PerfICT

You can only beat what is put in front of you......and we did! Heard CBBC (Central Belt Broadcasting Corporation) waxing lyrical about Hamilton today (small club, no budget, playing good football, punching above weight etc). Maybe fair, but sounded like a description of a more northerly, table-topping team to me!

Gutted I missed this, but good reason: supporting an ICT youth team. Fantastic result and performance by all. Well done John Hughes - mmmmmmmmm, this humble pie is gooooood! League table is just the way it should be

Williams deserves a start, so does Christie. If Vincent was 100% I'd prefer him to Christie to start in centre mid because he might give more solidity for this game, but I don't think he's been properly fit for ages. Celtic will rest a few (hopefully Commons); I think Griffiths will start, so hardly a soft touch! Strong defence again tomorrow and we're in with a shout. Any points against Celtic a bonus...

Team thoughts? Ironically, given the stick I've given him this year, I would consider Vincent instead of Christie in centre of midfield for this, with Ryan coming on for impact. However, assuming Vincent is not 100%, exactly the same format as last week for me. Doran, Ross and Polworth up the sleeve, depending on score at 60 min.

Two lessons from the Celtic v DUFC match: defend set-pieces well and don't get caught in possession the last third : that accounted for 5/6 of the 'tic goals! We're giving away surpirisingly few free kicks just now and I'd like to think we'd defend set-pieces well.....the second one is my worry! We've got them at a good time, so let's get about 'em!

Do you get anything for getting it out of the centre circle? Can barely hit a golf ball 70 yards, never mind kick a football. Registering for this now seems rash - public humiliation ahoy!

Ah yes - my mistake!

....precisely.....and we don't want that! DA is a legend!

....some of them even want Butcher!

Well done to JH. Sounds like Watkins made the difference, which is what many were suggesting. Play guys in their correct position and it pays dividends. Williams and Watkins is the way forward for wide players, with Doran to come on - excellent! A word today for the defence: what a unit we have there.....

MAGNIFICENT! LOVING THAT TABLE!! WELL DONE LADS

An excellent watch. Interesting to not how many of these goals came from a winger in behind with a first time pass - we didn't manage one of those last night!

Quite like ICTRoughi's alternative, otherwise last nights starting line up with Watkins in for Vincent. Not sure I wanted to see Ojaama back for Motherwell...

As I said on another thread: pretty + ineffective = pretty ineffective. I admired our ability to play our way out of tight spots in midfield and keep tidy possession, but I just don't see what Billy's role is! By the time we get to the penalty area, he's marked out of the game. Watkins must start ahead of Vincent. Anyone spot the irony that our best chance came from a break out of defence by Watkins at pace. Shame he wasted it! I think we'll need to get used to these kind of performances and scorelines. Doesn't really get the pulse racing.

Renegade's team for me: Watkins has much more to offer than Vincent at the moment and Williams deserves to keep his place on the left. doran off the bench if we need a spark, Vincent if we need to shut up shop.

You could argue that Billy is invaluable to us, given that without him, we'll drop a few places in the league which could arguably put us in the mix for relegation - the cost of the unthinkable would far outweigh any offer for him! however, I reckon £400k would be enough to convince the board and we need to be prepared for losing him. The issue really is that we'd be scrabbling around for scraps to replace him now and we'd not get quality. I really hope he doesn't go, but the Bundesliga might be too tempting for him and I wouldn't blame him for taking the chance, if offered.

Storm in a teacup. Let our stats do the talking. I don't give a t0ss what journos say: they don't give us a chance in any season. Much better being the underdogs!

Most pleasing: 13 chances for us away from home- 8 on target! Sounds like the subs also made an impact when they came on! 2nd season in a row that we've topped the table on day 1....

Excellent - well done lads! Tricky opening, comfortably negotiated. I will say this - if the Hughes style works out, it'll be the tastiest humble pie I've ever eaten!

Unbelievable ruling, given a precedent when a club was only fined £15k for the same error made "in god faith". I'm not sure we've heard the end of it. Still, it would be good for Scottish football to have a rep in the chamions league - kudos, cash and a distraction for Celtic to boot! shame the other 2 didn't make it, but I bet there's a few Aberdonians looking up the rule books.

In this BBC article, JH gives his view on the McKay situation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28692889 Interesting to see where he's setting his sights for this season "staying up...anything else is a bonus". Maybe a sensible statement in the public domain, but I hope he's more positive than that in the dressing room!

There is almost another month of the transfer window left , deals are done up until the last minute on the 31st so I don't see how this is to late What I meant was, it is too late for us to find a decent replacement, not that there isn't time for the deal to be done. We don't want to be scrabbling around for the scraps that are left by everybody else to fill a crucial position....especially if we were to get <£100k for him, for example!

Acceptable? 6th. Realistic? 8th/9th. I don't think there will be very much between 4th and 12th - hopefully, Kilmarnock (without boyd), St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Dundee, Ross County, Hamilton and St Johnstone (without May) will not be up to much and we'll get away with a low scoring system....particularly if we lose Billy McK!

Sounds like an offer has been made by Fleetwood, so this is a reality. This is too late in the window to be taken seriously and I wonder whether Billy would see a move there as a step up? I thought they were a pretty poor team a couple of weeks ago - athletic and powerful, but poor. from our perspective, I don't think Billy suits our new style, so he'll not be scoring 25+ goals this sseason BUT this is so late in the window, we'll not get a decent replacement (loanee or purchase), which means we'll be going with an untried (but promising under 20). For that reason alone - don't sell!

Unfortunately, the window for getting serious money for Billy has gone: he's stopped scoring for several reasons and he's in the last year of his contract. This is, however, the worst time to lose somebody of his calibre - no time to replace with quality. So, we need to hold out for big bucks. Better to lose him for free next year and be able to plan than go a full season with no striker!