Coventry Saint

If St Johnstone go three at the back, I absolutely demand that we don't attempt to match them, for three key reasons: 1) 3-5-2 is honking (for us) 2) We tried it at their place and put in our worst league performance of the season 3) The best way to nullify a 3-5-2 is to give the wingbacks so much to worry about that they can't get forward. We have been on the receiving end more times than I care to admit. Therefore the idea of unleashing Dylan Connolly and Ilkay Durmas against wing backs is giving me the sort of awkward semi that St Johnstone will be facing in January.

Nice piece. I liked this paragraph, with Wednesday night's win in mind. McGrath will be absolutely buzzing:

Guys, you've had basically one bad performance and it coincided with us being on a bit of a streak and actually playing well against you for once. Absolutely zero chance you're not winning this league.

Guys, I think it's reasonable to post this here: Morton are our rivals but I don't like seeing any club* in significant bother. This link is to a petition that's aiming to prevent Morton's current owners from retaining control of Cappielow when they sell up (simplified version). I spotted it when I saw it doing the rounds on Twitter and @GiGi - a sensible guy - assures me the petition is legit. I'm going to sign it. No Morton fan has asked me to share this. https://www.change.org/p/greenock-morton-keep-cappielow-park-in-the-hands-of-greenock-morton It's Christmas and they're our neighbours: maybe consider giving it a click and an e-signature yourselves. Edit: having signed it, there is an option to withhold your name/details if required. * Obvious exceptions apply.

What's the story with this petition I've seen floating about? Is it legit or is it tinpot? I'd happily sign and share it if it's important/is going to make a difference. https://www.change.org/p/greenock-morton-keep-cappielow-park-in-the-hands-of-greenock-morton

Yup. As people have said, its wide open and whoever gets there will definitely have deserved it. Obviously I feel that in putting out Dons and Rangers, we've had by some distance the toughest run of any of the semi-finalists, but that means nothing now. I'm just quite excited, and also absolutely gutted nobody will be there.

I dunno, after the events of the past year or so, there's a definite appeal about a St Mirren - Hibs final, too; not least because of the Ross factor, the links with Ross and Goodwin that go back to Alloa, the fact their squad is basically a St Mirren Old Boys Club... it'd be a great occasion if fans were allowed in. That's not me counting my chickens, btw - you're clearly on a better trajectory now Holt's gone.

The Hearts boys on Twitter have had us going bust since March. They've been pretty quiet.

We are all that puff of water that explodes off the roof of the net.

How's this for a character arc: Ethan was chucked in for his top flight debut just over two years ago, at left-back, against Rangers as a 17-year old. He got booked, but performed admirably in the circumstances as we lost 2-0. A shade over two year down the line, he's still a teenager, and look what he's doing.

I have that thing where I need to get tonnes of work done today but just want to read reactions to the game, so I'll post this then try to concentrate for a bit. As @djchapsticks said, it was the reaction to the equaliser that was the craziest, most unexpected thing. We've all seen it before - the late concession, the drop of the heads - and when they equalised, I very nearly didn't watch the end of the game. Thanks goodness I did. So many other aspects to pick out: JDH and Erhahon don't just anchor midfield; they offer so much in terms of passing as well. That's been the real revelation of the past month or so; rather than two sitting midfielders (Foley and Sheron), we've got two actual ballers there. But they're also happy to get their hands dirty; both were sat on yellows last night and did incredibly to keep their discipline. JDH's touch to bring the ball down in the build-up to the winner was sublime. Ethan has the skills and the physique to go very, very far in football. Connolly obviously isn't a perfect player - he wouldn't be playing for us if he were - but oh holy crap that pace must be utterly terrifying. Even toward the end of the game he was stretching them; causing them issues, chasing apparent lost causes. Now that he's on form and fit, he creates so much space for... ...Jamie. Fucking. McGrath. I was calling him a player right from the off, but lost my patience a couple months ago and thought he didn't bring enough to the table. Didn't help that his position was being chopped and changed, and we clearly weren't settled. But now we are settled... fucking hell. Happy to withdraw my scepticism. The calmness he showed for his second goal is about the least St Mirreny thing I've seen for a long time. He's magic on the ball and now he's got space and runners about him, and he's finding the goal with unnerving regularity. The only concern is now the attention he'll be getting. I'm delighted there's now less pressure on Tait to be our main attacking outlet. I know big Jonathan Obika didn't score, but he had a decent game last night and is by some distance our best striker. I hope he can knock a couple in soon to boost his personal confidence a bit. The difference in our mentality now is like night and day vs the early part of the season. We're no longer going out looking like we're trying to avoid a doing. That's about it for now, except to say the Rangers fans have been pretty magnanimous in defeat on here. I know there are a few melters on this site from various clubs, but it's generally a pretty classy place to discuss football.

That extended look between McCarthy and Erhahon is everything this morning:

Cheering is definitely a bit much, but I guess we were the best draw for them, just as they were for us. I read some of his comments and they're quite balanced.

On the contrary...

I'm always suspicious of people who have the presence of mind to film themselves while celebrating any goal, let alone a stoppage time winner against one of the OF. I'm usually incapable of rational thought in those moments.

I had that awesome thing where you wake up having forgotten what happened. It's lush when it comes flooding back.

Good morning, Buds!

We've got to get past Livi first.

Shite time for any of these teams to be getting to a final with no fans. Still, I'd obviously happily take it.

Actual lump in my throat here. What a club we are. We've taken a few knocks this season but this is just wonderful. Might have to go and find some Dundalk boys on Twitter now: they were absolutely right about Jamie McGrath. The absolute fucking dreamboat. Will post proper thoughts tomorrow. Fucking hell, though.

True. He’d be way less likely to favour Rangers, tbf. Ball clearly out of play, btw.

Connolly is fucking beautiful. McGrath is fucking beautiful. Rangers will pin us right back now but holy f**k we’re actually giving them a game.

To be fair, I can't see how you'd squeeze McGrath and Connolly into a 5-3-2.

I'm hoping we can sneak a point, tbh.

Nah. Mason will be playing in front of Tait instead of Durmus. More of a defensive option to nullify Cafu. Fair enough.