The Power of Kentucky Fried Chicken

Injury Update

Paul Heffernan will be out for 4 weeks after twisting his ankle badly during the Dundee United match.

Matchday 20

Away to Celtic.

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Jaakola
RB: Buijs
CB: Kroca
CB: Sissoko
LB: McKeown
RW: Dayton
CM: Harkins
CM: Fowler
LW: Silva
ST: Gros
ST: Galan

Subs: Letheran, Pursehouse, Fisher, Panikvar, Telfer, Kennedy, Shiels

This was going to be a hard match....both strikers are suffering from long goal droughts and with alot of the first team subs injured some of the youngsters were brough in and will need to perform against a resurgent Celtic squad that are now only 7 points behind us in 5th.

Result

Lost 3-0

The tactical change didn't make a difference. Neither striker could score the chances they had and the team fell apart after the second goal. We stay in 4th place but only because we already had 7 points over Celtic, a gap that is now just 4.

Monthly Update - December

Well things have just gone from bad to worse...1 win in 7 games is our current form and the other games have all been loses...alot of which we should have done alot better in. I am struggling to come up with ideas to turn the team around and get out of this rut, especially after the start of the season that we had. The other thing that has annoyed me over the past month is that we have only scored one goal and it was a DEFENDER that scored it.



After our run of recent results I honestly believe we are lucky to be in the top 5 never mind keeping up with a push for European places. We have a game in hand over the teams above us but the best that we can get to is back up to 4th, and one point behind 3rd. Though with our current form I don't see that happening.



Our team has been slightly depleted by the departures of Dean Shiels, due to his loan ending and our inability to finance an extension, and Ben Hutchinson who left on a free transfer to Burton. As the transfer window has now re-opened I will try to bring in new players and replacements, while contemplating whether to bother keeping Galan who has yet to score in over 500+minutes of football for the club, which is shockingly bad for a striker.



I shouldn't really need to tell you that the club lost more money this month with £138,000 just walking out of our accounts. So far we are £468,848 in debt and this will continue to grow until the end of the season and most likely beyond.

In training once again it was the youth that impressed but also failed to this month as:

William Gros - Attacking
Jude Winchester - Strength
Charlie Telfer - Tactics

All improved and impressed while:

Alex Pursehouse - Strength
Rory McKeown - Strength

Both failed to impress or improve.

A good thing to mention about contracts though is that our coach Paul McDonald and our goalkeeping coach Billy Thompson have both renewed their contracts to stay on with the club till 2015

Matchday 21

Home to St. Mirren

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Bell
RB: Buijs
CB: Pascali
CB: Sissoko
LB: McKeown
RW: Dayton
CM: Stewart
CM: Fowler
LW: Silva
ST: Gros
ST: Galan

Subs: Jaakola, Pursehouse, Kroca, Kelly, Racchi, Winchester, Kennedy

Before the match starts I'd just like to note, Galan is currently suffering from a goal drought of 655 minutes, while Gros suffers from a 596 minute goal drought.....OUCH!

Result

Lost 2-0

Despite the result I was actually quite pleased with the team as we started to show our old selfs when it came to pressing and creating chances. Just once again we couldn't take what we created and St. Mirren made us pay, dearly.

Oh and make that 745 minutes and 676 minutes for Galan and Gros' goal droughts, and Pascali is out for 3 weeks with a knee problem.

Transfer News

Sone Aluko has signed with us till the end of the season to provide cover and contend for a first team place with David Silva. If he performs then I will think about extending and offering him a new longer term contract.

Another player that has agreed to sign is Stephen Kingsley, a 17 year old left back from Falkirk who will be signing at the end of the season and will be used as a back up for other left back positions.

The third person that will be signing at the end of the season is Andrew Murphy, a goalkeeper from Livingston who will be used as a back up to Bell and Jaakola, and maybe Letheran if I don't sell him at the end of the season.

The only person that is currently leaving the club is Micheal McKitrick, a youth player that looks to have no potential or at least not enough to push for a first team slot.

Scottish Cup 4th Round

Away to East Fife

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up

GK: Bell
RB: Buijs
CB: Ada
CB: Sissoko
LB: McKeown
RW: Dayton
CM: Kelly
CM: Fowler
LW: Aluko
ST: Gros
ST: Galan

Subs: Jaakola, Pursehouse, Ashcroft, Winchester, Harkins

Result

Won 3-0

Well thank god for that. I don't care if it was against a 2nd or 3rd division side that victory and the game in general felt amazing to play. The team looked back to the team that played at the start of the season, pressing and hassling the opponents and taking the chances we created while restricting theirs. And it was a great site to see Gros score two great team goals to end his goal drought.

Transfer News

Patrick Ada has joined Olhanense for £30,000. I know its not a lot but seeing as he is unhappy and didn't want to stay at the club I had to accept the offer. I may look for a new cover player or I may use Lee Ashcroft and Gary Fisher who are the most promising youth central defenders.

Scottish Cup 5th Round Draw

The draw pits us against Queen of the South, a first division side currently in 4th place.



To be truthfully honest I would like Ayr United to beat Dumbarton as that gives us the chance of playing them in the next round for a "Best of Ayrshire" derby match.

Matchday 23

Home to St. Mirren

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Bell
RB: Buijs
CB: Kroca
CB: Sissoko
LB: Hay
RW: Dayton
CM: Kelly
CM: Fowler
LW: Aluko
ST: Gros
ST: Galan

Subs: Jaakola, Pursehouse, Ashcroft, Harkins, Silva, Winchester, Heffernan

Result

Won 2-1

I was really happy after this game. We went behind early after an own goal from Kroca and I thought it was going to be another lose to a team we should beat but not long after we equalised and once again started being the team we should. Then the moment that made me celebrate in real life....Galan finally scored his first ever goal of the season. The win definitely helps out in the league and will definitely help with the squads morale, not to mention Galan's confidence.

He finally scores!!!

18 painfull bl**dy hours!!!



p.s sorry for the "bl**dy" just that annoyed about the whole thing, was just that frustrating lol

English Transfer Update

So far, the biggest transfers of this window in England are:

Marek Hamsik signs for Arsenal for £28mil and Zoran Tosic joins Sunderland for £10mil. The other big transfer has been Marouane Fellaini moving for a fee of £15.5mil to Manchester City.

Transfer Update

Newport County have agreed contracts to sign Joe Slattery nd Daniel McKay at the end of their current contracts for free. This is not going to affect the main team at all as neither player was considered even a back-up to any position in the first team.

Matchday 23

Away to Aberdeen

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Bell
RB: Buijs
CB: Kroca
CB: Sissoko
LB: Hay
RW: Silva
CM: Kelly
CM: Harkins
LW: Aluko
ST: Gros
ST: Heffernan

Subs: Jaakola, Pursehouse, Ashcroft, Fowler, Dayton, Winchester, Galan

Result

Won 1-0

A well grounded out result for the team as they look to build on the win from last week. We took the lead in the first half and held on well, but suffered for it with injuries to Kroca (6 weeks - 2 months) and Heffernan (3-4 weeks). The win also takes us back up into 4th, now 3 points seperate us and Celtic in 5th, and 2 points between us and 3rd.

Matchday 24

Home to Dunfermline

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Bell
RB: Buijs
CB: Ashcroft
CB: Sissoko
LB: Hay
RW: Silva
CM: Stewart
CM: Harkins
LW: Aluko
ST: Gros
ST: Galan

Subs: Jaakola, Pursehouse, Pascali, Fowler, Dayton, Kelly, McKay

Result

Draw 2-2

This should have been a game that we should have won but our inability and a lot of bad luck prevented that. After taking the lead early everything was going well until a very iffy penalty decision was giving against us and from then on it looked like a game of kick killie off the park as more than half off my players ended the first half down in the low 70's for condition. We took the lead again but you could see the team were struggling which was the ultimate cause in the 2nd equaliser as the defence were out-paced by "fitter" strikers. The draw is our first in a long time and it keeps us within 2 points of second and means we will still be 4th going into next weekend.

English Transfer Update

Manchester City have signed Angel Di Maria, from Real Mardrid, for a fee of £16mil. This raises their total transfer spending total to £83mil for the season, and £31.5mil for the January Transfer window alone.