There’s been much scratching of the heads since our last home game.
After a terrific spirited performance to beat a strong Hibernian side, it’s been a frustrating time on the road at Raith, St Mirren and Morton. We weren’t at the races against Raith, but I feel we deserve to take at least a point if not more in the other two games.
We were the masters of our own downfall in these games as we gave away soft goals. Poor defending has proved costly, but we’re not going to point fingers at anyone as we’re all in it together. But we know we need to eradicate such mistakes if we are going to give ourselves a fighting chance.
It’s really disappointing as after the Hibs game, we really felt we could make a push for the top four but the last three results have made that difficult. We won’t give up but we know it’s going to take a major slip up from Raith and a big effort from us now. But they’ve still to come to Palmerston so we’ve still got the opportunity, but the games are running out and running out fast.
After our game at Paisley, I went along to watch Dumbarton against Falkirk last weekend and felt that they deserved their point. They chased well so we know we need to defend better than we have been of late. They have big strong players who will punish us if we don’t.
After three disappointing games on the road, it’s good to be back at Palmerston this weekend, we hope it gives us the slight advantage. There is always the expectation to play when you’re at home, so that’s how we will go about our business, but we have to make sure we don’t get caught on the counter. We have to be wary of that threat and make sure we do the right things. We have to keep the tempo up and make sure we see the initial part of the game through. If we can do that then I’m more than confident we can win the game.
We lost Jordan Marshall and Lewis Kidd during the first half at Paisley and Jake Pickard picked up an injury at Greenock on Tuesday - they've still to recover and havent trained all week, so are unlikely to be available for this weekend.
Everyone else is fit and free from suspension.