Mr November

Suspected it was Mason Hancock after the hint from @AJ77. Happy that we’ve brought in exactly what we needed, a left-sided defender who is presumably quicker than Fordyce and ATS. I think he did very well at Stirling Albion but then struggled at Arbroath because they played him as a winger? I’m sure fans of each club can confirm.

I know it was a friendly but Hutton looked incredibly stiff in the goals from that Mansfield game. It was the same in his fleeting appearances last season, he had his big moment with the penalty save but could barely move outwith that.

I wouldn’t say so, not in the way Fitzpatrick/Lawless do anyway. I think Kilmarnock played him at wing back when he played there but he’s very much a central player. His best games at Airdrie were on the left of a narrow diamond, a role which suited him perfectly but he can play a bit deeper too.

1. Forfar Athletic 2. East Fife 3. Dumbarton 4. Stenhousemuir 5. Peterhead 6. Spartans 7. Stranraer 8. Bonnyrigg Rose 9. Clyde 10. Elgin City

1. Falkirk 2. Queen of the South 3. Hamilton Academical 4. Stirling Albion 5. Cove Rangers 6. Alloa Athletic 7. Montrose 8. Kelty Hearts 9. Edinburgh City 10. Annan Athletic I’m not too convinced by Falkirk’s recruitment (McGinn and Spencer lacks energy and power which Falkirk have needed in midfield for ages and not signing a right back is an interesting choice) but think they’ll finally get the job done in a slightly weaker league. I’ve also not been too impressed by Queens recruitment but I think Bartley will improve them again and have them challenging. Hamilton have a better squad than they did last season but a lot depends on the management. Stirling make up the top four as they look like a solid, reliable unit and while there’s always a shelf-life (see Montrose below), part-time teams with a consistent core tend to do well at this level. I think they’ll start well but fall away as the season goes on, though still having done enough to finish 4th. One full-time team always makes an arse of it and Cove seem most likely. They’ve got a weird squad, the best midfield in the league and some decent options up front but it’s a tough ask to turn them around after last season’s disaster. Alloa have had been disastrous in the League Cup but I think they’ll improve slightly when Taggart, Donnelly and Cawley are back playing regularly. Definitely a team in transition and I’m not sure Rice will see out the season. Despite signing Hester and finally signing a right back Montrose look weak in midfield and think they’ll drop-off again. Petrie’s done a brilliant job there but it feels like a team at the end of their cycle and he’s seemed a step behind rejuvenating it for a couple of years now. I think Kelty will be the most entertaining team in the league and will have enough to avoid relegation. Edinburgh City were woeful from January onwards and have lost a few key players too. They’ll struggle without the customary Airdrie pumpings. I think Annan will be better than last years bottom two but seem the weakest team.

1. Dundee United 2. Partick Thistle 3. Raith Rovers 4. Dunfermline Athletic 5. Greenock Morton 6. Ayr United 7. Inverness Caledonian Thistle 8. Airdrieonians 9. Queen’s Park 10. Arbroath Not convinced by Goodwin but a bit like Kilmarnock I fancy Dundee United to win the league by default. Turner, Holt, Docherty and Tiffoney are all big losses for Thistle but I really like the McInroy and Adeloye signings. McMillan and Milne are the best full backs in the league and Graham will still hit double figures, so I fancy them to challenge. Raith have made some very solid signings and I think Murray will improve them this season, while Dunfermline might have a slower start due to injuries to key players but have a solidity that will mean they finish top four. I think Morton, Inverness and Ayr will challenge for top four but all fall short. Morton look decent again, lost some key players but if Imrie sticks around they'll be fine. Ayr will fall away after losing Akinyemi but they did well in the cup and seem to be slightly less reliant on one player compared to the last couple of seasons. Inverness lose key players every year and that can only go on for so long before they drop off. Airdrie are in 8th mostly out of optimism. I think we'll surprise a few teams but need a couple of defenders minimum if we want to avoid any disasters of our own. Queen's Park are the hardest club to predict by far, wouldn’t be hugely surprised if they finish 2nd or 9th. I quite like bits that I’ve seen from then but I think they’ll start slowly with a young team adapting to a new style of play. Arbroath have improved their attack from last season but feels like their time might be up.

I was talking to a friend trying to work out the last time we had a decent run in the Scottish Cup or League Cup was and I think the last time we made the last 16 of either was losing to Dundee United in the League Cup in 2011. I knew we'd been rotten in the cups recently but that's a dreadful record. Definitely well overdue a cup run, so hopefully we can get past Ross County.

We then went on to win 2 of our next 33 games

Interested to see how McInroy gets on here. He was outstanding at Airdrie, a great all round midfielder who scored a few great goals, and then seemed to carry that form into his spell at Ayr too. I wonder if he'll need a few weeks to get going again after not playing much at Kilmarnock but he's a player who improves pretty much every team in this league, so it's a great signing for Thistle.

Week 1 - Celtic

Arbroath 0-2 Dundee United Dunfermline 1-1 Airdrie Morton 2-1 Ayr Inverness 1-1 Queen’s Park Partick Thistle 2-2 Raith Rovers

I'd be surprised if McCabe wasn't on a few bigger teams radar, we got a lot of good press towards the end of last season with promotion, the style of play and the ridiculous number of goals. He seems keen to continue playing though and he knows he's got a very secure job at Airdrie. If he keeps Airdrie up and continues with the same style of play then he'll move on to a bigger club but I think he's sensible enough to not rush into something. I think his age (it's easy to forget he only turned 31 last week) might mean some bigger clubs are slightly wary of appointing him just now too.

Good info, cheers. I usually go over the Kincardine bridge and in that side, should that still be alright?

Ah fair enough, I knew we did but just wondered if that had changed and noticed Brian mentioned it was Thursday morning in the Bonnyrigg preview but I might be taking that too literally!

I’ve wondered this for a while but does anyone know if we train standard full-time hours now or is it still Monday and Friday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings? I believe we were the latter when we first went hybrid but wondered if we’d moved to more normal times since then, with Gallagher just training two days and fitting his work around it.

At least there’s no Max Currie this time. This isn’t an exciting draw for either team but I think it could be an interesting game. County are probably one of the weaker top flight teams but have plenty of decent players and even just looking at their forwards, Brophy, White and Murray have more physicality than most of our team combined! As you say though, our home record in general, and particularly against top flight teams, is pretty good and if we’re at our best then we certainly have a chance.

That’s almost all of it We signed two young boys on loan from Hibs, Murray Aiken and Josh O’Connor (Garry’s son, if that makes you feel old), who have both shown up well in the cup games and will feature at some point on Saturday. Outwith them it’s been a similar window to Dunfermline, signing up loan players permanently, a few subs moving on and still waiting on a few players to come in too.

I keep feeling reasonably positive about this game knowing Dunfermline are missing Todd and Ritchie-Hosler, who along with Calum Gallagher were the best players in League One in the second half of last season, until I remember Rae is suspended and McGill and Todorov could be out. If whoever is in goals for us is as fortunate as Murray Johnson was at the end of the first game last season then we might be ok again on Saturday. Another tight draw wouldn’t surprise me. I suspect with their injuries and squad depth Dunfermline will be a bit stodgier than they were towards the end of last season, when even then they were very tough to break down, just very dangerous going forward. It’ll be nice to play Dunfermline without McCabe and Fordyce (and me as well) being terrified of Todorov coming on to score a crucial goal too. Looking forward to the game though, should be a big crowd from both teams, a good atmosphere and two decent teams.

Just noticed we were the only team to win all four games across all the groups. It’s early days and these games don’t count for much in terms of being prepared for the league but it’s great to see us off to a solid start. I mostly agree with @Passionate about today’s team. I don’t think the back three worked particularly well but even so, I’d have given Fellows some minutes today to see what he’s like. Important to play a strong team as it was always going to be a stuffy game but we can’t rely on the current back four/five all season. As others have said, all about signings and preparing for the league now. We definitely need a centre back and a full back, whether that’s a natural left sided one or competition for Watson with Ballantyne staying on the left. These games have convinced me that we definitely need another forward too. It was great to see O’Connor get his first goal and while you can’t fault his attitude, he still has a lot to learn and I’m not sure he’s ready to start every week in the Championship just yet. Injuries to McGill and Todorov, something that could easily happen throughout the season, plus Gallagher being taken off meant we finished today’s game with O’Connor and McGregor up front, which won’t cut it in the league unfortunately. We’re in a decent position to build from though and everyone who has played in these cup games has done well at some point.

Not a vintage performance but job done. Four wins, three clean sheets, can’t complain at all.

Hopefully a Bonnyrigg fan can give you a better answer but when I went last year there seemed to be plenty of street parking within 10 minutes or so of the ground. I think I was on a street just off High St but might be more parking nearer the ground.

There’s a lot of nonsense that comes with supporting Airdrie but the diamond certainly isn’t one of them. Best strips in the country.

I'm sure you won't appreciate the reminder but Kevin McKinlay's performance in this game is still one of the worst I've ever seen. The second goal

Definitely seeded. I'd rather take our chances of a home game against an unseeded team than go for the big money tie already. I also go on holiday on the Sunday, so a comparatively boring tie that won't be moved for TV and isn't against a team playing in Europe please!

Looking at the other groups, I think only Forfar (who have St. Mirren away), Ross County and Kilmarnock can reach 12 points. Three best winners are seeded I think so a win on Saturday should do the job.