Raith Against The Machine

Was that Accies first attempt, of any kind, since half time?

Oh.

Also, Kieran MacDonald is now on the right wing, which is wild. Rice is cooked.

Whit a pler.

Since the second goal, Hamilton have tightened up in the middle and forced us to work down the flanks, but we're happy enough to do so. Other than a shot after about 40 seconds, I don't think Accies have managed another shot. Moyo has put in a shift trying his best to press the defence, but Bene and Berra are keeping him arm's length and letting him run himself into the ground. As a consequence, when Tumilty inexplicably put a pass straight to him, he didn't have the energy to burst away and do any damage. Rovers haven't created a huge amount, but they've had all the ball and Zanatta finding that bit of quality that eluded him against Alloa has made all the difference. It'll take a sea change for Accies to get anything from this one. As comfortable a half as you'll see at this level.

Possible advantage to having fans at both ends, there. I'm not sure anyone in the South Stand saw a handball, but the whole of the North did and the referee went with the appeals. Hamilton looked quite promising for the first couple of minutes then dropped right off. The likes of Tait and Connolly have been dancing through them at times.

I'm interested to see how this goes, organisationally, tomorrow. It sounds like they've sold X number of "walk up" tickets for the South Stand, and then they'll be admitting the first however many season tickets holders that'll take that stand up to capacity. And then after that, remaining season ticket holders will be directed round to the North Stand. Although the stewards are pointing people to where "green" seats might be, you're really relying people in groups of two not sitting in a "three" block or the stand is going to fill up pretty quickly and their won't be spaces for these remaining ticket holders. I'm sure it's all been thought through, but I'll be getting there early just in case.

Probably. But in Falkirk's case the number of available senior players is "all of them".

Wow. This thread, man, it's something else.

I presume MacDonald took the number 7 jersey because the number 2 was already taken, not because you're using him further up the park?

Ugwu scored five goals for us. One was a penalty. Of the other four, I think you can only really point to one as a possible "target man" style goal, where he headed in against Stirling Albion from two yards at a corner. I can't think of anything we saw from Ugwu that would make me think he'd have been more likely to score on Saturday than Poplatnik or Vaughan. To swap a player from the other side, would Connor Sammon have scored with the chances we created on Saturday? He's almost certainly more likely to than anyone else who's been mentioned, but I also don't think we'd have created anywhere near as many chances because he won't link into the attacking play as fluidly. It's a balancing act, and I think you're looking for one of these forward players to click and start taking chances. It could be Zanatta, it could've Poplatnik, it could be Vaughan. I don't think it's just a case of "we need a target man!" without tearing up a strategy that took us to third last year.

Oh, absolutely. I don't agree with the earlier comment that Zanatta is lazy, I think his issues are more complex than that, but I think it's absolutely fair game to come on here after a game and debate it. I'm sure some players will let curiosity get the better of them and will have a peak at sites like this on occasion, but they've really only got themselves to blame in that scenario. Discussing the negatives of players also serves a purpose here, in providing most of us with a distraction from the all-encompassing hellscapes that are our real lives on this dreadful cursed island. At a game, though? I find it impossible to fathom. There are literally eleven guys out there, next to the ones you like, who are trying to defeat your guys. Shout at them! People booing and loudly criticising their own players can only contribute in a negative way. While I'm sure there might be one or two players who thrive on trying to shove it in the faces of critics in their own "support", I don't think that's a particularly productive atmosphere to promote, and I'm sure their numbers pale in comparison to those who find that the criticism impacts their confidence and ability to play to their full potential. Someone cleverer and more erudite than me (Hey, Yoss! Yoo-hoo!) could probably make an argument for football grounds being one of the few acceptable outlets for a large number of men in 2021 to release any anger they've internalised about every aspect of their lives, but I won't be the one to do it...

I fundamentally don't understand the psyche of someone who couldn't get to a football game for 500 days and then comes back only to berate their own players. It baffles me.

We do. Livi currently on 8 points and we have 7 We've got eight now, courtesy of today's draw. Could get to nine and remove any jeopardy.

If we draw this, do we need the bonus point to win the group?

We've had enough chances to win five games of football here, but the spectre of Adam King's thirty five yard winner looms ever larger.

Much better from Dick so far this afternoon. Looks much more prepared to go beyond Zanatta and double up on Taggart. Deliveries haven't been inch perfect but he hasn't wasted any either.

It's been shootie in at Stark's Park, with the notable exception of anybody actually shooting, eh, in. David Hutton has made a couple of decent saves, Craig Howie has made two key interceptions inside his own six yard box, Berra couldn't quite force a header over the line at a corner, Zanatta put one over from about eight yards, a few dangerous crosses have eluded our forwards and Vaughan has had a couple of half-hearted penalty appeals. As long as the Rovers are patient the goals should come. Alloa look tidy enough on the ball when they can get out, and while he hasn't managed to get much change out of Berra and Benedictus so far, I expect Sammon will be pretty effective in League One now he's out of that disfunctional Falkirk set up. It took me until the 42nd minute to realise Adam King was playing, which is pretty par for the course when it comes to him.

I've clearly been away too long. I'd forgotten that no matter how hot it is in the outside world, it'll still be -3° in the South Stand.

By the time he came on, Livi had their two big centre halfs and Obileye at the base of midfield, and Varian was throwing himself around competing with them, and did win a couple. I was impressed. Winning headers from long balls when you're thirty yards from goal and getting on the end of whipped crosses are two different skillsets though, and as renton says he hasn't really had a chance to play in and around the opposition's box yet. With any luck, he'll get more of an opportunity for that this afternoon.

I'll say one thing for Livingston - that white jersey is a beauty. Very EH54 Galaxy.

I'm eternally disappointed that half of the entire viewership of GB News seem to inhabit this thread, but fair play, that made me laugh.

I'd say he's about as good a loan player as you're going to get. That said, I think he was better for Caley than he was for us, and he was better for us at the start of his spell than at the end. His debut at Tynecastle was probably his best game. Largely, though, that lack of impact was because teams were doubling up on him, and that's going to create spaces and opportunities elsewhere. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he goes on to have a great season. With another year's experience he could be exceptional at this level. There's a chance he might continue to struggle now that teams have worked out how to stop him, but I think he's good enough to overcome that.

What links Blaise Riley-Snow, Marvin Andrews, Gozie Ugwu, Christian Nade, Fernandy Mendy and Nat Wedderburn? Ah yes, their stature. C'mon, man. Just once, once, I'd like us to sign a player of colour without people immediately hammering their keyboards to tell us just how much they're reminded of Tony Rougier.

Thoroughly looking forward to being incandescent with rage as Adam King puts on a midfield masterclass for Barry Ferguson's Clacks galacticos.