Durnford

I have to agree. Just been out; a lovely sunny day but the pavements are still covered with frost and ice. Even with the covers I suspect this wont be enough.

Sportscene weren't exactly complimentary about Fitzwater and I don't think they were that wide of the mark. Once all the transfer rumours started his performance seemed to drift. His positioning particularly for Hibs second was appalling.

Quite an interesting line up. No Pittman but I see what you're aiming at. Starting with Montano instead of Penrice is a bit of a gamble with such a rookie defence.

Personally I didn't particularly notice Hibs "playing within themselves" for the last 15 minutes. Granted they'd brought on Egan-Riley for Miller but they had also just brought on Kevin Nisbet and were up against 9 men for the last 10 minutes. I thought De Lucas did a very competent job shoring up the frailties of Devlin's persistent absenteeism. Trying to start the game with an injured central defender sounds like another disaster waiting to happen. Christ; we'd be better playing Tom Parkes; leastways we'd have the benefit of giving another player a run out (even if he's on crutches). If Martindale really doesn't have faith in De Lucas then he needs to come up with a plan B pretty urgently even if it means using Penrice in that role. However, going by recent form, he'll probably opt for Shinnie playing as a stand in full-back.

His speed and reactions seemed to be far worse this season than last. he pushes up but cant gt back in time. with Montano pushing up on the right back; both of the full backs were getting pulled out on to the wing leaving a load of space in the middle. Might have had a chance of getting away with it but Sean Kelly was missing (injured?).

Possibly Alan Forrest? Think we knew he was leaving but still got a place in the team? EDIT - just check; for his last few months it looks like, when he wasn't injured, he made more appearances off the bench than starts.

Don't know what to make of this: Livingston F.C. v Hibernian F.C. cinch Premiership 04/03/2023 3:00pm Tony Macaroni Arena Referee: Chris Graham AR1 David Roome AR2 Steven Traynor Fourth Official Alan Newlands VAR Grant Irvine AVAR John McCrossan

I don't think its the snow that's the problem; its the bl00dy frozen corner of the stadium which has been responsible for more games called off than Fat Boab has had pies.

Unfortunately with almost sixty years of observing these so called teams they seem to fall into two groups; one being a group of mates possibly from the same school or club who are used to hanging around together and have collective support. After a while these groups dissipate as some leave for further education; custodial sentence; or simply start to get interested in girls etc. What is left is a handful of misfits that don't easily fit into any other groups. When I worked in London I saw this in action with Millwall and the difference between "F Troop" and "Treatment". F-Troop were the real kids but ther were loads of them and they went round in gangs. Treatment were the real mutants; odious individuals; th lowest of the human race. I remember some of the utter stupidity of the 70's. Having attended Billy Bonds testimonial "friendly" game of West Ham v Spurs; walking down the main street followed by about thirty thousand West Ham supporters walking down the middle of the Road; shouting and thumping on the top of cars; when we were passed by not much more than a dozen spurs skinheads. With shouts of "There they arrrrr" sprinted right past us in the direction of the West Ham mob. Its difficult to understand the mentality of these boys; "hard" perhaps but almost certainly ending up in hospital. I can't help wondering what the teeny hardmen on Saturday would have done in such a situation? The first group are going o happen from time to time but can be quickly stamped out; the second group are not so easy to control.

All those player are 30 or older this year with the exception of Omeonga. Cant see us holding on to Shinnie; I like Holt and think he still has a lot to offer but he seems to have propped out of favour recently. Omeonga will probably be out of our price range. Nicky Devlin appears to have been losing pace against attacking wingers recently (unless he's carrying an injury). He can still do a job for us but then again isn't irreplaceable.

Stewards have the same rights as the rest of us in as much as they can stop a crime from being committed but force must be minimal and justifiable. However two stewards against 20 neds; I know who my money would be on. Best case scenario is they'd run away and cause trouble elsewhere. When I worked in Aberdeen in the nineties; the only real trouble that ever occurred after a game was on King Street I think; at that was only for certain games.

Is that Buckfast? Ooooh dead quality maan. That's Plenty.

Dont understand those substitutions at all - take an attacking winger off for a central defender? Holt for Kelly was more like for like

Think I've found where you're going wrong. Surely you should be shooting on sight rather than shooting on site?

Think I was thinking of the following which seems to be only relevant for those clubs with really large squads:

I may be wrong but wasn't there some rule about players having to have played for a club for a certain number of months before being eligible for European games? Also those qualifying for Europe didn't have the play in the league cup group stage. Actually the league cup group stage has served us well in previous years in working out what works and what doesn't. Our pre season friendly have not been exactly challenging (even though we managed to lose the Morton at home).

Reserves? Noticed Nicky Devlin has been losing some of his sharpness; but not all the time great going forward but struggles getting back IMO

I assume Parkes is out of contract this summer? Is Jamie Brandon under contract for another year? Then again he's right sided I believe (not that I've ever seen him play).

The main likelihood of this being true would be if De Lucas had proved disappointing in training. TBH wouldn't be the first one who'd impressed in a trial but that had turned out to be the high point.

Thing is Calum Carson said "One from my colleagues at the Record " followed by a thumbs down?

Well firstly as a replacement for Fitzwater; surely that's what De Lucas was signed for; plus, of course, Morgan Boyes has stepped up recently as well. Also we already have two defenders with long term injuries; do we really need another who hasn't played a competitive game in months and for the last three games has been an unused substitute. The way things are I'd hope we were looking for a direct backup to Anderson at the moment.

I know the Record has printed some rubbish before but surely this takes the biscuit? https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/robbie-deas-livingston-transfer-target-29274950

Having a look at the remaining fixtures it does look like Hibs and St Mirren have a far more challenging run in. I know, at the end of the day, its just statistics but even so.

Interesting piece on the beeb. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64712164 TBH things don't look too rosy for County (cue calls of "no sh1t sherlock").

I thought we did okay after the first ten minutes until Martindale started to make some really strange substitutions. I still dont know what Shinnie brings to the party; he undoubtedly has some skill but most of the time he was coasting around looking like he was unsure of what his true position; running around at right back filling in for the missing Nicky Devlin. Wht Martindale left Omeonga on the field for so long when pretty much anyone could see him picking up a second yellow some time during the proceedings. Holt for Bradly mean that we lost a large degree of the attack up the right; surely if Bradley was struggling then a better replacement would have been Bohamboula; least-ways we retain some shape. On the plus side I though Obileye had his best game for us for some time.