Lanarkjag

That's hilarious. Big vegan McGinty

This is the first game I've been to in a while. I work most Saturdays unfortunately, but had the chance to go for a change. 1st half Our centre backs were out fought on the ground and in the air, QoS looked stronger and more agile. We rarely won, or got anywhere near the second ball, inviting a lot of pressure. To be fair we never really seemed to get the break of the ball, but you make your own luck by hard work. The defence looked fragile and QoS very dangerous every time they came forward. Outstanding save from Fox. Some good work down the left from Robson who looked fairly decent at left back. Most of our problems seemed to come from giving or losing possession too easily and allowing QoS to break on us. 2nd half A much improved performance (I thought - though most disagree). We seemed to gain momentum and really should have taken the lead. The handball was a stonewall penalty for me, but in any case I'm not quite sure how the follow up effort didn't end up in the net. Up until Queens started timewasting (their first "injured" player) I thought there was only going to be one winner. The delay in game cost us momentum and we lost our way for a while, and it was almost inevitable that QoS would score. They did, and then they continued to manage the game in a similar vein. At times we did build momentum, and Kenny Miller really should've scored with his free header, although it must be said the Queens defence were mostly comfortable in repulsing our attacks. Cole added something extra when he came on, but the second penalty shout would've been a travesty if given (wouldn't've complained mind you). Second very good stop from Fox as well and I'll admit that it did feel like we could get a goal. Overall - we have to be taking points of QoS but it was a game either side could have won - Queens took their chance, we didn't. I would echo the lack of players in the box when presented with crossing opportunities, and that there needs to be an improvement in quality of cross delivery. However, there are signs of improvement and that the team seems to be looking to play a quicker more expansive game. Having seen Thistle play twice on TV so far this season, those performances were nothing short of shambolic. There is at least cohesion now in this side. We'll play worse and win under McCall I think. Cautiously optimistic.

The speed at which this appointment has been made makes me think that Caldwells sacking had been planned for well in advance. McCall - I have to admit that I wasn't the greatest fan of him the first time round, but he did improve on the Bunnet and effectively stabilised the club on the park. In retrospect he laid very strong foundations for MacNamara and Archie, especially with his eye for a player. In terms of the names being bandied about for the job now, he is clearly the leading candidate. What is more than impressive is his success with Ayr and his transformation of the club, I fully expected them to fall away this season having lost key players, but they are deservedly sitting at the top of the league. Archie coming back as support staff could be a master stroke. While it was clear he needed to go as manager (and it was the correct decision at the time), I can't help feeling that his biggest failing was not being able to spot a player. McCall seems to have that in droves, and allied with Archie it makes me cautiously optimistic about the future of the club. I'd now expect this season to be a write off, but if there is anyone who can organise the side into a consistent and difficult to beat unit he can. Its going to be a rollercoaster, but what is abundantly clear is that the trust and patience is there from the support that he will turn this round.

It was a baritone sax

It's more a sigh of relief, than anything else. If he'd backed up his treatment of people with results then I would've had sympathy for him. I have very little for him - Karma's a b****. Important the club takes its time to make the right appointment and isn't duped by utter bull at the job interview.

So. You love your job. You love the organisation, to the extent that you go out your way to be a champion and a role model for it. It's been your home, so to speak, for the last decade and you don't see yourself working anywhere else. In fact, you are even due to be rewarded for your service and loyalty and to top it off, your customers love you. Your boss, who's not been in the job for very long, asks to see you and tells you that you're no longer required as he wants to move the organisation "in a different direction". I'd be more than devastated. It quite honestly is an abhorrent way to treat someone who has been an outstanding example to all who work with or support Partick Thistle. Yes, Kris hasn't had a great couple of seasons, but neither has the rest of the team. Without the midfield creating the chances efforts on goal were few and far between. Lets face it, we could have had Lionel Messi playing for us and he would've struggled to score goals. There is no doubting Kris's ability or his commitment by anyone other than Gary Caldwell (his commitment to the club might actually have been the problem for Caldwell, he saw Doolan as a threat). Keeping him at the club for his experience and knowledge, plus his development as a coach, and dare I suggest a potential future manage, was surely a no brainer. It's these kind of professionals that other clubs would kill to have. With the right recruitment I'm sure he would be back scoring plenty. Releasing the guy is bonkers, and the manner in which this has been handled almost seems malicious. Caldwell has made a rod for his own back now with this. There are signs that he's turned it round, but if it goes wrong at the start of the season for him it seems likely many fans will give him short shrift. I really thought that as a club PTFC was better than this.

Had been willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, even though his record is horrible - hey, we're unbeaten in 2019 (optimistic head on). The jury was pretty far out to be fair, but, yes, benefit of the doubt. The whole Erskine fiasco - the sooner he GTFs the better. For whatever reason he's just committed suicide as manager. That trapdoor is looking very big and very open at the moment.

Would bite your hand off for Lambert. Took Norwich City from a basket case under Bryan Gunn, to the Premier League!

How about this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_McMenemy I seem to remember a BBC article some time ago where he was contemplating a return to the UK

Not posted in a long time but... Sad to see how things have worked out. The writing has been on the wall for a long time (did Archie not have his resignation refused after the playoff?)- this has been one slow start too many for Archie. What has been concerning, more than results, have been the performances over the last 18 months or so. I don't get to many games, but whenever I've seen us play recently we've looked pretty toothless and poor at creating chances. More importantly there seems to have been severe motivation issues - we have looked mentally fragile for a long time. Archie has been a phenomenal servant to the club, and while there will be few that disagree that now was the right time for him to go (imo), he will always remain a club legend - he took us to our best league placing in 40 years. The squad we have, while being remarkably unbalanced, I feel can come good with the right guidance this season. There are some excellent players in there, and that includes our promising youngsters which give cause for optimism. We do, for the love of god, need a right back as a matter of urgency (there must be some that are without clubs?) Wish him well for the future and hope he's not too long out the game.

Roger Eli I think. Apparently he was a bit of a cult hero for a club down south. All I remember was him doing a very good impression of a headless chicken while repelling the ball at every available opportunity.

Kenny Brannagin is a shoe in at centre half. There's also The two Callaghan brothers(?). You've not mentioned Darren Brady either

Tippy tappy football is really annoying.

Bouncy, bouncy Bouncy, bouncy Na, na, na na na na

Kind of get the feeling that Utd may have been lining him up for the end of the season anyway. (Utter speculation) Something has obviously happened with Houston and the inevitable was brought forward. Absolutely gutting midway through the season - would have thought Jackie would have at least seen this one out before moving on. The important thing now is to appoint someone with the same philosophy - buggered if I know who it should be though!

Wot they said

Deserved win today against a well organised Cowden side who made it very difficult for us. The came at us for the first 5 or 10 minutes of the first half hassling the ball before we settled and dominated the rest of the half. Their keeper was rightly shown the yellow - I think he would have been unfortunate to see red for the challenge. It looked to me to be right on the edge of the area. On another day could a penalty have been given? The penalty itself was a stonewaller and superbly taken by Muirhead. We hadn't really made any great chances up to that point, though. Things did push on and we really should have had at least another goal before the break. Fox was pretty much a spectator. Second half Cowden came out fighting and gave the team its biggest test so far. There have already been some outstanding goals at Firhill this season and their leveller is up there amoungst the best. Superb strike. Fox then had to make a couple of very good saves during a period of the game in which we were just all over the place. All credit to Colin Cameron, he changed things and made it very difficult for us. Once the early pressure was over, we gradually worked our way back into the game to dominate things until full-time. Great run by Sinclair to force the winner - if the defender missed it Erskine had a tap in at the back post. Thoroughly entertaining game in which a Cowdenbeath side fully played their part. They will take points off teams this season, make no mistake - they are one of the better sides we have played this season. Fox - nothing to do 1st half - two great saves second. Helped win us the points O'Donnell - Another good shift up and down the right. Crossing could be improved Archie and Muirhead - Another fine game at the back from both. The penalty was superb and Muirheads distribution in general is quality Sinclair - I think I prefer Bannigan here, that's not to say that he had a bad game. Did look a bit cumbersome at times, but his run won us the game. Shug - ran most of the game, but he still has an annoying habit of playing some suicidal passes. That said he had a very good game. Paton - Another very good performance. Never stops running Lawless - Always a threat on the ball. His movement off is great too. Bannigan - a decent shift filling in for Welsh, but he is better and more effective on the left as a wing back Erskine - a little annonymous today, altough he was closely watched by the Cowden team. Still made some great runs and won us the penalty. Elliot - Worked hard and ran himself into the ground. Didn't reach the heights of his performance against Livingston last week, but the service to him was sparse We missed Welsh in midfield today - but again I can't crticise anyone for a bad game - yes we had a shakey spell, but they played through it and grabbed control of the game back. Really, really good 3 points.

Not really a numbers thing. More the fact they were by far and away the worst home support I have ever witnessed. I've seen more life in roadkill than there was in their support on Saturday. It's sad that they'll have virtually no atmosphere there unless there is a noisy away support - as I said, the Jags support was superb

Super performance. I still believe that this side has a long way to progress - that's not to say that we are poor - this is arguably the best Thistle side I have seen, and it can get even better. Occasional slackness does creep in - there were a number of passes today (as with Raith on Sunday) that were played without looking/thinking and put us under pressure. Better teams will punish us on the break when we surrender possession - Livy succeeded in putting the ball out of play when they had real chances to counter. I am being hyper critical though. On to the good stuff Fox, apart from his great second half save, hardly touched the ball. O'Donnell - Got forward well and just got better as the game went on. Had some super runs and his reverse pass for the second goal was just superb Bannigan - Another solid game, and put in a good shift up and down the left. Defended well all game. Archie and Muirhead - What a partnership they are forming at the back. Neither really put a foot wrong all game. Shug - ran the game from the middle of the park. He seems to put in some crazy tackles and the occasional daft pass Paton - Up and down the pitch all the game. Near the end he sprinted back over most of the pitch after we lost possession and put in a tackle. Passing and crossing was superb. He is turning in to a super player. Lawless - What a first goal - the second wasn;t bad either. Puts the fear of god into the oppo with the ball. Should have had a hattrick but a last ditch tackle foiled him Erskine - Again another superb performance from him, and unlucky not to score what would have been an impressive goal. Tackled well and ran his socks off all game. Welsh - Just superb, skillfull on the ball and his passing was immaculate - he should have scored as well, unlucky to see the shot go wide. Elliot - Put in a great shift. Worked hard and held the ball up well. Looks like he might turn into a player after all Craig - not on long enough really to make an impact. Showed some nice touches to hold the ball up and lay it off though. Great performance overall, and apart from the last 5 or so minutes we were pretty much in control of things. The 1st Lawless goal was just superb and Erskine was so unlucky not to score moments later. Livy then hit the post and had a rebound chance - they should have scored - it would have been an injustice if they had though. Brilliant move for the second - Welsh's skill and pass on the ball to get it out to the right was class. Their goal came out of the blue from a corner that should never have been given. We should have scored another couple of goals to make things safe, but couldn't find the finish. Last few minutes were very nervy. We can do this!

Livingston Support today Jags fans were superb - reckon we may even have outnumbered them. Really entertaining match

What about one for the gamers Grand theft anal

Great result, and a cup semi to look forward to First half we were very casual - I won't say we were poor, just not looking very interested. An awful lot of slack passess going about. The one positive was that Rovers didn't threaten our goal at all until a corner close to half time where Fox was forced into a save. Without really impressing we were still the better side. Second half Rovers should have taken the lead when they had a man over at the back post - they looked the better side early on. Cue Craig setting up Erskine who did superbly to collect the ball and score. They reversed it for the second, Craigs sclaffed shot trundling over the line, and the third goal - so much credit has to go to Paul Paton who won the ball with a great tackle, picked himself up and pinged a stunning pass for Erskine. The finish wasn't half bad either. From there we controlled things and played some super football. I don't think Rovers really had any clear chances after that. Fox - One very good stop in the first, and a second for the cameras in the second (it was going over) O'Donnel - Shakey start in the first few minutes. Came onto a game though and did well down the right, getting forward a lot. Bannigan - Very good performance again, although did get caught out a couple of times. Looking like he is going to be a super player Muirhead and Archie - Super partnership forming at the back, Archie was immense today. Muirhead looks a real find Shug - Will not be his best performance in a Jags shirt. Gave the ball away a number of times and played one or two dangerous passes. Still looks a class act though. Paton - Brilliant game, never stopped running and fighting for the ball. Some of his long passing was sublime, especially for Erskines 3rd Welsh - Good solid performance. Tidy on the ball and dangerous going forward. Had a couple of decent efforts at goal in the first half. Lawless - Was busy and worked his socks off. Probably wasn't in the game as much as he would have wanted, but his movement off the ball and his work rate is second to none. Very dangerous with the ball at his feet. Erskine - Almost everything he tried in the first half didn't come off - folk were getting on his back again. Up he pops with two (superb) goals and an assist in the second. Lets give the guy our support - he is one of our most important players Craig - took his goal well and set up Erskine superbly. Despite that he didn't really have much of an impact on the rest of the game. Subs did well when they came on. Sinclair looks like he needs some match practice, but still looked decent. Elliot worked hard and Balatoni did well at the back, although his distribution at times wasn't great. This team still has a long way to go to reach its best. It is a Thistle side that for the first time in years is heading in the right direction and playing some very entertaining football. Despite myself I am beginning to believe

You're just barking

Optimistically, the game canny be any worse than the pish served up by Scotland at Hampden -

Dire performance from both sides. I'm struggling to decide which team was worse - Scotland probably were but not by much. Our set piece delivery was shocking. What really annoys me was the game was there for the taking - wtf is the point in bringing on two subs with 10 minutes left, I don't think Rhodes had a touch of the ball. Inept tactical performance - I fear for the Macedonia game. Oh - we might as well have played a traffic cone up front in place of Miller - he is gash