Afro

I also reckon De Vita is done. Not exactly glowing reviews from Partick fans and seems to have made no impact at Falkirk - which doesn’t bode well for the Premiership.

Lawless leaving is a massive blow, and I’m maybe being slightly conservative by not quite buying into the Forrest hype. Would be quite content with a GK and a winger coming in, and another striker if the budget stretches that much. Wouldn’t be surprised if we’re dipping into the loan market for all three positions.

Schalke keeper looks like he’s won a competition to play. Howling.

That is fairly incredible stuff, and as you say, the shutdown is a bit of a pisser as all the momentum of the season is gone. In saying that, if we do, as expected, cash in on Dykes when football eventually comes back again, you'd have to imagine that would make a sizeable dent out of that £756k. Still a long way to go but give me a position like we are in now over the previous Monopoly money economics of old any day of the week.

4-3 Atalanta, four for Ilicic. Great game to watch. Good to see Spurs getting a shagging also.

Given our two games pre-split after this one are Aberdeen at the Macarena, who we have failed to beat since we came back up, and Kilmarnock away, which we will lose because it's away, this is absolutely must-win for us. I think six points will see us there, so beating you lot would be a mighty help. Thank you.

This is certainly a must-win for us if we are actually wanting to finish in the top six. Was impressed by Hearts against Hibs given how honking they have looked previously, but bearing in mind how rancid Hibs truly are I may take that performance with a pinch of salt. No doubt an away win with a Halkett goal, then.

Big win for St Johnstone today, and a horrendous result for Killie. Top six is getting tasty now. Big ask for us now but I would say two wins in our two forthcoming games at the Macarena should see us there. Hearts obviously resurgent (relatively speaking) and Aberdeen are the only side we haven’t beat at home since our return to the top flight. Hopefully meaning we’re heading to Kilmarnock in the last game of the split home and hosed...

Game was absolute murder. Both sides were absolutely murder. Only real bit of quality all game has won it for Saints. 3-5-1-1 is fine for us away to Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, etc. but away here we should be having a bit more of a go. Dykes was horrendously isolated and even when there was a hint we had a wee bit of momentum in the second half we created f**k all. Miserable stuff. Race for the top six is getting rather tasty now.

Feel like I say the same thing each week, but our complete inability to win away from home will strike here again I fear. Wasn't much between the teams back in January at the Macarena, and I think it'll be the same story here, with Saints coming out on top by a goal. IF (and that's a big IF) we could get a win here then I think, apart from the obvious boost to our top six chances, the mental boost for the players would be massive. Winning away against one of our rivals for the top six, on grass, off the back of a good home performance. Would be nice to go into the final quarter of the season in earnest with at least something behind us in that regard. Happy to stick with the same 3-5-1-1 formation we used midweek - only change for me would be McMillan in for Lawson, who was honking in that first half. Crawford and Bartley maybe in contention for a start to freshen it up, too.

I quite like Ward but he comes across as a bit of a fud here. Not a good look.

If he’s still with us after this coming summer we’ll be doing well. A few more performances like tonight’s hopefully in the top six after the split and there may be some daft offers coming in. Mental to think some fans thought he was a carthorse as recently as November/December. My only complaint is he fades badly in the last 20 minutes or so, but given all he puts in I’m not overly bothered.

An absolute gutter to lose a goal in injury team but it would’ve been travesty if we hadn’t taken anything from that. Well in about them first half and defended resolutely for about 40 minutes. The pressure Celtic put on us emphasises just how wide the gap is between them and rest of the league, a draw a fair result in the end. Guthrie and Dykes - fantastic. Ambrose looked the business in the first half until a daft booking and was a lot more subdued, but did fine. Thought Lawson was poor in the first half but picked up a bit in the second; be interesting to see if Devlin comes in for him before the end of the season. Jullien must fall asleep at night haunted by the image of Lyndon Dykes. Incredible how rattled he is by him.

Lamie is a fine squad player and truthfully I’d much rather he was retained than Lithgow, given he can cover centre half and left back. Would be quite disappointed to see him go as he’s perfectly adequate at this level for most games. No doubt that Brown, Guthrie and Ambrose are better players, though, and he’d be on a far better wage at Motherwell than anything we would ever offer. Main priority’s got to be retaining Lawless; losing him would be a monumental blow.

I suspect Cece Pepe will be away (actually forgot he existed). Would not be against Brown being signed at the end of the season as he has looked not bad since a pretty shaky debut, which would leave us with him, Ambrose, Guthrie, Lithgow and Lamie (latter covering both CB and LB in all likelihood). Certainly well stacked but another forward would’ve been good.

I admire your optimism. I’d personally go for 5 points - a win against Hearts and draws against St Johnstone and Aberdeen. Whether that would be enough for Top 6, I’m not so sure. I’d fancy Killie to pick up 10 points, looking at their remaining fixtures, meaning a GD swing of 10 would seal it for them. Doable, but if we can somehow bury our piss poor away form at least once we’ll be in with a great shout.

Assuming all pre-split fixtures must be fulfilled before the split, trying again for Sunday or Monday night doesn’t sound too outlandish. Particularly if they’re already struggling to pencil in a match against the Perth Saints, with a decent chance of progression in Europe. Livi to be awarded the three points due to the ****’ ineptitude IMO.

Really dug in that last half hour. That’s a great three points for us considering the run of games coming up. I think St Mirren will be fine. Had more about them than what I’ve seen of Hearts, County and Accies.

Sell Dykes for a million and Rankie is gone forever? Seems like a fair swap.

Caley got to grips with the weather marginally better than us, and took their chance when it came. A really stupid foul from Lawson in the first place who looked all over the shop all afternoon. It’s utterly perplexing how can go from dishing out doings at home to looking tripe away.

Gary Maley’s starting this, isn’t he?

I’ve got a really bad feeling about this game... Despite the away win at Hamilton going for three away wins in a season seems bonkers.

Three directors away at the AGM. Anyone know the background to that?

I'm certain I read that Dolly's played 7 minutes of football this season. He will be well off the pace, and I'd be surprised if he got a few minutes up at Caley at the very most over the next few games. Agree that he is a good option to have though, at the very least he's clearly a good figure in the dressing room and the inevitable banter arising from his stepovers-to-nowhere routine will be excellent.

A repeat of his debut away to Crusaders with a last minute winner would be magnificent, and totally in-keeping with how madcap this season has been so far. Hopefully a positive result in Dingwall on Wednesday to keep up momentum following today. Haven't been looking this forward to an away match since the play-offs.