partickthedog

You need not have any worries on that score!

Agreed. Harry Milne has been excellent for us, so aggressive and inspiring, and also intelligent and honest in his interviews. Some great goals in his catalogue, Always love a towering header! Wishing him every success at Hearts. Scott Robinson has been good in parts (especially away at Ross County in the Scottish Cup revenge game), but has rarely been able to string together an injury free run. There has been a slight downturn in recent months, so probably right time to move on. Quite enjoyed the humour in Scott Martin's JagZone interview. He was healthily self-deprecating, but I think that he might be a tougher cookie than his humble expression would indicate. Lady Isobel Barnett will be delighted that we now have the hard tackling midfielder she has posted about almost as often as JJ has torn shreds out of TJF and/or Tranche 2. Know nothing about Ethan Drysdale but here's hoping that he has something to offer.

Another dull shock-free tournament. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Not a good scenario for an underdog.

Turner and Fitzpatrick should be two of our top players that set us apart from our rivals. Their joint early substitution speaks volumes as to how much they are failing to deliver. Chalmers was excellent and our main threat throughout. Robinson combined well with Megwa and Chalmers down the right side in the first half (there was no threat whatsoever from the left side), but fell out of the game in the second half. Apart from the first minute when he was easily beaten and of course his poor mistake leading to Morton's second goal, Megwa played well. Ablade' s pace taking him past several defenders and the precision of his assist for Chalmers were outstanding. It was a pity that Stanway had to miss out and hopefully he will be back soon. Doolan needs to take a serious look at his starting line up and not be afraid of dropping those who may think that they have a divine right to start, That is three games in a row when it has taken substitutions to spark the team belatedly into life. Ablade was brilliant against Falkirk away last time, so it would be good if we could find a way to have him starting next week. For opposite reasons, I would like to see Stanway in there too, if injury permits. We need their freshness and positivity. Robinson, Fitzpatrick and Turner would be decent bench options, hopefully all desperate to prove themselves.

I think he means Scott Robinson.

Ricky Waddell?

I was posting late night/early morning and I am sure that my brain was thinking Lawless but my fingers typed Chalmers by default! Chalmers has been one of our better players recently but as others have said was less than wholehearted on Saturday. If Lawless is fully fit I would on balance go with him, always on the understanding that whoever starts, the other should be coming on with plenty of time to contribute.

Just taking up one point, I fully agree that after playing very well when he first arrived, Megwa”s form deteriorated badly after his return from injury. However, I would say that after a series of poor games he was back to somewhere near his best when he came on for the second half on Saturday. He had some good runs and crosses, and also seemed to be developing an understanding with Lawless. He is certainly a far more natural right back than Turner. With Turner, Doolan has to decide whether to play him in a central midfield role or not at all. If it is central midfield should he be high or low? I think that I would prefer to play him high in a Number 10 role replacing Robinson, who after a few weeks of being below par perhaps needs to rise to the challenge of fighting his way back into the starting XI. So with apologies for jumping into the next game thread, I think I am looking at: Mitchell Megwa. Ashcroft. O’Reilly Milne Stanway. Bannigan Chalmers. Turner. Fitzpatrick Graham

Where will you hang your balaclava to dry?

I would disagree with Kris Doolan's game of two halves analysis. We started the second half slightly better than the first half, but that is not saying too much. We were not making any serious impression until around the 70th minute when Harry Milne began making inroads and actually shooting at goal. Ben Stanway's introduction also made a huge difference. It was not the case that the sending off fired us into action, but it did of course help to pick up the momentum which had been building. Classic case of too little too late. I was concerned that we seemed to have learned the wrong lessons from the Hamilton win. That indicated a resilience and fighting spirit, but should not have covered over the shortcomings of the previous 70 minutes in that game as well. I appreciate that the formation was different, but the negativity of the first 70 minutes was similar. Turgid for 70 minutes and on fire for the last 20 is not a winning formula. Trying to end with a few positive notes: For the first time Stevie Lawless seemed to have recaptured something of his previous form and fitness, and was beginning to combine well with Megwa. If they can keep doing that, and Milne and Fitzpatrick do the same on the other side, that could be promising. Ben Stanway has to start the next game, with Robbie Crawford making way. Logan Chalmers has had a decent spell recently and Scott Robinson was playing well a month ago. Robinson has been off it since and Chalmers was poor yesterday. A place on the bench may motivate them to come back firing. I like David Mitchell's keenness to get the game restarted. That is the one area in which he excels Myles Roberts. Could we bring that same keep the game moving attitude to our static throw in routine?

Do we get a massive transfer fee because he has 30 months left on his contract?

No one played well in the first half. Turner and Crawford were the ones replaced at half-time, but Chalmers and Robinson were equally poor and remained so into the second half until they were finally substituted. The only useful learning to take was that Milne came back towards his best in the second half, and Megwa played better than he has done in recent weeks. Accordingly I think that we should ditch the back 3, as well as any attempt to play non-fullbacks. Milne and Megwa as fullbacks combining with proper wingers has to be our best option. Stanway did well when he came on and surely has earned a start. Fitzy looked hungry again, so I would bring him back into a starting role as well. We should still be OK for 4th place, but somehow we have to find a way to improve performances so that we reach our peak in the play offs. It is difficult to say this with any great conviction.

Difficult to know what positive to say here in Ayr. Surely some changes at halftime. We have had no possession to speak of in the advanced midfield area and we have no penetration on the flanks. Therefore all we can do is play slowly and sideways too far from goal followed by the inevitable hopeful or hopeless punt.

If Sayers is leaving, that would be rather odd, as it is only in the last six weeks or so that he has begun to play a lot of games. I appreciate that with Milne returning, Sayers will most likely be back on the bench. However, we still need left back cover if Harry is injured or suspended. For all his hard work and good attitude, Dan O'Reilly has shown that he is not nearly as effective a left back as he is a central defender.

You are indeed right, and Third Lanark has already corrected me on that one! By coincidence the wrong Ross Stewart, the disastrously bad goalkeeper, had his worst disastrously bad performance for us away at Ayr United as we lost 4-3. The Ayr winner went right through him as I could clearly see, standing behind the goal right in line with the shot.

Probably a bit of all 3, but to give him some credit, he does tend to play a very important defensive role later in the game, and seems to pop up in his own box making a lot of clearances.

Maybe he was better a few years ago, but Ross Stewart was a disastrously bad goalkeeper for us last season.

My task is easy. With the exception of Ayr, all the lower placed teams in the league pyramid are away from home. It must be the dullest Scottish Cup on record. HAAA AAAA If all the results go my way, I may be back in the hunt.

I do not understand why the powers that be go so far to deny me the opportunity of making a reasonable score in the prediction competition.

I suppose one answer might be three at the back, although to me that only works if the centre of the 3 can step forward and spray passes in the manner of Scott Paterson or drive forward with the ball rather than always shelling it long. McBeth might be able to perform the latter role.

If Harry Milne is fully fit, surely he has to play. He is far and away our best, most combative, most natural and most likely to score left back (not to mention that he scored a great header in our previous encounter at Somerset Park). Ben Stanway spoke well on the podcast, seems to have learned lessons from early season setbacks and will be high in confidence after his winner at Hamilton. Whether he plays from the start may depend on our chosen formation (and what roles Crawford and/or McBeth may or may not have in this), but I would expect him at the very least to be making a substantial contribution from the bench.

The only third tier team left in the Cup is Cove Rangers, although after seeing Paul Hartley's miserable face on Sportscene, I had to re-check the results to be sure that they had won.

Hideous set of results. So boring. Not a shock in sight. Only minor tremor was Livingston winning at Ross County. Looks like I will be set for automatic relegation. RSPSOG (Royal Society for Preventing the Slaying of Giants) have been so successful they will need to be wound up due to lack of business.

I wonder if we are perhaps over-thinking as regards Charlie Sayers. The 3 year deal suggests a long term project, with Year 1 being a time for learning, growing and adjusting, with the fruit hopefully being harvested in Years 2 and 3. The expectation may have been that he would see little if any first team action in Year 1, so the time he is getting may be regarded as being ahead of schedule and encouraging rather than in any way diminishing his self-esteem. With a potential 5 substitutions to be made (and I always think we should make fuller and earlier use of the options, so as to maximise the amount of fresh energy out there on the pitch) any outfield player should have a 50% expectation that they will be substituted in the course of a game, and therefore it should not be regarded as a dent to the confidence. Slightly changing the subject I see the fully developed Charlie Sayers as a "Rolls Royce" tall centre half in the Virgil van Dijk/John Stones mould rather than as a dynamic left back in the image of Harry Milne or Andy Robertson. Maybe Arne Slot or Pep Guardiola might shell out some money for him to make our investment worthwhile.

Ricco Diack just come on for Airdrie away to Livingston. Only 2-1 down, so still very much in the game. 20 minutes to make himself a hero. PS At least he did leave a mark on the game. He was booked.