Durnford

Lawson is possibly our most frustrating player; on his day he's almost unbeatable; unfortunately that day only seems to appear in about 25% of his games. The rest of the time he's error prone and second to pretty much every ball. If we could isolate that 25% Steve Lawson so that he played like that every game then we'd have a world beater. Robinson's speed and tenacity up front will be a miss but hopefully Tiffoney or even Kouider Aissa could fill into that position. I Though Reilly had started to show some promise before he got injured as well. Jet is a difficult one - I believe his physical strength and control means he's a real asset in the opposition penalty area; unfortunately his lack of acceleration means that he's quite easy to defend against as a lone striker. I'd like to see him remain but only with adequate support. Lithgow; I've made my position clear previously - undoubtedly a great servant to the club but unlikely to ever reach the level he attained before his series of injuries. As for ATS he (and for that matter Jack McMillan) is a bit of an enigma. Seems to have moved right down the pecking order but I'm not convinced he's any worse than either Fitzwater or Longridge TBH.

Cant help thinking there was a fundamental difference between the long throws taken by Cairon Brown and Nicky Devlin. Both seem to get more or less the same distance but Devlin's throws seem to use height to gain the distance whereas Brown seemed to use pure power. Unfortunately the recent throw-ins by Devlin seem to hang in the air; giving the opposition defence ample time to prepare; by contrast it did seem that Brown's deliveries got to their location far faster almost acting like a corner of free kick. We know in the past Lithgow's throws to the near post were particularly effective but unfortunately he's currently almost a passenger elsewhere. Bringing him on at the Celtic game seemed almost a swansong move.

Before people start talking about binning player I would point out that we're not in the financial position to replace them. Unfortunately we don't have a reserve system and the youth system has been out since the Braveheart debacle. At the moment financial survival should be the primary concern.

Yes; I mentioned before his organisation and communication with the defenders is awful but I dont think he can really be blames for todays malaise.

Our players may not be world beaters but, where the team has shone, is that each one is clear on their role and where they fit in; they all work really hard to close down the opposition and, if one starts a run forward, there's someone to move into their place and cover - that virtually didn't happen at all after about the first 15 mins. Those that weren't able to see the game today were the lucky ones. I'm not entirely sure celtic even got out off second gear. And why did we mis-spell Josh Mullen's name as MILLIN in our team sheet?

McCorie wasn't great but the amount of space and gaps we allowed celtic in the penalty area was unforgivable. Some of our defenders seemed to play as if they'd only just met each other in the tunnel before the game.

Appalling - dreadful display from pretty much everyone TBH. .

What's with the changing of the word to "Matchstick men and Matchstick cats and dogs". Surely there some better music to keep people entertained? EDIT- it gets worse - this really is music to open your wrists to. Think I'll cheer myself up by putting on the Smith's Greatest Hits (not sure whats on the "B" side.

Confidence shouldn't be affected at all other than a tinge of disappointment in my opinion. The team will look back and know that they didn't let themselves down at all. For the first half the Raith team managed the unthinkable of out-livi-ing Livi. They didn't give us a moment's peace; chasing down every ball and defending in depth when necessary; a very impressive display that some teams in the Premiership might wish to emulate. The biggest problem with this strategy is that it relies one an exceptional level of stamina and physical fitness so its not surprising that Raith started to fag in the second half leaving more and more gaps for us to play into. I'm not a betting man but if Raith do secure a place in the playoff; I'd certainly be considering a wee flutter on them making it all of the way. Controversially; if Raith had managed to continue the tempo of the first half and run out 1-0 winners; I wouldn't have been overly embarrassed; to my mind there is no shame in losing to a team that play out of their skin, as if their very lives depended on it, heck; we've done that enough to other teams over the past few years. Good luck in the league lads (and ladies); maybe we'll have a few chances at a "replay" next season.

Is it me or is this really poor picture quality also why are we now missing the comer flag view with a bit of scaffolding in the way. This is not our usual service; have we got a different supplier for cup games?

Lockdown's a wonderous thing - just keeps giving and giving.

Lithgow was a great servant for us but he's been out for two years now. Also he's now 33; not a huge age but a challenge if he needs to get fully fit again. As they say time-and tide-wait-for-no-man. If he's fully recovered then it reasonable to assume that his playing days are far from over but I suspect the speed of the Premiership might be just one step too far.

A lot of my in-laws are lifelong Morton supporter (4+ generations) and they were telling me that Hopkins was paying a lot of the players expenses out of his own pocket because the owner refused to. If true I wouldn't put too much reliance on what happened at Morton recruitment wise. As for Lithgow; I'm not too sure. I think his first return after his injury was against Hamilton. He scored within the first ten minutes but was a liability thereafter. His long throws were a benefit but only when we had tall guys in the middle to reap the benefit. Otherwise we have better central defence options in my opinion. Incidentally I was amazed to see that McCrorie celebrated his 23rd birthday the other day. I though he was way younger than that; I would have expected a goalkeeper of 23 to play with more maturity and a lot more control of his defence.

Cant help wondering if the lockdown is getting to a few people here. A game of football between two sides comfortably in the top six; is there anything else to say? Mind you I've just had my Astra Zenica jab and could do with a wee snooze..........

It really depends on who's fit today; the strategy of playing with one striker for the first hour and then flooding the box has ween well and truly sussed by the opposition. We need to try something different. The strategy (if you can call it that) of lumping the ball up to one short striker surrounded by three defenders is only working for the opposition. Thought Reilly had started to show glimpses of what he could offer; now he's out for the rest of the season.

We won the last game didnt we - or am I having another one of my "episodes"?

Hopkins will get you to the Premiership in 3 seasons - whether he can keep you is another discussion..

People will excuse me if I dont talk about the match; that being said Motherwell have never been a happy-hunting ground for us since we came back up so no real surprises I suppose. One thing though; was unable to watch the PPV with away team commentary so watched it with the "home" coverage. Have to say the guys doing the home "analysis" was the best I've heard all season (and I include Sky/PremierSport and BBC in that). Even handed comments; questioning some decisions by the ref; good observations on tactics for both teams in equal measure and no real mentions of the "physical/agricultural approach". Really made a refreshing change.

I thought Lawson was excellent when he came on - night and day from the guy who turned up on Sunday. Time and again he blunted their attack down our right battling and winning the ball time and again. His passing was far better as well. I really don't understand the jekyll and hyde performances; some games he's fantastic and others pretty anonymous. The thing that really let us down though was our attacking strategy (if you can call jumping the ball up to a short lone guy; a strategy). Limiting what is currently the best form side in the country to one goal isn't much good if you cant add something at the other end. Attacking down the left seemed to be getting some results but we never seemed to capitalise on it. As for the yellow cards I cant comment on the time wasting one as Sky was too busy showing close ups of Gerard et al but the three we got for shirt tugging etc. were totally pointless. All three happened in the midfield; two if which when there were plenty of others around. We need to stop picking up senseless yellows; Guthrie in particular ended up walking a metaphorical tightrope for the remaining 80+ minutes.

I assume by your post that BT were the previous providers of TV coverage for the Scottish League cup. I chose 3 million as a figure out of the air; I have no idea what the real figure would have been. If it had been still on the old provider I suspect many English viewers wont have tuned in for two such "unfashionable" sides (to use the DR terminology). EDIT - just did a search on the Celtic v Rangers cup final game (2019) and the viewing figures through BT were apparently 915,000.

BT wouldn't have got anywhere near that figure; sky might have as it would have been available to the UK and possibly a wider European audience. I know I was abler ot watch Scottish games when at my sisters place in France but rarely did as it invariably involve one or both of the sisters. I believe our win in 2004 was on channel 4 so had a reasonable take-up even though most viewers probably weren't based in Scotland. It is however a sad fact of life than any match including a member of the old firm still generates significant interest in the republic and across the atlantic (not that I'd imagine that would do Betfred any good at all).

One point on the sponsorship thing; whatever the rights or wrongs about having a betting company sponsoring a sporting event, they doubtless would have been basing their sponsorship on a final in front of a packed stadium with maybe 3 million viewers on national television. Okay; there's nothing that can be done about the lockdown; but for the SPFL to sign a deal with Premier Sports which effectively limited the audience to maybe no more 10k live viewers doesn't look like value for money if I was a Betfred executive.

TBH I kind of feel sorry for the St. Johnstone players. To grind out a (deserved) win in such strange circumstances and then celebrate in an empty stadium is truly surreal - they certainly deserved better. Once the lockdown is lifted maybe they can organise the full open-top bus thing.

I know that is you , for example, tape a film on Sky Cinema and then cancel your subscription; then the recording will be blocked (unless you bought a copy through Sky Store). However Premier Sports is not part of your sky subscription, per se, so I'm guessing not. Just my opinion though.

Cancelled my subscription to Premier sports; 2 mins after the final whistle - the response I got was "Are you sure you want to cancel" followed by Are you sure you want to cancel" and "are you sure you want to cancel". Finally they hit me with "You can cancel your cancellation at any time". If I wasn't wound up already? Very nearly a laptop shaped dent in the wall.