St Mirren v Livi

Liviforever wrote:We want to peak at the right time though, we're going along nicely on cruise control just now, we all know we have goals in our team so no need to worry. Getting 2nd place is all that matters just now though, that gives us the best possible chance in the playoffs.

Absolutely but the point I'm making is that the teams currently winning consistently are Dunfermline, United & ICT. Two if those three are going into the play offs with momentum. The biggest danger of comfortably cruising in to the play offs is that it is then very difficult to step back up into overdrive.

Back at the start of the season I said we needed to start winning or we would struggle to do so the longer the draws/defeats continued, we got a win & have come on leaps & bounds. We are in that position again, we need to get wins on the board to keep confidence up & to regain the momentum that took us to 2nd place.

We'll win games, and as long as we don't lose any then we aren't going to lose out in the 2nd place spot or in the play offs. We're tough to beat and imo that's the main thing you need and the rest will follow. Hardie is a good striker and we've goals throughout the team, no need to panic about getting goals or winning games.

ICT will have had about 4 consecutive midweek games leading up to ours, if anyone is going to be knackered it's them, win against Brechin and ICT and we wont have to bother what happens against Utd.
I'm on a predominantly Utd forum quite a lot and reading their posts it doesn't sound like Utd are picking up any great form, yes they've won 2 games but it is a struggle still, Mohsni has made a difference but they're nowhere as organised or as good as us, they still don't worry me.

I don't disagree with what you are saying but momentum is often what carries teams through in play-offs. That's borne out by the number of teams who get promoted after a late charge in the league secures them the final play off position & they continue the "hot streak" into the play offs to win promotion.

On the other side of that coin is the team that has been very consistent all season but who takes the foot off the gas to coast into the play offs & then can't recapture the intensity they had.

My concern is that our draws and the loss to Dunfermline outnumber our recent wins & we may find ourselves in that position, while the others are keeping momentum high as they secure the wins required to get into the play offs.

Hopefully we do enough to secure 2nd place & the other 2 sides knock lumps out each other in the first round

See that's where we differ, I don't see 2 wins and 2 draws as taking the foot off the gas, the Dunfermline loss was disappointing but according to Hoppy it was one of our best performances and we didn't deserve to lose, so again it doesn't seem like taking the foot off the gas, more just one of those games that didn't happen for us.
It was tough yesterday in front of a big noisy St Mirren home support, we didn't get the goal to quieten them down any and they sang all game, so a draw was a good result as it actually keeps our momentum going of not losing. I mean sandwiched between that Pars defeat was 2 wins where we scored 6 goals, and the heart & desire to win 3-2 against Morton was incredible. I think we're still looking very good going into the play offs.

A win against Brechin would set us up nicely for the ICT game though, and a win against Caley would be massive, so we could maybe play some fringe players against Utd and keep our main players fresh for that first play off game. It would stop them getting too familiar with us in case we have to play them in the play offs too.

Anyway, all ifs and buts just now, we need to get a win against Brechin or it'll get a bit nervy and a lot harder than any of us wanted.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Hopefully we do enough to secure 2nd place & the other 2 sides knock lumps out each other in the first round

I'm with you on that one though.

Was going to predict a 0-0 on here on Saturday but got sidetracked; pretty sure LF's ran away with the PL though! A good point considering we looked very jaded and tired towards the end of the game, was certain we were going to get beat towards the end, and my heart was in my mouth when Lithgow chucked himself in front a goalbound shot pretty magnificently. Considering the atmosphere, and how easily St Mirren took us apart on our last visit, I'm happy with the outcome. The pressure is now on to get a good result against Brechin this Saturday and set ourselves up to secure second against ICT or United... I hope that we can get some good form going in the next three, out of all the sides in or vying for the play-offs, we've went off the boil a bit and the likes of Dunfermline and Caley are flying by comparison. Even United seem to have turned a corner, somehow, but I still can't see them going up. As much as finishing in the top four is a fine achievement, it's of absolute importance that we finish second now; failure to do so would mark a bit of a collapse in our form since the start of March, and send us into two legs with one of United/Dunfermline/ICT. Out of those three, we only seem to have figured United out and have matched them; missed the first Caley and Dunfermline games but any time I've seen us against them since a point looks like the best we've been capable of.