hislopsoffsideagain

Look, it's quite simple. Anything that is published on this board that is potentially defamatory could result in legal action against those who run the site. Potentially, if this all turns out to be rubbish, they would be breaking the law by allowing it to be displayed. I don't understand why some people posting here feel justified at putting the moderators at risk just so they can gossip about somebody's private affairs. Grow up, for goodness sake. Or join P&B...

After a rather shaky start, we came on to a good game and thoroughly deserved the result in the end, helped by the way the Killie players rather lost their heads. I really feared for us in the first 15 mins, when Taouil and Fernandez roamed wild all over the pitch, and a real rush of blood from Ike left us a goal down. He made his mind up really early to come for a high ball from the halfway line, only to run into shedloads of traffic and looked like a complete pillock when the ball went past him and was tapped in by Sammon. Our equalizer was fairly against the run of play, but changed the game completely. A half-cleared set play fell to McGuire on the edge of the box, and I swear he sliced his volley, but it floated past Combe into the top corner. I think the keeper misjudged it, thinking it was heading over the bar. Then came the penalty, and the fallout from it, with umpteen Killie players losing it completely, not least Combe who might have seen more than a yellow card for his protests. Was it a spot kick? Barrowman showed glorious footwork in the box, but seemed to have run it out of play when he fell over. That said, I was miles away and hardly had a good view. No doubt about the way he took the pen though, whamming it into the top corner. From his rather exuberant celebrations, I'd say he enjoyed it! Killie were broken after that, and never offered much in the second half. Fowler got his second yellow for a stupid handball at the halfway line, and Black's looping header from a good 15 yards out made it three. The defender on the line made a pig's ear of dealing with it, mind. Cowie came off the bench and should have knocked in a late fourth, but shot straight at the keeper after a great move. Good performance, stand outs today were Blackie, who played further up the pitch than recently and made a real impact, Barrowman who looked as sharp as he did against Aberdeen and put in a power of work, and most of all Dougie Imrie who ran all day long and caused Killie's defenders kittens. In fact, I can't even think of a reason to criticize McGuire today. I must be dreaming...

Fair enough, to be honest I don't know anyone who wasn't shouting at McGuire... I love the idea that people think I'm posh though! There's not exactly a prawn sandwich brigade...

<sigh> was Roscoe23 shouting abuse at the players for the whole game again? He did it sitting behind me for the whole of last season. I swear I can remember him constantly shouting insults out when we were three up against Kilmarnock last season...or is that just a nightmare I had?

Just back from an utterly disheartening experience. I challenge anybody to find something positive from that performance. In the first half we were the better of two pretty awful teams, and when St. Mirren got their act together in the second half we were exposed for what we were - disorganized, leaderless and inept. The irony is that we still had chances - Rooney denied by the bar, some great stops by their keeper - and I think that shows that losing a game like that to a team like that is a disaster. Let's go through it, player by player: Fraser - Awful distribution, poor decision making, should have come out quicker for the first goal. The defence have no confidence in him at all right now. Tokely - Atrocious passing, not a single half decent cross all day, and made to look like a mug in the build up for the second goal. Duff - No disasters, but never looked comfortable against the physical St. Mirren forwards. Panicky clearances were the order of the day. McGuire - What does he have to do to get dropped? Played for an idiot by Hamilton time and again, always second to the high ball and constantly beaten by the flick on or gave away stupid free kicks. His failure in the air was key to the first goal. Hastings - Not the worst game ever, but lets too many crosses get in. Distribution the same as usual. Cowie - Never got in the game, but puts in so much running that you get the feeling that it's the team's fault rather than his. McBain - The invisible man. Didn't protect the defence well, didn't get forward at all. Mind you, we looked even more vulnerable after he was subbed. Black - Well below his best, but still the class act for us. Covered every blade of grass and kept trying to keep the ball on the deck, but too often let down by those around him. Vigurs - A few good touches, but didn't protect his full back well and never offered much of a threat. Rooney - Well taken penalty, denied a second by the bar, looked sharp and reasonably threatening. The decision to take him off was a bit of a puzzle. Wood - worked hard without much to show for it, denied by a great save second half. Looked like he could be a player for us, but too often made the wrong decision when he had the ball. Should have been hooked instead of Rooney. Subs: Barrowman looked a bit dangerous, but neither Imrie or Wilson got into it. A pretty poor performance against a pretty poor team. If we can find a way to drop Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, McBain, Wood and possibly Vigurs next week, I really really would. Certainly the former three have not impressed anyone this season. Not good, Brew. Not good at all.

Importantly, that's seven points between us and bottom now. A few more decent results and all the focus can go on top six instead of survival. Praise to Brew today for what sounds like some very good management. It would be nice if I was writing those words after our next home game as well though!

Brewster in quality substitution shocker!!! If we nick this, it's a hell of a result.

Utterly, utterly pathetic from start to finish. Not a single person out there, management or players, who should go home tonight feeling anything other than ashamed. All the optimism from last season has evaporated, and we once more look good candidates for the drop. We may look back on this as the beginning of the end of Brew. His hoof-ball tactics (high balls at Imrie?! What were they thinking?) were bizarre to say the least, but sitting behind him in the dugout it was noticable that whenever he tried to change things, the players on the pitch appeared to be making an effort to ignore him. And to cap it all Cowie threw a massive strop when he was subbed. Quite frankly, it looks pretty desperate for the gaffer if the players aren't paying him any attention. Anyway, we couldn't keep the ball for love or money, and we couldn't get it back once we lost it. The boy Duff looked comfortable right up till his massive howler for their goal. The miracle is that McGuire didn't cost us anything with his accident-prone defending. Meanwhile our full backs kept punting it, and Barrowman went into a sulk in the second half because he would have got better service at a Zimbabwean bank than what he was given today. Imrie looked put-off by the slagging the away fans gave him, while Black and Duncan (the latter got hooked at half-time despite making ten times the impact Roy did) watched high balls sail over their head. The depressing thing is that Hamilton weren't actually particularly good, nor did they need to be. But if Brew's after-match comments don't include a slagging of the players and an apology to those of us who were dumb enough to turn up, then he's even less of a man than he is a football manager.

That was fun! We did enough to deserve that result; periods of the second half were spent with our back four forming a perimeter around our box, but Aberdeen didn't create very many chances. I can't speak highly enough of Grant Munro today, he was absolutely magnificent and could be seen cajoling and urging his teammates as a captain should. It wasn't always sophisticated, but it was fantastic. Further up the pitch, the boy Barrowman showed his predator instinct to tap in Rossco's superb cross, and then worked like a dog as a lone striker. Imrie should have had a goal but worked tirelessly, and he uses the ball really well, putting the likes of Smith and De Visscher in the shade. In the first half, he combined really well with Rossco who put in a series of great crosses before the opening goal. Duncan also had a great game, getting in about them with Black and winning an awful lot of tackles. I was going to slag off Roy for having one of his quiet days but then he did what he does best - running full pelt when everyone else is knackered - and a goal with his right foot is a collector's item. The away end made a racket today, and the place went flipping mental when the second one went in. Anyway, it wasn't the perfect performance by any means, but I've no complaints with Brew today after that. Great stuff!

Certainly Grassa and the board couldn't organize a p**s-up in a brewery. All the good work done when Marius bigged us up throughout the Euros is rapidly going down the pan. The only way this could get more embarrassing is if a member of the board got photographed by the News Of The World having an illicit encounter with Margaret Thatcher.

There was a sad inevitability about this. I'm gutted that he's gone but it was always going to be the case that we cashed in on him if he did a good job. The question now is what we do with the cash? If we don't sign at least three decent players, for cash, by the end of August, Brew and Grassa have some talking to do... Farewell Marius, perhaps not the greatest player we've ever had, but certainly the one with the best first touch, and (if only for jumping into the Bridge End vs Killie) surely a bit of an ICT legend.

Certainly, in the case that Ike got injured or sent off in a match, I'd rather turn to the bench and see Esson getting his gloves on, rather than Zibi or (at least for a few years yet) McNulty. Not a bad move at all, I reckon.

Jeez, does nobody just watch football for the entertainment, win or lose? Of course I'm gutted when Caley lose, but all I want is some enjoyment. As far as I was concerned, the 3-4 game with Aberdeen was the best I saw last season. Now if people aren't renewing their season tickets because the footie has been dull, or because it's too expensive, then fine. I find it somewhat difficult to empathise with those who have other issues. And if last season was a disaster for us, then what does that say about the likes of Hearts and Kilmarnock, or lower down Dundee, St. Johnstone and Dunfermline? Some perspective, please.

I've sent a match report on the Locos game to CaleyD. If nothing else, the players all look in much better shape than they did last pre-season. Outstanding performances from Tokely, Duncan, McBain and in particular Vigurs, whose lob with the outside of his left boot was freaking genius. He was outstanding. Andy McNulty demonstrated that his ball skills are about as good as we've come to expect from our keepers...

Spain 0 Germany 1 Bonus 1: 0-0 Bonus 2: Germany Bonus 3: Germany Bonus 4: 48900 Cheers, Andrew, I've had a good laugh with this as well.

Germany 1 Turkey 0 Russia 0 Spain 1 Bonus 1: Germany Bonus 2: 71 minutes

Netherlands 3 Russia 1 Spain 2 Italy 1 No goals

According to Euro 2008.com - MARIUS STARTS!

Portugal 2 Germany 1 Croatia 2 Turkey 0 Bonus: yes

France 2 Italy 1 Netherlands 0 Romania 1 Greece 0 Spain 1 Russia 1 Sweden 1 Bonus: none

Switzerland 1 Portugal 1 Turkey 2 Czech Republic 1 Austria 1 Germany 3 Poland 1 Croatia 1 Bonus: six yellows

Italy 1 Romania 0 Netherlands 2 France 2 Sweden 1 Spain 2 Greece 1 Russia 1 Bonus: Netherlands

Czech Republic 0 Portugal 1 Switzerland 0 Turkey 0 Croatia 1 Germany 2 Austria 1 Poland 1 Croatia v Germany

According to the Herald, UEFA are paying clubs 3 grand a day for use of their players. http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/football/...ish_success.php This must be a nice little earner for us! It'll certainly budget for a decent chunk of his salary.

Romania 0 France 0 Netherlands 0 Italy 1 Spain 2 Russia 0 Greece 0 Sweden 0 Bonus: no