Nelly

Interesting, as my old man said Saints were the better team and were probably unlucky not to win. He said Aberdeen were route 1 and physical most the time, whilst Saints played some decent stuff.

Swanson has been fantastic this season for Saints - he's the only guy we have in our squad with the skill to create something out of nothing and has been on a different level to any other player on the pitch in a lot of the games this season. It's no surprise that he's looking fitter, sharper and stronger after getting a full pre-season in for the first time in years. Can't see him getting a chance for Scotland though, given his age and who he plays for. If Zander Clark keeps playing the way he has been, he definitely deserves to be in the next squad. Although, given that Strachan didn't know who Dave Mackay was (or even what his first name was) when he was at McDiarmid for the Hearts game earlier this season (despite him captaining a top 6 club for the past 5 years), I think it's fairly clear he has little knowledge or interest in players at the diddy clubs!

At the end of the St Johnstone game against Trnava a few years back, some Spartak Ultras actually ran across the pitch to try to nick the Saints flags. Fortunately one of our group noticed it happening and wrestled our flag out of the guys' hands. However, they all then got so pissed that they left the flag in a pub in Bratislava and it was gone by the time they went back to get it the following day! So if anyone sees a 12 ft by 6 ft Edinburgh Saints Saltire on their travels around Slovakia, I'd appreciate it back!

Snapped his knee ligaments away against Fulham last season and has been out for about 10 months now. Not sure when he's due back.

I used to live nearby as well and can't really see it happening either. Just something one of my friends, who's a ref in the juniors and lowland league, said he'd heard being a possibility. Spartans sounds a more realistic option, particularly given the artificial pitch there.

I'd heard some talk about Edinburgh City maybe moving to Meggetland. No idea if there's any substance to this though.

It's not really anything like the GMS situation. O'Halloran still has 18 months left on his contract, whereas GMS had only 6 and had already agreed a pre contract to join Celtic in the summer.

One red faced, angry ginger quite rightly complaining about the ref getting in the way of a well worked set piece against a whole team surrounding the ref waving imaginary cards...... The seethe from the middle aged Hearts fans in the corner every time Craig took a corner was amusing! I thought at the time that Wotherspoon had a wee kick out at Juanma before the "headbutt", so will be interesting to see that again. Juanma was a red waiting to happen yesterday though.

Hearts were cynical throughout, to be expected when they went down to 10 men so early. The time wasting was top notch, particularly the way every one of your players seemed to go down with cramp and require treatment just as they were being subbed. The arm waving, crowding the ref and waving imaginary cards every time a saints player had the temerity to go near them was a bit embarrassing though. Didn't get a good view of the Davidson incident you're on about. From where we were it just looked like Alexander ran into a crowd of bodies flapping at a cross and then fell over. No complaints though. We played poorly but still had enough chances to win convincingly. The pitch is a total embarrassment though and stops any chance of decent football breaking out.

Whilst I agree we're highly unlikely to finish 2nd, I actually think that just now Saints probably have the strongest squad in my lifetime. We've had several important players out for spells this season (Millar, Anderson, Mackay, Mannus, Davidson, Scobbie, Easton, O'Halloran, Cummins etc have all missed games) and managed to cope quite well. The fact that John Sutton - gash, but a recognised goalscorer at this level - can't get a sniff of a starting place, is testament to the quality of squad Tommy Wright has put together on a relatively small budget.

If by very average you mean skinning every full back he plays against and making match winning contributions every week, then I agree with you. I love how people who have probably never seen him play can comment with such authority on how he's playing. He may not be Scotland's saviour, but to say he's shite and having an average season is laughable.

Indeed. The current top scorer in the EPL was making his big move from the Northern Premier League to the Conference Premier at about the same age as O'Halloran is just now. Just like in normal life, footballers can mature at different ages (or not at all in the case of Riordan, O'Connor etc).

That's very much a fact, David.

Yep, no goals and 1 assist in his 14 games for Celtic so far this season, playing in the same position as the SPL nobody. Clearly MILES ahead.

It's more your opinion than a fact, really. My opinion (not a fact admittedly....) is that he's been the most exciting player at St Johnstone this season by a mile, has scared the shit out of pretty much every full back he's faced - so much so that most teams are now putting 2 or 3 men on him, and Dundee United pretty much resorted to kicking him every time he got the ball until he went off injured. He has improved significantly from last season. Bearing in mind this is really only his 2nd full season of regular football, he's now beginning to show that he has confidence in his ability, thanks in no small part to Tommy Wright's man management. On current form, I genuinely wouldn't swap him for any other wide player in the Scottish Leagues. There are still weaknesses there - making the wrong decisions at times, poor final ball, not tracking back occasionally - but he's improving these aspects all the time. As Eddie says, if he's still playing to the same level next year, other than the fact he plays for a diddy team, there's no reason why he shouldn't be considered. If I'm being pedantic, he's actually scored 3 times this season if you count the European games.

Your young left back actually kept him quieter than most Premiership left backs have this season. He did however score the second, set up the third and create a couple of other decent chances in the first half. You're right though, he wasn't that great last night. By the way, I thought it was a lovely touch from Morton bringing on the ball boy up front for the last 10-15 mins!!

He's been moved from left midfield to right midfield this season. The only time he's played up front has been against Rangers, due to Tommy Wright noticing how suspect against pace the centre of their defence was (and he scored in that game). He was a danger last year with his pace, but this season he's gone up another couple of levels - he seems faster, stronger and far more confident in his ability. The amount of assists and chances he's created for the team has been unreal. His pace is frightening - he seems to go past players at will, even when most teams have been targeting him and put 2 or 3 players on him. His decision making does still need improvement, but he's been a joy to watch this season, you can feel the excitement in the crowd every time he gets the ball. Sadly he'll probably have to leave Saints, and move to sit on Celtic's bench or go to a mid-table Championship team, before having a chance of a call up. We'll just continue to enjoy him ripping left backs to shreds while we still can!

He's a wide attacking midfielder who is very occasionally played up front when the manager feels it would benefit the team tactically. Pretty sure the Rangers game is the only time this season he's played up front. He's improved massively this season and seems to have a far greater belief in his ability. He looks faster, stronger and now has far more end product in terms of goals and assists.

Yerevan for the Saints game was too hot for a kilt. 43 degrees on match day. Never known heat like it.

Pretty sure Prague was random. From memory I was the only one of our group who had to collect. As per usual!

Doesn't appear to have worked for me, Ally. I seem to be selected for random pick up every other game.

That's exactly the guy I thought it was - pretty sure he used to always try to sell rocking horses. I used to like in Bryson Road, so saw him hanging around the area most days. A friend of a friend lived in that block on Watson Crescent as well. Watson Crescent has some absolute bams living in it!

St Johnstone's Season Ticket prices. A small rise of £10 for my season ticket, but it includes all League Cup games this season and is the first price rise for about 3 seasons. All under 13's, both home and away fans, are still free entry. MAIN STAND Executive Padded £375 Adult £345 Senior Citizen. £204 Aged 13 - 16 £193 Age 12 and under Free of charge East Stand Adult £310 Senior Citizen. £168 Student in FTE. £158 Aged 17-18 £105 Aged 13-16 £79 Age 12 and under Free of charge Ormond Stand Adult £265 Senior Citizen. £159 Additional parent or guardian £132 Adult + 1 child 13-16 years £345 Senior Citizen + 1 child 13-16 years £239 Additional child aged 13-16 added to above £79 Age 12 and under ** Free of charge

9 of us, including my missus and son, booked in here from Saturday - Sunday. Brownie points also being earned on this trip!

They're not really a good distance clear in third. Just now Saints are only 4 points behind ICT, despite being ridiculously inconsistent all season. If we beat them on Saturday, we'll only be a point behind them.