The vision of Stuart McCall stationed at the halfway line in his playing gear despite the chilly weather failed to inspire the best eleven we could muster and the new gaffer now knows the job that lies ahead. He’ll have a week to plan for the cup tie in Dundee.
As he studies the DVD of the game against Hamilton he’ll have a couple of major concerns. How could we have so much domination and possession in the first half and manage only one attempt on goal? Humphrey was snuffed out by close marking, Gow still looks uncomfortable in the secondary striking position, Blackman (now injured) has lost his early season sharpness and Murphy’s wide position seemd to be undervaluing his potential.
How was it that Accies had the majority of the goal scoring opportunities? There was slackness in the back four that seemed vulnerable when the opposition attacked on the break. Once again we owed our clean sheet to a combination of the competence of Randolph and the incompetence of opposition strikers – had Imrie been on target as the game entered the final minutes we would have lost.
The players can have a belated New Year celebration but on their return they’ll have to adjust to the new manager’s way of doing things. We might have an early idea of McCall’s attitude and management style next week but it will take a while for the new man to make the team his own. Meanwhile, we’ll have to hope to survive a tricky trip to Dens Park.