dunning1874

Well, we got through, but very hard to scramble positives from that performance. Hamilton solid, Russell fine, good sub appearance from King, but for the most part it was dreadful. Quite apart from any other issues, Alan Lithgow is a terrible footballer and went out of his way to hand Montrose goals on a plate today, only to be bailed out by Hamilton. He should never be starting ahead of Ledger.

This is dire. Russell's the only creative outlet, McGrattan and Allan are both lost and we're living very dangerously in defence. Lithgow's having a nightmare.

The exception for goalkeepers is 7 day emergency loans at a time which can be renewed; I would expect (and agree with) us being told to do one if we try to do that for months having chosen to let someone leave days after the window closed. Any old free agent it is. We just need to hope Hamilton stays fit and maintains his excellent form so far, but the embarrassment of going without a second choice goalkeeper can't be allowed to happen again.

3-4-3 with Blues on the right is not what I guessed at. Ugwu off injured for Knowles already. Proper chance for Knowles, if we want to scramble for a positive here.

That could be a number of variations of 3-5-2, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, but whatever formation it is it would be improved with Ledger in the team and not moving Jacobs to the right. Is Wylie injured or is MacPherson just choosing not to name a goalkeeper on the bench, having correctly called out the failure of previous managers to do so?

Takeover is complete!

That's optimistic. I was fully expecting a relegation battle this season and thought we were clear favourites for 10th, but at this rate there isn't going to be a battle. We'll just be meekly disappearing with any prospect of staying up realistically gone with months left of the season. We aren't 13/14 bad to the extent that we'll be completely outclassed in the majority of our games and take several pumpings, but rarely losing by more than one isn't going to be much consolation if we never turn staying competitive in games into points. A classic Alloa style relegation where you just aren't quite good enough to grind out points rather than a typical Morton or Raith style clusterfuck where you capitulate in a humiliating fashion is what everything's pointing towards at the moment, and when you ask what can be done to get out of that the number of answers which involve MacPherson being in charge is diminishing weekly. If this becomes five, six, seven defeats or even winless games in a row, his position is going to be untenable very soon. This is his squad, he staked the season on holding out for signings towards the end of the window and now the players he wanted are here. If he can't start getting results with them now the obvious way out of this will be to find a manager who can.

There've been no Scotrail services to Montrose on Sundays for weeks, so moving it to the Sunday would inconvenience more people than the clash with the Scotland game does.

It's in their rules that two directors stand down every year to keep the board fresh and give more members an opportunity to stand.

Oksanen and Allan both looked like they could have something about them, Oksanen more than Allan with some very neat touches and good passes. They were really off the pace though, Oksanen in particular as cheaply losing possession in the build up to his yellow card showed. We just have to hope that's a thing that's going to sort itself out with games as they get sharper, because we're gubbed if these signings don't work out. It's a big concern that even with those new signings added to the squad, it only takes two starters being out in Jacobs and Ugwu for Muirhead to be in the starting XI. There's no justification barring a major injury crisis for him to get on the park at this point: he had his chance at the start of the season when we were down to the bare bones and shown he isn't close to being up to it against Championship opposition. Whether as a winger or centre forward he's now the sixth choice at best in either position. Also a concern that sometimes when the team were holding a shape Blues (another player who got a chance due to a tiny squad and has failed to justify continuing to start) was sitting in behind a bank of four as if he was the proper holding player and Oksanen ahead of him, exactly as has happened with Jacobs already this season. If he's going to persist with Blues as a holding midfielder, continue trying to turn Jacobs into a box to box midfielder which he clearly isn't and possibly also carry on with Oliver in a deeper role which he clearly isn't up to defensively, then we are going to be overrun in the middle of the park more often than not.

There's nothing wrong with an approach of trying to shitfest clean sheets and hit on the break, but it's only going to work if you're defensively competent. We did succeed in dragging Kilmarnock down to our level, turning the game into a scrap for large spells and creating chances on the counter attack, but if you concede cheap goals from crosses every week that gameplan isn't going to return many points. It was obviously considerably better than Firhill, but our defensive organisation needs to improve drastically if we're going to turn this around.

Strapp's asleep there, twice this season he's switched off at that back post. Ledger and Oliver need to do better as well. Just the two five yard attempts to control the ball from Blues setting up that attack in the first place.

Pleased that's out the way and we can look forward to a proper cup tie against a real team in the next round, and as a bonus also in a proper stadium rather than that shitehole.

Ah I hadn't watched that yet. Would expect to see the three I mentioned above and maybe Garrity & Hynes getting a shot as well then. Aye, I was meaning for fans but completely failed to make that clear.

I'll not be attending as the B sides are an abomination, but I still want us to win the tournament and I'll be there for any ties against real teams. With the winner of this playing the winner of Montrose v Stirling we've got a very good chance of our first trip to Montrose in 18 years as well. This could be a chance to give some players in need of starts like Lyon, McGrattan and Knowles a run out while still sending a team out to win the game, but with the number of signings we've made I'd probably want the strongest team possible so Oksanen, Allan and Reilly are getting a game to gel with the players they'll be alongside against Kilmarnock. That still leaves a place for one of Lyon and McGrattan I suppose.