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One can but hope no one suffered an injury yesterday and that Cameron Harper returns next week. The draw was a fair result yesterday and re-established us as a tough team. We can be optimistic that next weeks game is a great cup match. Our bench is definitely getting stronger by the week and Lewis Nicholson gained more experience yesterday. Woods needs to improve on his physical and match fitness after rejecting a new contract with Burnley in the summer so we should reserve judgement for a while. Oakley at some stage must start scoring as does Boyd who both need to be motivated to gain new contracts or move on.

An interesting signing especially as we are likely to see a lot of our injured players back in the next 4 weeks. With the two new players and indeed the younger players back from loans, the future looks optimistic. Our previously injured returning players will after settling back in be like new signings. February is certainly the time teams need to gear up for good runs. If we can get a bit more out of January our strength will definitely be greater from February onwards.

By definition another win against what looked like the odds. Lewis Nicolson gets his second goal for the first team - another benefitting from the injury crisis. Two wins gives us a glimmer of hope next week against the league leaders.

A result and performance like the good old days..... Thought Dodds might have mentioned Ridgers as part of the experienced players key to the result....Duffy should be back this Saturday as hopefully will be Harper so potentially a slightly stronger squad for Arbroath although the younger lads were certainly very active and enthusiastic .

One problem is that Dodds indicated that Jim McIntyre would see it as a success if he kept Cove up this year. That will no doubt be drummed into his players on the coach along the goat track and possibly motivate them more than us to prove Dodds wrong and place us in that position instead!! I hope I am wrong.

Good to see someone take a stand against players going down easily and conning referees. VAR in the world cup stopped this to a large extent but back in domestic games it will continue. The law should be changed so that dives at one end should be given to the opponent at the other end. Very difficult for referees to judge though.

We can do this....

Really good news!!! Another week to help some players recover.

So often young players do not get a chance given the dominance of senior players on teamsheets. I am sure the players who represented the club yesterday will be really proud that they were given a chance. This can only be good for these players and adds to the experience we can call on.

From what I recall most our serious injuries have been during games. On the basis that most key players will be back by the end of January, 2023, it makes sense to conserve energy and players in less important games. I want a win in the league game against Hamilton but this year am happy to give it our best shot in the Cup especially giving younger players experience. Other clubs do the same. With expensive floodlighting and other costs and little sponsorship from this cup I see no need to take risks or seek progression at the expense of the league.

With all due respect this is not the time to be criticising Billy Dodds. I have done so this season and during the poor run last season. Stress levels at the club must be quite high currently and if ever there was a time for united support, it is tomorrow. The injury situation is unprecedented at the club. After Ayr we have two games that are not critical to our season - Stirling is important from a financial point of view but our need is to get more players back into the playing squad. The first of the double headers against Hamilton is definitely not important. We may lose to Ayr and Dundee but if we can get a lot of the injured back by the league game against Hamilton we still have a long season ahead of us. I am sure that the players who take the field against Ayr, Stirling and Dundee will believe they can get results against the odds............we've done it before when the support was superb.

Dodds has been getting ratty with a few players in the last month or so. Maybe he is feeling the pressure that supporters have been putting him under when performances have been poor. However, in terms of man management, the current crop of injuries would seem to suggest that support and sympathy are vital to retain unity under very trying circumstances. I did not expect us to win at Morton but potentially we had no too bad a team on the park. The Manager needs to calm down and put a supporting arm around EVERY player to help us tough this out.

The injury to Robbie looked bad yesterday. However, he did walk out on crutches to a waiting car so we can but hope the healing process will be relatively straightforward. Another blow to Robbie and the club. We wish him well in his recovery. Unless some magic money materialises we are unlikely to be able to sign a short term replacement being a player of experience.

Today's results when taken with this season's results overall confirm what a really challenging league this is. So credit for what we have achieved so far but this is really just the beginning of another very tough season.

No. I see us having more determination to beat Partick as RC at present are once again struggling in the higher league and their luck will one day run out, and they will be relegated.

Ross County's capitulation last night also adds to an incentive to really up the performance on Friday night.

Probably cheaper to travel away than switch on the floodlights at home!! Let's hope Rangers B do not prevail and send out a squad that would have attracted a large crowd to the Caledonian Stadium.

Partick will certainly start as firm favourites on Friday night so we will not be underestimating them - a cause of many home game points lost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63080244 The current financial problems for the country will impact on many clubs.

Set pieces a problem to be addressed in training this week. This league is certainly very competitive. Brilliant win though as a defeat would have piled pressure on our management team.

The club are not any financially stronger after the concerts and with electricity costs increasing substantially for floodlights it is likely to make matters worse. Will some clubs seek to play games at noon during the winter to save costs? A new right back is therefore very unlikely. So perhaps we will see Wallace back there tonight, Danny in the back four, and David in for Roddy. We can but hope although the signs are not too good.

Agreed.

To be fair to Dodds, he initially was loyal to those who convincingly beat Cove last week. We have started the season well but clearly next Saturday it will be no more Mr Niceguy and a warning not to underestimate the opposition.

Billy produced a captain's performance yesterday. We are currently very youthful which is honorable. However, the 'old guard' of Billy, Mark, Aaron (youthful) Robbie and Scot were vital to the win which was very enjoyable yesterday. Hope we haven't peaked too early as we did last year. However, we do need experience long term in the middle of the defence so hopefully Danny's niggly injury is resolved or Davie Carson is put on height growth hormones to extend his utility.

Noticed that Deas has a two game suspension. Hopefully Danny will be back for the Arbroath game because we looked a bit too youthful against Queens. Kirk Broadfoot was a major influence last year and with current injuries and the suspension we lacked a bit of experience.