Snapperone

At Forfar. And was responsible for their failure to get promoted when he kicked the ball straight to an Alloa player who couldn't believe his luck and rolled it into an empty net.

Leave the poor man alone. Anyone whose avatar has the word "Bairns" in it is alright in my book. We're obviously his big team. (cue avatar getting changed at next logon)

I'm absolutely stunned at this. It's incredible. I mean really, who could possibly have believed that a cup would ever be seen at Easter Road? Are we sure it's not April the first?

Is Leith no supposed to be where all the hookers hang out?

Nobody told Irish Rail then. I emailed them to find out, as I can get a cheaper ticket by buying from the station on the day. (Due to being a railwayman - I get 75% off UK and Ireland tickets and 50% off in mainland Europe) This reply from Stephen Lawlor, Customer Care, Irish Rail in Dublin:- "Yes, there would never be a situation where we would not permit walk on passengers. Whilst you may not get a seat, you will be permitted to travel. It would be advisable to arrive at the station as early as possible to maximise your chances of getting a seat. I hope this helps. Washboarder is talking pish." Okay, so I made up the last bit. You get the gist of it though.

I've just mailed Irish Rail to find out if you'll be allowed to buy tickets on the day. Will post the reply when I get it. I suspect there'll be no problem buying tickets but if the platform's heaving when the train arrives you just need to take your chances. Or get your elbows out and clear a path using brute force. Just like a normal commuter train at rush hour in Scotland.

This. One hundred times this. He took us out of the Premier League, winning none of his final five games (post-split) against the poorest teams in the league. For every year he remained in charge in the First Division we finished further and further behind (in terms of points) of the eventual champions. His record at Falkirk only looked good because he had the luck to unearth two decent strikers who came here as trialists, and who each hit 28 and 29 goals per season; Farid El Alagui and Lyle Taylor. He was also fortunate to have some very talented youngsters emerging from the youth teams. His biggest failure IMO is that he was a feartie. He set up teams up to contain the opposition, defend deep and played with a lone striker who sat so far back he was almost a third centre-half. Pressley was terrified of losing and played safety-first football. The TA didn't like 460 in Prague. Well I watched Falkirk play almost as defensively every week against the giants of football like Dumbarton, Cowdenbeath & Stirling Albion. Keep him away from the Scotland U21s please.

That's my hope too. For various reasons I'm normally in the ground a couple of hours before KO and it's at least an hour after the game before I leave, so supporters buses are no use to me. I travel alone too. Usually I try to get a hotel within walking distance of the ground but in this place it's not possible. I'm hoping the the authorities will be putting on special trains or buses back to Faro but if that doesn't happen I'll just need to ask my hotel to book a taxi.

Now that the main internationals are over, hopefully the defeat will propel this story onto the back pages again. A bit more heat directed at Sbragia would be no bad thing. More than likely the Record will be reporting on what a Rangers player had for breakfast though.

I don't generally watch other football apart from the two teams I support, Falkirk and Scotland. I saw Hoolihan play against us regularly when he was at Livingston and I thought he was by far their best player. No idea how his club career is going nowadays but he's a guy I've always rated.

Given that Ireland wore their white away kit at Parkhead, I half-expected the strip change on Wednesday. I'm guessing that under the new "all light v all dark" trend from FIFA, as seen at the World Cup, blue and green are now considered a clash. If that's the case then the only alternative was for both teams to wear their away strips. Might be totally wrong of course.

He was a regular for Scotland U21s when at Falkirk so I would be surprised if he felt Canadian. Over the years I've seen numerous youth players break through with Falkirk who I thought had the potential to become internationalists. I never felt that way about Scotty. He's done well to get to where he has but I think international football would be a step too far for him. It goes without saying that I'd be delighted to be proved wrong though.

As a non-Glaswegian, that wouldn't bother me. However, the games will be played in Glasgow and North East teams don't have a great record there. We want to qualify for France, not learn how to lose 9-0.

Might as well chuck a grenade in here. The general consensus appears to be that it's perfectly acceptable to leave Scotland and to bring up your children to feel Scottish rather than the country they were born in. And if the children feel Scottish, we'll accept them. Jack Harper, Don Hutchison, Richard Gough, Andy Goram for example. So it follows that Matt Ritchie should be accepted too. But it has to work both ways. We can't accept those players and then react with outrage if a natural-born Scot choses to play for another country because he has an ancestral link to it. And I'm sure I can think of a couple who come into that category, both of whom we'll probably face in June. And who've had just a tiny bit of stick from us over the years....

What does Craig Sibbald have to do to get a call up? 140+ first team games at nineteen and one of the best players in the Championship. Oh wait, I just worked it out. He needs to move away from Falkirk. Now that Steven Kingsley's with Swansea he gets called up even though he's currently on loan at Yeovil.

Those of who're old enough to remember Argentina would rather not be reminded of it, thank you.

That's the "Purple" car park. Press go in there and so do the Police. I imagine it's reserved only for people who are working at the stadium.

He left Falkirk - whom he was playing with when he got capped - to sign for Hearts. It was the football equivalent of chucking Scarlett Johansson to shack up with Nora Batty. No wonder he never got capped again. He then went to Killie and is now at Ross County.

I didn't have a teamsheet so I couldn't tell you who the individual United players were . They were decent as a team though and would have scored a few had their forwards been able to head the ball downwards rather than over the bar. Edited to add - this was in response to Proudscot's post about who stood out. Why the hell does it not work when I press quote?

I haven't booked any flights for Dublin because I'm hoping we have an away friendly a few days beforehand. Am I the only one who's held off for that reason?

Not much to do with Scotland I know, but I enjoyed watching the Utd conveyor belt of talent this afternoon..... .... as they lost to the mighty Falkirk in the U20 league. I see one of our players - Mark Finlayson - is in the U17 squad for the friendly against Romania.

He's a centre-half who looked superb when he was coming through the ranks at Falkirk. Doesn't seem to have quite hit the heights yet at Huddersfield, but he's still young enough that he has time on his side. Edited to add that I was referring to Murray Wallace. No idea where the quote I was answering went to.

And this one is a farmers field two minutes from my house, taken in the light of the setting sun during the same stroll on Sunday.

You don't need to go to the mountains to see nice scenery. This is a public park in Camelon, taken on Sunday afternoon from the Forth and Clyde canal.

Easyjet released their flights for next October at 0108 this morning. Or at least that's the time the text alert came in on the mobile and woke me up. Flights direct from Glasgow on the Saturday morning are currently sitting at £150, or £170 once you put a case in the hold. . Have booked to fly out from Edinburgh via Gatwick the day before at £50 less than the above. Will sort the return leg out over the weekend.