Lichtielegend

Good first half, vastly better than the 2nd half at EEP. Bird did more against Chris Hamilton in the first 5 mins than he did through there in the whole match. When Hamilton went off hurt (harsh booking, imo) Bird had Otoo tied in knots all game. Things waned in the 2nd half, Dunfermline missed some great chances and Bird came close a couple of times before the moment of madness. We actually managed ok with 10 but then gave away such a cheap goal and ended up being grateful for a point. 2 points dropped and a first big test of man management for McIntyre. One big plus was the performance of Jess Norey. We've never really replaced Chris Hamilton but he was very good yesterday. Won a few tackles/interceptions, covered a lot of ground and moved the ball well.

I thought Raeside did leave under a bit of a cloud? From what I remember, he took a couple of games as caretaker after John McGlashan left and when he didn't get given it, threw the toys out of the pram. Never played for us again.

I'm not sure Petrie would be that tempted. He's got a good thing going at Montrose and might consider it a risk not worth taking. While I think with one or two signings we can do enough to stay up, there is clearly signs that the squad needs a bit of a rebuild over the next two years. Our back line is showing a few creaks, especially as we're struggling to get a consistent back 4 on the pitch. We've never replaced Chris Hamilton in midfield or Nicky Low for that matter. Upfront, we're just unable to keep the ball up the pitch and because we're playing it long all the time, our midfield are spending so much time just doing shuttle runs up and down the park.

Having seen the start United have made in the league, it really does make you wonder why they were too scared to play us on a Saturday afternoon.

That was a Peter Grant-esque performance from Airdrie. Overplaying in their own half then doing nothing in the final third. A game I was quite worried about but ended up being very comfortable. Hylton and Slater superb as was the back 4 (particularly given that over half the game, 3 of them were playing outwith their optimal position) Amazing how quickly things change. I was really worried about us after the game at Lesser 5 weeks ago but things are starting to click into place. By the way, I don't really have a complaint about Ricky Little's red card. Both were bookable offences, IMO. At the same time, I wouldn't blame Ricky either, as he found himself exposed by team-mates being out of position. I thought the Airdrie red was harsher tbh.

The way I see it for the challenge cup is that we use it to get minutes into the fringe players and if we happen to get to the semi's then we focus on it.

Big time.

Nice to see the smallest League club in Angus get the glory of almost qualifying. I fondly remember the days when our derby was against, Montrose, Forfar and Brechin. It's a bit of a shame that we've outgrown Angus and have to go to Dundee to get a derby now.

As said before, the non-league/juniors system is a different ball game compared to 20 years ago, let alone 40-50. Back then, players would often start at the bottom and climb up but now the bigger clubs hoard so much of the young talent that it tends to trickle down now.

I'm sorry, the what? He finished 4th top scorer in League Two ffs and he's older than 2 of the top 3.

He scored 8 goals in the Championship last year. That's a respectable total for a struggling side. From memory, he's also got a bit more physical presence. I don't think Hester would be as effective as a lone striker. Isn't he still due a ban for the betting, too? I would add that, if we were in League One, my choice might be different.

If I was offered a choice of McIntosh or Hester, I'd probably pick McIntosh. McIntosh + £20k or Hester? No brainer.

I'm not sure you can accurately judge a strikeforce for the 2nd tier when neither player has ever played at that level.

I don't think Hester was the right signing for us, regardless. We need a player who can play lead the line and hold the ball up. Obviously it's years since I've seen Hester play but there was no indication it was a role he could fulfil in his previous spell. If Thistle were to win the playoffs, I wonder if Dowds would be available? I'm not sure he'd get much game time for them in the Premiership.

The only time I've really seen Slater play was that cup game at the tail end of 2021. There was a few players that stood out for Forfar, Slater was the only one that stood out for a positive reason. (Anyone else remember the left back for them that day? )

I think the timing is right, to be honest. I'm glad he got the chance to perform against Hamilton rather than have a couple of iffy displays against Cove and Partick to leave us on. He leaves with great memories, the free kick to complete his hat-trick at Station Park is one of my all-time favourites.

There's a difference between setting an objective and deciding what would make next season a success. Setting an objective of finishing 8th is not saying that we've had a successful season. While part-time status offers the opportunity to sign players that others in the league will not, being the only part-time team in the league isn't simply a blank canvas to become a 'part-time XI' and just pluck the best players from the other teams. Season 21-22 really spoiled us as a fan base and there's a growing sense that we have an almost divine right to be in the championship, as typified by the season just past with a growing vocal opposition to Dick Campbell. Fact is, even established full-time sides can fall down and in our time since coming up we've seen Partick, Dunfermline, Queen of the South and potentially Hamilton go down.

I have a sneaking suspicion we won't be joined by Falkirk next season.

Sorry, putting Jacobs in the same bracket as Corfe is mental.

A fair bit of surgery required to the squad for next season. Besides Gaston, McKenna and our back 4, we have a team of squad players. Guys that are just about good enough to play in a championship side but maybe not good enough to build a championship side from. However, we look a much more solid side with Hetherington in central midfield.

Amazed at people wanting Bobby to start after his last couple of appearances. Watching him at Firhill was quite tough. He looks finished.

If this gets the go ahead, we're as well just restructuring to a 52 team League setup with Celtic and Rangers A-Z teams.

This is what Barry Sellars was brought in for. I think actually viewing players rather than a selectively edited youtube video from the Uzbeki league might reap better rewards.

There's no denying it allows us to access players we couldn't have previously but so far, the experiment has been a net negative, IMO. The way I see it, would we have been worse off (either on or off the pitch) if we used these resources to recruit other part-timers from the SPFL?

Has any club successfully implemented a hybrid setup long term? Football has changed a lot in the 30 odd years I have been going to games as have the advances in sport science. Back then, full-time teams main advantage was that they had superior stamina which makes sense as they could do more training and had better recovery options. There have been various advances in science and nutrition that have drastically reduced this gap. Even non-league clubs will have things like ice baths, GPS vests and all kinds of physical and analytical tools to improve performance. However before every club had access to this stuff, there was probably benefit in having a hybrid setup, no issue in having a core of players who have the stamina to go toe-to-toe for 90 mins. Now, it seems to me that, particularly the successful, full-time teams now benefit (due to the reduced need for fitness and conditioning work to be so time consuming) from more tactical work, particularly with the ball. In some cases it's almost become like basketball in that the players have a number of set ways of progressing the ball up the pitch from the back and if the space doesn't open up, they just play the ball back and start again. It's more noticeable with the better teams. To do this requires the whole team on the training ground spending time practicing these (what are effectively set plays) over and over again. Having a hybrid system basically makes this impossible as the players don't get enough time together to work on this until it becomes instinctive.