milhouse

All in all I think we are doing fine. Unbeaten in 5 i the league, a gap between us and the bottom half, in contention for a promotion play-off. If we acheive that I think it would be a very satisfactory season. As a football team we are far away from where we were 2 years ago - in a good way.

Think we've been a bit unfortunate here to be honest. Not an excuse for losing, but we have been better than last week.

We really do give away cheap goals

We aren't neccessarily a bad side at this level but we are a distance behind the last 2 teams we have played (Inverness/Kilmarnock) who will probably be the top 2. We have had 3 decent wins so far and still in 4th place currently. If we finish there and have a shot at a play-off that would be a very good season.

Battled all the way to the end tonight and could have won it - after 5 straight league wins. 2 games left for us with a 4 point lead at the top - we have given ourselves a fantastic opportunity. Let's get the job done on Thursday night.

Don't think so, but show me the working and happy to be proved wrong

Correct, lest we forget. We were, by and large, dreadful that season under Dick Campbell (and let's not forget, he got us relegated to Division 2 the previous season, with probably still the worst Thistle team I have ever seen). Off the top of my head - at Firhill, 0-3 v Stirling Albion & Gretna, 0-6 v Gretna at Firhill...I'm thinking players like Darren Brady, Mark McChrystal, Willie Kinniburgh, Jimmy Gibson... Boab McCulloch battered in a few free kicks, but Mark Roberts almost single-handedly dragged us to promotion that season...and apart from that, it was rubbish. But we slithered out of there in the end...

I have never seen a straight red card for dissent, or for abusive language. An absolute rarity. Rudden didn't throw a ball away, run up to referee a la Ferguson-era Man Utd...I think he was very unfortunate. And had played quite well prior to that. Do we think that referee would have done the same to, for example, Scott Brown? I'm not convinced...

A lot of what you say makes sense, but there is no doubt that the 1971 cup win, in particular, is a historically outstanding sporting achievement which we should be very proud of (not that I was alive at the time). 4-0 up at half time ("what a sensation!" was certainly apt)...it's not far off being akin to, for example, Leicester City's recent league championship. I don't think PTFC has ever been over the top about it. Compare for example with how much Celtic harp on about "Lisbon Lions" - setting off their camera phones etc...while solitary, the Scottish Cup isn't to be sniffed at either, Hibs for example went 116 years (I think?) without winning another one...

An astute point. Parallels with the Dick Campbell period are interesting. We finished 4th in the - then - Second Division (Campbell having relegated us the previous season with still the worst Thistle team I've ever seen) and scraped through via the play-offs. Mark Roberts dragged us there almost single-handedly. There were some horrible results to endure in that season, if I remember, pumped at Firhill by Gretna, Stirling Albion and so on... The team we have this season, in my opinion, is better than what Dick Campbell assembled that season - which was also full time.

How does this make matters worse? Win next week (which we are certainly capable of, and indeed should have beaten Falkirk in the previous game), and it's a 3 point gap with 17 games to play.

Peterhead scored from our mistake and then as our play became more desperate in the second half they knew that they had us figured out. Never beaten them in a league game, apparently. Don't think we have enough to win this league but would be very disappointed if we are not in a play off (which I think we could win, given the standard of Championship), and then McCall would leave, I think.

Sean Welsh was very frequently injured during his time at PTFC (always out for "6 weeks" at a time) and to me often looked quite tentative in midfield when he did return to play. He did have a number of good performances for us however.

We were successful in - probably - the most important shootout in our history - at Peterhead.

If you want us to get back up the leagues you'll have to start enjoying them...