Stumpy1949

I actually thought Coulson played ok. Won a lot of headers and generally got stuck in
I also though Scobbie was ok. Joe had a few howlers too, but folk more eager to get on Tam's case
My feeling at the game was that Mannus has to be at fault for the second goal. The ball was in an area that he has to command, even if that meant wiping out Scobbie in the process. Want to see it on the telly box though
Paton was good again, once the team got going.
 

Whit? The police knew beforehand that it was all going to kick off at half-time, yet said nothing to Swanson and Foster? Outrageous!

Would never blame the players left on the pitch for that goal considering the amount of work they had put in. If Hamilton were any kind of team they'd have scored well before then. Shite team, shite fans, shite stadium, shite hole.

I think it's natural that comparisons have been drawn to what happened with George O'Boyle and Kevin Thomas. I've seen fans say they have to go for the sake of the dressing room but in the case of the That Bar pair, sacking them seemed to cause more harm and I think the players stopped playing for Clark as they thought he hadn't stuck up for two of his players.
People will talk about the right thing to do but it's been a fight and little more, so the right thing to do is what is best for the club. There's no huge moral judgement to be made, as there was in 2001. Thistle have a player who kicked a prone opponent in the head and Dundee have a guy who has stuck the boot into a policeman going about his business. Saints are under no pressure or obligation to sack anyone here and there is no point in cutting off our nose to spite the face. If they are sacked it should be because it's what is best for the club, not because of some sort of misplaced moral code. Clearly the club need to come down hard on them but let's not harm ourselves unnecessarily in the process.
My take on incident is limited like many others because I didn't see what sparked it but did witness kicks and punches flying and for me, there was nothing contrived in Foster's subsequent reaction, he wanted back at Swanson. The stuff about Swanson aiming a kick at Foster's head seems exaggerated but no doubt the club will manage to establish what happened. Tommy Wright reported that they made up in the dressing room, which again makes me doubt that part of it.
The referee was left with little choice but the sight of the Accies management team sprinting onto the pitch to confront the referee was unedifying and not something I'd have expected to see if roles were reversed. They were the reason a mass brawl developed.
As for the game itself, it was a poor first half devoid of any quality. Accies were more purposeful but only by means of getting the ball forward at the earliest opportunity, rather than showing any ingenuity. I was expecting a similar second half...
Saints were fortunate that we had probably the nine players you'd pick for that situation on the pitch and it was a really good rearguard action they produced. Accies were incredibly disappointing though and made it noticeably easier for Saints than it should have been with their plodding approach. In terms of ending up with nine men, Saints should always be losing the match but the players on the park didn't deserve for it to be a late winner.
Special mention is reserved for Davidson who seemed to organise the whole shape of the team and led by example, Cummins who was playing about three positions and never stopped running, and Clive Smith, thrown on in horrible circumstances but who defended his side really well. Don't think he made it into the Accies half until injury time but that wasn't in his remit. Alan Mannus too backed up his performance at Motherwell and it'll be interesting to see what Tommy Wright does in goal now.
The one criticism I'd make is that, as said, we had the right players on the park and they'd done a good job of entrenching themselves. I didn't see the need for a change and as big a fan as I am of Chris Millar, he wasn't what we needed on the park. I thought he should have done better to stop the initial cross from the left for the goal. There's no way of knowing what would have happened if Craig was still on the park but I thought Wright made the wrong call there.

Just seen Tommy's interview. We are so lucky to have him, he may not be perfect sometimes but what an ambassador fro the club. I may be critical at times but I love the guy .

Although saints are taking a lot of stick I think they should be praised for taking immediate action and not hiding behind the usual crap of I didn't see anything gov.

Apologies for not keeping you updated on the youth academy news, I'll try cram it all in, u17s are still undefeated this season and are well on their way to winning the league again, last result was a 6 2 win against Livingston, a few of the 2nd year 17s have been playing with the 20s aswell and have also been in the Scotland school boys team and playing very well for them , u16s won last nite against forth Valley winning 3 2, they've lost two games only a 1 0 defeat against rangers plus beat from them on penalties, if it's a draw it goes to penalties for an xtra point, again there was a few boys in on trial who did very well, now for a rant, the Scotland u17 and 16 squads were picked over a month ago and not one saints player got anywhere near it, that to me is a real smack in the face for the players and coaching staff, they have played most of the elite teams over both age groups and won 99 percent of them, hopefully these Kids will be given a chance at saints, once again I would encourage you to come along to games to see for yourself 

Thanks for the update and your rant is justified.
Email to head office methinks.

Looking at the bench today it looks like another astute signing by tommy getting Smith in.

A group of 14 of us went over to this match from Northern Ireland. Had a very good trip, and good to catch up with our old manager and good friend  Tommy Wright. Good speaking to some of you before and after the match, and thanks to all the bar staff for the hospitality.
Good to see you get a win, and nice to catch up with Alan Mannus as well as seeing Paul Paton get a goal. Good luck for rest of the season, speaking to Tommy, he is really enjoying his time there!
 
 
 

Paton had an excellent game so Tam had to be this weeks scapegoat despite his usual brilliant defensive blocks etc
Would also add that Foster probably made at least twice as many mistakes yesterday.

And in fairness after his mistake when he mistimed his jump to let Haber in he then proceeded to produce a goal saving block on Haber about 1 minute later to atone.
Considering he was up against one of the best in the air in the league and he's a small centre back he did really well yesterday.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

Its quite interesting how a few bad results/performances alters people's opinions. Last year early this year the chairman was getting pelters for not getting players resigned now that's been done the players now don't appear to be good enough.

It's pretty embarrassing to read tbh.

I'm not really getting the Paton hate either now. One of a about 4 decent performances in yellow last night. 
I'm not one for overreaction, but some reliable pros, like Ando, were dire and have been more than once this season. That worries me more than a pathological dislike of Paton.

Do you not think we were bullied in midfield yesterday? I agree Paton is immobile however I would argue that yesterday there was pleny of mobility around him in the midfield and we were crying out for a bit of dig in there and, dare I say, someone to stick a boot in. 
 
Of course Paton is a downgrade on Muzz, however you have to use the resources you have available to you, and in the absence of the budget for a world beating midfielder, and an injured Muzz, Paton would have at least brought some grit and fight to the midfield which was otherwise complete powderpuff.

Sorry, can you explain "not his best game today" "his performances over the last couple of games". Without him today we would have been beaten by half time. Don't telll me you blame him for the first goal!! when you have a player who practices all week kicking a ball can't pass a ball back 20 yards along the ground. If I remember correctly it took a brilliant last minute save to gain us 2 points at County.

This is easy today a choice of only 2. But for keeping us in the game for so long it has to go to Zander. The only other candidate was Foster. 

I know it's such a shame Celtic and Hearts have such a bad winter I'm surprised the SFA are not holding an inquiry.

Ridiculous post 
never going to happen