Matty-RCFC

Using the +100 scenario that@Ginaro did last year, then it would be: Pollok - 2792 Annan - 2716 Difference - +76 With Annan in such bad nick, it’s probably as good a chance as you’ll get for an ‘upset’ in this round IMO. Maybe Kilwinning/Forfar too.

Monday 24th, 4pm.

An absolute eye-sore awaits as 10th faces 12th in the Cinch Premiership. The Staggies have been brutal since our first game of the season, with a smash and grab away at Livi masking what has been a very poor first quarter of the season. Killie sit on the same points as County, however by all accounts the “Killie Boys (up to their knees in Ayr blood)” seem to be on an upward curve and definitely go into this game favourites. I don’t think this is going to be one for the purists, but I’d like to see a team that can maintain a string of 5/6 passes this week instead of shelling the ball into the channel for Jordan White to maraud towards. Why not line up something like this… Laidlaw Johnson(Watson)-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Harmon(Johnson) Tillson-Cancola Sims-Dhanda-Owura Hiwula There is absolutely no way on gods Green earth that will be the team selected. With Purrington injured, Harmon is expected back soon but if he’s not yet available then I’d expect the bracketed back 4. I think Tillson and Cancola are our best two holding midfielders, hence pick themselves. Going forward is where things get a bit debatable. I think each of our wingers are at their best when cutting inside so I’d like to see a left footer start on the right hand side and Sims fits that bill, whilst Owura was great last week in the first half against United. I thought Callachan probably had his best game last week, and there’s no way he won’t start on Saturday, but I’d like to see Dhanda from the start because every time he comes on he dictates the game and I think he’s technically the best we can offer. As I said on the County thread, I think Hiwula is the best of a bad bunch when it comes to our forward line and I reckon he will get the nod on Saturday. I think this will be a meaty game which seems to suit us to be honest. I think it’s imperative we don’t lose this game, and halt Killie’s attempt at detaching from the glob of shite at the bottom. Hopefully 2-0 Staggies. Have a good day all.

I think Hiwula is our best option up front. Whether he is a premiership level striker is a completely different question - and I’m unsure if he is. He’s quite neat and tidy but for his size I find he gets knocked off the ball fairly easily and he’s shit scared of a ball coming at him above his head.

I probably should’ve just waited for you to do it yourself. How did you account for home advantage? Boost each teams rating by a certain amount?

I seem to remember last year in the Scottish Cup thread, a poster (who’s name escapes me but know I’m giving you full credit) used the ScotScore website’s ranking points as a method of measuring the two teams in different leagues together. Whilst not a sure fire 100% prediction rate, I seem to remember that the system got the vast majority of the predictions right. So, I’ve decided, as I am sad and seem to have a lot of disposable time, that I would do the same for this round of the cup. https://scotscores.theroonba.com/clubrank/clubrank.html - here is the link for the website if anyone is interested. Note - I’ve measured clubs with a gap of 50 or less as expected to draw. Anything more and the side with the higher ranking is expected to win. Friday Cumnock - 2670 Dumbarton - 2741 Difference - -71 DUMBARTON Saturday Brechin - 2763 Stirling - 2839 Difference - -76 STIRLING Bo’ness - 2626 Auchinleck - 2767 Difference - -141 AUCHINLECK Buckie - 2749 Broomhill - 2629 Difference - +120 BUCKIE Carnoustie - 2611 Formartine - 2613 Difference - -2 DRAW Dalbeattie - 2403 Darvel - 2813 Difference - -410 DARVEL Dunbar - 2438 Stirling Uni - 2651 Difference - -213 STIRLING UNI Dunipace - 2517 Banks o’Dee - 2665 Difference - -148 BANKS O DEE East Kilbride - 2749 Caley Braves - 2640 Difference - +109 EAST KILBRIDE Elgin - 2744 Camelon - 2385 Difference - +359 ELGIN Fraserburgh - 2699 Stranraer - 2704 Difference - -5 DRAW Glasgow Uni - 2354 Albion Rovers - 2702 Difference - -348 ALBION ROVERS Gretna - 2436 Drumchapel - 2637 Difference - +201 DRUMCHAPEL Kilwinning - 2713 Forfar - 2707 Difference - +6 Draw Linlithgow - 2720 Spartans - 2691 Difference - +29 DRAW Newtongrange Star - 2503 Hill of Beath - 2580 Difference - -71 HILL OF BEATH Sauchie - 2613 Bonnyrigg - 2716 Difference - -103 BONNYRIGG ROSE Stenhousemuir - 2749 East Fife - 2761 Difference - -12 DRAW Wick - 2374 Benburb - 2547 Difference - -173 BENBURB Of course, this doesn’t take into account things like red cards, the venue, weather conditions etc. - it’s pretty much measured on a form basis. It’s just quite interesting to see how teams in different leagues match up against each other.

Purrington out for a while; huge miss.

Richards is an absolute waffler. Stonewall foul man.

That was a really strange game. I thought the longer the first half went, the better United looked but it was some finish from Callachan. They then started the second half better and probably had the better of the game up until the 80th minute or so. At that point, I thought we finished stronger and Johnson’s really unlucky not to score at the end. I thought it was pretty entertaining game for a neutral, but extremely frustrating to watch as a County fan. We still don’t look like we have much of a plan - to me it looked like the aim was get Jordan White in the channel and hit him. However, every single ball into the space went over his head and United were able to restart the game. I thought we looked far better when Akio, Dhanda and Olaigbe were on the pitch and when we play through the lines because we have the players to do it. Defended brilliantly again I thought. It’s hard to be excited about the performance but a point is a point especially against a team we seem to struggle against. The lack of chances created is a bit of a worry for me though.

Absolutely never a penalty - ball hits off of Baldwin and then onto Johnson’s arm which was by his side. Also, far better than us? Not sure what game you’re watching as there has been absolutely zilch between the two sides other than a decent finish.

Exactly as I thought. Big game for Hiwula. I quite like this lineup.

Good signing, he is the anchor type midfielder United have been crying out for. However, surely won’t start today though. Unless he’s been training with the team for a while.

Despite the win last week, it was very much a watch through the hands performance as we snuck away from West Lothian with 3 points. The swashbuckling Staggies look to get 2 wins on the spin for the first time this season, but it comes against our perennial bogey team in the shape of United who seem to have hit a great patch of form. I feel as if our defence is our strongest asset at the minute, so don’t see that back 4 changing in terms of shape. It seems to be two sides with very similar styles, so it’ll be interesting to see which team takes the initiative and gets on the ball immediately. When County have the brunt of the possession, we struggle badly to break teams down - Dunfermline and Buckie perfect examples. I think the game will be won in the middle of the park; United seem pretty lightweight there but so are we so it’s imperative we take a hold of the middle third. Hence, I can see us setting up to break on United, so this is the sort of team I reckon we’ll see: Laidlaw Johnson-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Purrington Tillson-Cancola Edwards-Callachan-Hiwula White I think Johnson should start in place of Watson purely to deal with Middleton’s pace, plus he’s more of an asset than Watson on the break. The two of Tillson and Cancola gives us probably our best mix of athleticism and power combined, as well as Cancola’s ability to spray passes from deep. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve not been Callachan’s biggest fan but I can see his dynamism suiting us if we’re to cheat and leave 3 up. Hiwula did brilliantly last week when he came on and deserves a start too. I think the game will be tight, don’t see many goals in it at all. I think whoever wins it will sneak it, and I think we’re due a win against United so I’m going to plump for a 1-0 win for the good guys.

Just started laughing to myself at the goal. Every time I’ve seen Livi so far this season, be it Sportscene or Hesgoal or whatever, he’s been absolutely fine. However, that was the Sean Kelly I’m absolutely used to right there.

Absolutely incredible. That must’ve been our first chance of the game.

Absolutely fucking brutal.

Just seen that Peterhead are without 16 (SIXTEEN) players tomorrow; how does that even happen? Are they planning on playing 5s tomorrows or what’s the script there?

Cheers mate, will have a proper look into trains later. In Edinburgh for the night after the game so would need to go through there afterwards anyway.

That’s me told!

Glasgow-based mug here attending the game. I’m relying on public transport to get to the game on Sat but believe there’s train strikes on. Is my best bet getting a bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh and then onward to Livingston?

Your CEO forgets to order seats for stands! I now understand why you linger on County threads so much - you’re actually Scott Gardiner hoping to find a wee tip from Uncle Roy on how to found a multi-million pound company. It’s not gonna happen Scarfy boy!

I think when we first came up and the subsequent 2/3 years they were pretty legit figures, but aye now it’s definitely plucked from thin air.

I agree with the second part of your statement and ultimately we will return to be a jobbing Championship side in 10 years or so, but attendance wise it’s not always been the case since we’ve been in the Premiership. Our Premiership Attendances since 2015: 2022/23 (so far) - 4,131 (12th) - skewed slightly by large away attendances. 2021/22 - 3,978 (11th) 2019/20 - 4,361 (9th) 2017/18 - 4,540 (10th) 2016/17 - 4,103 (10th) 2015/16 - 4,033 (7th) I acknowledge we have a large away section where you can just chuck fans behind the goal (or in the corner[emoji6]) which probably skews attendance numbers slightly, but over the last couple years there has been a general dwindling in the numbers. I’d like to see our attendances this season disregarding away fans - don’t think I’ve seen the stadium so empty on a consistent basis in a long time.

The Staggies travel to The Toni Mac in an attempt to salvage some pride after last night’s gubbing from the ‘Well. If Malky Mackay wasn’t under pressure after our woeful start to the season before Tuesday then he certainly is now after one of the worst County performances in the Premiership era. Making it worse is the fact that we come up against a side we generally seem to struggle against in Livi. Martindale’s lads have started the season in decent nic, and have 9 points from a possible 12 at home. They’re a team I admire, and any manager that manages to turn Sean Kelly into a competent Premiership defender AND midfielder deserves a knighthood. The Staggies have never won an away Premiership meeting between the sides and, based on current form, I can’t see that changing this weekend. Mackay seems hell-bent on sticking with this 4-2-3-1 so in that case this is the team I’d go with in that shape: Laidlaw Johnson-Baldwin-Iacovitti-Purrington Tillson-Cancola Owura-Dhanda-Olaigbe Hiwula That team is pretty depressing to be honest and I don’t see where the goals come from but at least there’s a bit of creativity in behind Hiwula. Cancola gets in for a lack of a better option and surely Dhanda has to play to give us a link up the park from midfield. I don’t rate Hiwula off of what I’ve seen of him so far but White looks so shot of confidence and Dom Samuel just isn’t good enough. I can see Nouble tearing Johnson and Baldwin a new arse down our right hand side so you could maybe start Watson at right back but when you’re changing your team to caveat other team’s strengths you’re already mentally losing. Ultimately, I’d be surprised if we came away from this game with anything and if we lose, it’s hard to see a way back for Mackay from there.