ThickAsThieves

Pretty sure that’s only the case for goal kicks - not for today’s scenario where the ball was in play. The result is the only thing that matters in the cup, so I’m delighted. A home draw against anyone outside of Celtic/Rangers if they progress, please. If it’s an away tie then I wouldn’t mind Hibernian, they’ll have a fairly new manager at that point and who knows what they’ll be like. Or Inverness CT away.

East Fife 0-2 Partick Thistle. Back-to-back 2-0 wins...

Throw them the offer of a glamour friendly at Firhill and be done with it.

Yeah, if Ntambwe works out, we've finally got decent options again. Bell Elliott - O'Ware - McGinty - Melbourne Ntambwe - Penrice Fitzpatrick - Slater - Mbuyi-Mutombo Coulibaly Sneddon, Keown, Gordon, Storer, Erskine, Storey, Doolan. Lennox, McCarthy, Bannigan (?), Spittal, Wilson.

Delighted to see us sign a recognised defensive midfielder though. Hope he’s good. It’s great to have options again.

Being greedy, I’d like two. A right-back and a centre-back. Keown to sign reduced terms too! edit: suppose that RB/CB could be the one player signed for cover in both roles.

In please, I’ll go for 2-0 Thistle.

East Fife away. Delighted!

Away to any of the non-Scottish sides, or... Annan Athletic Arbroath East Fife East Kilbride Edinburgh City Montrose

Very comfortable, Stranraer were pish. Most pleasing thing tonight was how often our wingers were willing to take defenders on. Penrice played well in the middle and Fitzpatrick was class. New boy did well, just a shame Doolan couldn’t get a goal, feel like he needs it. Sneddon made a very good save in the first half and was very vocal. Think we’ve got a decent back up there.

I know our window closes on 31 August but the plan should always be to try to complete our business as close to the opening league game of the season as possible. If one or two drag on past that - and maybe even towards the 31st - then fair enough, but to actually plan to do our business by the 31st is ridiculous.

Bell, O'Ware, Slater, Storey, Doolan. They're the only players I'm thinking are good enough to start in a play-off challenging side. Maybe Elliott. Either way we're at least 5/6 players away. Penrice - for all he's been praised by fans of East Fife and Livingston, who by the way were praising him for performances in central midfield/defence - does not look the answer at left-back. Let's hope Melbourne is. That wasn't a great start to his Thistle career but he's not a right-back. McGinty does look poor. Would prefer Keown but can understand Archie's reticence to play him right now. A new central defender is essential. Gordon has not been good enough so far, he's too young/inexperienced to be relying on as a starter anyway. Spittal has picked up where he left off last season, games are just passing him by. Erskine is in a real slump. Hope it's just temporary. Worrying.

If we have realistic ambitions of promotion then we would still need a winger/attacking midfielder, for me. Looking at it purely in terms of numbers, we have just four first team players in Erskine/Spittal/Storer/Storey to play in those three positions, supplemented by Fitzpatrick and Wilson. We'd need at least one more for the sake of competition. Looking at these players from a quality point of view, I'd say there are now question marks over Erskine's effectiveness and whether he can be relied upon for a full season. Spittal has so far failed to live up to his early promise, Storer is an unknown quantity and Storey is a striker who's been converted into a winger. At least one more quality addition is needed. I noticed St. Mirren turned down the chance to sign Chris Humphrey, would he be a good option at this level? Andy Driver is also without a club - with St. Johnstone turning him down - although I expect his expected wage would far exceed what we could offer.

Can't see Cowie joining us, as already stated he looks likely to join Ross County, but what about his Hearts teammate Ross Callachan? He's also been told he can leave, so would he be worth signing?

Understood - that’s why I asked what other people will be asking.

His contract is up at the end of August I’m sure, so we still have a month to see how his fitness goes. Just wondering what the likelihood of him staying is.

Won’t be able to make it today, but wondering if you are going to the Q&A - what questions will you be asking? Here are a few for inspiration. 1. What’s the update with Niall Keown? Does he look likely to sign a reduced terms deal? 2. Why have we - unlike our main rivals Ross County and Dundee United - once again left our squad short going into the season? 3. What will be different tactically to last season? What formation will we favour? 4. With Bannigan injuring his knee again, will he now be freed or is a pay-as-you-play deal an option? 5. What does our current scouting network look like?

I missed the first ten mins so didn’t see his howler, but otherwise I thought he was not bad.

Slater was good, crazy decision to take him off. Storey looked threatening and Fitzpatrick was positive when he came on. Elliott did well but again his final ball let him down. Do share the same concerns about Erskine and Doolan that I’ve seen mentioned here. Can’t fault Erskine’s effort but he’s not really putting in quality performances these days. I think Doolan goes missing now when he’s a lone striker - much prefer him up alongside someone. I’d be tempted to go 3-5-2 against Ayr next week.... Bell O’Ware - Penrice - McGinty Elliott - Spittal - Slater - McCarthy/Gordon - Melbourne Doolan - Storey

I was impressed by Melbourne when we played County. Quite pleased with this signing.

We won that match, the draw was at Firhill. My first and only visit to Cliftonhill, but might go tomorrow.

Would imagine Bannigan just wasn’t risked on the plastic pitch on Saturday, and will be in contention to start tonight.

Think it’s fairly obvious he’s having a go at Abdul Osman there. An initially great signing who captained the side to a top six finish and then decided that his #itsnoteasy range was more important to him that Thistle, when we needed him most. Don’t know how you can’t see that.

Updated: GK: Bell, Lennox, Sneddon, Stevenson. 0 MORE RB/LB: Elliott, Penrice, Duncanson. 1 MORE CB: O’Ware, McGinty, Keown, Barton. 0 MORE CM: McCarthy, Bannigan, Slater, Gordon, Eadie. 0 MORE W/AM: Erskine, Spittal, Fitzpatrick, Wilson. 2 MORE ST: Doolan, Storey, Storer. 0 MORE 3 more but if any of the 'available 3' go then they'd need replaced too. Not bad.

Hey BB, didn’t get this one via PM. Haven’t been checking the thread so missed it. Sorry! If there are any other bonus Qs to come can you please message me them?