The Toun Clock

Going forward, we can't look at McCann being a striker. He's a wide player who happens to be quite physical.

Depends how old you feel on the day...

I can, because we've played almost the full season without the guys who were do dominant in that League 1 title winning season. We've turned a corner in the last couple of weeks and it's largely down to the return of guys like Matty Todd, Jakubiak and the signing of Chris Kane who didn't play last night. Might sound like sour grapes but if we didn't have the injury problems on such a huge scale this season then I think we'd be doing much better than we are, I'm not saying challenging for titles but I think we would be well in with a shout of top four. Unfortunately we've just got to take the cards we've been dealt. The result last night was disappointing but I think it was just a bad night. Missed chances, go a goal down and as soon as that happened I knew Airdrie would grind it out.

One issue we have is we often make things difficult for ourselves, decision making can be terrible, which leads to us making an arse of chances etc. When that happens the crowd start getting a bit twitchy and on the players backs. East End has always had a rather impatient set of supporters, I know a lot of teams do have this but we've always been quite quick to jump on the players backs for whatever reason. Last season was great, lost one game all season and East End was a fortress but we've not been able to mirror that this season. The injuries played a part in a mid season dip of form, no doubt and then we just got into a rut. That being said, since the Thistle game there's been a change. The effort can't really be questioned from the players and we'd picked up seven points from an available nine before last night. I'm not too downbeat on last night, Airdrie had two shots on goal and scored with both, they didn't really do much else apart from that and on another night we're two up inside five minutes. But again, we didn't take our chances, then didn't do enough to stop Airdrie taking the lead and once that happened you knew they'd see it out, every trick in the book and all that does is gets the fans frustrated and it becomes more tense for the players. Would it have been nice going into Saturday's derby with a bit of momentum taking 10 points from 12, yeah absolutely, but it was probably a wee reality check too that we're going to win and lose games before the end of the season and we'll just have to make sure we do enough to get points on the board and stay away from the drop zone.

I was quite looking forward to this after the last couple of games, but tonight has put a wee dampener on it. We played okay tonight but missed Chris Kake and didn’t take our chances. McPake’s post-match sounds like Kane was feeling fatigue after playing a lot in a short space of time hence why he missed out. He also said Bene was close to playing tonight but he had loyalty towards Hammy and Fagan-Walcott after two clean sheets in a row. Wouldn’t be shocked to see Bene start on Saturday with Hammy back in the middle of the park. Fairly simple, if Chris Kane plays then I think we could get a result. If he doesn’t then I might stay in the house. Raith will have the luxury of rest, we’ve now played twice on a heavy pitch since they lost to Arbroath on Friday.

What actually happened with the gesture? I heard a shout from the crowd when he was going off but didn’t see it?

Just listened to the managers post match. Some of the main takeaways… - Kane should be fine for Saturday, just a fatigue issue after playing on a heavy pitch on Saturday. - Bene was close to playing tonight but wanted to keep Hammy and MFW since they’ve had three positive results together including two clean sheets. Be shocked if Bene doesn’t start on Saturday now with Hammy back in the middle.

Fair play to Airdrie, deserved to win the game because they took their chances, wasn’t much in it apart from that. Felt we started fast and on another day could have been two up, Todd should have scored both chances. Big Todorov scores and after that we just played into Airdrie’s hands, hoofing the ball up the park and it was pretty aimless. I was very disappointed when we let Todorov go. I’m not happy we lost but I am glad Todorov scored on a night where we lacked any real striker presence, it was a silly move by the club and it’s backfired against them. Jakubiak is a wide man, he can’t lead the line on his own, it’s not his game. I genuinely don’t know what Lewis McCann brings to the team anymore, he’s been absolutely gash since he signed his new deal late last year and Holmes doesn’t look like he’s up to much. We so badly missed Chris Kane, praying he’s available for Saturday. Great to see Richie-Hosler back on the pitch. He didn’t have much chance to shine as by the time he came on it was just hoof ball but a great option to have. Todd getting a full 90 and some more training time under Bene’s belt. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him involved on Saturday, getting Hammy back in the middle.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Bene get 15-20 tonight. Gonna be a really tough game, dream scenario would be getting a similar lead to Saturday, maybe another to kill it and being able to make subs and giving the boys like Kane, Todd, Otoo a wee rest ahead of Saturday. I know that's unlikely of course.

I think the manager might prefer the 3-5-2 so he can put two quicker CB's either side of Bene, like Fisher and MFW. If everyone was fit, I'd have MFW ahead of Breen in the pecking order now, he looks to have settled (going to end up scoring an OG and getting sent off tonight). But aye I think we could get away with Allan coming out the starting 11, Bene going into CB and Hammy moving forward to partner Otoo in the middle of the park.

Agreed, I got the ParsTV steam on the firestick last week for the Inverness (a) game and it was a good picture.

Dabrowski would have to catch it first…

Really looking forward to this. On Thursday it'll be the anniversary of that title defining Falkirk game from last season. It would be great to have a similar scoreline to give us a bit of momentum going into the derby on Saturday.

Chris Kane is everything I hoped Wighton would turn into.

No special reason mate, I forgot he’d played for us, quite fond of him on Open Goal podcast and just went for it.

I have a feeling this was the day the North stand linesman went off injured and was replaced by a Pars fan who was just there as a punter. I think this will be a tough game but I’ve seen enough in the last couple of weeks to know a wee corner has been turned so I don’t fear it and know we can win. Seven points taken from the nine available, and a win on Tuesday would be very welcome considering we’ve got Raith away and Dundee Utd at home in the next fortnight. Not sure we’ll see any major changes to the team, I think he’ll just have Bene as part of the squad again and might give him 10 minutes if anything. I don’t expect any other injured guys being back and hopefully no injuries from yesterday. Should be a good game, absolutely love a midweek game under the lights!

I’m not one who would normally miss a derby game but I was basing my decision on going on how we were playing. Thankfully since Thistle away last weekend we’ve gained 7 points from an available nine and are certainly looking better so I’ll be there. Still a huge game at East End against Airdrie for us before our game next weekend. I’d still hold the Rovers as favourites for this one as they’ve an abundance of talented players who can cause a bit of concern. I think Raith will drop points between now and the end of the season, however I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s against the teams you maybe wouldn’t expect like we seen on Friday. This particular group of players seem to turn up well in those title chasing games with Dundee Utd and derbies with ourselves. Yesterday we had a full bench for the first time this season and had the luxury of using all substitutions with experienced players, which is massive. Bene was an unused sub so hopefully another week of full training, however not sure he’ll start. I’d love the idea as it would allow Chris Hamilton to move back into the midfield but not sure how ready Bene actually is. He may well be involved on Tuesday. Head says Raith to win with a reaction to Fridays game, heart says a tense 0-1 win with Otoo scoring.

It is indeed mate

I was shocked when he didn’t start. I was in bang on kick off so didn’t get a chance to check the Ayr team. Wasn’t until half time I had a look at their subs and realised Chalmers, McGeady and the boy who scored twice in midweek were all available, which caused a bit of worry. Could see Chalmers was being readied to come on at HT but he hardly had a sniff. Edwards was really on it yesterday and he’s hard to beat when he’s like that. They switched Chalmers over to the left up against Welch-Hayes but he didn’t have a sniff there either.

An enjoyable afternoon, first time I’ve seen us win in the flesh since mid November. First 10-15 mins we were on it, and I was a bit concerned we’d missed our chance to get a goal as the majority of the half was the just a bit scrappy. Great time to get a goal, Hammy has no right winning that header I think he’s 4ft 8 or something but we know he can do it. Was saying to my mates what a great time to score it was, when Chris Kane took the ball off the defender and scored, even better. Second half was fairly boring, pitch was poor infront of the main stand, really bobbly and cutting up which is just a result of weather and using the USH. Seems to be as soon as we use it once it takes ages to recover. It’s a shame because our pitch is normally really good all year round but it’s struggled since the the turn of the year. First time I’ve seen us play Ayr in the flesh this season and I expected a tougher game but could have just been a blip. I know he’s a big loddie but the boy Dowds looked like he’d hired Mark Yardley as a nutritionist. Thought Otoo had an off day yesterday, was still good but not his usual self. Hammy was solid again, Kane & Edwards very good, Hayes-Welch solid and got the sponsors MOM, but for me I’d have went with MFW, thought he was great, won everything in the air and done the basics right. Todd wasn’t at his best yesterday but didn’t have to be, which is good, we’re not solely relying on Matty, however he does add so much with those forward runs beyond the striker. Great to see such a strong bench, must be the first time this season we’ve had those sort of options and it showed, I think we made 5 subs yesterday.

Are you planning on going town centre? There are a lot of pubs and plenty good ones.

Home win, please and thanks!

Aye it's a weird one for us as well to be fair, this time last week it was fairly doom and gloom. Three home games in a row (Morton, QP and Arbroath) where most fans would have realistically been thinking nine points were a possibility, at worst six or seven, ended up with a point. Transfer business had been poor, signings looked to have made things even worse, then all of a sudden we rock up at Firhill with a couple of the injured boys back, mainly Matty Todd and get a victory, even if it did come with the controversy. Went to Inverness on Tuesday, usually a very unhappy hunting ground for us and got a point which I think most would have taken. Chris Kane missed out due to illness which had a big impact. Should be a good game with a lot to play for, the same with Airdrie and QP who will play tomorrow, all in that similar points category as ourselves. Tough game for Inverness going to Cappielow and I think Raith will beat Arbroath so a chance to build the gap that wee bit further.

No one really arsed for this? Big ol game!

Never know but I can't personally see anyone else coming in. I have a feeling Bene, Breen and Fisher aren't a million miles away. I'd have liked another striker too, as without Kane we're a bit toothless up front. I know he hasn't scored yet, but his all round striker play is so much better than the rest.