northstbuddie

Not much between the 2 sides today - as can be said for for all the teams below the two sectarian Glasgow clubs. However, although we will experience results like today's from time to time, I think we should finish in the top six. What we are guilty of, is sitting back too much at home. We give the opposition too much space to get on the front foot.

7000 + today The capacity of our dinky little stadium will have to be extended if we keep on at this rate. Or alternatively - we can just plan for decline.

As expected

Life does not get any better for a Saints fan right now. If we were to win this one - we would go 5 points clear of Hibs with a game in hand. And a draw between Aberdeen and Motherwell would see us consolidating fourth spot.

We're more likely to go behind - this is St Mirren.

A win tonight would almost certainly put us up to fourth place in the table. However - back to reality. We are St Mirren!

Disregarding our encouraging points total so far this season, we are however St Mirren and past history dictates that in this type of situation, where the opposition is in a bad place, they will start their recovery against us in spectacular fashion. Hope I'm wrong, but we will find out on Wednesday evening - we can watch the gory details on BBC Alba at 10pm to find out.

I feel sorry for Jim - he is a decent manager and more importantly a good guy. Getting back to Jim's former team - that was a decent performance and a good three points today. As usual it was a good team performance but I thought Strain, Kiltie, Greive and Main were a cut above the rest.

That's certainly one boomerang we want to avoid.

Thank you Santa for this early Christmas present. Agree with SR that we played well for 60 minutes but Aberdeen deserved more than they got out of this match. Was Erhahon injured? However, Kiltie was an able substitute.

Note: 12.30pm kick off

I say it again - thought Fraser got a touch to the ball at the VAR (again) penalty.

Did I imagine Fraser got a touch on the ball before contact with Kent?

It’s not.

Is there a team in this league who is less comfortable on the ball than us? It was purely our effort and aggression that got us into a winning position tonight. Whilst there were a few good individual performances for the Buddies tonight, our basic inability to keep possession is our biggest single weakness over the season so far, couple with our negative/defensive tactics.

Once again we got what we asked for. Instead of staying on the front foot and adding to our score against 10 men, we played for corner tip-taps. We have lost a few points this season with our negative tactics. Having said that, where did the extra extra 2 minutes come from? Should that go to VAR???

Will our 10 men behind the ball tactics continue to reap benefits tonight? - Possibly if our luck holds out Or will we start to play football and lose? - Unlikely, we can't string 2 passes together

Lack of skill was the very point I was trying to make - our negative stategy is dictated by the fact we can't keep possession of the ball. I am old enough to remember the days when the British/Scottish press were very critical of the Inter Milan era in Italy when Celtic had possession but could not break down the Italian "anti-football tactics". At least the Italians of that era had defensive skills to implement that stategy. We have a small handful of players eg. Strain, Erhahon, O'Hara, Flynn and Kiltie who are better than the rest in not giving the ball away to the opposition.

Our home results have certainly been better than we had any right to expect. I have previously given Robinson credit for getting more out the players than Goodwin before him. However, whether at home or certainly away, we have been consistently second best in terms of possession - even against the likes of Kilmarnock and Livi. Was there even one league game this season when we had more possession than the opposition? Sevco, Celtic, Hearts and Dundee United have already confirmed in Europe that defensive strategies are for losers. It must be very doubtful if this negative strategy will continue to work for the whole season.

We are (and have been for some time) the least skillfull team in the SPL. We can hardly string two passes together; are second to every ball; and have no composure in front of goal. Our defensive set-up was supposed to be our strong point, but most teams can cut through us like butter - how many goals have we now conceeded away from home? And our best central defender is continuously left on the bench which says a lot about SR's obstinate and blinkered judgement. Whatever confidence was generated by the players at the start of the season, has now evaporated in a sea of incompteence.

That telephoto shot of the moon has been the highlight of the match so far.

A fairer reflection on the score. No way should we have been winning this game so far on this performance.

A match that truly typifies the Scottish game - absolute garbage. Robinson seems set on re-trying what has obviously been failing from day one. We have no idea how to defend, build up play in midfield or attack - that just about covers every aspect of our play!

Whatever - it doesn’t really matter- it’s keep our shape and DEFEND - a tactic which has not brought dividends up until now away from home and one employed by the ‘Scottish Elite’ in Europe with the same disastrous results. Surely football is all about winning and not ‘not getting beaten’.

And have with some squeaky results at home but have lost a barrow load of goals away. Not a convincing case for our tactics so far this season despite our points tally.