acharacleoracle

Economics may well dictate whether BW is offered a new contract. We have the likes of Cowie, Black and Fraser all negotiating and several youngsters having their contracts reviewed, the cash saved by releasing BW would be put to good use securing their services.

Recorded it, just watched it and enjoyed it, especially the first half. I'm sure the commentary was good to!!. Played football on the ground and what a difference that made (can we do this at home as well please). Dodgy last 10 minutes though. Killies Taoill gave Tokes a good workout and then they rubbed it in when Gibson came on. That is Tokes on 7 yellow cards from league matches alone, will he miss next week I wonder?. Enjoyed watching Hastings give Imrie a roasting for a needless penalty, he obviously saw his win bonus flying out the window, V.Poor penalty saved the bacon and the bonus.

Not totally off thread, with a narrower pitch "the long throw" might just reach that little nearer the goal; still a crap predictable tactic though.

Totally agree with your long throw comment, it barely makes the edge of the six yard box, hardly Delap proportions. As for wing play its usually the opposition that exploit this tactic, highlighted in the recent Celtic and Motherwell games when Loovens and Porter respectively scored from wide play . Funnily enough I think it was Robson who excelled for us out wide, so it was a while ago. Heres a suggestion: The ICT pitch has to be one of the largest playing surfaces in Scotland, as our style of play does'nt utilise this width why not re line the pitch and move the touchline in a couple of metres. This should tighten things up a bit. I vaguely remember Bolton did this for a European game but I can't remember if it was a success. I don't know if there are any rules about changing the pitch dimensions mid season and I'm Tommy C might have something to say about the suggestion.

Was it not Wilson who set up the peach of a chance for Barrowman in the first half?

Its the inconsistency being displayed thats most frustrating home and away. We're on thin ice and I don't fancy the 1st div.

The score shows just how effective he was!!!.

Poor display allround. Guys it was windy out there, did you not notice?. Seeing cleared balls being blown back down the field is a clue!. And why o why do we insist on punting high balls into Rooney and Barrowman all day, I don't think they won one header, the Hearts defence were loving it. Can someone please tell the midfield and back line to vary their play and pass the ball on the ground either for the forwards to hold up then lay off or for them to be played through and give them something to run onto. Todays performance was naive, as someone else here put it "all huff and puff with no end result". We missed Cowie and things got worse when Black went off. Time for changes.

One of many disappointing performances today, mile of the pace and his crossing was non-existent he did'nt find his target once.

I hope we can survive, the squad we have is young but full of potential, in a couple of years we could looking at something very exciting. Its going to be a fight right up until the last Saturday of the season so hang on to your seats its going to be a rough one.

With contract talks around the corner the one thing you can rely on Barry to do is talk to the press to justify his existence, he's good at working the media. As for being past it, the reserves are playing today and I would expect to him play having sat on the bench on Saturday. So if you can go along and watch let us know how he gets on.

Aye Alex, should add Morag does a fine bowl of porage.

A fit Proctor is invaluable. I'm glad he's back. On his game he is a pretty sound defender and has a good grasp of how the game should be played. The Rankers game came a week or so too soon for him.

Sadly BW is looking pretty done these days, he's been a great servant to the club and justly rewarded with a fine testimonial but time has taken its toll, he's looking a bit heavy and the pace has gone, he's good for twenty minutes but thats about it, so I think its time for him to move to lower division possibly in player/coach roll to learn management.

Catch 22, ideally you would polish those who need it in the reserves for a year or two and boot out the underperformers but there is nothing to replace them with unless you draft in a few U19's who need reserve football to get up to speed. Another injury or maybe a suspension and we will have nothing left to make up the numbers.

I doubt even Alex Ferguson could get an adequate performance out of our defense right now.

Our defensive frailties were highlighted against Celtic, Motherwell and Falkirk but todays performance against Rangers was exceptionally woeful. Our back line needs replacing and come January this should be a priority. Sadly by then we could find ourselves firmly rooted at the bottom of the league faced with an uphill struggle to stave of relegation. Our defense is totally inadequate due to combination of inexperience, lack of form, injury or just plain useless (you can add the names yourself), lumping long balls up to the lone striker is pointless and just does not cut it. Come January the minimum we need is two experienced central defenders who can be relied on to control the backline and who can engage the midfield (our strength) from there our forward/s will see a bit more of the ball where they need it on the ground. We need a positive committed response from the team against Hibs, we need a win very badly.