Balmullo Bud

Apologies Bud. I'll change "nerves been shredded" to "my sphincter was going like a machine gun". Not used to a Saints clean sheet, so was waiting for the inevitable equaliser from Thistle. Goodwin and Cheesy saw it differently though.

Magic result!!! Quality of football wasn't great, but the team performance was. Nerves were shredded, but Gary has the team fighting with a togetherness. Hats off to him!!

I noticed it a couple of weeks ago in a post match interview. Last week when I was in the car with the wife and kids, I gave them a heads up on the "I say" -ism, that Gary has, as he started another interview. They were in stitches, as he reached double figures with them. I felt guilty after it, as I like Teale and think he interviews a lot better than Oor Danny and Craig.... I say.

Yesterday was a massive kick in the stones, but we can't blame it all on the officials. Our finishing, tight calls going against us, flat atmosphere and lack of experience were all frustrating factors to our defeat. Harkin's 'tackle' on Tess in the first minute was a shocker. Just a talking to from Steven McLean?? We say it all the time, but if that had been Goodie..... We were the better team in the first half, playing with confidence and outplaying a Dundee side, that has over achieved this season. I believe that we have better football players, but Dundee are streetwise, something that we really lack. A prime example being when Gary Irvine saw his team were in a dangerous situation, as Naismith gathered the ball in the Dundee box(1st half), so Irvine completely faked a head knock, and the conned ref wrongly stopped play and gave a drop ball. The result being, after the drop ball, a frustrated Naismith needlessly challenges Kevin Thomson(odious cheat) as we have them pegged in. Thomson throws himself to the deck, clutching his back??? and writhing in agony, after next to no contact. End result - from Saints having the ball in their box in a really great position, Dundee have a free kick, Thomson jogs away with a miraculous recovery and grinning and Naismith is needlessly booked. Cheating or clever gamesmanship by Irvine and the total knob Thomson? The answer is both and hopefully Naismith learned from it. I agree that Kenny McLean got no protection from the ref yesterday and they were blatantly going through the back of Kenny on numerous occasions. Early on Kenny went down far too easily then berated the ref, which I believe influenced the future decisions that went against him. Obviously this isn't right on the refs part, but another example of a situation where a bit more savvy was needed by Kenny. Get the ref on your side early doors(even before kick off), crack a joke with him, friendly chat, pat on the back etc, etc.. don't scream and moan at him(even if he is a twat), as it only results in future decisions going against you. I wonder if Harkins had taken this approach before his assault on Tess?? Another factor yesterday, which has been mentioned many times on this site, is the complete lack of atmosphere at our 'new' ground. When Dundee equalised the place became a morgue and had an air of understandable inevitability about it. I don't know how we can fix this, but a couple of home victories seems like the best medicine. We still wait in hope for one home victory. Hopefully with a bit more experience our young team can become more streetwise and quickly. There is a blurred line between cheating and being clever, but unfortunately it has always been part of the game. Scottish fans still celebrate Joe Jordon's handball against Wales, a defining factor to us getting to the 78 World Cup Finals. As a kid, I remember watching the master of cleverness at Love Street, Frank McGarvey. He was brilliant at winning free kicks/penalties, winding the opposition up(see Hamish McAlpine),creating space and scoring clever goals. We still have a lot of positives at our club, Stevie Mallandona being a prime example. As well as his obvious talent and ability, he has a wee bit of guile and cleverness about him that some of his senior team mates could learn from. The club are now seeking an explanation from the SFA on the standard of refereeing and recent decisions going against us. This will achieve nothing, as it's not going to get us the points we lost back and will give us a reputation of being paranoid moaners. There is no widespread agenda against us, we just need to be 'cuter', week in, week out. We also need a big change in the terrible luck we are having at the moment. Hopefully on Friday our luck will change and we will focus on being a bit more 'clever', rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, which although warranted at the moment, will achieve absolutely nothing.

Wee Mallen's goal coming over the radio nearly caused me to crash the motor into a field. My wee lad and I went absolutely berserk! Moments, goals and results like today live with you for ever. I can still remember a late Saints equaliser at Easter Road coming over the radio back in the early/mid 80's, when I was ages with my son now, and my dad and I celebrating like crazed numpties. Huge, huge result. Hopefully we can kick on. Well done to the team, management and diehard fans that travelled up today. Enjoy your Saturday night Buds!!!!

Dundee Utd will be getting lots of calls enquiring about their wonder kid Stevie Mallan, after Soccer AM highlighting his goal this morning. Described him as ,"Dundee Utd's Stevie Mallan, making his first team debut???" Excellent knowledge of our Mickey Mouse league up here. Ah well, at least they took the time to show it and I still smile watching it, even after viewing it more times than could be deemed healthy.

What a day yesterday. Pre-match pints with my 3 Dee supporting mates and my converted Wolves/Saints supporting pal, watching The Rangers getting pumped. Into Dens for a really enjoyable game, with Saints fans huddled into the corner of the stand, making a great noise and lapping it all up. Taking in 3 Saints goals, Mallan's incredible effort leading to me losing my specs and bunnet(returned to me by kind fellow Buds after the frenzied celebrations). Cheering the team off at the end, followed by the majority of us hurling gloating abuse at wee ned Hartley and cheating twat Kevin Thompson as they trudged past us towards the tunnel. Post match pints with my Dee pals, dissecting our glorious victory and 'that' goal. Sometimes being a Saints fan is actually a very enjoyable experience. Bring on the Killie!!

Cannot believe the decisions that went against us yesterday. Tess took his 'goal' brilliantly, with both him and the keeper not knowing the flag had gone up. The ref and linesman should be writing a letter of apology to our club and every supporter who left ground feeling physically sick. Hopefully we will get a wee rub of the green at Dundee, I can't handle that again. Sometimes injustice galvanises a team and a support. Let's get behind the lads next week and help them get torn into Dundee and turn our nightmare season around. There's still enough time. COYS!!!!

First post, although I've been a regular follower of the forum for years. You can tell by the hour of this post that I've been out on the town(St Andrews, since I moved from Paisley 24 years ago), so apologies if I'm bletherin' nonsense. My dad(like his dad) took me to Love Street regularly since 1979 and I have inflicted St Mirren on my own son(partly his choice) over the past 3 or 4 years, instead of taking him to Tannadice with his two Arab nephews. That's another topic of conversation, supporting local teams etc,,,, We are at yet another turning point in the St Mirren saga/history and the Board have a difficult scenario to address. The decision of whether Tommy Craig is the right man to lead our club is not a difficult one....he clearly isn't and the BOD are wise enough to realise this. As has been stated on countless occasions on this forum, no one apart from the BOD will know why Tommy was gifted a 2 year contract(the cheap option doesn't explain the 2 year aspect???) Gilmour and the rest of the Board are supporters, like us, and want the best for St Mirren, the difference being that although the pain cuts very deep and it is worrying and depressing to us, I haven't had sleepless nights over our predicament. I think the BOD have, and realise their monumental cockup with Craig's appointment. I am not an expert on our finances, but know that sacking Tommy is going to hurt our club (and possibly the BOD personally) financially, when they rightly sack him in the next few days. They made a mistake and we are where we are. When Danny(Saints legend) left us, I thought it was the right decision as a new direction was required, but Tommy Craig was the most uninspiring appointment possible and that is without hindsight. The BOD will have to live with this cheap and narrow-minded decision, even after they hand over the reigns to whoever. This is yet another low point as a Saints fan, but we've been here many times. My inebriated point this morning is that we all make mistakes and the BOD have made a massive one this season. We need to trust them to attempt to fix their mistake and bring in another manager that can build belief amongst the current squad and bring in 3 or 4 players in January, in key positions through the spine of the team. Surely they realise that the longer Tommy is in charge, the further we will sink, so they need to act after yesterday!! Our family brick at St Mirren Park reads ," Bad times make good times great,", but I forgot how shi*e the bad times were. Good luck Mr Gilmour, you have some serious work to do before you go on your holidays!!! (This post was sponsored by Laphroaig, although other brands of whisky are available)