Player Ratings Tonight

[SMAXXA]

Ben - 10 Cant fault him
Maybury - 6 so so
Stevenson - 6 so so
Hanlon - 6 so so needs to settle down a bit and not panic on the ball
McGivern - 7 steady
Taiwo - 6 done alright, great work ethic but nothing special tonight
Claros - 8 his energy levels are excellent and we really need to try hold onto him
Spoony - 5 if he had pace he would be unreal, keeps runing into players and stupid penalty
Doyle - 5 poor again although tonight, playing out wide left (looks like same formation as we played against well). Needs to find some form or he could find himself benched.
Cairney - 7 exra point for the goal but feel we dont give him enough of the ball as he makes things happen when he gets it
Griff - 5 poor tonight, similar to Doyle last few games havnt been the best

Cant believe we won to be honest but great fighting spirit and some excellent tackles at vital times. We play like that on sunday and we will be out the cup IMO. We need to get back to the levels we have shown this season and start offering more in the final third.

Great 3 points tho :greengrin

[Pretty Boy]

One thing I'll say for the likes of Doyle and Spoony who were poor tonight. They never stopped trying, they still wanted the ball, still tried things and put in a shift.

I'll forgive a couple of bad performances if I see effort and commitment and those 2, as well as a few others, showed that in abundance tonight despite not playing well.

Williams was man of the match for me with Claros the best of the rest.

[hibsbollah]

Ben - 10 Cant fault him
Maybury - 6 so so
Stevenson - 6 so so
Hanlon - 6 so so needs to settle down a bit and not panic on the ball
McGivern - 7 steady
Taiwo - 6 done alright, great work ethic but nothing special tonight
Claros - 8 his energy levels are excellent and we really need to try hold onto him
Spoony - 5 if he had pace he would be unreal, keeps runing into players and stupid penalty
Doyle - 5 poor again although tonight, playing out wide left (looks like same formation as we played against well). Needs to find some form or he could find himself benched.
Cairney - 7 exra point for the goal but feel we dont give him enough of the ball as he makes things happen when he gets it
Griff - 5 poor tonight, similar to Doyle last few games havnt been the best

Cant believe we won to be honest but great fighting spirit and some excellent tackles at vital times. We play like that on sunday and we will be out the cup IMO. We need to get back to the levels we have shown this season and start offering more in the final third.

Great 3 points tho :greengrin

Williams 9 Outstanding on the crossed ball all night and what a save at the pen.

Stevenson 6
Hanlon 6
McGivern 7 Some bad positioning and mistakes on the ball first 70 mins but he was immense late on. Maybury 6 Does some great work and spoils it with a stupid mistake 5 mins later. Needs a babysitter.

Cairney 7
Taiwo 5 is he the new Brian Kerr? Invisible yet again, Deegan isn't perfect but at least you know he's there.
Claros 7 an extra point for that block at the end (thanks bbc alba)
Wotherspoon 4 Not his night.

Doyle 4 poor for the second week running, rightly substituted and his form is a worry for Sunday
Griffiths 6 On Saturday against the sheep everything went through Griffiths. Tonight he was starved of decent service. Please give him the ball!!!


Well done Pat for making an early change taking Doyle off for Caldwell. After seeing the main incidents on Alba we have no complaints about the bookings and the pen, Thomson has reffed us 3 times already and if anything we've had the better of the decisions.

Delighted with the result :flag:

[nonshinyfinish]

One thing I'll say for the likes of Doyle and Spoony who were poor tonight. They never stopped trying, they still wanted the ball, still tried things and put in a shift.

I'll forgive a couple of bad performances if I see effort and commitment and those 2, as well as a few others, showed that in abundance tonight despite not playing well.

Williams was man of the match for me with Claros the best of the rest.

:agree: Every word.

[Pete]

Williams 9 Outstanding on the crossed ball all night and what a save at the pen.

Stevenson 6
Hanlon 6
McGivern 7 Some bad positioning and mistakes on the ball first 70 mins but he was immense late on. Maybury 6 Does some great work and spoils it with a stupid mistake 5 mins later. Needs a babysitter.

Cairney 7
Taiwo 5 is he the new Brian Kerr? Invisible yet again, Deegan isn't perfect but at least you know he's there.
Claros 7 an extra point for that block at the end (thanks bbc alba)
Wotherspoon 4 Not his night.

Doyle 4 poor for the second week running, rightly substituted and his form is a worry for Sunday
Griffiths 6 On Saturday against the sheep everything went through Griffiths. Tonight he was starved of decent service. Please give him the ball!!!


Well done Pat for making an early change taking Doyle off for Caldwell. After seeing the main incidents on Alba we have no complaints about the bookings and the pen, Thomson has reffed us 3 times already and if anything we've had the better of the decisions.

Delighted with the result :flag:

I'll agree with most of that. I might give Stevenson a seven though.

I'm starting to feel comfortable with McGivern playing alongside Hanlon. He looks very capable in that position.

As for Maybury, I'm beginning to wonder if he is a "confidence" player. I thought he done well but his mistakes are starting to really get pounced on by the crowd and that can't be good for him. Maybe it's time some people gave him a break?

I don't really know if rating the forwards is even fair. You're right, there was no service apart from long balls. I reckon it was a combination of their good defensive positioning and pressing and our total lack of linkage in midfield. There is definitely something missing in that respect and its as if we're playing with two wide men, two holders and a no-mans land in the area behind the strikers. One thing I did notice is that Caldwell brought more to the table than Doyle.


Tin hat on here but special marks to Craig Thomson. I thought he had a great game and didn't get much wrong. Maybe he's feeling a wee bit sorry for us now.

[The Green Man]

Agree with most of this thread so far. A bit concerned about both full back positions just seem a bit weak and would be good to get McPake and Clancy back imo. Thought we let St Johnstone bully us a bit in midfield and I hope that we don't allow that to creep back into our game. While there was lots of effort I thought we just stood off a bit too much at times and allowed them to have the ball and did not press our advantage quickly or effectively when we did have the ball, allowing them to get back in numbers and defend.

I've been really impressed with Doyle and Griffiths as a partnership this season but watching last night I didn't see it. Also, only saw the highlights of Aberdeen game but thought Doyle looked a better option for a few of Leighs chances, making good runs to the back post, but not sure what the rest of the game was like.

Still happy to get the result last night, great double save from Wiliams and good to see cairney get a goal, deserves it, and was a clever finish.

[hibsbollah]

Agree with most of this thread so far. A bit concerned about both full back positions just seem a bit weak and would be good to get McPake and Clancy back imo. Thought we let St Johnstone bully us a bit in midfield and I hope that we don't allow that to creep back into our game. While there was lots of effort I thought we just stood off a bit too much at times and allowed them to have the ball and did not press our advantage quickly or effectively when we did have the ball, allowing them to get back in numbers and defend.

I've been really impressed with Doyle and Griffiths as a partnership this season but watching last night I didn't see it. Also, only saw the highlights of Aberdeen game but thought Doyle looked a better option for a few of Leighs chances, making good runs to the back post, but not sure what the rest of the game was like.

Still happy to get the result last night, great double save from Wiliams and good to see cairney get a goal, deserves it, and was a clever finish.

I agree with you; and the weaknesses you describe are because of being without 3 first choice players: Deegan and McPake stop us being bullied in the centre and Clancy and McGivern give us much more quality at fullback than Stevenson and Maybury.

Make no mistake, to keep a bawhair behind Celtc without three important players with our tiny budget is a very impressive achievement :agree: