Ten Caat

I don't think Hoban arriving is as cut and dried as many people think. Even if he does, there is no evidence as yet that his knees are up to the demands of top level football. Supposedly Leyton Orient have offered him a deal alongside a non league club (Barnet??). I think he may choose one of those options over us as it means he has no need to spend time away from/uproot his family 600 miles north. If he is available in the summer and has played a few games somewhere with no ill effects AND Devlin has been offloaded elsewhere (Hoban is a naturally right sided defender but can play left side comfortably) without us subsidising his wages then I think Hoban might be worth taking a bit of a gamble on.

Main was ok, did a lot of running chasing lost causes, tbh had very little service to work off. Would be very harsh to drop him although Cosgrove will inevitably regain his starting spot sooner rather than later, although having had a back injury I don't think it will be happening on Saturday against Hibs. Anderson was anonymous in his cameo. Again no fault attached to the loon, Killie were in the ascendency at that point and he had no service to work with. Kilmarnock well worth their early 2 goal lead, could have been more but once we got our first from McGinn, we dominated the middle part of the game and deservedly equalised. Killie regained their dominance in the final 20 minutes and certainly had the better chances to win the game. After being 2 down, getting out of a tricky destination (for most others anyway) with a point has to be looked on a decent result although we did lose ground to 'Well and Celtic didn't do us much of a favour against Livi ( although it was a better result than it looked with 88 minutes on the clock). However our point will only prove to be a good one if we follow it up with a win against Hibs. Kennedy once again performed well. Looking a bargain at £70k. Taylor very unlucky with the penalty. Arms at his sides and he turned his back on a shot from about 4 yards distance, no doubt it did strike his arm. The shot was powerful and looked on target which may have swayed the ref's decision at it possibly did stop a goal...it would certainly have caused Lewis a big problem.....but I suspect half of our refs would have viewed it is accidental and unavoidable and waved play on. Put it this way....had it been a sevco defender against Hamilton last night, I don't think it would have been awarded. Certainly no way on earth should Taylor have been booked for it.

Hearts do us a huge turn by walloping Hibs. Thoroughly deserved and Hibs should have had Scott Allan sent off at the penalty he gave away. Also should have had McNulty sent off first half for stamping on the guy with massive facial birthmark....hopefully the Compliance Officer gets involved and bans him tomorrow which would rule him out against us. Surely Celtic will also do us a turn against Livi, even with it being on Livi's horrible plastic pitch. I doubt Motherwell will falter at home against County but although I think we will turn Killie over yet again, a point wouldn't be an absolute disaster.

Miss his captaincy more than anything. Joe just cannot drive us forward in the way Shinnie did. As a player he was pretty limited. Bryson was signed to fill the role he left vacant and should have been an upgrade but injuries have blighted his season. Even when he has been fit to play....he's been pretty underwhelming. Shinnie couldn't get a look in at Derby for the first 3 months of the season. He got a break when the infamous drink driving/wrapping a car round a tree fiasco caused them to lose their captain to injury for the season (subsequently fired but apparently appealing this) plus suspending a couple of others for a few games. But now it seems that Derby view him as a bench option mainly. Handy to bring on when trying to manage a game out. They're probably out of the play-off picture for this season which is really just as well for Shinnie as there's no way he's good enough to play in the EPL. Wouldn't surprise me to see him back with us on a free in a year's time.

Celtic knocked out 3-1 by Copenhagen. All 3 Copenhagen goals the result of horrendous Celtic defending, worst being their firs with Simunovic making a total dick of himself. Even so they pulled it back to 1-1 with 7 minutes to go and should have just regrouped and waited for extra-time. Why the hell don't they defend as comically against us ffs? Can now envisage sevco actually drawing Copenhagen tomorrow. What's more...if they do I think sevco would beat them. Horrible horrible thought that der Hun could end up in the last 8.

If we're going down that route then I'd prefer to see Michael Ruth get a chance in all honesty. I just dinna think Anderson is very good but there are a section of our support desperate to see him do well because he's a local loon.

Huns missed a penalty just before half time. Decent save from the keeper but a piss poor attempt from Hagi. The Braga left sided defender Silva is a total bombscare. I'd genuinely prefer to have Ricky Foster in my side than this imposter. Can't see the game finishing 0-0 but sadly it's sevco I expect to see scoring

Sevco should be 2 up in Braga. Horrendous finishing from Kamberi then Kent. Braga defence makes ours look positively watertight Hoping that the Braga attack can somehow make up for their defensive frailties but not convinced. FTH

The hunboards are already showing disaffectation with old Slippy and his band of merrie acolytes. Few shouts for him to get bulleted already which will surely increase if they do indeed get pamped out of Europe tonight, followed by a swift exit out the Cup at the weekend. But he's just got his shiny new 4 year contract with ink not even dry on it so he's safe enough for now despite whatever happens till the end of the season (I actually can't see Hearts putting them out the cup tbh although it would be hilarious if they did). Next season will be Slippy's season of reckoning. 10IAR absolutely will not be tolerated and the sevconians would have to bullet him once that happens but he'd still have 3 years left on his contract, along with all his backroom staff. It would cost us around £2.5million or so to bullet McInnes/Doc right now with just under 2.5 years left on their contracts. I think its fair to say Slippy will be out-earning DM by quite a margin and with a bigger backroom staff (and McAllister will be seriously outearning Doc too) the total cost to sevco I'd imagine would be north of £7million. Not to mention then bringing in a new management team. Maybe there will be a bearded gentleman with a well noted affection for their club available for work by that time.....

Suspect Ojo will make it. 20 stitches is quite a lot and if it were a league match I think he would be left a further week but with our season really hinging on this game I think we will take a chance. McGeouch just hasn't shown anything as yet to warrant a starting place unless in real emergency. Cosgrove/Main wasn't a total disaster as partnership but the sending off ruined any chance of seeing it getting any chance to really prove itself. I agree with the game being in Paisley, I don't see them paired up from the start and as such, Main has to continue as starter with McGinn playing off him in the number 10 role. Hedges for me is in the same boat as McGeouch. He's not getting much game time but what he is getting he's not really producing anything of note that screams out "Play me more often". Mclennan has been shit past couple of games but there's not many other options so think he will be given one more chance to shine. Suspect the staring line up will be pretty much that which started on Saturday but with Kennedy in for Cosgrove and Ojo in for Campbell. Would have went to this one but my points total is pretty pathetic and was never really a viable proposition. 1-1 (Ferguson)

In my post, I said that to get third we would need to go on a 5 or 6 match winning run, which we haven't done, nor even looked like doing, since the season started. And beating all our closest rivals along the way. So I presumed you would extrapolate from that that I think it's highly unlikely we will now finish third. Which is why I stated that I think only a Scottish Cup win will save him. You are saying 3rd will save him and I'd agree with that. What you haven't said is at what point, if any, you think the board would be forced into taking action. I don't think I moved any goalposts. I just pointed out that I think it's at least equally likely that we will not finish in your McInnes saving scenario of third place....Motherwell have the nap hand on 3rd as it stands and we now have Livi and Hibs breathing down our necks for the 4th place we currently hold, both of whom are in far better consistent form than we are showing.

Yep new rule was brought in that all yellow cards received in first half of season get wiped out at the end of December. Net effect being that you can receive up to 5 yellows in each half of the season and avoid any bans.

Could just as easily finish 5th, maybe even 6th. With a total collapse from now till season's end 7th or 8th isn't out of the question. I think we will get through to the cup semi (possibly needing a replay to do so) but chances are we will get one of the arse cheeks in the semi. A bit of a doing at Hampden could then be on the cards, especially if its the green and white version we get. What do the board do then?

Gerrard and the whole Ibrokes backroom team were awarded new 4 year contracts only a few short weeks ago. If we think it's an expensive business to punt DM/Doc....those cretins in Govan have got a problem likely 4 to 5 times the size of ours if they want to punt Slippy et al. So I can't see their board taking any action for the foreseeable future. Even in spite of the orc hordes who are starting to turn on them in numbers. It's hilarious entertainment for everyone else looking on though. Especially as by this time next week, they could be (in a perfect world) left with nothing but their pride to play for. As for May......if I'm correct he managed 8 goals in 61 appearances for us. Since returning to St Johnstone he has 7 goals in 22 appearances. He took a lot of stick for his lack of goals for us. But him and Cosgrove got a run in the side between October - December as a strike duo and in that period we picked up a load of victories. Cosgrove was the one scoring all the goals....but I could live with that. They were working effectively together. I'd still rather have May than Main tbh. But right now.....I'd rather have Main in the side than Cosgrove

4 home defeats on the trot is utterly unacceptable. That 3 of them came against Motherwell, St J and Ross Co makes it almost criminal. Hamilton and Livi did us a big favour yesterday by taking points off our biggest rivals for 3rd spot (I'm assuming Hibs will overhaul Livi before the split)…….we blew it big style. Some are saying both of Campbell's bookings were harsh and there may be some truth in that p.o.v…….they're questioning if it had been Broon or the Rat would either of the incidents resulted in yellows.... but under the rules they were both bookable and ultimately it cost us the game. With 11 men on the park we were comfortable, if unspectacular. I can understand why McInnes didn't immediately haul one of our forwards off after the sending off...I think he thought we had enough about us to see it through to half time when he could then have made the sub without embarrassing or angering either Main or Cosgrove. I am in agreement with TDD that Cosgrove looks very much like a player who has had his head turned by the transfer speculation in January. However for the 2nd match on the trot, McLennan was absolutely honking. Both players need an extended spell on the bench/ playing for the reserves. Now think that despite his massive contract, only a Scottish Cup win can save McInnes from the bullet in summer. Things just seem to be mirroring the final months of the Calderwood era. To get third we really need to go on a 5 or 6 match winning streak, defeating Hibs, Livi and Motherwell in doing so. But we haven't looked like going on a run like that all season.

I was watching the comments on swallow swallow up until the gits scored their first....it was an absolute scream up till that point. And yes....a few knuckle draggers actually did post that European refs had it in for them ana Ive no idea how they managed to escape that with a lead after the battering/lesson Braga were handing out. Hopefully Braga go on to stuff them in Portugal but these cunts seem to have a charmed life in Europe. THe really annoying bit is they are raking in around £2million for every home match they play and despite them spending way beyond their means, each round they get through is keeping the wolf from the door for a bit longer. FTH

Congrats to Manc and missus Can't see Ojo making this one.....20 stitches supposedly, I'd imagine he's out for another week anyway. Campbell certainly deserves a start in his place. McGinn I'd expect a bench place only. He struggles with 3 games in a week and with him playing 120 minutes on Wednesday it will surely be too much for him to go another 90 tomorrow. Hedges must be due a start and I'd like to see us go with Main and Cosgrove from the beginning. Taylor will hopefully be ok too. Lewis Logan Taylor/Devlin McKenna Consi Kennedy Campbell Ferguson Hedges Main Cosgrove

Sevco taking a pumping at home to Braga Pleasing

Please let it be a points deduction from sevco. The great unwashed meltdown would be hilarious

I had written McGeouch off more than 18 months ago when he left Hibs. I didn't want him then (especially on the wages we were offering), I didn't want him even more after the (minimum) 2 times he turned us down in the interim and I didn't want him in January. I did want him to go to Hibs though. Quite simply....I think he is the real imposter in our midfield options. He could barely get a game at Sunderland for 18 months under 2 different managers in EFL fucking 1. Ferguson is still very young and gets shuttled between three different midfield roles without getting a settled run in one of them. I accept that injuries to others has necessitated this and that bad management also played a part in his often indifferent form....it was clear to everyone that in December 2018 and December 2019 the loon needed taken out the team and rested for 2 or 3 games but DM persisted with him in both occasions. Anyway having seen the highlights I absolutely concur with giving Lewis the blame for their second goal and Devlin the third. Lewis has made a few howlers over his time with us and personally I think he is a decent keeper but nowhere near as good as some of our support would have you believe. Indeed if we got an offer for him in the summer I wouldn't be averse to taking the cash and trying to sign Hladcky from St Mirren (who has stated he will be leaving) as a replacement. He certainly needs the captaincy removed from him and handed to an outfield player (McKenna need not put himself forward for the role). Devlin...….what can I say about his clusterfuck attempt at a clearance at their third goal? Embarrassing, although as McInnes said in his post-match interview on the tranny that Campbell should certainly have made the tackle earlier in the build up. But Devlin's regression has been stunning over the past 12 months. I'm not saying he has given up trying and is working his ticket out the club....but I think in summer that would be the best course of action for both club and the loon himself. Hopefully Taylor was only subbed off as a precaution and will be available on Saturday. Finally....I'm not getting involved in the "our name is written on the Cup" hype that I'm seeing elsewhere. A quarter final against St Mirren is definitely eminently winnable. But I have huge misgivings about our ability to beat both the arse cheeks in a potential semi/final 2 game run. I think we are certainly capable of beating one of them in a one off game but suspect we need the draw at that point to be very favourable, ideally pairing the 2 of them together (even better having Hearts and St J pamp them out in the quarters but can anyone seriously believe that's even a remote possibility).

Was it not Stuart Findlay that decked Ferguson? The Killie manager seemed to be blaming him in the post-match interview (pretty angrily). But certainly Johnston deserves praise for a fine finish. Has a better strike rate for us in 3 minutes of action than Nicky Maynard managed in a whole season

Yep he said he was thinking of making a change in the first half and regrets leaving it until half time. Obviously he meant one of Mcgeouch and Bryson.....my money would have been on Mcgeouch

I went for a piss after Cosgrove scored fully expecting penalties and totally missed the winner. What a fucking game! SF

The obvious answer is that every single player in the men's squad has a contract specific to themselves. I'd guess that McGeouch is likely on near twice the wages that Ojo is on. Yet they do pretty much the same job (and imo Ojo does it better). I'm sure that if this were illegal then it would have been challenged long before now. As regards Neville's comments in Rocket's post......it was reported last week that Chelsea wifies were the first team in England to devise individual raining regimes based around their menstrual cycles.

Third is where we should be according to our financial advantage over the rest. But compared to the advantage that the arse cheeks have over us (sevco 4 times our turnover, Celtic 6 times), the advantage we have over the rest is relatively smaller. In the case of Hearts especially and Hibs....it's probably close enough to be negligible. Yet Hearts are locked in a battle against relegation (I expect them to escape it purely because of their resources) and Hibs were horrendous under Heckingarse, though Jack Ross has them climbing the table to a position where they should be. If we continue our recent upturn in performance, we will finish ahead of them by between 5 and 10 points come season's end. Motherwell and Livi are the teams who are punching way ahead of their expected performance. Motherwell are a well run club with a decent young manager and though their form has been fairly sketchy since the January break...they beat us at Pittodrie and generally perform fairly well against the arse cheeks. Their weakness is losing games quite unexpectedly against teams right at the bottom, often coming after they have been on a run of winning a few games on the trot. They have a game in hand over us (against St Mirren at home) so despite us being third at present on goal difference, taking that game into account I'd take our true position to be 4th, 1 or (more likely) 3 points behind 'Well. Livingston...are a bit of an enigma. Their performance is almost exclusively based on winning games at home on their plastic pitch. Which they are doing. I suspect Killie have sorted out their mid-season woes though and will overhaul them eventually for 6th. We should have enough in our locker to get ahead of 'Well and finish 3-7 points ahead of them by season's end. But this depends on us keeping up the level of performance that we saw on Sunday. Any return to the shitshow of December to early February and we could finish 7th or 8th. And that should be a sacking offence.