Stewarty

It was a bizarre game, which I suppose is reflected in the widely different interpretations in evidence. The opening line of the BBC's match report reads: 'Partick Thistle produced a sensational display to win the battle of the Jags and bring Inverness Caley Thistle's unbeaten run to an end.' Personally, I can't believe we walked away with all three points, far less with a two goal cushion. Perhaps the BBC's acclaim says more about how well ICT have been playing recently. They are clearly a very decent outfit. With this in mind, when I say that our defence was all over the place at times, I do so whilst also recognising that this was, to an extent, due to ICT's movement up front, which was very clever. Having said that, some of the problems we experienced, particularly on the flanks, are a cause for concern. As others have noted, Carroll was regularly caught out by diagonal balls. He had clearly been instructed to track Watkins when he drifted inside, leaving Higgy to cover Raven's overlapping runs. This is all fine and good. The problem was, however, that Watkins often dragged Carroll inside only to pull back out wide, but Jake failed to stick with him and was caught ball-watching on several occasions. But he's new to the team, so I'm optimistic that Archie can iron out these errors. Stevenson is coming in for some serious stick. I didn't think he was that bad yesterday, aside from being far too lackadaisical when he had the opportunity to play Higgy clean through on the break. He was better than Doolan, who had a rare off day. Osman and Bannigan were solid if unspectacular. Higgy was just fantastic, but then he often is. So basically, I felt our performance was far from 'sensational', as claimed by the Beeb, but we ground out the win. According to the tired old MoTD cliche this is the mark of champions...

Just watched again (and why not!). Yeah, I think you're right. I should learn to trust my own eyes rather than the commentator!

Just watched the highlights. Turns out it was SOD that delivered this pass. Just shows how well the whole team played.

Pure deflection from Adams. He didn't want to comment at all on County's woeful performance, so he just kept praising us. I suppose this is better than his usual contributions though.

It's amazing how two people can see the game in completely different ways. I thought he was commanding in the air and comfortable in possession. The only issues were due to miscommunication, which is to be expected. He looks like a good addition to me.

It's the one in the build-up to Bannigan's goal that sticks in my mind. It was hit relatively low and at pace - exactly what the move required. He was causing havoc with precision cross-field balls all evening.

That reminded me of how we played in 2012-13. Everyone was on song, without exception. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Gary Fraser is a class act. If Ross McCormack is worth £11m, who knows what this kid will be worth in a few years. The precision of his long-range passing is breathtaking. And with Banzo and Osman alongside him we have a quite a midfield. The latter is obviously the more defensive of the trio, but in no way is he simply a clugger - the guy can play. Defensively we looked relatively solid. Seaborne looks like a great addition and far superior to Gabby. There were a couple of wobbles due to communication issues, but I'm sure these will get ironed out in training. SOD looked more like his old self and McMillan really surprised me. I've never been that convinced by him at left-back but he never put a foot wrong tonight. Nothing got past him. Finally, we looked really dangerous in attack, as is self-evident from the scoreline! Higgy tormented their right-back, Lawless showed some nice touches and Stevenson's link-up play was neat and tidy. Then Christie came on and ran them ragged for good measure. It's also worth pointing out that County were bad, but only because we didn't give them a second's peace. We swarmed all over them every time we lost possession. So, well done, Archie. Excellent new signings, spot-on team selection, substitutions that had an impact and perfect tactics.

Dunno, mate. He looked fine in the warm up. County fighting back a bit, trying to make the game more physical. Elliot on for Higgy.

Yeah. We're playing 4-3-3. Stevenson up front.

We're bossing the midfield. Fraser has been absolutely immense so far. The goal resulted from a fantastic move.

With Mair, I hope we didn't end up basin' a monstrous decision on erroneous assumptions regarding the availability of superior players. ...end up ba-cinnamon-strous decision... No? Is this mic still on?

Gal SOD Balatoni Seaborne Keenan Fraser Osman Lawless Stevenson Higgy Doolan Fraser is a bit ahead of Bannigan in terms of fitness, so expect him to get the nod. Not sure if Seaborne will start, as he's had little opportunity to train with the squad.

It's beginning to look like Dale Keenan may be given the opportunity to make the left-back position his own, with Seaborne and McMillan able to provide cover. If this turns out to be the case, fair play to Archie for taking a risk on youth. It also looks like McDaid will get increased game time. Reasons to be cheerful.

The Pyramid I thought. WM and WW came later. County's tactics are more akin to artillary fire.

Nah, it's time to re-invert the pyramid: 2-3-5.

By all accounts Accies were pretty poor, which is comforting.

I'd like to see him get a shot in the wing-back role. He played there a couple of times towards the end of last season and also when Keenan came off during the Sunderland game. He's always looked fairly comfortable.

And still has...

Your assessment of Mr Power would appear accurate. This morning he had us down as playing Ross County away today.

Most probably. My ticket worked at the Sunderland game.

I renewed a while back but didn't get a confirmation email (checked spam and junk mail but nothing). I tried to access my account just to make sure that the sale had gone through but couldn't get in. On the off-chance that I was using the wrong password, requested a new one. The email containing said new password never appeared. I sent a message to the website administrators regarding this issue but never received a response. Finally, I phoned up the office who were able to confirm that the sale had gone through. They said they would sort out the problem with my online account and email me. Nowt happened. *sigh*

Paddy Power have us down as second favourite to finish bottom. Cheeky gets. I think we'll be okay. St Mirren and Accies don't look too hot, nor do Killie minus Boyd's goals.

With the season kicking off tomorrow, it's time to take a poll on where folk think we'll finish this season.

If that happens I'll wear one of those Thistle 'onsies' to every home match next season.

Strange. It's absolutely horrific, yet for some reason I want one.