Jaggie, like myself and R&BC? How did you take the merger? Having been in Glasgow for a few years when it went through, I eventually put aside my Kingsmills loyalties...

Don - or anyone else who gets to reserve matches - does Zander look worth a chance in the first team to you, even half an hour as a sub or whatever? On one hand people are criticising Brewster for sticking with the young players on Saturday (although having been at Falkirk I thought it was a justified decision); on the other, some are calling for Zander to get a run. Midfield's probably the hardest part of the team to break into, but maybe his creativity's what we need?

According to a story in today's "Herald", the channel's first game will indeed be the Hearts-ICT match - recorded on Saturday and shown later in the week with Gaelic commentary. Didn't give a day or time, unfortunately. Maybe someone should run off a wee banner for the occasion. How does one write "Stick the long ball up your @rse" in Gaelic?

Back to the drawing board? Sounded like we were OK in parts but it didn't sound like we ever dominated the way we did for long spells at Falkirk. Guess we'll find out what those at the game thought in a couple of hours, although as usual I doubt there will be any consensus. Will be there next week though - Tynecastle's always a good day out and I'm hoping I can counterbalance last season's five away defeats on the bounce with five away wins this season.

This is when I'm glad I'm an away games supporter.

Time for a Duff/Munro partnership? Ah. Wondered which of them was at fault. Don't wish Mcguire any ill-will and think he had a good game last week, but I'd rather see him make a mstake if one of them has to. We know McGuire's a bit error prone, whereas Duff has been so good since his mistake against Hamilton that it would be really dispiriting if he made another high-profile error. Imrie on now, with Barrowman and Wilson to follow - the subs that made the difference last time out. Come on.

@rse. Thought we were sounding good this half as well. Wonder which of the central defenders will take the flak for this one?

Couple of landmarks - Rooney's first, and the 6,000th Premier League goal. Very relieved though - this was sounding so uncannily like the Hamilton game that I fully expected us to concede just on half time. Also, every other scoreline is edging me closer to the foot of the prediction league, so we'd better hang on to this one!

Quite happy with the retained line-up. Imrie and Barrowman might feel frustrated as they both had an impact when they came on a fortnight ago, but it was the best performance I've seen in a while and none of those players deserved to drop out. Shows courage on Brewster's part to stick with the younger players despite more experienced players being available, and also confirms that we have genuine competition for places now. Hopefully that's enough to motivate us to our first home win of the season.

Starts and scores...

Think Vigurs deserves to keep his place after Falkirk, although this time I'd play him and Cowie on their preferred wings. Possibly I'd have Duncan in for McBain and Barrowman in for Wood, even though Wood did pretty well against Falkirk IMO. Won't do Imrie any harm to start on the bench again if his reponse when he came on at Falkirk is anything to go by. We must have quite a few players desperate to stake a claim for a start now, which is encouraging.