DoofersDad

It has to be the cup. It's like asking whether you would rather Scotland win the worrld cup or get into the top six of the FIFA rankings - OK so I know it's not quite the same but I'm sure you get the point. Apart from the fact that a cup win is what is remembered, a cup win does help to generate income and attracts people to the club as a result of the media attention.

What do you mean? My goal was lucky! Don't know who the Pars' player is but he can't believe what he's seeing. He had exactly the same expression earlier in the game when Barrowman scored.

I think he was referring to the number of home fans left in the ground.

Dunfermline seem to drag other teams down to their level but still can't beat them. Two cup games against them and we were unable to edge them over 90 minutes in either and only scored in 180 minutes of normal time courtesy of defensive errors which would have been bad for a primary school 2nd team. I can't see the team improving sufficiently to get themselves off bottom slot. There is just no quality in the side. To be honest, they need to strengthen just to stay in Div 1 next season. Having said that, we play the Pars in the league in February sandwiched between games against the OF. Whilst we have often done well against the OF we may well get no points from those 2 games and therefore the Pars game will be doubly important. Losing that could give the Pars hope, If we win then there is simply no way they will catch us. There is also the small issue of pride. How dispiriting will it be if we have played them 5 times and still not beaten such a poor side over 90 minutes. Whilst the Pars can concentrate on the league now, I think they will reflect on the fact they are the only side in the current SPL no longer in the cup. It must be a blow to them and the message is pretty clear: next year they will be the only team in the current SPL no longer in the SPL.

How about "Condolences on your sad loss...........of form, of career, of friends........." ....and several thousands of pounds of revenue for the club ...

Tuffey obviously had a great match at both ends of the park. According to the report on the BBC website But Smith's poor clearance gifted Jonny Tuffey a 54th-minute tap-in

Phew! It sounds as though we rode our luck a bit there. Dunfermline are a poor side but they could well have put the game out of sight by half time. Perhaps these two matches and the prize at the end of it are the change of luck we need and there won't be such a nervy performance again. But what on earth was going on with Foran and Hayes? Is the atmosphere within the club not as good as we are led to believe? That sort of thing does not happen to guys who get on well together. Anyway. We won and that's the main thing.

BBC commentator saying Golobart was the best player on the park.

Is this the togetherness IHE was talking about?

Yes we should win but we will only win if we give it 100%. Dunfermline will certainly give 100% and we will need to be at our best. We have gone on a bit of a run and there is a sense of togetherness in the side. Personally I would change the side as little as possible with the exception of bringing Foran back and the enforced change with Gillett out. If this means Proctor comes in I have no problem with that - I'd far rather have Proctor in my side than Barrowman. I don't know if there is an agreement that Tuffey plays in the cup games but Esson should play. We need to win and a young and inexperienced defence needs the confidence of having the number 1 keeper behind them. There may not be a lot of difference between the 2 (we shouldn't judge Tuffey on his performance in the first game) but the players in front will play better with Esson between the posts. No messing, please. This is an important game for the club to win.

I'm surprised so little has been said about Gregory Tade's goal yesterday. Folk at the game said it was good but it is only when you see it on the highlights that you appreciate the way he made space for himself and the sharpness, accuracy and power of the shot. Young Nick Ross played his part by playing a good ball in and immediately running into space to give the defence something to think about. In my view it was a better goal than Jonny Hayes' last month and had Wayne Rooney scored it you would have had the English media going into raptures over it. Talking of Rooney, it was good to see Adam score a decent goal for B'ham yesterday and with Chris Wood back to West Brom and then out on loan to Bristol City, it may be that Adam will get a bit of an opportunity again to show what he can do. But to get back to the subject of the topic - who is better, Gregory or Adam? I was impressed with Adam from the start and felt he would be a very hard act to follow, but Gregory is proving himself to be a very able replacement indeed. Clearly he is capable of scoring good goals and his attitude and work rate are superrb. To me it really doesn't matter which of the two is better - all that matters is that Gregory has proven to be a really good signing. Just one question remains - can he take a penalty?

Great result. It is also 7 points from the last 3 games and the first clean sheet of the season. This and the pars dismal form should give the team some real confidence for the rest of the season. If Dunfermline accumulate points for the rest of the season at the rate they have for the season to date, they will end up with only 25 or 26 at the end of the season. We already have 22 and even if we continue to average a point a game we will end on 38. Dunfermline are going to have to improve their form considerably to catch us. This thought should give the lads some confidence to go out and play the kind of attractive attacking football they are capable of. We are also only 5 points off 6th place. After a shakey start, this could turn into a pretty good season.

The BBC have listed some games twice. It's the Wednesday for sure.

Of course, if we had a fourth stand .......

Strange how things go. This time last year people were criticising the hype about Rooney by pointing out that so many of his goals had been scored from the spot rather than in open play.

Absolutely not. There's enough too many of their fans allowed into the ground as it is! Sorted it for you Ren

Obviously not their 1st team then!

An interesting statistic from Saturday's match day programme which illustrates the level of player turnover at the club. Prior to the game Ross Tokely had made more appearances for ICT in the Scottish Cup than the rest of the 25 man 1st team squad put together.

This might be just the incentive Dunfermline need to get their season back on track. But that works both ways and playing in front of the cameras is a good opportunity for some of our temporary staff to showcase their talents. I predict a better match than on Saturday (sticking my neck out there!) and for ICT to win by a single goal.

And how many of the 1601 who turned up on Saturday went because it's such a lovely little ground? I don't suppose for a moment that anyone stays away simply because there is not a fourth stand but it is surely undeniable that a better atmosphere would encourage a few more to attend. I accept it is not something the club can do anything about anytime soon but there should be the long term aim of correcting the errors of the past.

Working in Perth on Tuesday and was planning to head off to the match afterwards. Another change of plan as a result of the power of the TV companies.

There would have been a time not long ago when plenty of folk would hoping for a draw against County. Looks as though nobody quite fancies that at the moment.

Jonny's now got a contender for January as well

OK, so Dougal is trying to wind people up (and succeding very well, it would appear!) but to be fair, the point that our stadium is probably the worst in the league is one that I would certainly agree with. Putting aside all the reasons for why it is where it is and the way it is, it is undeniably a windswept ground with no atmosphere. And I accept that there is no money around to do anything about it and we are stuck with it. But the Board must realise that the lack of atmosphere is a major factor in keeping crowds down and, probably more important, will be a factor in players not wanting to play here. When playing at home players want a good atmoshere to lift them and it simply doesn't exist at TCS. I've heard more singing at a wee free funeral than I heard at the ground today. Continued long term success requires a better stadium than we currently have and that must be a long term objective for the Board. It is surely not controversial to suggest that if County get promoted and make improvements to their ground, they will have a better ground than us. After all, let's face it, they already have a better ground than us.

I think it was a mistake to play Davis today. He was poor - didn't want the ball and was looking to get rid of it as soon as he could when he got it. He certainly wasn't the player folk have been raving about - Looked as though he was on instructions from Mick McCarthy not to pick up an injury. Contributed nothing and IMHO should have got hooked sooner.