houston_bud

No more than Airdrie deserve. The second half they have passed us off the park. Hottest day on record and we're pumping balls into the channels for strikers to chase. Airdrie have a 29 year old player manager and have approached the game in a much better fashion. Ok, the red card helps Airdrie massively but we've been so poor yet again.

Aye, tactical to keep 3 in the middle.

You're not wrong. Before the red card we looked comfortable but we've created nothing.

This is exactly my feelings. Lyness is the first real 'back up' we've had for a while. What I mean by that is other keepers who've played second fiddle have done so either keepers who came in as number 2 but progressed to number 1 (like Samson or Combe) or keepers who've left after a season or two in the first team to get games (Ridgers, Stewart, Adam). This is no criticism of Lyness. He's done well when called upon and maybe this is his best opportunity to be involved full time at a decent club. Maybe he's got a settled family here or whatever. At the end of the day it's a job.

I agree. Lyness has done well when called upon but never looked like holding down a number 1 spot. In an ideal world you'd want two keepers pushing each other rather than one that knows they're guaranteed to be number 1. Maybe I'm being unfair and this is what happens. I'd like to think one of our two back ups is worth a shot though.

Doesn't sound great. If we do try and bring in another keeper it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the other two. If they're not good enough to play, why not move them on?

Any idea when the new top will be in the shop? I'm away on holiday on Wednesday, which I'm thinking might be a bit hopeful.

Definitely make or break time for him. The development loan would've been good for him but we had to call him back a couple of times when Alnwick was unavailable, so it was maybe a bit stop start. He really needs games at a good level. If we can't give him that then I hope he gets another loan.

Interview with Stevie Mallan where he talks about not getting paid in Turkey. This seems to be a pretty regular occurance over there. A lot of clubs there offer big salaries, players and agents need to get wise to it. Hopefully he can kick on at Salford as he's a talented player.

I don't fancy St Johnstone this season but I'm not convinced you're a cert to go down. Carey, Murphy, Considine are all good, experienced players. If (and I appreciate it's an 'if') they can all stay fit then they'll all be good additions. Guys like McCart, Wotherspoon, Hall Hallberg, Kane are all players who can do a job and keep you up.

Looking at areas of the park, defence I imagine will be similar to last year. Carson probably isn't as good as Alnwick, Gallagher is maybe better than Mccarthy but didn't feature much last season. I expect Strain to be more involved than Miller. Midfield looks weaker without Ronan but let's see what Baccus is like. Up front is probably a little stronger, certainly more depth. Brophy will be our main striker if he stays fit. Grieve will have a full preseason under him, Main had a couple of decent performances towards the back end of the season so can hopefully build on that. The new players and younger boys are a bit of an unknown quantity at this level. All that said, you never know. We might very well be right in the relegation mixer.

Hopefully a good earner for the club. It does seem pricey for what it is though. Presumably there are companies that have made noises about investing?

Underwhelming. Scored a cracker against Kelty hearts in the cup. Don't think he managed to beat his man more than once in any other game.

Christ. Based on today I don't think Brophy will have too much trouble getting back I the starting 11. I hope we see Henderson starting more games, last year he got benched for the wage thief Jones. Both last season and this afternoon we looked a better side with him in it.

A few years back Thistle pumped us in the league cup, think it was 5-0. We went on to win the league and Thistle got relegated. I won't be getting too excited about the result. We were rotten today, had no cutting edge and lacked quality. Too many players passing when they should've shot, or shooting or trying to beat a second player instead of passing. It's early days though.

OK, but they've won 2 trophies in two years. Let's not be daft, Rangers will win more trophies than St Mirren over Dylan Reid's career.

Possibly but Morgan was an established first team player. He played a few big games for Celtic and got a decent move at the end of it. He's flying at NY Red Bulls now. Reid is still very much a youth player. I suppose you need to be confident in your ability to break into a team. He'll play games for us over the next couple of years in the first team, the chances of him doing that for Rangers are much lower. I hope he has some sensible people advising him.

Presumably he'll get more money at Rangers but more than that, the attraction of a bigger club will always turn heads. Rangers win trophies, play in Europe, and have done well in recent years. I can understand the lure of that. If he does go, I hope it works out for him. He's got a real chance of breaking into our first team and becoming a mainstay over the next season or two. I'd hate to see him move to Rangers and spend a few years in the lowland league with their B team or sitting in the stand most weeks.

The players will have been doing double sessions as well and no doubt trained the morning before the game. In the run up to competitive games squads do lighter sessions the day before. It's impossible to judge based on pre season friendlies.

Would've loved Gogic to stay but was never particularly hopeful. He did well for us but during our stinking run after Robinson arriced, there were a few games where I really wanted him to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Will we bring in a better player than Gogic? Probably not but you never know.

To be fair to Martindale, I don't think he has tried to make excuses. He's fronted up to his past and I've never heard him make out that he was the victim. Gallagher's crime (from the little I know) seems pretty nasty. It sits a little uneasy with me that he's signed but I don't think that people who have committed crimes should be written off for the rest of their lives.

Hibs and ex St Mirren players must be close.

I suppose people are entitled to a second chance, he served his time and I'd hope has been rehabilitated. I say this with the caveat of not knowing a great deal about his crime though, other than it being an assault charge.

That would make sense. They've got a few forwards but Doidge would give them something a bit different from the others.