Matty-RCFC

Absolutely never a penalty - ball hits off of Baldwin and then onto Johnson’s arm which was by his side. Also, far better than us? Not sure what game you’re watching as there has been absolutely zilch between the two sides other than a decent finish.

Exactly as I thought. Big game for Hiwula. I quite like this lineup.

Good signing, he is the anchor type midfielder United have been crying out for. However, surely won’t start today though. Unless he’s been training with the team for a while.

Despite the win last week, it was very much a watch through the hands performance as we snuck away from West Lothian with 3 points. The swashbuckling Staggies look to get 2 wins on the spin for the first time this season, but it comes against our perennial bogey team in the shape of United who seem to have hit a great patch of form. I feel as if our defence is our strongest asset at the minute, so don’t see that back 4 changing in terms of shape. It seems to be two sides with very similar styles, so it’ll be interesting to see which team takes the initiative and gets on the ball immediately. When County have the brunt of the possession, we struggle badly to break teams down - Dunfermline and Buckie perfect examples. I think the game will be won in the middle of the park; United seem pretty lightweight there but so are we so it’s imperative we take a hold of the middle third. Hence, I can see us setting up to break on United, so this is the sort of team I reckon we’ll see: Laidlaw Johnson-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Purrington Tillson-Cancola Edwards-Callachan-Hiwula White I think Johnson should start in place of Watson purely to deal with Middleton’s pace, plus he’s more of an asset than Watson on the break. The two of Tillson and Cancola gives us probably our best mix of athleticism and power combined, as well as Cancola’s ability to spray passes from deep. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve not been Callachan’s biggest fan but I can see his dynamism suiting us if we’re to cheat and leave 3 up. Hiwula did brilliantly last week when he came on and deserves a start too. I think the game will be tight, don’t see many goals in it at all. I think whoever wins it will sneak it, and I think we’re due a win against United so I’m going to plump for a 1-0 win for the good guys.

Just started laughing to myself at the goal. Every time I’ve seen Livi so far this season, be it Sportscene or Hesgoal or whatever, he’s been absolutely fine. However, that was the Sean Kelly I’m absolutely used to right there.

Absolutely incredible. That must’ve been our first chance of the game.

Absolutely fucking brutal.

Just seen that Peterhead are without 16 (SIXTEEN) players tomorrow; how does that even happen? Are they planning on playing 5s tomorrows or what’s the script there?

Cheers mate, will have a proper look into trains later. In Edinburgh for the night after the game so would need to go through there afterwards anyway.

That’s me told!

Glasgow-based mug here attending the game. I’m relying on public transport to get to the game on Sat but believe there’s train strikes on. Is my best bet getting a bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh and then onward to Livingston?

Your CEO forgets to order seats for stands! I now understand why you linger on County threads so much - you’re actually Scott Gardiner hoping to find a wee tip from Uncle Roy on how to found a multi-million pound company. It’s not gonna happen Scarfy boy!

I think when we first came up and the subsequent 2/3 years they were pretty legit figures, but aye now it’s definitely plucked from thin air.

I agree with the second part of your statement and ultimately we will return to be a jobbing Championship side in 10 years or so, but attendance wise it’s not always been the case since we’ve been in the Premiership. Our Premiership Attendances since 2015: 2022/23 (so far) - 4,131 (12th) - skewed slightly by large away attendances. 2021/22 - 3,978 (11th) 2019/20 - 4,361 (9th) 2017/18 - 4,540 (10th) 2016/17 - 4,103 (10th) 2015/16 - 4,033 (7th) I acknowledge we have a large away section where you can just chuck fans behind the goal (or in the corner[emoji6]) which probably skews attendance numbers slightly, but over the last couple years there has been a general dwindling in the numbers. I’d like to see our attendances this season disregarding away fans - don’t think I’ve seen the stadium so empty on a consistent basis in a long time.

The Staggies travel to The Toni Mac in an attempt to salvage some pride after last night’s gubbing from the ‘Well. If Malky Mackay wasn’t under pressure after our woeful start to the season before Tuesday then he certainly is now after one of the worst County performances in the Premiership era. Making it worse is the fact that we come up against a side we generally seem to struggle against in Livi. Martindale’s lads have started the season in decent nic, and have 9 points from a possible 12 at home. They’re a team I admire, and any manager that manages to turn Sean Kelly into a competent Premiership defender AND midfielder deserves a knighthood. The Staggies have never won an away Premiership meeting between the sides and, based on current form, I can’t see that changing this weekend. Mackay seems hell-bent on sticking with this 4-2-3-1 so in that case this is the team I’d go with in that shape: Laidlaw Johnson-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Purrington Tillson-Cancola Owura-Dhanda-Olaigbe Hiwula That team is pretty depressing to be honest and I don’t see where the goals come from but at least there’s a bit of creativity in behind Hiwula. Cancola gets in for a lack of a better option and surely Dhanda has to play to give us a link up the park from midfield. I don’t rate Hiwula off of what I’ve seen of him so far but White looks so shot of confidence and Dom Samuel just isn’t good enough. I can see Nouble tearing Johnson and Baldwin a new arse down our right hand side so you could maybe start Watson at right back but when you’re changing your team to caveat other team’s strengths you’re already mentally losing. Ultimately, I’d be surprised if we came away from this game with anything and if we lose, it’s hard to see a way back for Mackay from there.

Forgot about those two, Tony probably played a bit too. No no, I’m not taking anything away from it at all. Still think there were a few players from that team that were hard done by not to get more of a shout in the first team. Keillor-Dunn and Tumilty have both made a decent career thus far.

Easy for you to sit there and say that though. Put yourself in our shoes - wanting to watch your team. I’ve a soft spot for Clach and went for a few weeks but going to GS wasn’t the same. As for “not go”, I didn’t go. 100s of County fans stopped going. There’s a reason our attendances are the lowest in the league. Fact of the matter is, there’s several of the older generation of County fans that simply don’t care about what he’s done in his past and just want him for his football related credentials. That chunk, and it’s large, would never stop going because of him and ultimately there is nothing fans that were against the appointment could’ve done.

I’m not saying that we were all against it from the start. I personally was, stopped going to a games for a while then started to miss my football fix so went back. Surprisingly, the fans don’t appoint the manager. What could we as fans honestly have done different to give us a “spine”.

I didn’t see the game so can’t do a debrief type post but my god. Saw the team at 7 o clock and knew it would be tough with Paton and Callachan starting - I thought we’d lose tonight but I didn’t think that was forthcoming. He simply has to beat Livi at the weekend, a place we never win, or his peg will fall off the wall. Absolute drivel by the way. Expect nothing else from yourself though, one of the strangest contributors on the whole site.

My assumption would be that it’s the first section you come to after the turnstile so they just do that for ease.

It’ll be on hesgoal I’d assume. County don’t offer any sort of streaming service now.

It was some achievement to win that league, but how many off those lads were actually local guys? Off the top of my head I’m thinking Greg Morrison, James Wallace, was Ross MacIver still there at that point. I think the vast majority of them were boys who had been dropped by bigger academies and then given a second chance by County. Again, take nothing away from the achievement but it was hardly giving local lads a chance.

It’s my absolute bug bare on P&B when I see punters gub on about how team X is shite and there’s nothing surer that team Y will beat team X when they play each other in their upcoming game. However, this County side look absolutely rubbish. We look devoid of ideas going forward and ultimately rely on our two centre halves digging us out of a hole. I think we need a fresh shape as we’re too predictable. If we’re going to play direct to Jordan White and bypass the midfield every time, why not change shape to a 4-4-2 and have someone like Akio running off him with his pace in behind. This is how I’d line up the side: Laidlaw Johnson-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Purrington Olaigbe-Loturi-Tillson-Sims White-Akio As I say, I suspect this is a game in which we will have the minority of the ball so why not change to a shape that allows us to be direct when we win it back. I feel like the back 4 picks itself - full backs are solid yet unspectacular. The midfield is probably where there’s most contention. Callachan needs a spell out the team for me; he looks far more interested in getting into battles than getting on the ball and linking play. I don’t think our current 4-2-3-1 suits many of our midfielders - I don’t think Callachan has the discipline to play in front of the defence and Cancola isn’t sharp enough to play in a 2. I think he does his best work in the middle of a 3 where he can sit deep and get the ball of the defence. Hence why I’d go with Loturi and Tillson in a two because they give us legs and bite which we’ll need tomorrow. I’d go with Sims and Olaigbe on their natural sides to try and isolate them 1v1 with full backs and get crosses into the box - maybe harsh on Owura but I think Olaigbe is the better player personally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no tactical mastermind but why not try something different in this game as it genuinely is must win at this stage of the season. If we play with the same midfield 3 as Saturday, there is no doubt we will lose. I just hope the players realise how big a game this is for us as lose this and we’re 8 points behind Motherwell already and that’s a lot of ground to make up even at this stage.

Can someone also tell me what Ben Paton gives the team? He’s so one footed it’s unbelievable, he’s not quick, he’s not strong and he’s so safe with his passing. Yet we’ve got our club record signing sat on the bench.