D'Jaffo

How unfortunate for you.

We also only started the game with four loanees so the majority of the squad are actually signed up. Roy Syla was pointing to the badge on his lap of honour after being subbed which has won me over on him.

McKenzie went from playing a striker to playing alongside McHugh in midfield to then playing right back. I thought 1-0 at half time was a poor reflection on the game but we stepped it up a notch in the second half and defended brilliantly after going a goal up.

Ah well it’s there now I’m guessing it’s just the same as last week with Tomlinson in for Bryden. I think I would prefer a flat back five with Murphy on the left and a front three of Tomlinson, Dowds and McKenzie.

I do have a bit of sympathy for the team and Brown as injuries are hampering us but looking at the team I fail to see how we don’t concede at least a couple of goals and I don’t see how we can actually score more than maybe one. McGeady not being in the squad is a small positive though.

Fucking hell.

Pretty sure Thistle had a free season ticket initiative for under 16s around 10 years or so ago. It just so happened that the initiative coincided with the team being promoted to the Premiership and having a very successful stay there. They’ll have won over a load of fans that may have normally just followed Rangers or Celtic.

Not to mention that one of their fans took a kicking from one of our stewards after they tried to act the big man. Some laugh.

We’ve got ex Scotland and Celtic captain and new Ayr manager, Scott Brown with us. Will we ask him how he’s settled in at his new club? Aspirations for next season? Influences in management? Nah we’ll ask him about his hair.

I didn’t realise Jim Spence was still alive tbh.

Keep forgetting about Murdoch. If we see him before the end of the season I’ll be surprised. Brown doesn’t really have anything to judge him off either unless he’s taking advice from Mathie or White. I think a fully fit Murdoch is a good option but I’m not sure how mobile he’s going to be when he comes back.

Reading, Mutch both out for the season. Musonda injured on international duty, Chalmers and Dempsey have “knock” and are being monitored.

I think we had planned to spend the bulk of it on initial targets but then when they all told us to f**k off we settled for what we got. We seem to say it every summer but with the money left over from the Dipo sale and the Rangers cup money then we should have a very competitive budget for next season.

I’m going to be presuming that none of the injured players are back for this besides maybe Willoughby. Clarke McAllister Stanger McGinty Murphy Tomlinson McHugh Syla Amartey Dowds Willougby

He’ll be starting on Friday then. Not entirely against it tbh.

Pretty poor. I feel sorry for him as I feel many fans had written him off before he’d started given where we got him from but he’s done nothing to change the opinion by way of performances. He’s clumsy on and off the ball and just seems slow to react to danger. Since joining I’d say he’s made two really high profile errors which have ultimately cost us matches (even though we were already 1-0 on Saturday but had started coming back into the game). I can see why we signed him as he did really well at this level before with yourselves and Killie but I didn’t even think we were especially poor at centre back but we’re weaker now with him in the team.

For January signings they’ve been fine. Sanders is the only one I’d class as a failure so far.

No one is blaming Musonda but the point is that he has a terrible record of injuries and is away at different points of the season for Zambia. He’s turned into a waste of a wage as he’s not a particularly great defender.

It helped that we didn’t play with a left back for much of the game and Thomas and Longridge had complete freedom in that area of the pitch.

I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s doing it due to injuries and the fact that our defence is absolutely piss thin. I can genuinely see a mass overhaul coming in that area with Stanger the only one surviving and that’s more down to his age and the fact that he has shown potential this season. Everyone else can f**k off to be honest, even McGinty. I don’t have much cause for concern for Brown as a manager though. He's done okay in his first few months. I think it’s fair to say we’re at the stage of being inconsistent in terms of results which is an improvement on being consistently shite. Ultimately I think we’ll finish 7th or 8th.

Aye this was one of my frustrations. Especially since QP had left about three players at the other end of the pitch so we had massively outnumbered them in the box. It’s impossible to clear the ball and for it not to be coming straight back on top of you.

It was reminiscent of the first game up at Hampden where you insisted on playing out from the back and got caught short just about every time. Only difference is we were more clinical with our chances and today our goalie stopped it being a cricket score.

Still in disbelief we actually scored a goal tbh.

If Reading, McGinley and Musonda are all injured then I reckon our next best left back could well be Murphy. Hes at least got the experience to be in the right place at the right time and might actually help organise the useless c***s we have at the back. I’d then have Stanger and McGinty at centre back with McAllister at right back.

Aye considering we’ve got three players at the club who can play left back (to varying degrees of competency) and all of them are unavailable. I do wonder what Brown would’ve done with Ecrepont though? Would absolutely be using him now. I do find it hard to judge any manager on what they do in January. It’s a ridiculous month and clubs very rarely strengthen what they have unless they get lucky or spend money. Looking at the business we’ve done, Brown has only really replaced guys that were recalled or guys he straight away deemed not good enough. We definitely haven’t improved on any positions but I wouldn’t say we are outright poorer in any areas either. I think he needs to be ruthless in the summer and give himself enough scope to build his own squad.