Lin1876

I think we need to realise that football isn't that important to many people. I know because I went about 4-5 years where I only went to about 5 matches; it wasn't that I stopped supporting the club, but because I felt I had better things to do. It was only in the past couple of years that I started following with any regularity, leading to a season ticket purchase this season. The Dunfermline match, and the Ramsdens Cup final, attract people who only go occasionally, but they won't suddenly start going to every match, let alone a somewhat insignificant one like today's. People will come back in time if we keep this up, but not overnight. I think we have to be realistic.

What a question! Had to think about this one, but I eventually came up with an ideal XI. Fox, O'Donnell, Sinclair, Paton, Muirhead, Balatoni, Lawless, Welsh, Doolan, Forbes, Erskine. Considering that I've left out Archie, Bannigan, Murray and Craig, you really can see how strong this squad is!

It wasn't a classic by any means, and we won because we were able to do something with our possession. I think we could have got more goals, but that would have been harsh on Livingston, who weren't bad by any means. I thought the referee was OK. Let a few things go which he shouldn't have, but he let the game flow and kept his cards in his pocket (apart from a couple of silly bookings in the first half). Erskine's penalty claim was 50/50, I've seen them given, but there wasn't terribly much in it. I didn't think Muirhead was that great. He looked solid enough, but struggled to get his passing together in the first half. Balatoni and Sinclair stood out for me, Smith looked pretty good, and everyone else was a bit anonymous. Erskine had one of these days where very little worked for him, Forbes' delivery was fantastic as always and should have set up more than the one goal. Cracking strike from Bannigan too, though apart from that I almost forgot he was playing at times.

I see goals in this one. Both ourselves and Livingston play good, attacking football, and our goalkeeping woes could well make their task easier. Equally, of course, them attacking leaves their slightly fragile defence exposed for Erskine, Lawless and Craig to run through/bully. Should be good.

I reckon this loan will be make or break for him. I think he's a good player fundamentally, albeit not particularly suited to our style of play, and he just lacks confidence right now. If he can go and score a few goals like McGuigan did then it could do wonders. Equally, if he still can't finish, it'll be a major blow for him as a footballer. As for Halsman, I recall him doing a good job at the end of last season, and it'll be good for him to get first team experience will be good for him. Actually, I would have him there until the end of the season if he does well. He's not in the picture with us after all.

Considering what was at stake for both clubs, we could well get over 5000 for a similar match these days. Let's just hope it's at the other end of the table next time...

The SPL have put forward their plans for league reconstruction: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20384809 Basically, it's two divisions of 12, which essentially becomes 3 divisions of 8 mid-season. The top 8 SPL teams play each other another twice, the bottom 4 of the SPL and top 4 of the SPL 2 play each other home and away with the top four going into the SPL the following season, while the bottom eight of the SPL 2 play each other home and away again. If we can't get people to agree on a 16-team SPL, this would be my second choice. It adds some variety for teams like us, and will probably give everyone something to play for towards the end of the season. Thoughts?

I would be surprised if Livingston bring more than 250. They're finding decent form, but they had less than 1500 against Falkirk today. Last week was a particularly big match, so you can expect a lot of armchair supporters to miss the Livingston match, but 3000 is certainly an achievable target. Any more would be a bonus.

It we accept that both Scully and Smith aren't up to Fox's standard, and that they're both error prone, who is our best prospect? A keeper on a temporary contract, with a very patchy record who's been playing in Azerbaijan lately, or a keeper who has been a standout player in the reserves, who has his whole career ahead of him, and has been part of our set-up for years now? I don't think it's rocket science. By all means, have Smith there as back-up, and his top flight experience will be valuable. However, to be second choice keeper and not get game time when they main keeper is out must be absolutely galling for Scully, and I would not be surprised to see him go elsewhere if Jackie refuses to give him a chance.

Good début. Putting it in your own net is always going to keep the reserve keeper out the team... Please, Jackie, give Scully his chance!

1400 Thistle fans there tonight, outnumbering the Hamilton fans. I wasn't there -- my chair was a nicer prospect than that dump. Anyway, from what I've heard it was another typical away game for us. I don't get why we're so scrappy away from home -- even with teams digging in we should be good enough to overcome them, and we'll need to be, too, if we're going to beat Dunfermline this season.

Hmm. He seems to be fundamentally decent but blunder-prone. Much like Scully, then! I'd still start Scully on Friday, if only to give him a chance. I think Smith will be good back up, and Scully will do well to learn from his experience, if nothing else.

Exactly. The last thing we want to be doing is putting off paying customers. I can understand the stewards being under pressure because of the big crowd, but basics like that shouldn't be a problem. The signage is pretty poor for away fans, and I can understand why people might be getting lost -- surely putting a sign up telling them where to go and what to do wouldn't be that difficult. Stewarding seems to be universally awful around the country, not just at Firhill. I remember hearing the Dumbarton fans were far from impressed when they visited, so perhaps the club should have a word.

Well, Scully's there if he proves to be awful...

Seeing as we seem to agree that Scully deserves his chance, who do we want as back-up? I know absolutely nothing about Wightman (the under-19s keeper who was on the bench against Clyde), but he is incredibly young to even be a back-up at this level. Still, if Smith really is as bad as posters on here make out, then it might be worth a shot.

True, but I don't think Scully is as bad as people make out. He had that horror show against Livingston, but he hasn't been bad in any of the other games he's played for us. Would be interested to know how he's been playing in the reserves, which I suspect would be the deciding factor for Jackie.

I think it'll be more. We're coming off a fantastic result in the league, and into another league game. I think there was around 600-700 there for the league cup, but I wouldn't be surprised if we took 1000 or more this time round. Or to put it another way, we'll dominate the Accies' fans, rather than just outnumber them.

I knew it was going to be a big one when I noticed the programme sellers just off Firhill Road has sold out by about 2:35. Also, the programme seller inside the Jackie Husband end had sold out when I got in, so I had to go and buy one from the very small number left in the Dunfermline end. That really was fantastic. I've never heard that happen before at Firhill

I would personally go with Scully. I do remember what happened against Livingston last season (I don't think he was that bad against Queen's Park -- the whole defence was a shambles that night), but he did play well enough against Dundee and Ross County that I think he deserves his chance. The money saved from doing that could, of course, go towards keeping Forbes for the rest of the season, which is probably more worthwhile in the long term. I think it's important to remember that he is still very young and will make mistakes. Getting on his back because of that won't help him learn.

Someone on here said that each turnstile turn adds 1 to a counter, so under 16s would be counted. I personally had two empty seats on one side of me, but I think I was a minority of one because the stewards were pointing people to seats around kick-off and groups were being seperated

Just saw that myself. Big game or not, it's really good for us to have a higher attendance than Motherwell and Kilmarnock.

Magnificent! We still look a little fragile at set pieces, but if we attack like we did today it doesn't really matter. Archie, Forbes and O'Donnell were all immense and we were generally unplayable going forward. Slightly concerned about Fox, but I think giving Sculley game time could pay off long term. You have to wonder what kind of crowd we'll take through to Hamilton on Friday.

Could be good for this match too. I've spoken to a couple of Pars fans who don't normally travel but are coming through for this one as a show of solidarity. If it means more money for us then that's a good thing.

Absolutely worth pursuing. For Airdrie to be up on their average attendance against Livingston of all people shows you how successful it has been. Personally, I can see one game a week being played on Friday in coming seasons. I hope they're sensible about it though. Friday night football only works well when the teams are relatively local, or at least have good transport links. You wouldn't fancy going to Kircaldy, let alone Inverness or Dingwall, on a Friday night because you'd probably be stranded somewhere after missing the last train. As for the crowd at NDP, I'm going to guess around 1700, with around 800 thistle fans going through.

I'm guessing either side of New Year.