lady-isobel-barnett

4 Top tier clubs out already and thankfully Livingston one of them. Laugh at Morton but I would be wary of an away tie to Stenny.

I'd say that's our strongest XI. Only point of argument could be if two up top is our best formation

I'm kinda in favour of Diack going back out on loan, so wouldn't be against signing someone like Tomi on a short term deal. I doubt tho' such a move would be zero costing. Bringing in an attacking wide player remains for me the number one priority. Obviously having to move on a player or two to finance any such deal.

I think a fully fit Martin could be an improvement on Smyth, who I thought was near excellent for us. Scott has added leadership qualities.

In general our throw ins have improved this season. Albeit from previously being diabolical. Granted most improvement has been from our own half. Less so nearer the opposition goal. btw I always thought a set piece would be like a set menu. Don't get a choice what goes in your sandwich.

Off on a tangent but there must be a few Jags who never were regular penalty takers but scored and never missed in shootouts. Ross Docherty, Archie or Rowson maybe? Paul Ritchie methinks.

Agree but given our recent history with penalties you'd like to think that should be something we've been doing. Penalty taking confuses me. Messi has failed to score over 30 in his career and plenty other great players have missed a surprising amount of times. It's not that uncommon for a striker to not even be selected for a shootout. Occasionally a team is blessed with a natural penalty taker but that's not too common an occurrence. Can only think like AJ that rote practice is all we can do to improve. But for all we know we may have already been doing just that.

I'd have thought Martin would've be captain ahead of McBeth. Maybe given the intensity of his recent injury Wilson had no intention of risking Scott over 90 minutes?

Wasn't there but not totally surprised with the outcome. Guessing this means a much stronger starting XI for Saturday. Tho' I often edge towards the indifference re this competition, I did want to see us progress. Pressure now on a run in the Scottish Cup. Who was due to take our fifth penalty in the shootout? I imagined that Ricco would've been down for one as he's good on free kicks.

That I do (now edited) 👍

I don't want to go into the "how serious we take this game" argument. I can only imagine the team making the long trip would be that bit keener to give it a go. ICT will also want to show their credentials as a prospective championship side. Partick Thistle win but maybe a not too convincing one.

Just being on the books at a top tier club will earn a player more money than we would pay in total (appearances, win bonus final place etc). The players mentioned above were all of an age where the risk factor to their overall careers were at worse, minimal. If things don't work out they're still better off financially and they just drop a level to their previous roles at roughly a similar paying club to ourselves. Conversely there's many a case of a youngster whisked away to a bigger club where a career becomes unstuck. During their late teens/early twenties they don't gain enough experience (game time) at an appropriate level. I'm not sure if Fitz is the best of examples but I suspect another season or two with us and his career may have progressed in a higher trajectory.

Smyth away.

Firstly I agree broadly with the first four paragraphs. I'm not sure I disagree with the fifth but we can make five substitutes these days and generally our bench hasn't been that weak. Also if we're that jaded during the midweek game then we should be even worse come the ensuing Saturday (game 3). Saturday evening to Tuesday evening isn't that much shorter a period than Wednesday morning to Saturday afternoon. That's a good point in para four. If/when we take Fitzpatrick/Chalmers off we're more or less forced into a change of formation just when opposition fullbacks might be tiring due to our wing play. A fit MacKay would've made a big difference.

......or the odd teambuilding jaunt to Exmoor accompanied by the lads from Hereford.