bunglebonce

It is interesting to see that the first team have been away on warm weather training, after Derek Adams moaned in January that there was no room in the budget for it then.

Morris was our best centre-back since Andrew Davies, but he was terribly injury prone. Donaldson's form imploding in Morris's absence was one of the reasons why Kettlewell was sacked, IMO.

Q: Was Eli King's assist for Sims a deliberate piece of skill to evade his marker, or a fresh-air attempt at a flick followed by a chase? I instantly thought the latter, but now I'm not so sure.

Amazing result, the team feels like it is trending upwards. Even if they do finish 11th in the end, the side is in a lot less of a mess than it was this time last year. Credit to Cowie for stabilising things. Between the first half at Pittodrie and today, I think Cowie has a blueprint for our best forward combination (Murray, supported by Dhanda and Sims). One size doesn’t fit all, of course, but the team looks better going forward with them than in any other recent combo. Harmon has a knack of turning up in random positions to get a goal, today’s reminded me of that win at Hibs a couple of Novembers ago. His distribution is sometimes erratic but in a back five his goals are crucial.

Well short of the standard needed to get a win. Not that I expected any better, with a 5-2-3 shape including wing-backs who aren't good enough, two central midfielders who can't pass the ball into a team-mate's stride and three central strikers who crave but won't supply the service. Playing three strikers together can only work in exceptional match circumstances, I can't believe we are still trying this. Playing White deeper of the three - or anywhere - is a nonsense, his touch is terrible and there is no-one in that team capable of putting a cross on his head, which is what he needs. Wickens has cost a couple of away defeats now. He'll have a better career than Laidlaw, but over the course of the season will he be better for the team? Not quantifiably so, IMO, while he leaves in the summer and Laidlaw is still here for another couple of seasons. When the goal went in that was game over, a very comfortable afternoon for their four centre-backs. I thought Cowie was starting to get the balance of the team right in the first half against Aberdeen (despite my reservations about the wing-backs being worse than what else in the squad), but that looks like a flash in the pan.

I see Tillson moving down a level hasn't improved his radar much. He's the type of player other team-mates seem to like, because he does the hard running, will fill in where there is a gap in the shape and will go into a tackle. Most of what he is good at isn't quantifiable and he offers very little that is.

It’s a Bendy Burger now

Me. They’re not very good.

@Matty-RCFC is spot on with all of that. Maybe a bit generous to Sheaf. If Loturi could switch the play quickly he would begin to look very good, but I’ve been waiting for that for 18 months. If Efete isn’t cut out for it, then neither is Reid, sadly. There aren’t (m)any better options available but I thought Harmon would be back in the fold after Purrington was sold. What does preparing for the playoffs look like, to a team that can barely put a cohesive side together? Continuing to put the minutes into Brophy and hope he doesn’t break down, perhaps. 5-3-2 in the playoffs with no quality at wing back nearly backfired last season and I think it would now. Dhanda is due back soon, I would like to see a shift toward a 4-2-3-1 / 4-4-2 shape, with Dhanda on one side and Henderson and Sims job-sharing the other. There needs to be more players in the team capable of making a chance. You can’t play White up front without at least two players running off him (I wouldn’t start him at all but promised that I said my said my piece about that many moons ago). Whichever Championship team is in the playoff final will have been used to scoring a lot more goals than County have. Setting up for attrition when the team has a game-changing mistake every match will be a recipe for relegation. It’s astonishing that the previous combination of managers have left us with three centre-forwards, two wingers who have produced nothing this season, and nothing else for the final third of the pitch.

A good, positive pass and a sprint into space by Khela. A glimmer of hope? Where has he been though.

Disappointing, but not shocking. County can neither attack nor counter-attack and have few options to change it up, so that's game over.

Could they take something at home to Hibs? I wouldn’t expect points from any of the other fixtures.

You could see from the Highlights how effective White was by dropping short to play the simple football. I’m probably White’s biggest critic but he has been at his best when he does that (and is given a minute to reach the box again!). He has other matches where he can’t make a 10 yard pass stick, but he does seem to click well with Brophy for whatever reason.

I couldn't go on Sat. Was the starting shape really a 3-4-3 with Jenks as a right-wing back (like the Sportscene highlights and Whoscored suggest)? The team sheet to me suggested a narrow 4-3-3. I did wonder if White starting with the other two was for a need to get more height into the team vs Livi. Fitting all three strikers on the pitch has to result in compromise elsewhere. [Going by the highlights at least], the three of them interlinked better than much of the team has through the season so far, so it must be be worth another shot with another home match tomorrow. I think an opposing manager will quickly suss out to double-up on the flanks to turn County's defence, but given how few good options there are to make and score goals in the side, I can see why Cowie might want to continue giving it a crack.

Mind the time Vigurs and DKD ripped it up against Morton. DKD's assist for the Mckay opener was as good as the finish.