Diamond72

Last night really showed up the difference in maturity of the sides. What typified it for me was young Dunlop tearing down the wing to put a cross in and the Utd defender had hands on his back. That was the cue to go down and let the ref make the decision. Dunlop continued and the ball ran out of play, parly due to his inexperience but more his desire to show what he could do. Rhys is no mug and you are right, we have to be more streetwise. Just take a leaf ot of Cammy's book to see how he 'manages' the opposition.

I think that to be fair, even Ballantyne would have struggled with QP's pace down that side. Not saying that Hancock played well, his misplaced pass when out of position resulted in Josh Rae having to make a great save. Aiken as said, had probably his worst game for us and failed to hit the target when the opportunity arose. What concerns me most however is the fact that we are trying to walk the ball into the net most games and our strikes from around the box are missing the target or straight at the keeper.

Sorry, but after watching that a few times Rae should really just have launched that. Poor decision making in my opinion, but it is always on the cards playing that way.

The positves from the Ayr game were fairly few but I was totally impressed with McStravick and his ability to put in a great cross. I can see how someone like Todorov in the middle could really benefit from this. I'm sure Rhys has seen this also so hopefully Todorov and McStravick get more minutes, starting with Queen's Park.

I wouldn't say that Gabby had a good game today but I would venure to say that it was more down to lack of service to him in my opinion. To say that he has been poor all season is again an over-reaction as far as I'm concerned. Cast your mind back to the wonderful link up play of his that led to Gal's goal against Raith. I've never thought of Gabby as a wide player anyway, I believe that he performs at his best through the middle.

Arbroath will be boyant after such a convincing win over ICT. I'm sure they won't expect such an easy game though as they got on Saturday. ICT were truly awful and got exactly what they deserved. I was delighted to see the pitch in great condition however and it should benefit our style of play if we keep the ball on the ground. This for me, like others have said, is a crucial match. Despite their recent form Arbroath will be fighting it out at the bottom in my opinion.

Totally agree with these points. My recollection of GMS was of a talented young guy who used us to bring his fitness up. In my opinion he only really showed up for us in games like the Morton cup game where he could put himself in the shop window. This is not a wholly negative comment on him however as most players would have done the same. And as others have said, the club and team do not need this type of signing going forward as it does not benefit us in the slightest.

Not to drag this out but I believe we need height and physique in the side for next season, and I quote Leon when he joined us, "He said: “I feel that I’ve been overlooked in my whole career because of my height. If I was a bit taller then I’d have more opportunities elsewhere but there is nothing that I can do about that".

Leon McCann will be the first to admit that he is plaing football in L1, not through lack of footballing ability, but a lack of height and physique needed for the higher leagues.

Like many others, I believe that this is our best opportunity for years. Last season's failure for me was all about two players, Simon Murray and max Currie. Murray made the difference in the finals for QP big time and the lack of a quality keeper for us cost us dearly when the chips were down. We are playing a side in Hamilton who have rarely hit the highs recently in terms of scoring and don't look as big an obstacle as QP were last season. My main fear this time concerns the officials. I looked on in amazement as the Hamilton keeper in their last game was allowed to stay on the field after bringing the Alloa guy down in the box. These are the margins that can make or break a season for us, hopefully we can be on the better end of some of these decisions for a change.

I think that the pressure is all on Falkirk for these two ties. Their supporters are absolutely unforgiving and this I believe transfers to the players big time. Pingu has never really gotten over the Airdrie playoff defeat with Raith at the start of his career so tomorrow should be a cracker. I will be content if Falkirk don't score from a Henderson knock down from a cross and a cut in from the right by Kennedy. Surely we have learned from past games.

I didn't expect too much from the Thistle game as they are leaders and at home. It is games like these that the quality of the forward line makes a difference however. Had we had someone like Graham in our starting lineup then I'm sure we would have taken something. Thistle tired badly after the hour as will Cove I suspect. It is in this final 30 minutes however where the quality of finishers in the team really comes into play in my opinion. We have gained success recently from players like O'Reilly and Turner driving into the box, this was totally absent yesterday. Most of our attacking play ended up with speculative crosses which we hoped would land kindly for us. I still think that we could reach the playoffs however, but the title is Thistle's for the taking.

That is the best performance against Montrose for a good while, we certainly deserved something from it. I have always maintained however that the quality of a teams forward line will ultimately decide places at the end of the season. We had numerous opportunities today to win that game out of the park but as usual the lack of quality and composure in the final third let us down. That is why the likes of Cove, Falkirk, Partick and so on will be almost be assured of finishing near the top. Here's hoping that next season we can address this long running need for quality in this area. I personally don't see us getting promoted this season for this fact alone.

Murray takes almost all of the blame but the players need a good long look at themselves also. Our goal tonight came from a great Thomson cross and a well timed header. It's up to players like Thomson , Roy and so on to perform like this more often. Also, Turner in midfield has shown in one game what all the fans have been crying out for in midfield for two or three seasons now, quality and creativity. I know this is all about finance but why pad a squad out with several average players when you can use the money in that direction....maybee Murray will tell us some day.

The sad fact is that we have found out the hard way that most of our first eleven are not good enough for this level. Falkirk, Partick, Cove have a bigger budget than ours and it shows on the park. It is our performances against East Fife, Montrose and the likes of Dumbarton that we should judge Murray on. To this end he has underperformed with his squad. This present side is the most impotent bunch I have seen in years, we offer very little threat going forward to any team and have relied on breaks from set pieces and throw-ins. I have no idea with regard to the club's signing policy, but everyone was crying out for experienced striker/s at the start of the season with a good creative midfielder and none of that happened. O'Reilly, McKay, Thomson, Robert have all failed miserably as well in providing assists to the strikers that we do have, hence the fact that opposing goalkeepers have an easy time ( as in the past three games). We thought that our steady defence would at least give us some points but this has not been the case. Sean Chrichton takes much of the blame for this but then you look at a center forward (Jack McKay) playing right back and fluffing a clearance at Peterhead which led to a goal. It's all gone wrong some how and it doesn't look like being remedied anytime soon I'm afraid.