hislopsoffsideagain

Errr...they already have four between them, so I think it's a pretty good bet they will get at least that half dozen.

Ahh, Tade in a nutshell - he missed three one-on-ones and then scores when the ball rebounds in off his shin. The flipside is that he spent most of the match playing wide right and put in yet another outstanding shift. A deserved win, I think, as we missed lots of good chances...Foran's scuff in the opening seconds was an astonishing miss, while Andy Shinnie hit the post early in the second half. Ryan Esson made one good save in the second half but actually had a relatively quiet time of it. Proctor did better than I expected; I thought the standouts for us today were Tokely and Piermayr. Davis was superb first half but drifted out of it. Thought Foran was disappointing, and Nick Ross never got in the game. Not bad considering we are still missing some important players - I think Hogg, Hayes and Jones will still walk straight back into that team.

The first half was absolutely awful with no chances from either side; the second half was completely the opposite. We passed up so many chances at 1-0 that it's disappointing that we didn't win. Still, I'd have taken a draw against Hearts before kickoff. The main surprise for me is that Ian Black completed 90 minutes - I'm staggered he didn't get a second yellow for a studs up challenge on Foran in the second half. Thought Foran, Tade and Graeme Shinnie were super. As for Andrew Shinnie, well...I'm sure he's a nice chap, but a footballer? You must be kidding me.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! It's a while since I've heard a roar like that at TCS...but what a racket when Graeme Shinnie scored. In the end the game could have gone either way, but for the first time this season it went for us. We were out of the blocks super-fast, and Tade's lovely headed opener from Foran's cross was the least we deserved...only for Shiels to score a screamer out of nothing, which knocked us for six. Killie probably shaded it after that, hitting the post after a Hogg blunder and bringing some good saves out of Ryan Esson. For us, Tade was unlucky with another header, whilst Foran missed a glaring chance. After he went off with a knock, and then we lost Doran to a nasty-looking shoulder injury, we would have probably taken the draw...but we nicked a smashing winner on the break. The ref made up for some of his uselessness by playing a great advantage after Andrew Shinnie was poleaxed in the build-up, and his brother finished wonderfully. A gutsy performance today, no doubt about that. Tade was absolutely flipping amazing, and worked so hard that when he was subbed he almost had to be carried into the dugout. Was quite impressed by Morrison too. As for Killie, I was expecting pretty patterns and clever build-up, not a bunch of hatchet-men - Doran had been nailed at least twice before the cynical foul that led to his injury - and a competition for Worst Diver Ever between Dean Shiels and James Dayton. You had to see Dayton's effort to believe it - it was so bad that the ref probably thought he'd just lost his footing.

According to TB's media interviews - he seems to spend every game shouting at the players at half-time and/or full-time. Judging by results, perhaps screaming at the players isn't getting them motivated? If we go behind against Killie on Saturday, I wonder whether we might begin to hear one or two boos from the stands...

Ok...can we officially call this 'a crisis' now?

A shame. I liked Aldred as well and thought he should have played on Saturday. Regarding Halkirk, bear in mind we can only use 5 subs tonight against Ayr, so with Tokely available again he wouldn't have made the bench if Golobart is ahead of him in the pecking order - so the Halkirk game was a chance to keep him match fit. It seems the arrival of Golobart has pushed him to fourth in the pecking order for a centre-back spot so it's not really worth his while to stay if he can get first team football in league one or league two. A tweet from Nick Ross this afternoon seemed to suggest family reasons might be playing a part too. On the bright side, I hope this means we can afford a big powerful centre-forward!

We played 5 in midfield - yet Aberdeen walked through us in the first half playing 4-4-2. Our resurgence in the match came after Doran came on and gave us a bit more width. I thought this was a game for Tade - Aberdeen's backline were short of confidence and bound to be nervous, whilst his best moment as a Raith player was a winning goal in a cup game at Pittodrie.

RiG is spot on. Our first half performance was abysmal beyond words. We were better in the second half, but I think that's more a reflection on how mediocre Aberdeen are. I've been trying to stay positive but its difficult after this result. Thoughts on the team... Esson-great save in second half. Blameless for the goals. I feel so sorry for him just now,considering what he has to put up with from the players in front of him. Piermayr-constantly dragged out of position. Frequently beaten for pace. Golobart-should not have been thrown in so quickly. Unforgiveable blunder for the second goal. Hogg-best of the back four, but that isn't saying much G. Shinnie-didn't get tight enough to Fyvie. Used the ball poorly. Tansey-worked hard but his flicks and touches didn't come off. Morrison-had a cracking shot in the second half but was bosses by Aberdeen's midfield. Ross-very quiet. Lacked the confidence to run at players. Didn't look like he wanted the ball. Hayes-was trying too hard. Got no service in the first half. Wasteful in the second. To his credit he kept trying to get involved. A. Shinnie-absolutely awful. Terrible first touch. Slow. Kept giving the ball away. I've never seen a player trip over the ball so often. Foran-put in a shift. Missed a glorious chance for an equalizer. Good on the deck but won few headers

CaleyD, just worth asking...Rangers and Celtic still sell a huge number of season tickets - isn't it often the case that the empty seats when they are playing the likes of us have been paid for, but the fans only turn up for the Old Firm games and a few others? So attendances are lower, but the revenue isn't. Or am I talking complete crap?

Just back from the game. Euan Norris, you are a cretin. I was sixty yards away from the Tokely tackle and could see it was a good challenge. Are we allowed to appeal it? The second one looked dodgy as hell as well (though I haven't seen the TV footage). The ref even tried his best not to send off Edu - he missed the challenge and let play continue, only for the standside linesman to flag so that he had no choice. Celtic fans are going to be moaning about Masonic conspiracies again... After a shaky start, I was delighted with our performance for the most part. Our defending was streets ahead of recent weeks, with Hogg and Shinnie playing particularly well. Tansey got stuck in and some of his passing was gorgeous. For the record, I gave Tade a big cheer when he was subbed - he worked really hard and made a nuisance of himself. He certainly contributed more than the likes of Foran or Doran today. Surely, surely, we are due a stroke of luck at some point?

How on earth did we contrive to lose that game? Aside from a bright opening 20mins from Hibs it was all us, and we managed to squander enough chances to win three matches - Foran and Tade in the first half, and then Aldred and Tansey (twice) in the second half, all contrived to miss glorious opportunities. After Doran came on it was complete one way traffic towards the Hibs goal. Gutted for Esson, who made some brilliant stops - including one with his chin in the first half - but who might feel he should have kept out O'Connor's goal. Lots of positives to take from it - but the problem is undoubtedly in front of goal where, at the moment, we are really struggling to take our chances. As for the referee today - well, I remember Steve Conroy having a shocker officiating our defeat against Aberdeen in January, and he didn't improve on that performance today, especially when he ignored Foran being practically "hugged" to the ground in the box in the second half. I don't see why he gets ?840 a game - most other clowns don't get nearly as much, and they have to put up with the daft makeup.

That was brutal. For a start, we were a tactical shambles. Butcher sent the team out with some sort of narrow diamond midfield, with A Shinnie at the top...which meant Hayes was sitting much deeper and tended to be getting the ball nearer his own goal than Motherwell's. Well simply pushed their full backs on and annihilated us that way. The first goal came after Gillet was isolated two-on-one and Proctor failed to track the man at the back post. The second was a smashing passing move, but Proc (there's a theme here) lost Murphy and Tokes was dragged out of position by Higdon, leaving acres in behind. TB then brought Ross into centre mid and stuck Shinnie out on the right, but the words 'stable door', 'horse' and 'bolted' come to mind. We did have chances of our own - Tansey especially unlucky after hitting the post with a free kick and then being denied by a point blank save, while I think Foran hit the post as well. In the second half they just sat on their lead and we couldn't break them down. Their third was a screamer from Lasley but I want to know why he had the chance to take two touches before hitting it, with no one closing him down. Pass marks to Esson, who made a good save in the first half, and Foran, who worked hard. In contrast our back four were rank, but particularly Tokely, who was owned by Higdon, and Proctor. I've never seen anyone trip over the ball as much as Andrew Shinnie did. As for Tade, his attempts to shoot were just comical. He tries, I guess. I know we still have 37 league games left, but we were so poor st the back and so tactically inept that I'm struggling not to panic.

He's just tweeted "Shud b fine only stiff back" That's a relief. Sounds like the only thing wrong with him is his spelling

Highland News reports it as a 2 year deal for Doran.

Heh, heh, some good banter on twitter this evening with Hayes (@jonnyhayes7) and Doran (@aardc91)... I tweet as @Nareystoepoker, and felt confident enough this evening to tweet "Keep an eye out for some great old-fashioned wingplay at Caley Thistle this season,with @jonnyhayes7 on one flank and @aardc91 on the other" A few minutes later, I get a wee reply from @jonnyhayes7 "@Nareystoepoker @aardc91 wont get a game :P" Made my evening, that did.

Awesome - had been keeping an eye on the twitter conversation Doran was having over last few days with Jonny Hayes, hinting they might be reunited this season. Think we'll be playing with two wingers then? Should mean plenty of supply for whoever plays at centre forward.

Not bad. Was 2-0 going on 10-0 really...as stated above the Clach keeper had a blinder, while Nick Ross hit the bar twice as well. I thought some of our guys were in much better shape than to be expected for the start of pre-season - no obvious spare tyres on show. I was trying to keep a close eye on the trialists, out of whom Gilbert impressed me the most in his 45 mins on the park - like Gillet he is stocky but pretty quick, and seemed comfortable on the ball. Shinnie the elder was a bit hit and miss, showing some nice touches but had some Duncan-esque passes as well. I think we can do better than him, personally. Was Meekings the no.12? If so he did all right when he came on. The main complaint from tonight is about Nick Ross's boots - an absolutely shocking pink-purple colour scheme

A mate of mine who is a Dunfermline fan texted me for my opinion on the move. Here was my reply... "Widely seen as our worst signing ever-Brewster gave him £1500 a week but he scored only 1 SPL goal in open play...and that was on his debut. Poor in the air, can only hold up the ball when played straight to feet. Lazy, doesn't press defenders or chase lost causes. Confidence is fragile. Good finisher if he gets the chance but heavily reliant on others to create it. To be honest I wouldn't p*ss on him if he was on fire" Too harsh? Or not harsh enough?

For god's sake, act with some dignity. Don't run 50 yards to the corner flag when your team scores. And don't kick a ton of water bottles flying when you don't get a penalty after one of your players blatantly dives (though seeing it at TCS a few weeks ago was the happiest moment of my season) And don't admit out loud that the pope isn't infallible.

He plays on the left, he plays on the riiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttttttttttt...

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.