[saint in exile]

I was totally numb and shattered after the game. How in God's name did we manage to lose that? We were brilliant as a unit for an hour and then fell to pieces - certain individuals just stopped playing - Jack Ross, for instance, was dreadful in the last 20 minutes or so and Carey wouldn't have been able to find his own arse with both his hands late on. We really didin't have a clue how to break the **** down when they went to 9 men.

On the plus side (if there is one) I thought Higdon was superb. I was always in two minds about him but he tried his heart out on the park and in his after-match interview he came across as really caring about the result (and not for the bonus money). Brady was good in midfield but, as usual, ran out of steam. Big Mehmet wasn't up to his usual standard but still put in a good shift.

There's been a long-running "should he go or should he stay" saga about wee baldy, but it really is time for him to go. If he wants to save face, he should 'fess up and admit that he can't get anything more out of the squad he's built up. With the BOD not prepared to fund a restructuring of the playing staff, then he has no alternative but to walk if he has any self respect left.

[saint in exile]

Tom, on 22 March 2010 - 13:21, said:

Both conform to UEFA guidelines...one of the many things Gordon Scott ensured (along with the 5 flagpoles and 13 seats in each dugout etc) to make sure SMP is UEFA compliant.

I understood that UEFA guidelines state both maximum and minimum dimensions for both length and width of playing surfaces. So they could well be of different sizes.

[RossTheBoss]

Smithers Jones, on 22 March 2010 - 13:31, said:

Just watch the goal again and then try to defend John Potter. Does he look like a defender who will do anything possible to stop naysmith getting the ball past him ? You can count as many mistakes as you like, the man hasn't got a clue.

godgynic, on 22 March 2010 - 13:45, said:

Mair and Carey could have done better aswell. Potter was maybe trying to hold Naysmith up to let the others get back. Barron had two to defend. Win as a team (although not very often) and lose as a team.

Exactly. I didn't say Potter had a good game but too many posters try and blame him for everything that goes wrong at the club just because he is John Potter.

[colombano4saints]

The next few games are going to be extremely tough. Absolutely gutted.

[windae cleaner]

Tom, on 22 March 2010 - 13:21, said:

Both conform to UEFA guidelines...one of the many things Gordon Scott ensured (along with the 5 flagpoles and 13 seats in each dugout etc) to make sure SMP is UEFA compliant.

There's a name i haven't heard of for a while
Is he still on the board?

[TsuMirren]

RossTheBoss, on 22 March 2010 - 14:54, said:

Exactly. I didn't say Potter had a good game but too many posters try and blame him for everything that goes wrong at the club just because he is John Potter.

I was merely pointing out how crap he was yesterday. I didn't go in to the fact he's the club captain and offers absolutely nothing. The only example he offers other defenders is what not to do, the ability to blame others, the ability to point, to back chat and to generally be the worst captain we've ever had. He does have occasional not bad games, but all he really does then is win a few headers and clear the ball. Those games are far too rare.

[RossTheBoss]

TsuMirren, on 22 March 2010 - 17:56, said:

I was merely pointing out how crap he was yesterday. I didn't go in to the fact he's the club captain and offers absolutely nothing. The only example he offers other defenders is what not to do, the ability to blame others, the ability to point, to back chat and to generally be the worst captain we've ever had. He does have occasional not bad games, but all he really does then is win a few headers and clear the ball. Those games are far too rare.

Well Mair and Innes must be diabolical then because Potter's been our best defender this season.

[fmckinn]

RossTheBoss, on 22 March 2010 - 17:58, said:

Well Mair and Innes must be diabolical then because Potter's been our best defender this season.

and i suppose it was Potters fault we could not score or even create a decent chance against 9 men

[TsuMirren]

fmckinn, on 22 March 2010 - 20:20, said:

and i suppose it was Potters fault we could not score or even create a decent chance against 9 men

No, but then I was talking about Potter so why the f**k would I talk about our inability to create a chance??? I have done elsewhere though, we had no width worthy of the name and Brady was too slow in playing the ball. People go on about Brady being the best passer at the club. That may be true, but he never actually does anything. He doesn't see a quick ball, can't read the play and can't pick out anyone with any quality unless he's directly in front of him. Most of our efforts on Saturday came from balls in to Mehmet and Higdon, very little went through the midfield and we struggled because Rangers sat back and we couldn't do anything to stretch them. Even worse though was Potter's utter inability to mark one man, just sit on him and blooter him one if needbe so everyone can get back and then don't be so f**king stupid as to stand off him for the rest of the match.

[Bud the Baker]

Not that I think it would have made a jot of difference but after the Thomson ordering off Rangers players mobbed the referee (no bookings ) and it took over 2 minutes before the free-kick to be taken, for the second ordering off again the Rangers players mobbed the referee (and again no bookings ) and it took over a minute and a half before the free-kick could be taken and even then Novo broke from the wall and charged the ball down (Surely a yellow card and the free-kick retaken! ) and even then when we get the ball Barron was fouled on the touchline but Rangers were awarded a throw in . After the goal (& the celebrations) it took over a minute to restart the match. Throw in 5 second half substitutions which are normally worth 30 seconds a pop and where did the fourth official get 3 minutes added time ? Throw in Rangers general time-wasting after they went down to 10 and especially 9 men and I'd have said 5 or 6 minutes would've been nearer the mark.

*****************************************

Now I don't the extra three minutes would've made any difference but I know I'm gonna have to go into work on Friday and listen to them say the referee was a disgrace and that we got everything when I'd say the Thomson sending off would happened at any Senior match in 2009/10 and that the Davis sending off was the correct decision too although on another day he might have got away with it (David Weir!) when in fact they got a lot more of the referees decisions in their favour than us.

[BoWSaint]

Bud the Baker, on 22 March 2010 - 21:53, said:

Not that I think it would have made a jot of difference but after the Thomson ordering off Rangers players mobbed the referee (no bookings ) and it took over 2 minutes before the free-kick to be taken, for the second ordering off again the Rangers players mobbed the referee (and again no bookings ) and it took over a minute and a half before the free-kick could be taken and even then Novo broke from the wall and charged the ball down (Surely a yellow card and the free-kick retaken! ) and even then when we get the ball Barron was fouled on the touchline but Rangers were awarded a throw in . After the goal (& the celebrations) it took over a minute to restart the match. Throw in 5 second half substitutions which are normally worth 30 seconds a pop and where did the fourth official get 3 minutes added time ? Throw in Rangers general time-wasting after they went down to 10 and especially 9 men and I'd have said 5 or 6 minutes would've been nearer the mark.

*****************************************

Now I don't the extra three minutes would've made any difference but I know I'm gonna have to go into work on Friday and listen to them say the referee was a disgrace and that we got everything when I'd say the Thomson sending off would happened at any Senior match in 2009/10 and that the Davis sending off was the correct decision too although on another day he might have got away with it (David Weir!) when in fact they got a lot more of the referees decisions in their favour than us.

[RossTheBoss]

Bud the Baker, on 22 March 2010 - 21:53, said:

Not that I think it would have made a jot of difference but after the Thomson ordering off Rangers players mobbed the referee (no bookings ) and it took over 2 minutes before the free-kick to be taken, for the second ordering off again the Rangers players mobbed the referee (and again no bookings ) and it took over a minute and a half before the free-kick could be taken and even then Novo broke from the wall and charged the ball down (Surely a yellow card and the free-kick retaken! ) and even then when we get the ball Barron was fouled on the touchline but Rangers were awarded a throw in . After the goal (& the celebrations) it took over a minute to restart the match. Throw in 5 second half substitutions which are normally worth 30 seconds a pop and where did the fourth official get 3 minutes added time ? Throw in Rangers general time-wasting after they went down to 10 and especially 9 men and I'd have said 5 or 6 minutes would've been nearer the mark.

*****************************************

Now I don't the extra three minutes would've made any difference but I know I'm gonna have to go into work on Friday and listen to them say the referee was a disgrace and that we got everything when I'd say the Thomson sending off would happened at any Senior match in 2009/10 and that the Davis sending off was the correct decision too although on another day he might have got away with it (David Weir!) when in fact they got a lot more of the referees decisions in their favour than us.

I thought that was the best performance from a referee I've seen in a long while. Kevin Thomson clattered Stephen Thomson with both legs up so Craig Thomson had to send him off () and, although it was harsh on Wilson, he was the last man so the ref had to send him off. In hindsight, though, I'd have rather Wilson had let Dargo run as it was a really good one-on-one opportunity and you get the feeling if Dargo was going to score one of those, it would've been yesterday.

[stormtrooper]

Watched the whole game on the telly last night. I hadn't appreciated how well we'd played in the first half thanks to the utterly crap vantage point I had (we moved at half time and actually got some perspective). The sendings off really killed it for us. So frustrating. If we can keep playing to the standard of the first half on Sunday for the remaining 9 games (and get a bit of luck in front of goal) we'll be fine.

[barney]

stormtrooper, on 23 March 2010 - 09:49, said:

If we can keep playing to the standard of the first half on Sunday for the remaining 9 games (and get a bit of luck in front of goal) we'll be fine.

this is one of my favourites that we trot out after a defeat. If we could play like we did for the first 45 mins and capatalise on our chances, we would be fine, but we can't, hence the reason ourselves and falkirk are battling to avoid the drop

[buckfast crew]

What is the ruling on leaving the pitch to celebrate a goal?

Miller was Yellow carded for his goal celebrations(running into the crowd)

What about the other players who joined him(watch it on the BBC highlights)

From what i can see Whittaker and McCullough (WHO WERE BOTH ON YELLOW CARDS) were involved in off the field celebrations.Should they have received a 2nd yellow ,am i totally off the mark and nit picking because I'm still gutted???

This post has been edited by buckfast crew: 23 March 2010 - 19:01

[buckfast crew]

Misconduct Resulting in a Caution (YELLOW CARD)

Dissent with the referee's decision by word or action
Unsporting behavior (including removing jersey to celebrate a goal)
Persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game
Entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee's permission
Deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission
Delaying the restart of play
Failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a kick

Mculloch and Whittaker sent off for 2nd bookable offence,and rangers down to 6 outfeild players!

[davidg]

Tom, on 22 March 2010 - 13:21, said:

Both conform to UEFA guidelines...one of the many things Gordon Scott ensured (along with the 5 flagpoles and 13 seats in each dugout etc) to make sure SMP is UEFA compliant.

The pitch at St Mirren Park is smaller than Hampden but still conforms with UEFA guidelines.

Hampden Park is 105 x 68 metres which makes it big enough to host UEFA Finals.

The minimum requirement to host UEFA matches is 100 x 64 metres, which is the size of our pitch.

There is also no requirement for 13 seats in the dugout.

[buckfast crew]

davidg, on 23 March 2010 - 20:07, said:

The pitch at St Mirren Park is smaller than Hampden but still conforms with UEFA guidelines.

Hampden Park is 105 x 68 metres which makes it big enough to host UEFA Finals.

The minimum requirement to host UEFA matches is 100 x 64 metres, which is the size of our pitch.

There is also no requirement for 13 seats in the dugout.

Whats the rules on players leaving the pitch(by a considerable distance)without the consent of the ref?

[davidg]

buckfast crew, on 23 March 2010 - 20:09, said:

Whats the rules on players leaving the pitch(by a considerable distance)without the consent of the ref?

I know what you're getting at, it's only the goal scorer who ends up getting booked for leaving the pitch

[buckfast crew]