St Mirren v Livi

Both teams have picked up a bit of form recently, we got the draw against Hearts, narrow defeat against Dundee with 10 men and done out of a penalty, and the win against Killie. They've had a draw against Aberdeen and Hearts. So it looks like it'll be another tough game for us.

I think Hardie had a wee niggle that kept him on the bench last week but if he's fit then i'd def play him, he has a good record of scoring against St Mirren, also think him and Erskine up front would be good.

For the first time in about 3 seasons i'm not sure how we'll set up at the back, we went with a back 4 last week and did well, Lamie is prob going to be out with a hamstring injury so not sure Brown could play as a WB in a back
3, and although i like Odoffin i'd sacrafice him to stick with a back 4 of Gallagher/Halkett/Lithgow & Brown.

Is Byrne suspended for 2 games, think he is with a straight red card, so that solves that problem in selection, Jacobs/Pittman & Lawson again for me, with Sibbald, Lawless or Robinson for the other midfielder.


We'll have decent options from the bench for a change, 2 of that last 3 i named, Tiffoney, maybe even Hardie if he doesn't get a start. Bursting for Raffa to be back too, really frustrating that he's getting regular full games for the reserves but keeps being left out of the first team, the logic of not rushing him back seems bewildering when he's playing 90 mins in reserve games now.


Anyway, my starting eleven would be;



..................................Kelly


Gallagher...........Halkett..............Lithgow..........Brown


Lawless.............Lawson...........Pittman...... .........Jacobs


.....................Hardie..............Erskine


Unforced used subs;Robinson, Tiffoney,Sibbald.

Prediction, despite it being tough, St Mirren are dodgy defending set pieces and the Ryan Hardie factor of scoring against them, 3-0 Livi.

LOL - 1 win & 3 draws & you say both teams have hit a bit of form? Your optimism really knows no bounds.

I don’t think our form has been that bad but our results have (draw & win notwithstanding) - given our loss to Dundee it would do us the world of good to get a win... but having beaten Killie, I suspect we will continue to struggle away from home... best we’ll get is a draw... of course the guys are more than welcome to prove me wrong.

On balance, St Mirren getting draws against 2 top 6 teams is def an upturn in form, and us also drawing with Hearts and beating Killie and but for a bad refereeing call i'd have put money on us beating Dundee too going 2-1 up at that stage of the game, which i'd also say is an upturn in results/form for us.

We're also now scoring goals, and making enough chances to get more, I can honestly see another Hearts result in us if we start being a bit more clinical.

I'd be interested to see us using the same formation as we did against Killie, would like to see Erskine in behind Hardie but who do you drop? I'd like to see us setting up exactly as we did against Killie tbh. Still means we have Hardie, Tiffoney, Robinson, Byrne (if his suspension is up?), and Odoffin on the bench. Gives us plenty of options to mix it up if needed.

Since Kearney took charge St Mirren have had a habit of having 1 or 2 good results, looking like improving their form, before reverting back to defeats. Hopefully this is them reverting back after those draws and not actually picking up good form this time.

2-1 Livi, FG 38 mins.

Or is St Mirren getting 2 draws against top 6 sides merely them playing as they have all season but getting the rub of the green & catching those sides having off days?

I know we complain when we have good results dismissed by pundits because the opposition had an off day but sometimes it does happen that way. We have all seen games where the better team has played poorly & lost to an opponent that really wasn’t up to much. On the other hand we have all also seen games where the better team batters the opposition but can’t score & loses to a sucker punch. That is the beauty of this game.

If you watch the highlights of our game against Dundee, they created enough chances to completely embarrass us if they had been more clinical & had they taken even half of them our pen that wasn’t given would have been irrelevant to the outcome. On the day itself I didn’t feel particularly threatened by those chances because their finishing was astonishingly poor, they weren’t even getting close... until the two that went in.

This game is at Paisley though, so hopefully the tradition of away team superiority continues.

Jeezo Bertie give it up and just give them the credit they deserve for drawing their last 2 games against top six teams

Scoring 2 goals against Aberdeen to get the draw is what we should've got but for another dodgy refereeing call giving them a corner in injury time when it was a goal kick. Take that point, the 2 we'd have against Motherwell for a win instead of a draw, when Lamie scored and Dolly was pushed by their keeper but got penalised, and the goal chopped off, then the pen against Dundee when Lawless was fouled in the box, that's 6 points we've been clearly done out off, prob other decisions too but those were huge ones that def affected our results. We could have been in the top six.

Keep going, I’m sure you could find enough points we should have had that we would be champions if you look hard enough

Bertie Bassett wrote:If you watch the highlights of our game against Dundee, they created enough chances to completely embarrass us if they had been more clinical & had they taken even half of them our pen that wasn’t given would have been irrelevant to the outcome. On the day itself I didn’t feel particularly threatened by those chances because their finishing was astonishingly poor, they weren’t even getting close... until the two that went in.

But conversely if Robinson had converted either of his excellent chances early in the second half we could have been out of site.

Dundee are where they are for a reason - the only thing in doubt is whether they'll get 20 points this season or not.

I agree we could have been out of site but if both sides had taken all their chances we’d have lost.
The point I’m making is simply that the only statistic that matters is the final score.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I agree we could have been out of site but if both sides had taken all their chances we’d have lost.
The point I’m making is simply that the only statistic that matters is the final score.

If Dundee had taken their chances throughout the season they'd at least be challenging for a top three place - the point is they haven't; they've been sh1te all season; their game against us was a slight upturn in performance partially brought about by some good loan players coming in but even so they struggled against a team of ten players for over an hour.

I dont think there's many that would argue that if it had remained 11 v 11 we'd have wiped the floor with them.

I see St Mirren are challenging the Greg Tansey citation. I wonder if it will be decided before our game. It looked worse than Shaun Byrne's plus it made contact with the Hearts' player's leg as opposed to brushing his hand as in Shaun's case.

Not to sure what to make of this game.On the one hand we could wipe the floor with them but on the other theyve had a couple of decent results recently and will look to this game a must win game for them which will make them more dangerous considering the position they find themselves in.Will be interesting to see what the line up is gonna be as the team did so well against Killie last week and will be full of confidence going into this.We are nearly there and this is an opportunity albeit difficuilt to get us closer to our ultimate goal.I wish Gary and the lads the very best of luck and of course to bring those points back along the M8.Cmon Livi do it!!!

Durnford wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:I agree we could have been out of site but if both sides had taken all their chances we’d have lost.
The point I’m making is simply that the only statistic that matters is the final score.

If Dundee had taken their chances throughout the season they'd at least be challenging for a top three place - the point is they haven't; they've been sh1te all season; their game against us was a slight upturn in performance partially brought about by some good loan players coming in but even so they struggled against a team of ten players for over an hour.

I dont think there's many that would argue that if it had remained 11 v 11 we'd have wiped the floor with them.

So we agree then, the only stat that matters is the final score.

Bertie Bassett wrote:

Durnford wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:I agree we could have been out of site but if both sides had taken all their chances we’d have lost.
The point I’m making is simply that the only statistic that matters is the final score.

If Dundee had taken their chances throughout the season they'd at least be challenging for a top three place - the point is they haven't; they've been sh1te all season; their game against us was a slight upturn in performance partially brought about by some good loan players coming in but even so they struggled against a team of ten players for over an hour.

I dont think there's many that would argue that if it had remained 11 v 11 we'd have wiped the floor with them.

So we agree then, the only stat that matters is the final score.

Of course - we can complain that we should have had a penalty of somebody should/shouldn't have been sent off but neither guarantee a result.

Wont stop me complaining about Scottish refereeing standards though.

St Mirren fans all seem pretty confident of beating us, think they've only 4 players still in the team that played in the last game against us. This is a must win game for them after Accies unexpected result against Aberdeen, should suit us if it gets turned into a blood and snotters type game. Bring it on.

See Nick Walsh is the referee

His stats aren't particularly dreadful reading;

Over the last 16 premier league games he's dished out 68 yellows (4.25 yellows per game); and a total of three reds.

He's also awarded four penalties.

Edit - he's absolutely hated by the brain dead trolls on follow follow so he's just gone up in my estimations.

Double edit - just realised he was the referee in our 5-o defeat of Hearts as well (lets not mention the erroneous showing of a red card to the Hearts keeper).

Nick Walsh refereed our first play off game with Dundee United last season. He denied us a stonewall penalty in the first half but balanced that by not sending off Robinson for a bad tackle. It was also the game that saw Willo Flood get sent off and lose the heid on the way to the dressing room. So who knows what he'll do the morn.

89th minute goal for Saints 1-0

Bad result...can’t comment on the performance

I had a serious case of Deja vu remembering the Hamilton game earlier in the season.

Conditions were appalling and I think we made a serious mistake of opting to play into the heavy wind for the second half.

Some times we were superb with the passing between the players; back-heals with players running on the the ball etc. but at other times we played like some players were playing with a bad hangover, unable to concentrate and passing into areas of the field where no-one was around.

This was a dreadful game to watch in all aspects but I really cant criticise any of the starting eleven for effort or commitment. The referee was pretty poor but that; how the boy who almost sliced Lawson in half didn't get a straight red is a bit of a mystery yet Jacobs picked up an early yellow for a 50/50 ball - which he actually got to first.

Second half we were playing into what was almost a hurricane. Sibbald must really be wondering tonight; he played his heart out but was substituted for Hardie who displayed all the drive and determination of a man walking his Jack Russell terrier on a quiet Sunday morning. Please send him back to sevco now with a "surplus-to-requirements" sticker.

Their goal came as we had tried to press for a winner (AKA Hamilton game) but we had plenty or warning that it could happen. In the preceding 10 minutes St Mirren hit us on the break no less than three times.

Kelly managed to parry a shot from an almost unmarked St Mirren player but could only push it to the right; falling unfortunately to a St Mirren player already significantly off-side in my opinion who tapped it past the diving Kelly.

That the Linesman didn't see it was irritating but then again he'd been looking straight into a hail storm for about the last 15 minutes. What really got me was Gallagher berating Kelly when he was the guy who should have stopped that St Mirren goalscorer from having a free shot.

All in all a truly awful game of football; to watch and to play in. I have to laugh when people criticise out pitch when games are played in such conditions with the ball hiting a puddle and stopping dead; and at other times skidding across the ground at 100 mile and hour.

Pretty fair summing up of the game Durnford.  The only thing I'd take issue with is your harsh comments about Hardie. IMO he has been unfortunate in the circumstances of games he has played in recently, in that his style of play hasn't had a chance to produce goals.  He depends on balls being fed to him and that has just not been happening. In the Rangers and two Hearts games he was up there on his own against decent teams who were marking him well and the Motherwell game was a right off for everybody. The Dundee game was one where you'd have expected him to get more service and help but unfortunately Byrne got himself sent off early on so any plans went oot the windae. He was dropped last week and by the time he came on today the weather was horrendous with the wind against us. I actually think if he had played in the first half today when we had the wind in our favour he would maybe have been able to take more advantage than Erskine who spent a lot of time chasing lost causes.

Anyway it is always soul destroying to lose a late goal in a game you should have got something from. I'm fair seek the night.  

Was thinking the exact same thing about it looking like the Accies away game, mentioned it to Orco a couple of minutes before they scored.
Dreadful conditions but I also thought we would've been better  playing  towards the North stand goal in the 2nd half to take advantage of the wind. We really needed to score in the 1st half though when we had a lot of pressure on their goal and they struggled to get the ball out of their half with the wind blowing against them.

Guess we're not going to get a top six spot now and will finish the season with nothing much to play for. Other than who gets higher between us, Motherwell and St Johnstone, with Accies, Dundee and St Mirren fighting it out to stay up. Shame really as we did so well in the first half of the season, but although that has given us the luxury of being safe, it is going to be like a training session in the games after the split, with us having very little to play for.

Looking at the table just now, i'd be surprised if the top 9 teams have anything to play for in the last couple of games, and only the bottom 3 teams will be giving their fans an interest in where their teams will be finishing come the last league game. Actually think the Championship has more going for it in that respect, nearly every team had something to play for in the run up to the play offs.

orco wrote:Pretty fair summing up of the game Durnford.  The only thing I'd take issue with is your harsh comments about Hardie. IMO he has been unfortunate in the circumstances of games he has played in recently, in that his style of play hasn't had a chance to produce goals.  He depends on balls being fed to him and that has just not been happening. In the Rangers and two Hearts games he was up there on his own against decent teams who were marking him well and the Motherwell game was a right off for everybody. The Dundee game was one where you'd have expected him to get more service and help but unfortunately Byrne got himself sent off early on so any plans went oot the windae. He was dropped last week and by the time he came on today the weather was horrendous with the wind against us. I actually think if he had played in the first half today when we had the wind in our favour he would maybe have been able to take more advantage than Erskine who spent a lot of time chasing lost causes.

Anyway it is always soul destroying to lose a late goal in a game you should have got something from. I'm fair seek the night.  

Hardie didn't play in the game against his parent club Orca. Also I thought his performance against Dundee was truly dreadful; I know people will argue that he was isolated for large periods of game but personally I though Dundee were so poor that for the majority of the game he had Robinson or Erskine supporting him - still his level of play was a joke; more often than not his passing was BEHIND the intended target and that shot from almost the halfway line when he had one defender and a goalkeeper to beat really summed it up for me.

Yesterday, as the teams were warming up you could see those who were obviously going to the the substitutes practicing together. There was Tiffony and De Vita running around; chasing for the ball and generally looking like they were having fun despite the conditions; Odofin; Robinson and Wylde also put in a decent shift and there was Hardie strolling around almost with his hands in his pockets. His body language was evident; this was not the man who broke all records getting to Dumfries after landing at Glasgow just so that he could appear in the second half of out game.

Yesterday he had plenty of support up front; he certainly wasnt the lone striker; with the likes of Robinson; Lawless; Lawson and Erskine all frequent visitors to the penalty area he had more than enough support.

The strange thing is we lent out Hamilton, a player who is actually one of our own, to Alloa yet he's been lucky to get more than 20 minutes a game - he got more with us.

I don't like singling out individuals for criticism but this has been going on too long; he doesn't even try to hide it now.

Hopefully next time he gets to come on he'll prove me wrong but I doubt it; as someone else said to me yesterday "I think we're now beginning to see the Ryan Hardie that St Mirren saw when he was on loan to them".

Yeh.Unfortunate and dissapoiting end to the game yesterday.It looked like Liam has made a save but in doing so has palmed the ball to their player on his own who had a simple tap in.We can debate wether he was offside or not but unfortunately it wont change the result.And of course we are notorious at the moment for being on the wrong side of decisions from officials so wouldnt have expected anything else from them.On the Hardie situation maybe its a confidence thing from him.The fact that hes been left on the bench obviously rightly or wrong wont be doing him any favours.We know how good he can be and i for one hope he gets his mojo back as soon as possible.And their has been many times when he has been isolated in games which is so frustrating to watch as ive said many times before.Would agree that like many others i sincerely hope that our season just fizzels out.We are better than that and hopefully the players can lift themselves for the remaning part of the season albeit ifeel like others the top six has gone for us unfortunatly.Any way we move on!!!

I forgot Hardie didn't play against Rangers Durnford. I still have faith in him though and say he needs someone to feed off. Miller did it last season and Menga to some extent before Christmas.
Hoping we might see Hamilton in the reserve game today. I agree with you about being disappointed in how much game time he is getting at Alloa.