Raving On

Was with the Scotland U19 squad this week.

Issue here is that if they're not in the ground, what power do the club have over it? My mate saw bottles being thrown at the bus after the game and apparently the police just stood back and let it happen? The wee bams know no-one's going to touch them. Anyway, we had what few moments of quality there were in a game forgettable but for the stoppage-time goal. McPake was the standout but great composure from Spence and Offord for the winner.

I think you're being overly harsh on Leitch. I suspect that when he's on the field he's in the top 2-3 of our players in terms of distance covered and sprints, and with 5 subs available now, it's not such an issue if you've got one or two players only able to last 60. Also worth bearing in mind that was his first match since mid-December. Good to see Hilson getting back to the level he showed in the League Cup. Since getting that injury against St Johnstone it's looked like he's been toiling a bit but the second half at the weekend should do him good.

I'm not totally up to speed on Queen of the South's injury problems, but the Stirling team today was missing 3 of 4 starting midfield players (Moore, Davidson, Leitch). On top of that, Hilson and Carrick - two key attacking players - started on the bench after coming back from injuries (I suspect Hilson was only named in the squad to fill a jersey), and the defence was without a regular in the form of Adam Cummins. Maybe your problems are much more chronic than ours, but I doubt it.

Difficult to say cause the context of the games was so different. Falkirk we went into burst after playing Aberdeen three days before and didn't have the energy to get back into the game after a dubious penalty decision just when we had started to get a foothold. I think Darren Young learned from that experience today with his changes at the break, albeit we were dragged back into the game with a goal against the run of play. We definitely got more joy attacking Accies, particularly down the two wings. Longridge looked like a weak link in the second half and the keeper wasn't smart either. From the two matches, I'd say Falkirk look the better in both penalty boxes but Accies look stronger in terms of chance creation. I wouldn't like to commit to one team or the other being significantly stronger, though. Looking at it from a Binos perspective, I'm delighted our players looked gutted they didn't win the game at the end. Tremendous spirit from the team, even if that's a game we lose more often than not after the second goal - which was either miserable defending or assistant refereeing.

I absolutely love that team. What an attitude!

I've heard from a well-placed source that the way the club is being run now is worse than it was under the previous regime, who I thought did a reasonable job overall but did have some glaring weaknesses and made some significant errors. Like QB, I don't have an opinion on Brian Hamilton at the moment, but I'm beginning to fear his position is a means to an end and that he doesn't necessarily place the club's interests above his own. However, I stress this is just a feeling right now. What I can assure you is that if we were mid-table in L2, supporter sentiment would be very different

Always going to be unlikely while clubs in the Premiership and Championship are still finalising their squads. Should be easier once the transfer window is shut. Unfortunately, this is likely to come too soon for Saturday.

Was it? No. Should it have been? Undoubtedly.

Poor game - and it was today - does not necessarily equal poor teams.

Carrick got cute, got in front of him and there was a tangle of legs. Didn't look like there was an attempt to play the ball,just a clumsy coming together. Ironically, a rash attempt to try to win a tackle that he had no chance of doing would've been more worthy of a red. Issue is with the law and not the referee here, imo, but that's another story. Typical game for us under Young. Absorbed what pressure there was well, gave away few chances and had just about enough quality to win it. Alloa's lack of threat was remarkable. One headed chance over in the first half and one save from Currie in the second. Otherwise there was nothing.

Slater released by Forfar, so that's one possibility that's opened up. Would also take either Healey or Orsi, which were both possibilities suggested on this thread. Incidentally, it wouldn't surprise me to see Weir remain at the club as competition to Currie.

Red cards aside, Clark's been strong all season. Can accept the indiscipline turned people against him, but he's cut out the daft stuff and has been out best player over the 4-6 weeks, with the possible exception of Carrick.

Dunsmore and Denholm both lack pace, while Moore isn't capable of beating a man nearly enough. Cooper looks like he's got potential but isn't a starter for me when we step up. When we had a bona fide winger in the shape of Kai Fotheringham, we were capable of playing far better attacking football and I think that was reflected in performances at the time. Appreciate Kai's going to be better than anything we're likely to get in the summer but we need someone of that type of style. East Fife, Dumbarton and Annan have been our most recent opponents, and I'd say all have better wingers than we do - even O'Reilly at Stenny. Reilly's heading to Dundee I believe, so no chance of getting him unfortunately. Re McLean. I think the argument that he's too slow is blown out of the water by Montrose's defence in recent years being anchored by Sean Dillon. Would agree that we could use 5-6 new bodies.

Definitely this for me. Last night we went to 99.9% certain of winning the league having gone into the game 98% of winning it. It's not like there was a seismic shift in our fortunes like it felt with the last-minute winner at Ochilview.

Would echo this. Thought they got the level of involvement spot on. That said, Dale Carrick did everyone a favour by running to the crowd after his goal, otherwise I'm pretty sure they were heading on the pitch.

Cammy Clark has been our best defender this season - red card on the opening day aside.

What's happened to Callumn Morrison in recent weeks? Is he injured again or just out of favour?

All Cowden's attacking was going down Bikey's side because he wasn't switched on enough defensive and the right-back was doing well going forward. He wasn't doing enough the other way to compensate for that. Mackin did reasonably well but was tiring when he went off for Carrick, whose ability to run the channels rejuvenated us when we were struggling. It was no coincidence that the pressure that led to the third goal started when he won a free kick out on the right touchline. Thought KR's subs were the right ones today. Strangest 4-0 game I think I've ever seen. There wasn't that much between the sides. Felt like we had 5-6 chances and scored almost all of them. Defence was excellent, though, in particular Adam Cummins.

Thanks for the reply. Andy Ryan is far too good to be playing League Two - looks easily good enough to play at least one division up. Delighted that he's committed himself to another year.

How are Airdrie lining up currently? Seen a couple of formations yesterday sticking Turner at right-back, but that doesn't seem right going by comments on here and by common sense!

Can't argue with that. Progressed comfortably without being pushed. I expected a really difficult game, especially given the conditions, but that didn't transpire at all.

Thought the commentary today was outstanding. It's not what you'd typically hear on broadcast media, but I thought it hit the tone of the game perfectly. Donnelly had obviously done a wee bit of homework, and even though they were obviously catering for a home audience, they managed not to be biased to a notable degree. Top stuff! On the football, Rovers were significantly better than I thought they'd be, but I thought we deserved the win. Contrived to make it difficult for ourselves by missing a slew of second-half chances after being lucky to be up at the break.

On Sky, BT Sports etc. it's done to satisfy Ofcom. Why it happens anywhere else is beyond me.

Elgin gave us a right hiding in the League Cup. Depending which three players we're missing, a draw might not be a bad result today. Also want to take this chance to say to the Elgin fans to enjoy getting to games in the next few weeks. I'm jealous as f*ck.