‘A melee, scrimmage, stramash, a missed penalty and another Honest Mistake,’ David Potter

I think the first thing to say is how good it was to have football back at this level. Whoever thought up that idea of a winter shut-down? Whoever he was did not consider the interests of the fans, who are very important people. We have missed Celtic, although some of us have taken advantage of the break to go and watch football at other levels where players seem to be a little less precious!

That said, there was a potential banana skin yesterday. Indeed those of us who remember a League Cup loss to Morton at a similarly half empty stadium a few years ago, had visions of something like that happening here, particularly when we pummelled that Airdrie goal, missed a penalty and generally did not look as sharp was we could have been. And we did not score!

And yes, I am pointing the finger at Scott Sinclair here again. I cannot work this fellow out. Just what is the problem? Is it confidence? We all know that he can do it, and Brendan Rodgers clearly has faith in him, but he really should have had a barrowload of goals. As it happened, he got two, should have had three and I suppose we must temper our criticism.

The new bhoys? Well the new Tim (Timothy Weah) took a great goal obeying the strikers’ mantra of not hanging about. Maybe he will get 90 minutes on Wednesday?

Oliver Burke should have put a few away, one in particular in the second half, but I like the look of him. The appetite is there, and that counts for a lot. And full marks to Scott Bain for his part in keeping Airdrie from scoring in that melee, scrimmage, stramash (call it what you will!) near the end of the first half.

This game probably did not prove very much, but we did get over a hurdle of a determined and certainly very committed, but ultimately outclassed Airdrie side. It was quite a gentle easing back into the groove, and the potential treble treble is still on. The crowd was poor, but possibly a little better than they deserve for agreeing to put on a game at such a ridiculous time! My Man of the Match was Tony Ralston, and it was nice to see Nir Bitton again.

And so onwards to Wednesday night. There will be a few changes in the team, one feels, and we must be careful not to underestimate the Saints who gave us an awful bother the last time we met in Paisley earlier in the season.

David Potter

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