ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

Murray’s “We know each other very well - maybe they’ll add personnel and maybe we will,” comment in the match preview seems to suggest there’s a player we expect to sign very soon and are hoping to confirm before tomorrow’s match.

I don't like this game

'After Wednesday' a lot of us seemed to be debating whether McInroy would be picked up by another club due to excellent performances for us. I'm going to guess that the shock is connected to us extending his loan and maybe also agreeing a pre-contract with him.

Ok I’ll bite. What on earth is that supposed to mean?

The way we're playing might influence these kinds of decisions as well. If a club is going to send a player on loan to a League One side for game time surely it would be good for their development to opt for the team that's playing the most attractive and positive football in the league. That is assuming these clubs watch highlights before sending players out on loan however.

McDonald in and Frizzell out from last game. Will be interesting to see who plays where, could just be a straight swap or it might mean McDonald playing full back with McGill coming into midfield. Could even see Watson play centre half and McCabe allowed push up into midfield since both McGill and McDonald have played full back in the past (at the same time once when our covid-hit squad played Peterhead early on in the season).

We were excellent today and could have had a lot more. Top 4 starting to really get away from the rest of the pack. It's nice to have that cushion even if Cove end up running away with the league but there's a lot of football still to be played.

Looking ahead to January (since we have no game today) I think we'd all be happy to see any reinforcements come in although some positions might be a bigger priority than others. How many we need in defence is completely dependent on how long Kerr and Lyons are expected to be out, but we definitely need at least one considering we never really replaced Wardrop (although I'm happy with Watson as first choice right back) and Lyons and Kerr are both seemingly injury prone. I think Paul Watson (released by Dunfermline in October) would be a good addition here. He's an experienced centre half who's played at Championship level for the majority of his career. A full back on loan from Hearts as has been mentioned would be another welcome addition, regardless of which side he plays on. Assuming Scott McGill and McInroy have their loans extended I don't think we need to bring in any midfielders, but it's worth noting that with his contract running out in the summer we are allowed to begin pre-contract negotiations with McInroy. He would maybe rather wait and see what offers he can get since I'm sure he could play at Championship level if we fail to achieve promotion, but there's no harm in starting talks and flinging a contract his way (he's certainly one of the best players in our squad at the moment). Like I said, we don't really need to prioritise midfield recruitment this winter, but if a quality player becomes available to us we're in no position to knock him back. We have decent options up front in Gallagher, Smith and Gabby McGill, but with Salim out injured and Allan not really looking the part I think getting one more striker in could be worth it. A couple of seasons ago we brought back Andy Ryan to try and help us push for promotion and although he never really got going and then the season was cut short by covid, the same thinking might be required here. A striker of that calibre should help us here, and his job might be easier than Ryan's was in early 2020 with a stronger and more creative midfield now. As for outgoing players, I never really think of January as a time to offload players so I'd be surprised if there were many at all but there's certainly players in the squad that don't look like they'll ever really get any game time. I don't think there would be any complaints from any of us if Ritchie, McDonald, Allan were sent out on loan or let go, and I imagine those boys would want to be playing more regularly somewhere else too rather than warming our bench. For every player out we'd need to bring one in, our squad isn't big enough to be reduced in size mid-season so it's worth considering that as well before letting anyone go.

Hopefully we can keep using this covid excuse until we have two fit centre backs

Now watched the highlights so I've seen Lyons' collision with the post. Hopefully he'll recover quickly but it looked sore, I winced watching it. Such a shame for him when he's only just back from injury but in making that clearance he's shown exactly the kind of commitment you want from your centre backs. Those types of injuries can be really bad too, it was a collision with the post that's seen Christopher Jullien out for over a year at Celtic (although I think his back took the impact which is probably one of the last parts of your body you want to collide with the post). Hoping for both him and the team it isn't too bad.

Didn't see tonight's game but I wasn't feeling particularly optimistic about a game away to a team we've struggled against in recent history in conditions like today's. Need to be picking up points in these games to be title contenders, at the moment it feels like we're setting ourselves up for another playoff disappointment.

Looks like 4231 tonight based on the players starting. The more glass-is-half-full side of me thinks that playing side by side at the base of midfield is probably the way to get the best out of both McCabe and McInroy, but we've generally been at our best in the last few months when playing with two proper out and out strikers.

Gal's had a good season for us, he's just not a target man. He's shown to be a fairly reliable goalscorer over the past 3 seasons and is involved in build up play and gets assists too. He struggled today and mistimed his jump for almost every long ball but his hold up play is actually good when the ball is played into his feet or body.

Delighted to see Quitongo starting and hopefully it means we're getting closer to a full strength squad but a bit surprised to see Lyons neither starting nor on the bench after making a brief cameo last week. Hopefully nothing too serious

I wasn't too bothered as I was fairly busy and would only really have been able to watch some of the game in passing but thanks for the response. I'll catch the highlights tomorrow.

I can't make this game so I was planning to watch on DTV. I thought it would work automatically since I have a season ticket but I still need a code which I haven't received in any emails. Anyone know how to watch?

Looks to me like it'll be either Agnew or McInroy at left back today with Watson shifting to centre back

It definitely does come down to trust and so far Murray hasn't trusted Walker to play centre back once, instead preferring to play a 5ft 9 centre mid there. It might be his preferred position but I can't see Walker playing centre back any time soon.

With McGill noticeably struggling at left back in the first half at Alloa I wondered if a reshuffle would help the team. I was thinking McInroy (who is actually left footed) at left back, McGill across to right back, Watson playing next to Dycey at centre back and McCabe stepping up into his preferred deeper midfield role. Seems to leave less players out of position without actually changing any personnel.

Having watched the highlights MacLean's red was definitely for something said to the linesman. He turns and starts screaming at the linesman as soon as the penalty is awarded.

Their next game is East Fife so I'm sure they'll cope just fine

Buchanan literally hauled a man who had passed him to the ground with his hands. It was only not a straight red because he had a teammate quite near him.

If the ref's sent MacLean off for calling him a clown then you do wonder what Geggan and Buchanan called him in the first half that wasn't as bad as 'clown' but still worthy of a booking. Laughably bad decision if that's really all that was said. Surely MacLean has said something a bit fiercer than that? Or at least the ref has misheard something fiercer? The linesman flagged during the period of argument after the penalty was awarded and I assumed MacLean's red was due to something he had spotted or heard but I can't actually recall the two of them having a discussion at any point in that moment.

How can any of us know whether the bookings for dissent were fair or unfair? It's not like we can hear what's said from the stands. What I can say is that the two second yellows looked pretty obvious to me. Buchanan's pulled Allan down to stop an attack which is a yellow all day long and Geggan's been really silly with his needless foul on Currie. As for the penalties the first one was a stonewaller and I thought the second one was a penalty at the time but it was quite far away from me so I'll reserve judgement 'til I get another look since there's a few saying it was soft. Both teams could have had a penalty for handball as well imo. We don't win that game without Dumbarton's indiscipline imo. We were really poor and very lucky.

Only Airdrie player I remember actually booting the ball away was Currie after Easton's goal and he was booked for it. We had no reason to waste any time other than the four minute spell when the game was 2-1.