ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Well, that wasn't all that we hoped it would be, was it? Two points dropped on the opening day of the season will have given those anti-Rangers reptiles, including you know who, all the encouragement they could wish for and, reading over the weekend papers, already I detect a hint of happiness with how things worked out. I'll certainly be filing the Hack Pack's snidey comments for future reference.
Disappointed though I was with the result, I wasn't unduly surprised with our sticky start. Unlike so many who posted on the FF Messageboard in the immediate aftermath of the game, I'm not inclined to ladder my tights over an iffy first forty-five minutes. The Jambos didn't look back after subbing Andy 'Sick-note' Webster in only the eighth minute and, in truth, with a wee bit of luck and facing a lesser keeper than Allan McGregor, they might have been 3-0 up at half-time. Zaliukas was very impressive at the back and young McGowan handled Juanma Ortiz very well.
The big plus from our point of view was how the players reacted to whatever Ally said in the dressing-room at the interval. The opening fifteen/twenty minutes of the second half saw us lift the pace of the game and Steven Naismith could have had two goals before he finally capitalised on some great work by Sasa Papac on the left to score with a well placed header.
Unfortunately, we were unable to build on the platform the goal gave us. With Ortiz having a lean time of it on the left, Jelavic and Naismith were getting precious little service and, with Naisy frequently dropping into a deeper position in search of the ball, the Jelafella found himself isolated up front. All of which highlighted our need to sign another striker to support the big man. The Kenny Miller option looks like a no-brainer to me. Or is Ally prepared to wait for the return of Big Kyle and his should've-gone-to-Specsavers haircut?
There is plenty of room for improvement but a level of rustiness is well nigh inevitable at this early stage so I'm confident we will steadily get better. Lets just hope we don't ship too many more points before clicking into top gear. In the end we can be grateful for a brilliant save from Greegs when he denied Obua near the end to ensure we got a point. I certainly don't envisage too many teams being as impressive as the Watery Farts were at Ibrox. With our next three league games being away from home, maybe we'll get a bit more space to play into at Perth, Inverness and Motherwell and will look a bit more like our true selves when the Sheepies come calling towards the end of August.
A feature of the opening weekend was the number of draws, with Aberdeen v St.Johnstone and Dundee Utd. v Kilmarnock also ending level. Stuart McCall's Motherwell are the unlikely pacesetters after their 3-0 win over Caley Thistle and Terry Butcher. I'll bet the two managers shifted a right few lagers in the office after that one.
Meanwhile, Timothy has been crawing about getting their season off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory at Easter Road. It will surprise nobody that they are already well on their way to beating last season's record total of penalties, yet still managed to have a whinge about a disallowed goal. I understand the Lurgan Bigot sought out the SPL delegate for clarification on that decision. And the Scum Of have been quick to point out that, had that goal been allowed to stand and if they'd scored from their penalty, they would be clear at the top. Ho-Hum. I just can't understand how they contrive to miss so many penalties. Ferfuxxake, they get enough practice!!!
They're off to their spiritual home next weekend to play in some Mickey Mouse tournament so we have a chance to leapfrog them when we go to Perth on Saturday. I just hope the possibility of losing Murray Davidson doesn't have the same effect on St.Johnstone as losing Lee Wallace did on Hearts.
It will be an interesting week ahead, with the Malmo game and the possibility of some transfer activity, but lets hope that, by the end of it, we've got a fresh face or two in the squad and the players are ready to get stuck into St.Johnstone right from the first whistle, instead of shadow-boxing through the first half. In the run-in to title number fifty-four we blew teams away by starting brightly, whereas on Saturday we let Hearts settle into the game and establish a wee comfort zone, making them even harder to break down. Lets make sure St.Johnstone don't enjoy that luxury.
LITTLE BOY BLUE