Kingsmills

I hope that Gareth from Stockport and his family enjoy their visit to the stadium tomorrow and witness an entertaining match and a comfortable home win.

Slightly unfortunate with some of the marginal LBW decisions but taught a real lesson by a very good Afghanistan team who could well go on to surprise a few of the bigger and more established teams.

A more taxing tie than we would have wanted at this stage. No room for complacency.

How about instead, we aim to lead the table from start to finish ?

Why on earth would we want to do that ?

I appreciate that they have practical and financial benefits for clubs. However, games are never quite the same when played on them and they cause more injuries, especially to knees and ankles, than grass and, in my view, they should not be permitted in the top two divisions.

Having dropped points today, it's important that we get back to winning ways against Arbroath at home on Tuesday.

On one view, a point away from home against the current form team in the league could have been a decent result. However, our second failure this season to capitalise on a numerical advantage is very disappointing indeed, especially as today's faiure enabled Kilmarnock to close the gap on us. The five points squandered against ten man Hamilton Accies and ten man Raith Rovers could well prove to be the difference between gaining promotion this season or not. That's not good enough.

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Our record playing against ten men has been poor of late. Time to take full advantage and change that trend.

A win would be nice but our season has gone so well to date that we will still be clear at the top whatever the score at Starks Park or results elsewhere.

Well done. Bodes well for the future.

If they could get two victories in their group they would be delighted. Perhaps over Afghanistan and the qualifier from the other pool, either Ireland or Namibia. However, as Yngwie says, they can be proud of their achievements whatever happens next.

Scotland complete a clean sweep of victories to top their qualifying group and reach the tournament proper. A Scottish international XI to be proud of.

Probably the most difficult fixture since Kilmarnock away but if we can somehow come away from Kirkcaldy with all three points we can certainly consider ourselves genuine title contenders.

There is a balance to be struck. Some of us old farts like the calm, measured, informative and clearly audible approach.

What's that small piece of paper Roy Macgregor has in his hand ?

Very many congratulations to the Scotland international cricket team who have just completed a victory over Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup Bear in mind that Bangladesh are a nation of 165 million where cricket is, by a margin, the number one sport in contrast to Scotland with a population of 5.5 million where cricket is probably not in the top five sports either for participation or attendance. Well done lads.

Seriously, another victory, five points clear at the top of the league and this is all you can think of to post ?

I entirely agree, there are heart in mouth issues both on the pitch and in the boardroom but there is now much more that is right than is wrong both on and off the pitch. We are in a position which is the envy of every other club in the division, including some considerably better resourced than ours. Nothing is guaranteed but with effort and dedication from everyone with the club at heart, there is no reason why that can't still be the case when the honours are handed out in May. It is no accident that we are top of the league at the quarter way stage. We are there on merit and if we keep these standards up there is no reason why we can't remain there on merit.

Come on folks, what's with the negative comments ? After the first full round of fixtures, we are 5 points clear at the top. Would even the most optimistic of us have predicted that before the season began? I rather enjoyed our 'made in Dingwall' victory today made all the sweeter by Dunfermline's late late equaliser against Kilmarnock. Yes we rode our luck and could have been one, or even two, goals down before our operner had the Morton finishing been more clinical but I thought we were fairly comfortable thereafter. A huge game next week in Kirkcaldy against a resurgent Raith Rovers and we will have to play better to take something from it but we know from spells this season that we are entirely capable of doing that and ensuring that there will be very little dancing in the streets of Raith next Saturday evening.

I don't much care whether we keep it simple or make it more complicated as long as, come ten to five, we finish with all three points and no fresh injuries.

The other Thistle's result at New Douglas Park this evening against a full strength Hamilton makes our own inability to rescue even a point there a fortnight ago seem even more lacklustre. With other sides in such form, it's vital that we get our title push back on track tomorrow with a home win against Morton.

Although I would happily risk a few hundred more at home games

I agree. While it is frustrating, infection levels in the Highlands remain worryingly high and people are still passing away. A sensible and proportionate ongoing precaution allowing us to watch our team live in an almost normal manner.