tarapoa

People leaving early in all-seated stadia are annoying as f**k. They take it to new levels down there, whether they’re winning or not.

Looking at the table, goal difference could still be a significant factor even if Sevco do manage to win next weekend.

That sounds a kind of underwhelming alternative

I still have PTSD from my first ever visit to McDiarmid a few months after we last did.

It’s almost like claiming major domestic honours for that empty stadium training match season.

I actually thought from about 30 minutes onwards, this was one of the better matches in this fixture I can recall. We actually played some bonnie stuff, and but for some profligacy in front of goal would have run out much more comfortable winners. St Johnstone had a great chance to make us pay late on when the lad fifty-pinced his heider. It was some clearance from Gartenmann from their earlier good chance, after some fine footwork from the lad who scored up here in Feb. We have had a series of softer fixtures, but amazing what a relatively stable settled back four can achieve in terms of results. If we had stuck with Leven, there’s a fair chance we could still be in the hunt for Europe. Shame on the board for that Warnock nonsense. As for Saints, normally I would want as many sides in the east as possible in the top flight, but Ross County staying up would be more welcome for that one trip up a different road ! This fixture has been purgatory too often, but maybe if they do survive, the new era, ownership and likely change of manager will see them flourish again.

Aye, I was referring to the second of now three Pittodrie matches - the Warnock era ! Agree, the McDiarmid match we seemed to receive more than half of the generous tight VAR calls that have actually gone for us this season in one match. Roos was at the lowest of the low of his low bar this season that evening. St Johnstone looked a very competent side in that match. We definitely stole a point.

The House of Bruar for that clobber………in Perthshire ! I can remember nothing about the first match, other than it was around October time - one of these horror Sundays after a European match I think. The second game was a midweeker and if I recall turned on a game’s gone handball decision, then we lost a second when the St Johnstone striker had the whole half of the pitch to himself to sprint away and score. Generally we toil against Levein sides, so hopefully that can change, but I wouldn’t count on it.

The battle for a QR2 humbling by the third best team in Armenia - I'm jealous.

This exactly. There's a reason this season's better results have generally been against better (or certainly more ambitious) opposition. Barry seemed to base everything on his transition football Plan A. Surely the FMB take into account that at least 70% of our fixtures, certainly at home, are against sides who will sit in and where guile and sometimes power are necessary to break the opposition down and open up the game for counter-attacking to even be an option. Calderwood and McInnes tended to be good enough at getting the kind of narrow wins that Leven just achieved against Ross Co and Well in these situations - but it was just often very unspectacular and that eventually wears the fans down. We are not an easy side to manage at times !

Dons fan here, and just had a great weekend in your area in a cottage at Knockinaam Lodge on the Rhins of Galloway. Driving past Stair Park reminded me of my one visit there for a LC tie in 2005, when working in Preston I drove up after work thinking it was a short journey ! Also recall Stranraer giving us a couple of difficult cup games at Pittodrie in the not too distant past. I have sympathy for Buckie, but also sad to see that it now looks most likely it's Stranraer in this play-off. I always feel the more geographically-stretched Scottish senior football is the better. EK, whilst being Scotland sixth-biggest place, is still yet another club clustered around the Glasgow conurbation. So for the sake of a historical club and the bonnie SW corner of our nation - c'mon The Blues.

TECA 25.4.24 Miovski PotY from the players and fans - no surprise there - the guy seriously has his head screwed on, acknowledging how good AFC have been for him, given his career to date. I am biased due to witnessing them first hand, but preferred his Hibs SF goal and McGrath’s PAOK free kick over MacDonald’s ping in the Helsinki snow, which won the goal of the season. Our Young Player or the Year Mackenzie is 24 and seemed a wee bit embarrassed at that fact - but probably merited as he has at least started to put some consistency of performance together - albeit calamities at Frankfurt, Hampden and Dens still show he’s still an accident waiting to happen at times. Huge event at TECA, with 1,200 attending - think it was 900 last year. Presumably a great earner for the club. Last night was a bit of a squeeze and the food took a long time to come, so maybe they stretched themselves a bit. Rob Maclean called in sick, so some dude from Sky Sports had to cover alongside Amy Irons - they did okay, but a tad formulaic in their questions - but probably only so much quality banter you can have with a bunch of awkward looking young lads in suits.

I think the model the club are following is absolutely correct. The market for UK nationals is now so fked up due to post-Brexit quotas, that there's just little value for money. In the domestic market, we got definite success in the past decade in moving for standout players from the smaller-budget top flight clubs (e.g. Shinnie, McLean, Hayes, Ferguson). Hearts landing Dhanda, Spittal and that Livi jobber is maybe a step down from that (Devlin level signings) - but right now the likely destination for the brightest looking prospects - McCowan, Cameron or Armstrong would likely be the English Championship. This is almost certainly what Barron has his mind set on. Shopping in the nordic and eastern European markets is probably like a trip to TK Maxx. A lot of crap to look through, but in there somewhere are a couple of gems. I note JT has used the African market significantly too judging by Elfsborg's current squad, so our recruitment dude will be busy with those Mali second division matches.

I note the recent negative reaction when the powers-that-be announced the end of replays in all rounds of the EFA Cup. Up here, we just seemed to drift away from them following Covid, without any real fuss or objections. It then got me thinking that Scottish Cup replays offered some memorable occasions. Even in recent times, AFC won midweekers under the lights at Ibrox and twice at Rugby Park following home draws (in more ways than one). I have no issue with penalties to settle a one-off League Cup tie, but replays were something that differentiated the Scottish Cup. Tough away draw, but do enough to get them back to your place. Clearly the European fixture list isn't too compatible with extra domestic cup matches, but more often than not these fixtures are pre-christmas. Was the demise of replays just another example of helping a couple of clubs to the detriment of everyone else?

Stuck with that series hoping something interesting would happen - but very bland stuff and surprised MMcC/WH put their name to that.

Glad I did - really got into it - and it's been a couple of episodes a weeks on average for the wife and I for a few months now. Was quite shocked that the final series ended so abruptly, and wondered if something had gone wrong with Paramount+ - but have since read about some contractual dispute with Costner, thankfully now resolved and we'll get the rest later in the year.

I really like Gartenmann, comes across as a top bloke on his RedTV interviews. Some excellent points made though, and I think he's maybe just a guy suited for a certain type of style/game that isn't 70% of the matches in our domestic league. Of course, a good manager could maybe work on getting the best out of him more often (the right partner certainly helps) - but I suspect club and player will part company without too much effort being made to do anything more permanent. There have probably been too many occasions he's got it tight from our support (sometimes harsh, sometimes merited), that he probably feels himself he needs to move on elsewhere, if it isn't with his parent club - especially with no European football here next season.

12 surely ?

Hearts in danger of letting a good opportunity drift away with a bit of a whimper here. Feels like our LC final effort so far.

Masterclass of hitting the first man from Hearts here.

Shocking error from Soapy T!tw@nk - got to be punishing that.

Hearts will surely have a lot of regrets if they don’t get past this bang average Sevco side.

“The Nairn Chosen Few” banner. Chosen to be overweight, antagonistic and support a team from the opposite side of the country to your home town.

Our pre-match chat in the cafe bar place over coffee and eventually one drink, was that was maybe having such an air of low expectation and low numbers might work for us. Also, as mentioned, it isn't the bigger profile matches that have been this team's problem - and Celtic's defence is there to be got at. It was a really good first half and I will never tire of watching that pass from Clarkson. The outcome of the post HT tweaks possibly felt like experienced Rodgers vs inexperienced Leven - but fair play to PL for the use of the subs, we stayed in the game and deserved to take it to ET. The scenes after both the late equalisers will live with us for a long time. Sometimes it's maybe better just to take the diehards to these occasions ! It is gutting that this takes it to 35 years and ends the prospect of another continental sojourn, but on the latter, the inability of construct or trust a squad capable of handling the demands of that has ultimately outdone us. Showing up so well yesterday is still no guarantee of not being drawn back into the play-off dogfight, as none of these remaining fixtures (other than maybe Easter Rd) will be against sides that give the team the time and space they got yesterday. Still work to do, but trust PL has enough about him to sort that.

This probably hits the nail on the head. I am hoping JT has received all kinds of assurances (contractual not verbal) on the structure he will be working under - and if he is to fail, it will not be predominately due to factors outwith his own control. Just about every appointment has some element of 'gamble', but this seems one worth taking. Glad Leven is being kept on as part of the structure to help transition things, although think there's a chance another club could force our hand on that one. He seems such as unassuming low maintenance kind of bloke, that does actually know what he's doing.