THE fans have their say.
HIBERNIANTHE Setanta horror show picked up from the second half at Tannadice, as Hibs were comprehensively outplayed by a battling St Mirren who were unfortunate not to win.
An unchanged Hibs team saw the same old positional
problems, and a continued lack of midfield presence gave Andy Dorman and Co the freedom of the park. Us fans are not managers, but quite what Mixu sees in this formation is something we all want to know.
The debate rages on as to whether Mixu should be given more time and, with season ticket renewal just round the corner, the Hibs board have a crucial decision to make.
Our chances of making it into the top six may rest on us beating Rangers on Sunday, but given our performances of late, what price that?
Eddie Hendersonwww.hibs.netHEARTSEVEN accounting for my maroon-tinted spectacles, it's hard to see past Csaba for manager of the year. He has turned us from being an absolute shambles into a side that can easily hold our own in the league.
Celtic will have arrived at Tynecastle knowing that they were about to face one of their toughest tests of the season. We were caught sleeping at the start, but recovered quickly to control the majority of the game. With better finishing and better officiating, we could have won it. However, Celtic also had their chances and their own decent penalty shout, and a draw was probably a fair result.
I'm no fan of the top six split, but it's certainly going to make for an exciting run-in. Unlike last year, we should be spared any meaningless games, assuming Hibs manage to scrape in.
Sandy LeonardKILMARNOCKIT WAS a whole new Killie side who faced the Bairns on Saturday, or so it seemed. The actual changes were Pascali, on the brink of a two-match ban, being dropped in favour of Skelton and Invincibile being preferred as foil to big Kyle up front… but what a difference it made.
The whole team seemed to get a lift and the result reflected our superiority on the day, and gave the home support confidence we'll not be at the bottom of the table come the end of May.
We can't get over-confident, because it was a poor Falkirk side, but three-goal Kevin Kyle's old-school centre-forward performance was one which we'd not seen since the days of Kris Boyd.
Dundee United will be a much sterner test this week, and we'd all settle for a point from Tannadice right now.
Barry Richmondwww.killiefc.comMOTHERWELLMOTHERWELL fans had a nervous evening on Monday and we weren't even playing. All eyes were on Paisley as St Mirren entertained Hibs and it was well known that an away victory would end our season before we took to the field again. Hibs picked up a point to move ahead of us but we would have settled for that beforehand.
Our performance against Rangers was not particularly memorable and will need to lift ourselves quickly if we are to keep our top six hopes alive.
The difference between this season and last is that the lesser games would have been won last term. A top six place is still something to celebrate for Motherwell though so let's hope we finally click this weekend and put the pressure on Hibs before their game with Rangers.
Derek Wilsonwww.firparkcorner.comST MIRRENAGAINST Hibs we took the lead and once again failed to win. I've lost count of the number of times that's happened this season and it's the main reason why we find ourselves in relegation trouble. We would be seven or eight points better off if we were able to hold on to our leads. Results on Saturday went perfectly for us, but we couldn't take advantage.
For the most part we dominated against Hibs, but our lack of a cutting edge let us down badly. On the plus side, Hugh Murray was back from suspension and there was a general expression of "that's what we've been missing" when he made his first crunching tackle.
A win against Motherwell is a must – it would help our league position and boost us ahead of the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Stuart Gillespie INVERNESS CTOUR visit to Pittodrie ended up as another dull "one goal" Aberdeen/Inverness derby.
Although we saw a lot of the ball in the first half we struggled to create anything really clear-cut. Morais and Imrie were wasteful with the ball as they couldn't find the right pass.
We were very poor in the second half as we continuously picked the wrong pass at the crucial moment. We were also sloppy in defence, allowing Aberdeen to come into the game more and more to eventually get their goal.
It's all very well trying to "win ugly" in this basement scrap, but when you don't win you are left with "ugly". We take on Hamilton next and we already know it isn't going to be a footballing spectacle, but if we get the three points we won't be too upset about it.
Dave 'Gringo' Wilson FALKIRKSATURDAY will go down in history as the day John Hughes "lost" the Bairns faithful – even the most diehard Yogi Bairns finally passed the tipping point and demanded changes must be made as Falkirk went down to a Killie side who had not won any of their previous 12 league games.
Yogi came on the radio post-match to take the blame suggesting he had made the wrong team selection and the wrong tactics. For most fans it was too little too late, having watched the side struggle from the off with a punchless midfield.
Midfielders Patrick Cregg and Arneau Riera, who were linchpins in recent wins over Aberdeen and Hearts, remained on the bench despite the mass calls for their introduction by fans who could see the obvious weak links.
Brian Guthrie ABERDEENTOP six place secured then, and a fairly mouth-watering post-split battle with Dundee's wee team and the Gorgie goons for the Europa League slots awaits.
Regardless of the current introspection among the support about our tanned chum in the dugout, we know that there is still plenty to play for. There was no sign of vast swathes of the Dons support turning their backs on the club on Saturday; there has almost been tacit agreement to give the team full backing in the charge for a European place.
Despite this, some things continue to frustrate, although watching Sone Aluko make mincemeat of opposition full-backs distracts from the confusion. He is a definite Calderwood plus-point.
Craig Stewart HAMILTONIT WAS another depressing day for Accies on Saturday as they extended their goalless streak in losing to Dundee United. In truth the visitors should have been out of sight by half time, but Accies nearly grabbed a point at the end.
This time the key man for Accies was goalkeeper Tomas Cerny and predictably the tabloids are now suggesting that both Rangers and Celtic are after him.
The good news is that Accies have first option on his permanent transfer and I really hope that deal can be tied up sharpish. The only bright point is that, although Killie have clambered above us, there are still three teams below us. All roads now lead to Inverness and what should be a cracker against ICT on Saturday. It will probably be a nervy, niggly match, but if we can grab the points then we'll be almost there.
Gilbert MowatCELTICANOTHER week, another away game, another draw. Playing Heid in midfield has rarely worked this season (three wins out of 11) and so it proved on Saturday with Hearts completely dominating the midfield in the first half.
I was applauding Gordon at half-time for making the bold changes to get Celtic into the game. Only on hearing his post match interview did I realise that the changes were enforced due to injury! I have a horrible feeling he would have left the midfield untouched otherwise.
Once we had players playing in the correct positions, Celtic created enough chances to nick it at the end. Please stop experimenting Gordon! Thankfully, a home game next week when Aberdeen visit. Calderwood has had his critics (mainly Aberdeen fans), but his teams always make it tough at Celtic Park.
Dave DevineDUNDEE UTDIN-FORM Craig Conway's sweet strike just four minutes into the game got us off to a flyer and ensured that all three points deservedly headed back to Tayside, our top-six spot secured. The encounter actually turned out to be a far more comfortable affair than our recent visits to Hamilton, and the 1-0 scoreline implies a tighter tussle than it actually was.
With Jon Daly out for the foreseeable future (haste ye back big man) Fran Sandaza and Andis Shala looked to have the makings of a formidable partnership as they tormented the Hamilton defence in the first-half. It's a real boost for our (albeit slender) European aspirations to come away with the spoils from Hamilton. And lets not linger on the 'time-wasting' jibes aimed at United after the game, just enjoy an excellent victory.
Hamish Mackintosh
www.dundeeutd-mad.co.uk
RANGERSWELL, the dust has settled and Rangers have taken nine points from nine since the suspension of the errant Scotland duo.
Not with much panache, it must be said, but we're closer to the top of the league now than we were before it happened.
Boyd has responded superbly with four goals in three games, including an absolute belter against Motherwell.
We have Hibs away before the split – never an easy trip for us – but three points keeps us right in it and will lead to a very interesting last five matches. Despite the darkness which has descended over Ibrox a few times this season, Celtic have never been able to shake us off.
It would be a brave bookie who thinks this one won't go right down to the wire again.
David Edgar
