Diamonds are Forever

That's because it was Watson, not Fordyce. Overall I thought Watson was excellent but he'll always give you one dodgy moment a game, it was a needless tackle that probably had an element of playing to the crowd in it. I think if they hadn't scored he'd have been given at least a yellow. McCabe was also asleep when the ball was cut back, we are a better team with him in it but that's where he is exposed - quick runners running off him. On the goalie, he did what was asked of him, which wasn't very much. It may be that ultimately we 'need better' (although I don't see how anyone has seen enough to tell yet) but the bottom line is there aren't top quality goalies sitting around in March waiting on a contract offer. We need him for the rest of the season so need to do what we can to help him settle in, if that means the defenders taking a bit more responsibility for crosses for the time being I'm fine with that.

I thought TNS looked a threat early on out wide but as soon as we worked out how to stop them (20 mins in) they had nothing to offer, extremely one dimensional. And defensively in the first half they were as bad as I've seen in a long time from a professional club in terms of how easy it was to get in, literally all we did was chip nothing balls straight down the middle and we got about 4 or 5 opportunities, not sure how we only scored one. You can tell they are a side that are never tested defensively. I'm sure if they played Championship teams every week they would adapt to the level but I was unimpressed by them, we had essentially half a team missing in the 2nd half and looked comfortable, don't think our goalie had a save to make. Don't mean that to take away from what we did by the way, just a comment on them.

No idea about TNS but looking at the available sections to Airdrie it looks pretty healthy to me. Behind the goal has about 140 seats left out of half the stand (1000?), most of which I imagine will still sell. And the only sections of the lower main stand that look like they won't sell out (or near enough) are the 2 sections nearest the TNS fans which is maybe a third of the stand. I think we'll have near 3000 which is as good as we can get these days - that's pretty much what we had in the home play-off ties and at home to Hearts. I think for us to ever get higher than that it would have to be a Scottish Cup semi at Hampden.. maybe next season... Said at the time that I wanted Falkirk in the final as it would have been a cracking crowd and atmosphere. With TNS it was always going to be a bad look for the TV cameras in terms of attendance, but that's what you get when you invite them into the tournament.

Your points per game under Campbell was 1.09 points per game. Which means you'd currently be on 30 points and still bottom of the league. Obviously with a few more points than you do now but then if you factor in that Campbell would have had to deal with the amount of injuries you've had it's fair to assume that you'd have been in exactly the same position as now, if not worse. If you look at last season, Arbroath got 34 points in 8th place and were 9 points behind 7th place. I don't think you'll quite reach that total this season but you could easily end up very near it as you are 11 points away with 8 games left. Campbell's points per game this season would have had you finish on 39 points, 5 points ahead of last season. Again, if not for injuries I think McIntyre would have got near that too. The points tallies suggest that there hasn't actually been a major drop off this season and that the signs were there last season that you were already falling a long way behind 'the pack' and were bailed out by Cove and Accies being dreadful. This season they've been replaced by 2 competent sides in Airdrie and Dunfermline which has meant you've had no bail out and been cut adrift.

I think the 2nd goal is exactly the type of goal you can concede with a new keeper, everyone not really sure who is dealing with it. I think the keeper should be stepping out and claiming it but might take a few games to develop a better understanding.

McCabe is obviously trying to get McMaster game time by playing him in the home games which should be a bit easier for him, and given himself the away games to Dundee Utd, ICT and Dunfermline, I'd assume he'll play himself next week too. It's been discussed before but McMaster does a job when we are dominant and he keeps things ticking over, but the further up the levels you go the less likely you get games like that - yesterday was the closest this season and even then it was nothing like some of our hammerings last year. He needs to be stronger defensively and offer a bit more with progressive passing. Passing safe and square isn't really enough, especially when you don't have that 'destructive' side to your game either.

Obviously no idea what he's like but I hope we don't put too much expectation on him to play out from the back like Rae does, at least initially. We've had good result recently being a bit more direct and whilst those were away on heavy grass pitches I'd hope we'd keep being relatively direct tomorrow until the goalie beds in. I felt that was part of the problem the boy Henderson had last year when he came in, instead of just asking him to focus on standard goalkeeper stuff we had him as a playmaker from the back and it just caused confusion at the back.

Totally agree. Trying to find a positive there is obviously never a good time for this to happen, but the 'least bad' would have been when it did in terms of us only having 1 league in a 3 week period coming up. That gives is time to get something sorted and more time for Rae to recover (although if it's long term it will make little difference). If this had happened in the Morton game 2 weeks ago we'd have been in real bother with the amount of fixtures soon after it.

I said the same before the Dunfermline game at the start of the season when we got Clarke in, but this relying on emergency keepers is the one thing I'd be critical of McCabe for during his time with us. In hindsight the way we utilised it last season was quite funny, but the reality is not having a reasonable back-up nearly derailed the season before Christmas and being able to get keepers like Johnson and Jamieson was as much down to luck as judgement. I understand we're on a tight budget and that convincing a keeper to sign up to sit on the bench for a year isn't the easiest sell, but every other club manages it and I refuse to believe there isn't a keeper out there who is at least League 2/lower League 1 level who wouldn't sign up to be back up and play Challenge Cup and potentially step in in situations like this. It's not like we didn't have warnings last year with injuries and suspensions for Josh, surely promotion would have allowed us the budget for another keeper? I also think having a bit of competition in that position is healthy, having someone there as a viable alternative if your form drops is surely going to drive standards more than knowing that you'll be starting every week regardless. I anticipate we'll get someone in but at this stage in the season there won't be many players left to choose from. At least the chance of playing in a cup final makes it quite an attractive option and a chance for them to put themselves in the shop window.

Regardless of whether he should or shouldn't be sacked, I can't remember the last time I saw a manager perform as badly in comparison to the club's expectations and not lose his job. It's just so rare nowadays for someone underperforming that badly to not lose his job. You might understand it if Bartley had a great CV to buy him some time, or that it wasn't his players and he had the 'judge me when it's my team' excuse, but neither is the case. He must be on a tidy salary if the board are still reluctant to sack him due to the cost of a pay-off. Or they have an incredible level of faith in someone who has done nothing to earn that faith.

Interesting looking at your results. I think you've only lost 2 of the last 9 games (since we beat you on 2nd January). Defensively you are also much better than the surrounding teams. Your problem is the number of draws - 4 of the last 5 being draws. In isolation a draw is usually not bad (like ours yesterday was a good point given the context) but in a season when safety is going to be easily 40+ points drawing games over any sustained period is literally relegation form, even though it can be spun as 'unbeaten'. Wouldn't take much to turn those draws into wins and put a string of wins together though.

I thought last week's draw was a poor result (albeit QP have definitely improved) but I think this week's was a good point. Gained on Arbroath and Dunfermline and didn't lose ground on anyone else. Plus off the back of a busy schedule I think it's a lot to expect the players to put in a great performance. I think today was a case of don't lose, keep ICT at arm's length and move onto next week. I thought if we got 8 points from the run of QP, Dunfermline, ICT and Arbroath that would be a great return and we have a chance to get that next week.

Great result, gives us a bit more of a cushion down to 9th both in terms of points and number of teams beneath us. The last 2 away results show that for all the 'philosophy' chat that surrounds us we have developed into a really solid, well drilled side who can dig out results. When we're not giving goals away by trying to pass it out from the back we're a difficult side to score against.

The law specifically says that players should not be judged to have made their body unnaturally bigger if the position of the arm is a consequence of the player's movement or situation. He is literally in mid-air stretching and being nudged by 2 players. His arm being miles away from his body means nothing without context, and the context means it's not a penalty. People seem to be removing responsibility from the officials here by claiming they have no choice by inventing new offside laws. They do have a choice, the law says it's not a penalty, it's incompetent officiating.

What 'new' part of the rule justifies that penalty award? His arm is in a 'natural' position being used to balance himself mid-air (which the law explicitly allows for) and it's knocked onto his arm. There is nothing in any law which justifies that being given despite these mythical 'new laws' I see people talking about.

Incompetence is not a reason for it not being a red card.

Not sure that's true with Falkirk, there's no real reason to give squad players a game as there's nothing to save the first 11 for. They have an unbeaten run to continue and will be desperate to do that. There may be the odd player who they are not sure about offering a contract to who gets a run out but I doubt it will mean any major changes to the team. Similar situation to Dunfermline last season (think they had a club record to go for?) and they kept on going full steam to the end of the season. Accies are a different situation as teams assured of play-offs always mix things up. However their form has been very up and down anyway so there probably won't be any noticeable difference.

I've been wanting this for a while. He was a wide player coming through at Killie and it shows at this level where he simply doesn't have the touch, awareness and close control in those congested areas that a natural attacking midfielder has. Last season ended well but I thought for chunks of last season he was poor in there as well. When he's out wider there's not as much pressure on his touch as he has more space and he can go by a man and put good crosses in. His best season for us was his first under Murray when he played in the wider role in a diamond, he would get the ball in wider areas on the half turn in space and drive up the pitch. His goals/assists return from his attacking midfield role isn't good enough and I think he's had a long enough run to show it, I'd move him a bit deeper and wider and put McStravick or Lyall in there.

There's definitely plenty of resting/rotation going on at the moment for this busy spell of games. McCabe took himself out last Saturday but back in on Tuesday, I'd imagine the same will happen on Tuesday. I don't think he thinks he can play 2 games a week so will play himself in the tougher games. Telfer's played the full 90 of previous 2 games so wouldn't be surprised if he was brought off a bit early for Tuesday. The strikers are getting rotated round, and I was surprised Hancock was available today but assume he was rested and only used if needed, which he was. Would expect him to start Tuesday too and Ballantyne to drop out. Like others I think Frizz needs rested/dropped but he seems to be the one who is immune, I just don't think he offers enough and although we don't have amazing alternatives I do think Lyall or McStravick could do a job in that role.

If results this weekend are anything to go by it could be more. I'd say 45 is safety, anything between 40-44 and you could still be in trouble. ICT getting 4 wins and a draw in 9 games is perfectly feasible, as is Ayr/Dunfermline/QP getting 4 wins each. I know everyone has to play each other so they can't all win, but equally it means every week teams beneath us are guaranteed to get some points as they are playing each other. The top sides are poor so every game is winnable for every team. Not saying it's a disaster of a result, but was just surprised to see people think it was quite a good result or that 'nothing was lost' - nothing was lost to QP but we lost ground on a few teams round about us which is ultimately what matters.

Not sure I share that positive thought, obviously it's preferable to losing when 1-0 down and in isolation it's an okay result as this version of QP are a decent side. But in the context of the season drawing at home to a bottom half side is a bad result. This weekend we've lost 2 points on Arbroath, Dunfermline and ICT, gained 1 on Ayr and gained nothing from QP despite playing them at home. We now only have 4 home games left and it's been our home form which has largely kept us above he relegation spots. Draws will probably be enough to keep Arbroath at bay, but other than that they will have us heading down the league given other teams results at the moment.

I think he's been like that most of the season, he always looks a bit heavy legged to me. I'd expect him to offer a similar performance level as someone like Telfer does but if you compare them this season it's night and day. Not always a huge fan of reducing everything to stats but Frizz has 0 goals and 2 assists in 23 league games, and that's as our most advanced midfielder. Our lack of quality up front has been spoken about and doesn't help, but that's simply not a good enough return from someone playing that position, you can't really spin it any other way.

That keeper looks like he's never played before. Obviously the defending is terrible but he completely sells himself for the 1st and the 6th. The 4th his positioning is hopeless and leaves the goal empty, and the 5th is calamitous. He's mastered the art of waving his arms around at everyone else though in that kind of 'what am I playing with?!' type way, unfortunately for him he appears to be at the same level as the rest of them.

There's no doubt it's grown arms and legs a bit, McCabe is good at saying the right things to sound like a modern manager and that's caught on with the media. In reality we're not particularly attacking (as our goals for shows) and we do have more variety in our play than people think (away from home anyway, at home we tend to play the same most games). It is true that generally we try to build from the back and a huge amount of our goals come from that, as do a few of our conceded goals (see recent Ayr game). Last night was probably us a bit more direct going with 2 strikers, but we don't typically play like that. I certainly don't see it as a weakness at all that McCabe will mix things up, there was a spell early last season where he seemed he might become one of these stubborn managers who plays the same way no matter what, however he's learned to adapt and alter things depending on the opposition and that's what's allowed us to go from a free scoring side last season to a pretty solid side this season with virtually the same players. If we'd kept playing how we did last season without improving the squad we'd already be relegated. If you'd said this time last season that we'd be able to go away to Dundee Utd and win 2-0 you'd have been laughed at, it's the fact we've been able to play different styles that has given us a chance this season.

I think they'd probably need to win at least 6 of their remaining 11 games, maybe a couple of draws too. And given they've won 1 of their last 18 league games that does look pretty much impossible. It's so hard for any side to go on a winning run in this league, let alone a side with Arbroath's issues. I don't agree they'll be cannon fodder though, I'd never be very confident of us picking up 3 points at Gayfield... and they'll still take points off a few teams.