Duke Gekantawa

I think it's possible to overthink this. There is nothing really that could be done about that first goal, and without it I don't think County get back into it. With the first goal the momentum went with County. The second goal was of course a horrible error, but how address not making horrible individual errors I'm not sure. The timing of the second goal meant that the momentum had fully swung County's way. Momentum is difficult to turn around when its against you. There's been a few times in only the past few years we've seen big leads overturned in e.g., two-legged European ties by the best teams in world football (Barca v Liverpool, Man City v Real (2 injury time goals!), Ajax v. Spurs, PSG v. Barca etc.). In each case, the teams were of similar ability on paper and in each case a big lead was squandered. I don't think the likes of Barca, PSG and City lack mentality overall. But even with the momentum in County's favour, we had a number of chances and decent openings to win the game. It's a shame we never took one of them.

However, I thought this very same change was positive in the first leg. County seemed to have gained some midfield control in the second half (after the first few minutes when we missed numerous chances), Bannigan coming on seemed to steady us and we again looked in control once he came on (with more openings spurned). As for the QP game you mention, the third QP goal largely came about because Fitzpatrick couldn't be bothered tracking back (the second was a bit of a freak and shouldn't have stood anyway). Hodson, of course, provided an excellent assist for the winner.

Mitchell is probably more suited to Doolan's preferred style of fast distribution and attack (as Fox was in 2012/13). Sneddon is very slow by contrast. Obviously someone of Cerny's ability may have won us more points (although he was also frustratingly slow at distribution), but to attract keepers of that ability we need to be in the Premiership (Cerny would never have played for us in the Championship and left as soon as we were relegated). I'm not sure what we'll be able to afford next season, but I suspect strengthening other areas and/or replacing all those that leave will be more pressing than replacing Mitchell.

The English FA Cup final had a similarly ludicrous handball decision given by VAR. The rule/interpretation is terrible, but its been like this all season. The one tiny consolation from yesterday is that we won't have VAR spoiling the matchday experience next season (cups/possible playoffs excepted).

There will always be empty seats in the JL when sold out. For example, I reckon there was about 100 or more fans in the space behind the top row of seats. Also, because everyone stands (at least in the central/back areas) the people density in these areas is greater than one person per seat (the main "singing section" was very busy). Obviously, this means other regions will look empty.

In the two previous ties, we’ve won it in the second leg without killing them off in the first. We’ve also won the away legs much more convincingly. No reason why we can’t again. Other than taking a decent corner kick, County were dire

That makes it sound that DU’s doubles if RC don’t go down, which isn’t the case. And of course we have benefited from parachute payments previously

But so were we then- I'm sure that was in the middle of the 7 game losing streak

To be fair, it can be hard to differentiate phonetically between "should of" and the perfectly acceptable contraction "should've"

Looks fairly violent to me- forearm smash?

Really? I’m not even sure it’s the wrong decision, it looked close to a punch. If not it was a very aggressive push with full arm extension. Muirhead probably should have been booked for the armlock to be fair

From where I was standing, their header was in without the block- to turn that into a goal for us was marvellous

Plenty of free parking on Murano St and roads off it

Not technically, no. They would have stayed up had they won. But, they still had one more game and the play-offs to save themselves after

“That” game at Airdrie (Elliot) relegated them

Forfar after we won the 2nd

I noticed that and thought I’d have a look at their form- lost their last 6 games. Caldwell looking to be weaving his “magic” again

Depends on how success and failure is to be defined from the period he took over. I do think if he finishes 5th, but with a PPG over his tenure that would have won the league extended over a full season (which is entirely possible) and a greatly improved PPG than his predecessor, then it is not truly a failure. The failure really lies elsewhere. I certainly wouldn't be looking to replace him if that came to pass, in any case. Of course, Doolan's real test is next season (whether we go up or not), when his recruitment skills will become apparent.

For a bit of context- since Doolan took over, we've earned 1.81 points per game. Our PPG at the time of McCall's departure was 1.57. Dundee are presently on 1.73 PPG.

It might be interesting to see if Doolan might be able to get something out of Smith. He’s proven at this level, despite being dire for us

Lost the tie, but not the match. I think it counts as a draw statistically

Would've been interesting to know what the crowd would have been for our L1 clinching win v. Falkirk in the closed doors season

The save just before the penalty was excellent too- pretty much the first thing he had to do

I think Ross County is a closer comparison

No it’s not good enough, but it’s a little better than losing at home to the bottom 2 in consecutive games