Fuctifano

Would have said Graham was our only deserving candidate but that Mcmillan might have got it due to no one else really standing out in that position.

O'Reilly, Robinson and Bannigan all back in the squad- even if only Robinson starts then the bench should be a bit stronger than last few weeks.

I don't think anyone has missed them in Scotland albeit it was even worse here due to playing each other 4 times a season already. Surprised at the amount of shock from EFL clubs tbh.

On the development issue and players being better when they leave us than when they sign, I think it's more relevant to the guys who have come through the youth academy: Stanway, MacKenzie and maybe Lyon, although I can see Lyon being mutually consented in the summer or loaned out for the full last year of his contract. McBeth is probably a special case despite him being 24 years old given he was in the 6th tier before Christmas and is another one we need to make sure develops. If we're serious about integrating the youth team players into the first team squad then they're the guys who have to improve; from the outside it's been a waste of a year for MacKenzie, a few games out of position at the start of the season and he might now get a run in another position which isn't his own with Lawless being injured. He's not really any further forward in establishing himself than he was this time last season. Stanway I've thought for lots of this season hasn't quite seemed up to this level yet but I also think the potential is there- by all accounts he had a great game on Saturday so hopefully he's getting there. I suppose it can take some time - going back to McBeth, it took Doolan and Erskine probably 2 seasons to make the jump from juniors to being good Championship players, then another year to be standouts at Championship level and then onto being comfortable the Premiership.

Up until Adeloye and Lawless' injuries I don't think we'd been that bad for injuries this season, from Thistle Archive site we've played 42 competitive games so far and here's what each player has missed Lawless : 1 (and counting obvs ) Muirhead: 1 -and that was suspension Stanway: 1 Fitz: 2 Graham: 2 - 1 of which was suspension Milne : 2 - as Graham Alston: 3- but hasn't missed a game since he signed as signed before the final LC Group game Bannigan: 4 Neilson: 6- some of that would be international duty plus he didn't sign til after the LC group stages so not sure he's missed a game injured McInroy- 7 - again he didn't sign til after the LC groups so 3 games injured at most That's a reasonable core of guys who have missed next to no game time Then we come to (list isn't comprehensive): Williams: 11 Adeloye: 11 McMillan : 12- mostly at start of season IIRC O'Reilly 12 Robinson : 17 Ngwenya: 20 (didn't sign until after LC ) Considering we had about a ten minute turnaround between last season finishing and this one starting, I think we've done OK to only have McMillan from last season's guys miss any significant time. Robinson's recent career history is injury plagued and I don't know whether we took a punt on O'Reilly knowing he was injured but hope it would clear up sooner than it has. The issue for me was that was had no depth in certain positions, one of which is now biting us severely with Lawless injury.

Yeah intangibles like that and injuries can't be factored in without me having to make a guess so I just leave it as is.

Just realised I never posted latest probabilities etc: For title- DU 98.8% Raith 1.2% For promotion playoffs the model won't predict a large enough GD overturn for either Dunfermline or Ayr to get in at this stage. For avoiding 9th - as it stands An ICT win tonight moves that QP number into the mid 90s, a defeat lowers it to around 70 and draw keeps it around the same.

Was sceptical about this but reviews seem good so might give it a go. I'm on pleb Amazon Prime so do you get adverts every 10 minutes with Preston from Fallout 4 saying a settlement needs your help?

I wasn't debating whether it was a foul or not but would agree with this below, Araujo has made no attempt to play the ball even if Barcola has made the most of it. However if they've given the foul for pulling him back and the pulling back continues into the penalty area I thought it was a pen.

Thought that was a pen as he still had his hand on the shoulder in the area.

I really haven't watched much of the Premiership this season so hard to know even of the guys that I've heard of (refuse to believe Aston Oxborough is a real person) whether they're a candidate to drop down to championship level, on the likely assumption that's where we'll be next year. We need a keeper, right back most likely, probably a defensive midfielder unless we're planning to try McBeth there again, at least one and probably two wingers, plus a backup for Graham or competition if he starts to decline. I normally go FFS when folk mention signing old players but who wouldn't want SOD back for one last go? Would take Byrne as well but sure I read something on here when he signed for Raith on loan that for family reasons he needs to stay close-ish to Dundee or something. McInroy has been decent but I don't think we've got the best out of him, however I also think this level seems like his ceiling. Can see him being at Raith / Dunfermline / Falkirk next season. Innes Cameron might be alright in the Adeloye / Dowds role of Graham backup, don't know if he's been injured / out of favour / both but only played 3 times since November. Chris Kane would be better I think but Dunfermline might have first dibs. Always liked Andrew Shinnie as well but will be 35 at start of next season so not really what we need, and he's from the north east so probably see out his career up that way

Agree, we took ours to a dog friendly pub once after being out a beach walk with them and I don't think they've ever been as nervous apart from going to the vets, wouldn't sit still so we never let them off the lead. We were going to have lunch but just had one drink and then left.

Deadly Derek Underwood in his prime, now just Dead Derek Underwood

The tee shot at twelve was the last genuine bit of jeopardy imo, he can lay up at the two par fives and take the water out of the equation while still probably playing them under par.

I know it's not news but 3 hours for 11 and a bit holes in a two ball for the leaders, jesus christ.

Someone phone the course pretending to be his wife FFS

The £90k game TM My already very low hopes of going up through the playoffs evaporated with Lawless' injury but the extra dosh for finishing 3rd could make a difference next year in a league where there's unlikely to be a prohibitive favourite like there has been for the past few years.

Yeah that looks like same shape with MacKenzie playing on the right wing. Shame Robinson can't stay fit for ten minutes. I do not fancy that midfield at all and a bench with a 16 year old striker, a 17 year old striker, and an 18 year old striker on it is quite something.

I feel this bit has sort of become accepted but I'm not sure it's true. We only won 3 of the last 9 league games, and those three were against Arbroath Cove and a flatlining QP team. Of the last 3 games we drew 2 of them away to a dreadful Accies team and on the last day in Kirkcaldy against a Raith team with one outfield sub and nothing to play for - in fact Raith had a decent chance in injury time which if it had gone in would have seen us finish 5th. We then landed lucky by playing a QP team who were mentally shot, and still made heavy weather of the first leg, then a one man Ayr team where the one man was injured for the first leg and sent off after 20 minutes of the second (albeit the tie was done by then). One advantage we had last year that the winner of 3rd and 4th won't this year is that due to the late Premiership finish caused by the world cup, the 3rd vs 2nd playoff was Friday - Friday whereas this year it's back to Tuesday - Friday. I think the Premiership team will stay up this season, in the 9 years of the playoffs it's 4 Premiership wins, 2 championship wins and 3 draws which have gone to penalties (2-1 to the Premiership teams). For all we gubbed County in the cup I'd be inclined to write off the entire Derek Adams spell and think they'll have too much, and if it's St J then the Levein side will grind the life out of the Championship team over 2 legs.

Decided what I'd like to see us try is 3-4-2-1 Mitchell McBeth - Muirhead - Milne McMillan - Neilson - McInroy - Ngwenya Robinson - Fitzpatrick Graham Feel that has the least square pegs in round holes given what's available to us.

Not hugely keen to go in to bat for Airdrie but what is the point of (the football parts of) this forum if its not to dredge up things to gloat over?

This already has a processional feel to it unless his wife goes into labour.

In the cup game against us Nouble was outstanding, which we already knew from his Arbroath days he could be vs championship players, but he'll be away and the rest of their threat came from having 5 massive guys at set pieces which we couldn't handle. They must be thinking of keeping Martindale as there's no point in letting him go at the end of the season rather than now in footballing terms, they're clearly down. Unless there's a financial clause that means they have to wait until relegation is officially confirmed before letting him go.

Guess it's "only" 9 games since we last won in Kirkcaldy though with it being 13 years it feel a lot longer. Main issue for us is whether we react to the Lawless injury (which leaves us with one natural winger in the squad in Fitzpatrick) to a 3-5-2 which definitely suits the balance of the squad, but I'm not sure we've started a game with that setup all season, or if we stick with our usual shape and play someone out of position.

Starting to look fairly clear cut for everything except 9th now after Airdrie's win last night, though both Thistle and Airdrie need a few more points to get over the line, obviously we play each other on the 20th. In terms of who finishes 3rd it's coming out about 65-35 Thistle at the moment though it feels a lot tighter in reality due to Airdrie's recent form and Thistle losing Lawless for the season, the latter of which can't realistically be factored in. Target number of points for safety and promotion playoffs below.