hislopsoffsideagain

Not a great game at all, though we never looked in danger after Foran's goal, which was about our first clear cut chance; seemed like a hopeful punt forward but Foran found himself completely unmarked and headed it in. Rooney got to it after the ball crossed the line, hence the confusion.

Nick Ross' goal, on the other hand, was worth the admission money alone, a stonking half volley from the edge of the box that went in off the underside of the bar. Sensational, absolutely sensational. Well done, that man.

Other than that, it was pretty workmanlike. Thought Sutherland had a great game. Our back four were comfortable again. Anyone else see Sodje giving Tokely a slap in the face in the second half? Rossco totally went for him at the final whistle! Delighted the players came back out for a wee half-lap of honour afterwards, and the guard of honour they gave Munro and Duncan was a touch of class.

Good evening all round!

Esson's been in the lead for ages - worth noting that he's been voted Man of the match (ie getting the 5pts) 10 times and picked up at least a point in 21 of the 40 matches we've played up to the end of April. And out of 1377 votes, he's been voted for 573 times, 42% of all the votes cast this season! Now that's consistency.

Worth noting that we now have a full starting XI from our Player of the Year winners - Esson in goal, Golly, Rossco and Bobby at the back, Cowie, Blackie, Robson, Keogh and Jonny Hayes in midfield, and Dargo and Wilson up front. Now that's some team!

TV evidence really does make the red card look scandalous. What on earth did the linesman think he saw?

Ground out a result against an incredibly negative St Mirren side - even when a goal down against ten men, they still lacked urgency and refused to have a go at us.

Defensively I thought we were excellent today - Gillet was superb, and our centre-backs blanked Higdon out of it. Surely TB must be reconsidering his decision about Munro. As for further up the pitch, Foran worked hard, but we only came to life when Rooney came on. One goal and three efforts off the woodwork - not bad for 30 mins work!

Shame for Russell, but he's a seasoned pro who should know better than to get into these situations.

Ok, updated for Rossco -

The current up-to-date situation for next season.

UNDER CONTRACT

Goalkeepers

Ryan Esson - till summer 2012

Jonny Tuffey - till summer 2012

Defenders

David Proctor - till summer 2012

Graeme Shinnie - till summer 2013

Ross Tokely - till summer 2012

Midfielders

Lee Cox - till summer 2012

Jonny Hayes - till summer 2012

Nick Ross - till summer 2013

Forwards

Richie Foran - till summer 2012

OFFERED NEW DEALS

Kenny Gillet - one year

Stuart Duff - one year

Gavin Morrison - two years

Adam Rooney - one year

Shane Sutherland - two years

FUTURE UNCLEAR

Aaron Doran - loan deal from Blackburn expires at end of season

Alex MacDonald - loan deal from Burnley expires at end of season

RELEASED

Max Johnson

Stuart Golabek

Chris Hogg

Chris Innes

Grant Munro

Russell Duncan

Roy McBain

Gil Blumenshtein

Eric Odhiambo

Danni Sanchez

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. To a man, we were magnificent. How can I narrow it down to three players for the POTY poll?

I'll come back on later to try and say something insightful, but all I can come up with so far is "YOU FLIPPING BEAUTY!!!!"

Worth it just for that twit Lennon smashing the water bottles. I'm delighted that it was us that wrecked his season.

Should I putting Rossco in the "under contract" list?

Seems that Rossco gets offered a one year deal automatically - presumably he has a clause in his deal where he gets another one if he makes so many appearances?

Liam Polworth isn't 17 till October so he doesn't actually have a professional contract - and since he hasn't played for the first team yet I felt I probably shouldn't put him on that list yet.

I thought we could update this topic as things develop over the summer? I've looked up old BBC reports so I'm confident the contract info is completely up to date

The current up-to-date situation for next season.

UNDER CONTRACT

Goalkeepers

Ryan Esson - till summer 2012

Jonny Tuffey - till summer 2012

Defenders

David Proctor - till summer 2012

Graeme Shinnie - till summer 2013

Midfielders

Lee Cox - till summer 2012

Jonny Hayes - till summer 2012

Nick Ross - till summer 2013

Forwards

Richie Foran - till summer 2012

OFFERED NEW DEALS

Kenny Gillet - one year

Ross Tokely - one year

Stuart Duff - one year

Gavin Morrison - two years

Adam Rooney - one year

Shane Sutherland - two years

FUTURE UNCLEAR

Aaron Doran - loan deal from Blackburn expires at end of season

Alex MacDonald - loan deal from Burnley expires at end of season

RELEASED

Max Johnson

Stuart Golabek

Chris Hogg

Chris Innes

Grant Munro

Russell Duncan

Roy McBain

Gil Blumenshtein

Eric Odhiambo

Danni Sanchez

Hogg offski? I'm staggered - unless he didn't want to stay.

I wish we had taken a chance on keeping Sanchez.

MUNRO????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've just turned a deathly shade of grey.

Granty and Russell exiting in the same week...I'm absolutely stunned.

TB better have Gerard Pique and Xavi lined up as replacements...

Good grief, that was ninety minutes of my life I'll never have back. It was a woeful game which Aberdeen won by being slightly less abysmal than us.

With the sunshine, the sparse support, the lack of atmosphere and the apathy on the pitch that could easily have been mistaken for a pre season match.

We only really managed two clear cut chances - Rooney had a smashing effort wide from an acute angle early in the second period, then Sutherland drew a fantastic save from Langfield later on. But Aberdeen spurned numerous opportunities, particularly a glaring one-on-one miss by Michael Paton.

As far as I could tell, blame for the goal rested mostly on Rossco's shoulders - he got far too tight to Pawlett who turned him easily and beat Esson.

Tactically we were very poor - MacDonald didn't seem to know if he was playing in a 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1; Ross and Cox were overrun in central midfield, especially as Maguire came deeper in the second half. That game was tailor-made for Russell Duncan - who came to the away fans at the end and handed his soggy shirt to my mum, which was a nice gesture.

Worth noting that Odhiambo made us look a lot more dangerous when he came on - I wouldn't be surprised if he starts against Celtic.

Have to admit I'm astonished if this is true. Does TB really think he will be able to pick up someone better in the transfer window?

Gutted for Russell, who has always given everything for this team, even if he has his share of poor games.

Absence of Foran is a real blow. 3 months ago Odhiambo would have been the replacement, but I wonder whether TB will push Nick Ross further forward, or even play Sutherland as a second striker.

I think TB might bring Duff back in at right back - I can remember a few times where Rossco has been tied in knots by Aluko.

Russeldinho is always up for a game against Aberdeen - so I'd love to find a way to fit him in.

The team for me:

Esson

Duff Hogg Munro Gillet

Sutherland Duncan Cox Doran

Ross

Rooney

Subs: Tuffey, Tokely, Golabek, Innes, Morrison, MacDonald, Odhiambo

My viewpoint is very skewed - I spend most of my job dealing either with people who have done themselves huge damage with alcohol, who tend to be very difficult to treat, or with their family members whose lives have been damaged by their heavy-drinking relatives. I simply resent the fact that the other parties are against it, for no obvious reason other than that they get donations from the alcohol industry.

Your idea is perfectly valid too. Anything that makes the stuff more expensive. Minimum unit pricing does prevent ridiculously cheap supermarket special offers though.

I'd have McCann back like a shot...if we could keep him fit. But he's just too injury prone. I'd happily re-sign Rankin too, but I think he might stay in the central belt.

We don't need Graeme Smith, we're already blessed in the goalkeeping department.

Colin Nish always seems to give us a problem when he plays against us; at the moment his confidence is low and the question is whether we could get him back to the form he showed at Killie a few years back. Having a target man like him on the books would be no bad thing though.

I've no interest in McBride, who I always thought was a pretty average player, but I note he used to play for TB at Motherwell, so perhaps Terry might know how to get the best out of him?

As for Duffy, I don't know much about him - played in League One for a few years, and has barely been used by Hibs this season.

SNP for me. Not because of a pro-independence view but because of their policy for minimum unit pricing on alcohol and because there is no better (or at least, louder) advocate for Scotland than big Alex.

Yeah, the highlights make the Hearts equalizer look pretty embarrassing for the ref. Why on earth did he blow his whistle if not to stop play? No-one normally blows for a routine throw in. Thomson really does steal about 15 yards.

What's Crawford Allan's day job? Circus clown?

You know how Bougherra got fined ?2,500 for manhandling Calum Murray? How about we all club together to pay the fine so Rossco can have a good grapple with the ref the next time he officiates up here?

Lots of positives to take from the performance, particularly the bright start. Smashing build-up prior to an excellent finish by Doran.

Hearts came back all guns blazing in the second half and the draw was probably a fair result.

As for Crawford Allan, it seems that every week I feel that the ref is "the worst one we've ever seen up here". Mr Allan is the new title holder. As for the standside linesman, I wouldn't urinate on him if he was on fire.

While I agree Hamilton do have an odd way of dealing with players, in this case Paixao is injured and recuperating at home in Portugal - they've basically told him his contract isn't being renewed and since he won't be fit for any more games there's no point coming back. Casalinuovo, meanwhile, has been offered a chance to train with a German team to get a contract for next year, which is why he has been released. Both have been fringe players this season anyway.

Thoughtful post from Renegade, who has put a lot of effort and thought into that - whilst I don't agree with all of it he makes a good argument for his point of view.

I bet I'm in the minority, but I think Duff is a decent player to have; in fact I think he's the best right back we have in the squad now Rossco's lost a yard of pace. I have nothing against Proctor either, though as they offer a similar degree of versatility I suspect we might only choose to keep one of them.

For me, Innes, Golly and McBain do not offer enough even for a place on the bench in the SPL. Blumenshtein hasn't been fit enough to justify another chance. These four surely have no future.

Odhiambo, after a bright start to the season, has been utter guff since October, though at 21 he might be worth holding onto for another year.

I'm quite up for re-signing everyone else. I'd definitely have Doran and MacDonald back if the opportunity was available.

What do we need? I think Kencar has identified our needs correctly. In particular I would say a target man striker would offer us something different.

What the hell? My back garden in Inshes is playable.

If this is all that's required to get a game of football postponed these days, no-one will get their season finished!

What a complete and utter joke. It's a bit wet. You're a bunch of grown men - man up and get on with it.

Just for the record...I've never worked out why people can't sing and chant and have a good time whilst sitting down...

If Esson wins Player of the Year, we have a complete starting XI from our 11 winners - Esson, Tokely, Mann, Golabek, Cowie, Black, Keogh, Robson, Hayes, Wilson, Dargo!

As for whether he is good enough for the international scene...well he's a better keeper than Cammy Bell and Jamie Langfield, both of whom have been in Scotland squads.