GinolasBald

I think we stick by our largely tired X1 tomorrow as there should be enough left in the tank mentally and physically to get the job done tomorrow. Give a few of the tired players a rest on Saturday at Airdrie if we get a result tomorrow night, have them a bit more gee'd up for the rest of the season. My team would be: Fox O'Donnell, Balatoni, Dowie, Sinclair Bannigan, Welsh, Forbes Erskine Craigen Craig Subs: Daniels, McMillan/Archie, Lawless, Doolan, McGuigan If Forbes shows half the work ethic he did against QOS then he deserves a start. Feel quite harsh dropping Lawless and not starting Doolan but I feel they both may be more effective from the bench. Craig's record against Morton speaks for itself and Doolan has the pace to come on and run at their centre halves when they may tire later on. Lawless has probably been one of my players of the season this season, if not the best, but in the Morton games he's been marked and kicked off the park. I think its a toss-up between him and Craigen to start tomorrow but I'd maybe go for the latter tomorrow night. On a side-note, we really, really miss Paton. I've noticed Bannigan playing in his role in the last two games fairly ineffectively so I'd like to see Welsh sit so Bannigan has more freedom to get forward and run at players, which he is so good at doing. I'm surprised Murray is still being mentioned by people. He should be nowhere near any Thistle squad for the rest of the season, especially not against Morton.

First time I've had a chance to post on this since the game. I'll be ignoring this flag nonsense... I'm not too sure if I've ever felt so gutted as I did at the end of the game on Sunday. To lose like that was horrible. So emotionally draining and I think I even felt a few wee tears running down my cheeks. However, since watching most of it again (I still cannot watch that Balatoni penalty), I don't feel as bad. Queens neutralised us perfectly and we didn't improve on the Raith performance which was by far and away our worst under Archie, and maybe Jackie as well. Fans were brilliant from the start. Pitch invasion was fairly unnecessary but fairly amusing at the same time. I think I would've paid my share of the club's fine had one of them went for their keeper who is a wee rat (more abuse at him later). Game in general never really got going until extra time. They seemed to capitalise on our full-backs apparent lack of confidence to get forward. Very concerned about O'Donnell who has not looked remotely like the player he was before injury. Pass marks to Foxy for making some solid, and two stunning, saves, Balatoni and Welsh. I thought Archie would go 4-4-2 early second half to try and piece together the seemingly massive gap between our midfield and Craig and I thought having both him and Dools up top may have worked with Erskine dropping a bit deeper and putting Craigen on the other side who was by this point running around lost in the centre of midfield like a headless chicken. Elliott, although showing signs of decency just is not good enough, I'm afraid. His talents are limited and at the end of the season, regardless of our division, we should be thanking him for his services and wishing him luck. Extra time I thought we looked a bit brighter, their goal was a bit of a fluke I thought but reasonably deserved as we switched off. For all the people saying that Forbes should have been brought on sooner - who genuinely expected him to come on and play like that? Forbes' work rate is appauling at the best of times but a spell on the bench seems to have kicked him up the arse and he changed the game. My view on the Muirhead sending off is that 99% of people would've done the same thing. He just needs to take his lengthy ban and learn from it. The three QOS defenders who ran straight to him to gloat deserve fines or bans as well though, disgusting behaviour. The feeling I got when Dools scored was just unreal, the atmosphere was incredible and it was then that I actually believed we could do it. Penalties was just a shambles though. Crawford Allan is a bottler and there was no way he was sending their keeper off during that shoot-out. Allan didn't have a clue what to do if he did so just kept threatening him and their keeper was more than happy to keep going in the knowledge that he would have no chance of being ordered off by the wee gimp. Total lack of class though and its unfortunate that ***** like that get to be the heroes but such is life. Players just need to pick themselves up for Wednesday and show that manky mob from Greenock who are the real deserved league winners.

I would be quite gutted if we went up and Paton and Erskine didn't stay. We've shown incredible loyalty to both players, both of whom have been made captain at some stage this season, and so I think on the proviso that we go up, they should feel that they at least reward their hard work in getting us there by leading us out. Erskine was plucked from the juniors by us and has turned into one of the most skilful players in the division and Paton has been transformed by this club. I understand McNamara had a lot to do with it but he has always seemed to show that he loves the club, I would hope that Paton, at least, and captains us in the SPL. I think if they stay with us for one season in the SPL and decide to leave after that, I could take it. Not so sure about anything other than that unless we don't go up.

North Stand has made Firhill a far more enjoyable place to be this year. Been there every game except the first game of the season. Will be there tomorrow, and providing my throat infection has buggered off, making as much noise as possible. Nervous as **** for this but I'm confident in the boys to at least snatch a draw.

Provided he learns to shut his mouth when decisions don't go his way, it has to be Paton. No other real contenders, although I can see big Conrad being a captain for us in the future, providing he stays.

Just a query - does Morton's concession admission prices include students? Can't remember if it did earlier on this season and it doesn't elaborate on their website what they class as a concession. I'm assuming with the college just down the road that it will but just wondering if anyone on here knows for sure?

Some people on here just need to calm down. The second half performance was dire and our final ball isn't brilliant but, echoing what some people are saying here, this is a young team, abusing and booing them will not help at all. Nor will it help experienced heads like Murray and Craig who are (apparently) picking up a low wage and may not necessarily feel the need to be here. Craig not looking interested at all yesterday showed this. We really do desperately need O'Donnell back and fit. I'd be interested to know how many of the goals that we scored while he was on the pitch he had some sort of involvement in. Muirhead puts in a shift at right back but his delivery is inconsistent and we miss his height at centre half. The only complaint people can have about the first half is that our final ball was woeful. Some of the football we played was outstanding and I thought my 5/1 shout for Lawless first scorer was a definite because the boy was different class. I think playing him in the hole looks like his best position. Even Shug, who I have never understood why he's allowed in a Thistle shirt for most of the season, played decent. Bannigan and Sinclair were also quality, although Sinclair's final ball was horrendous, he needs to feel confident enough to cut inside and lay it off more rather than just punting it in the box. Second half was a bit of a horror show. As soon as we go a goal down, we seem to lack ideas and heads drop really quickly. It is vitally important that as "supporters", we show the team the support from the stands in volume to keep their heads up. Some of the abuse and the boos from some sections of the crowd were absolutely appauling. Playing the long balls alienated Lawless and he couldn't get into the game, I, however, still feel confident in this team to do us proud. We're third in the league, six points off top with two games in hand. When we're on our game we are the best team in the league by a mile and so I find no reason to panic just yet. The sooner we sort out our away record, the better though.

This 100%. Until such occasion may arise that we lose our games in hand, stay positive.

Yesterday's game for a neutral would have been brilliant to watch. Standard of football was brilliant and the game had pretty much everything. Thought first half we played really well. The long balls hoofed forward are to accommodate Craig because he's so good at bringing the ball down and holding it up. Playing Doolan lets us play our passing game and I feel that we need to be playing both every week as long as we are capable of doing both throughout games. Dools and Archie were outstanding and I thought Bannigan and Sinclair also had good games. No idea what else Smith could've done for the first goal except dive needlessly when he knew he was beaten, if anything it was Paton's fault for *****ing about and not clearing his lines. Smith stopped us from getting pumped yesterday, no idea how he's getting criticised every week for not doing too much wrong. We lost the game because we didn't kill them off by taking chances when we had them, their keeper was having an absolute nightmare when tested. Craig is missing a lot of sitters which I am slightly concerned about though. We never take three points when down to 10 men and this is proven no matter how late we get someone sent off. No one should be picking up bookings for dissent, no matter how bad the referees decisions are (Paton still hasn't learned this) and Welsh's second challenge was needless. We are in no way a dirty team but we seem to be picking up stupid red cards far too often and this needs to be sorted now. Sending offs obviously cost us points and so McNamara has to sort this. I have also noticed that Balatoni has made a few errors in the last few games seemingly by switching off at key moments so that needs to be sorted immediately because before then he hadn't done much wrong at all this season. Doolan will have been substituted because he ran himself into the ground which I think is fair enough if that's the case, Erskine did really well when he came on. I think Murray has been a waste of space this season but even I thought that we were desperate for him with about 20 minutes to go. Taking off Welsh or the largely ineffective Forbes and using him to help tighten up defensively may have won us the game. Who knows... Still no need to panic. A point against a very good Livi side away from home is a reasonably decent result, despite a win being snatched at the death. I don't think Morton or Dunfermline will be going there and leaving with an easy three points. Every team has had/will have a bad run this season and this is ours. Morton are currently having theirs and Dunfermline had theirs over the last few weeks. Back to winning ways at Dumbarton on Saturday and we can get back to talking about what date we'll have the league wrapped up!

1. 5-1 Dunfermline. Best atmosphere at Firhill for a long, long time. Great performance and result to match 2. 7-0 Airdrie. Awful opposition but when you do a team of scumbags like that, it is sweet. 3. 2-0 Livingston. Entertainment-wise, the most even game of the season. We had to properly work for that first goal and then after that there was no other winner.

By far and away our worst performance of the season. If someone was to offer me a draw at half time, I would have bitten their arm off for it. Against a godawful Airdrie team, today was simply not good enough, the first half in particular. Never thought this would be the case but we missed Forbes A LOT today and Doolan coming on showed just how little Steven Craig actually does for the team. He scores goals but when Doolan plays, we look a lot more dangerous and he brings Erskine and Lawless into the game. Erskine tried his best and I think his goal was deserved, nothing was coming off for him previous. The quicker Paton learns to shut up the better, sick of seeing him moan for about 20 minutes after a foul has been given - just get on with it. Positives were little - we came into the game a bit more when Doolan came on and Erskine's goal is a bumper. We're still only two points behind with a game in hand and a squad thats not yet back to complete health. No need to panic just yet.

I think this Saturday against an absolutely dire Airdrie team is as good a time as any to give Fox, SOD and Welsh a starting berth, with the latter two being given maybe 70 minutes so as not to wear them out. I'd also start McGuigan to give him a chance to see what he can really do, he definitely looks like a goal would do him wonders, not many easier places for him to try and get one outside Airdrie or Dumbarton. Welsh can't really do much worse than Murray who I think has been absolutely dire this season. It would be too harsh to drop Archie after how good he was yesterday and Balatoni hasn't done much wrong all season. My starting X1 would be Fox, O'Donnell, Muirhead, Archibald, Balatoni, Bannigan, Paton, Welsh, Lawless, Erskine, McGuigan/Craig

I agree with Paton at RB but Shuggie has been useless this season. I daresay if he was on the pitch today that he would've gotten himself sent off (again). The only reason I can fathom that Paton hasn't been moved back to RB in SODs absence is that he is so effective as a holding midfielder and that Muirhead has been played RB before for previous clubs - Aaron is nowhere near as effective there and is sorely missed at centre half, especially today when his height would have come in handy since Balatoni didn't seem to win much in the air today.

If Doolan is firstly allowed to, and secondly wants to go to a Shitecastle then let him go. I love him but he needs to be smart enough to realise that he's better off here until at least the summer to decide if and where he wants to go.

Most of what I say will be echoing what most folk have already said but I'll say it anyway. I was not a happy man walking out of Firhill this evening. The worst refereeing performance I may have ever seen and I have seen some shockers (most of them involving Thistle). Most, if not all, of his decisions were baffling to say the least. Most of you have highlighted particular game-changing decisions but the one I feel the most aggrieved about is the one to chalk off the goal at 0-0 for a "foul" on the keeper. From where I was sitting in the North Stand, I had a near-enough perfect view of it and thought that there was minimal contact, if any, from Craig and it was the keeper's lack of ability which made him fumble and allow Craig to knock it in. Every decision after that was just atrocious, constantly breaking up play which doesn't help a team like us who knock the ball around and play football. Forbes was stupid when on a booking but he lost the rag after everything seemed to go against him so I'm not going to be too harsh on him and we should've had the game wrapped up by half-time but what chance were we given to finish the game off in the second half with decisions like that? That's both games vs Morton that we've had to contend with dodgy refs. I hope the club pursue the SFL to get today's ref to justify some of his decisions. The criticism of Smith, I feel is unjustified. Hamilton aside, he has come in and done a real job for us- he's made a few stunning saves to keep us in games. Maybe was at fault for the second but he wasn't helped by largely shoddy defending - I don't think I saw Balatoni win a header today. To end on a positive, despite the dodgy defending around him, I thought Archie was outstanding. Not really been too impressed with him this season but put his body on the line all game. Plus, we've got Airdrie at the weekend while Morton and Dun5erm1ine play each other at the weekend. We'll still be top of the league at the start of 2013!

My mate plays for Albion Rovers and said McGuigan was absolutely quality for them. A massive gulp between them and Thistle this season but he's told me how he's noticed a big difference in quality between Guigsy and Elliot. Surely worth maybe giving him a start in the cup at the weekend to see what he can do.

The fact that we've knocked the ball about all season and even when we spend long period not really doing much with it, we're still beating teams and that will have a lot to do with the silencing of the moaners. Even when we're not spectacular, we're grinding out results (Cove and Cowdenbeath being prime examples). That's the making of a good team.

First post on this, felt it apt to be this one... Judging by performances this season as a whole, rather than just on current form, my starting X1 and subs would be: Fox O'Donnell Muirhead Balatoni Bannigan Paton Welsh Forbes Lawless Erskine Doolan. Subs: Smith, Archie, Sinclair, Murray, Craig. Felt harsh dropping Sinclair but I think Bannigan has been outstanding for most, if not all, of the season so far. Balatoni has turned into one of the best centre-halves in the league overnight. Don't understand anyone choosing Murray over any of the midfield options we have. Has been the only liability in the team this season and to me very seldom looks interested. Since Forbes has gotten a bit more match practice, he has been nothing short of outstanding. Anyone talking about dropping Lawless is ridiculous. Him, Paton and SOD have been by far and away the best players in the league this season. He absolutely terrorises defences and if we don't get promoted this season (fat chance) then he'll surely be the first to be bought. Another harsh one dropping Craig but even though he hasn't been scoring as frequently as he should be, he's still fighting for every ball and has the desire to get in amongst it. Lost a bit of respect for Craig after that stupid sending off vs Cove but he's still been a great addition to the squad. The fact that I struggled to come up with a starting X1 due to sheer competitiveness for places for the first time in years is really exciting. Playing exciting football and its making it a lot easier to entice my mates to Firhill!