GroundskeeperWillie

Can't argue with that, I know its easy to sit back and say we shouldn't have taken the game, but much rather we tested ourselves in a friendly and at least get a chance to see what we need (which defensively is plenty) when the real stuff comes up in the summer. I think the one thing we may have had if our full defence was available to us tonight would have been better protection for the centre backs from out wide. Patterson and Taylor did okay going forward, but the former especially was scarily positionally and tactically naive at times, especially as he has been playing games in the Premier League. Think also its safe to place Liam Cooper in the 'to be used only if absolutely necessary' as he was well off it. I agree with your assessment on Brown and Ferguson, Brown actually looked lively and showed a better touch and slightly better movement than Adams, while Ferguson I thought came more into the game as it wore on. Tonight was always going to be a tough one, France are in my opinion favourites to win the tournament next year, but at least on occasions we showed some nice periods of possession which we didn't do enough of against Spain - if we could get that defensive a bit more solid (and at times we needed to not make as many daft errors, there were some slapdash attempts at clearances and a couple of brainfarts thrown in) then we can have some confidence ahead of the Euros.

I may be wrong here but is that not the usual protocol i.e. the home side deals with all ticketing arrangements. I get the capacity at Spartans is obviously bigger (and it was a league game) but buying tickets for that was done through Fanbase (as it reminded me as it defaulted to Spartans for the ticket portal this morning). And the option was there initially for away tickets, but just went off fairly quickly. Don't get me wrong, if home fans have ended up with away tickets its poor show, but I'd have thought the home side were within their rights to insist on using their own ticketing mechanism for the game, just as we would be if we were the home side. With all that said, I've not been a fan of the online ticket situation anyway since it was brought in, not been a fan of TicketCo either at times, it would have been ideal if it had been actual tickets. Assuming there has been a capacity cap set at Olivebank for this one?

Definitely, I think from a momentum point of view as well it would be great to see us win both, it would also be some way to set us up for the main tournament as well. Sure the players will have that mindset as well, and likely there will be some on the fringes (Lewis Ferguson for one) desperate to prove a point and show why he deserves more game time as well. For us this can only be a win-win scenario

Stunning, just stunning

Bah gawd, it's Steve Clarke. Steve Clarke, Steve Clarke!!

What a beautiful evening - Germany, wir werden kommen! Obviously, the draw would have been delicious, but after all of the times we've been sweating on results late on in qualifying, all of the times we've come close yet screwed it up, for all of the completely screwed out of it v Italy moments, to the rank rotten v Georgia, Macedonia ad infinitum, to qualify outright with games in hand, is a truly majestic thing. Let's not forget, as soon as we saw this group once the draw was made, there was a collective shiting of oneselves as we all reckoned we'd been dealt a particularly cruel hand. What an amazing qualification campaign it has been, where even in the loss against Spain we were never disgraced. We should definitely have no fear going into Germany 2024 and whatever happens, it's been a blast so far!

^^ Gerry McNee found

This times infinity. The number of refereeing controversies pre-VAR is nothing with the amount of talking points VAR has introduced completely to the detriment of the game. The monumental cock up recently in the EPL being the icing on a rather large cake. I wasn't a fan of its introduction and can't say my mind has changed since, but the powers that be are determined for it to work, so what do we know

Well at least we can say one thing - we've clearly rattled one of the best sides in Europe, if not the World. Especially when you see Morata's comments re wanting Norway to qualify with them. Shower of kanutes...!

No doubt he was, just remember him being not of the best quality. Granted, he came from the same era as Ian Frickleton, Mike Ritchie and (arrgghh) Ian Elmslie, so that maybe made him look slightly better than he was...

Maybe not the most reliable source of truth, but former Grade 1 whistler Steve Kaney (shudder...!) weighing in on the debate

The ref would have joined in the celebrations, obviously* Just for the benefit of some here, I'm not being 100 per cent serious....

Mostly agree, but actually thought Hendry was outstanding, there was a couple of times Porteous (who I thought was outstanding as well) got too tight to his defender and Hendry bailed him out. But I'm possibly being uber-picky. Given we could have been completely thrown with Robbo going off before half-time, I thought our shape and defensive work was pretty much superb, and you've got to credit Steve Clarke for that. Previously, we'd have lost 2-0 in these sort of games having been very much defensively naive, but Spain had to work hard for their goals, and even then pretty much off the back of the undoubted controversy of that disallowed goal. I'd freshen things up for France, give the likes of Lewis Ferguson the chance to show what he can do. But all in all, we have a lot to be cheerful about.

This for me, the referee signalled for a direct free kick which to me means he was called across for a potential foul. Don't get me wrong, the referee was completely incompetent all game, so its feasible he's just given the wrong signal, but just makes it smell like an even bigger rat. I would have had no qualms with the result, had it ended without what transpired with the disallowed goal, as at some point we probably would have buckled, but for me the disallowed goal gets their tails up, deflates us and has undoubtedly contributed to what eventually happened. Actually, f**k it, enough with the niceties, another cheating bassa of a Dutch ref! Just completely pissed off with it!

With this ref, it would need a decapitation in the box for us to get a pen tbh.

Agreed for the most part - what is it with us and shit Dutch refs. He's not quite up to Kevin Blom standards yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if ratbag Rodri takes a dive in the box and this ref gives a penalty. Not agreeing with you on the Dykes card though, I think he got away with one previously when he had a go at Laporte and I think he's used his elbow there, not as a weapon though else he'd have been off. Game's gone as I expected it to be honest, we need to be a bit braver on the ball at times but at least we've repelled them for 45 minutes. Be interesting to see if Clarke changes the shape as the second half goes on, but can't complain too much so far.

I'm a bit on the fence here, it's clear progress has been limited under McLean, probably not helped by the farce at the start as no-one seemed to know who was actually in charge (given Duffy's propensity to be in the dugout and even barking instructions at times...) However, I am nervous about who would a) actually want the job and b) who we'd end up appointing. Given the fact the club is a bit of a binfire at the moment, and given our league position, I'd be concerned we end up similar to Elgin, making an appointment who is completely uninspiring (sorry Elgin fans). After the first quarter of the season it's become rather apparent we are either going to scramble towards mid-table or end up in a dogfight to stay in the league. The glimmers of hope we saw last week against Stenny were tempered by the fact that for 60 minutes we were fairly dross and also the fact that it continued our trend this season of conceding dreadful goals through haphazard defending. This could end up being one of the most important January's in a long, long time, and if the board does stay in its current guise, they've got an almighty job restoring confidence and hope, as the atmosphere is starting to get a bit fragile.

Given some of our fans have posted about that it would be good to get yourselves in the next round, I'd also like to point out that the above is something quite a few Clyde fans would love to see right now - we've been struggling both on and off the pitch for quite some time and if we were to replicate what appears to be happening at your club, it would be a real fillip for us. Also, to add, would also be great to see us play you at your ground, as having been there before it was a really nice venue and would be good compared to the normal draws that we get.

While I'm delighted we've got our first win on the board today, the statement put out has annoyed me a fair bit, and this quote sums it up. Yes, I'm sure there has been some shouts and remarks considered against the grain, but against a set of circumstances where even the most diehard of fan has been left thoroughly pissed off with what has been happening with the club, this kind of statement only serves to foster a 'them against us' mentality. It was, quite frankly, a disgraceful statement and if the board are determined to try and get unity in trying times, they've failed miserably.

Every time I see these, I instantly think of the magnificent (well maybe not) Graeme Souness Vector Soccer for the Amiga. Fairly sure the goalkeepers in that game had a similar reaction speed

I'd like to give a +1 to The Silencers. Have been going to see them for many years and they are a joy to behold live, if you've never been to see them I'd thoroughly recommend it. Plus they contributed at one stage the theme tune to Sportscene

It would have been nice to see them on, but given the pedestrian way the game was being played at that point, how much impact they would have had in any case is a question. In the past there's no doubts there'd have been some questions regarding Clarke's decision making, but recently there can be no doubt he's called everything completely spot on, so how he chooses to go with it at this moment is fine by me. I'd just like to add at this point, how good is Ryan Porteous starting to look these days. I get that this was Cyprus, but that perfect challenge in the box in the near 90th minute to stop a chance summed up his performance all night - he's had some critics in his time, but he just seems to show all the attributes of the kind of defender we've been looking for. That said, whole team was first class throughout tonight in a game in the past we'd have - as mentioned in the far distant past in this thread - we'd have needed an injury time Gough-esque winner. Boring second half, who fucking cares right now!

Is the phrase for that wid until it fell off, not sure I know any more!!

The fact we've got these types of players on the bench as well augurs well for us - I'd give it till the hour mark and then start thinking about some swaps assuming we're still well on top, especially Robbo and Porteous just to protect them