Sadly, for us the chance properly to recover from this particular defeat will not come for many months. It is not entirely fair to say that this defeat ended our season. Firstly, we may yet produce a miracle but more realistically we will miss out on the top six. Not because we lost away to Hearts but because for a long period of time we have not been good enough.
McGarry comes on
It is how we choose to react to this fact which is important. We are very rarely outclassed. For all we may complain about certain flaws in the team and individuals we are a safe mid-table outfit. We should have many more points than the current tally of thirty three . There is no one to blame but ourselves that too often we’ve hit the post with a good chance or that our defending has not quite been good enough.
It is not unexpected or unreasonable that a club our size will miss out on the top half sometimes. (Indeed, answers on a postcard when we last finished in the top half for three consecutive seasons?). But we now have to decide whether the players we have, with another season of experience and maybe some better luck are capable of improving or whether we need to rip it up and start again. It’s a tough call.
tevie Hammell seems to personify this dilemma perfectly. We all know he is capable of being an excellent player but we have also seen him lose his way of late. He now makes more mistakes on a regular basis than was imaginable during his breakthrough period. Are we happy to let him go or do we try to keep him? For all his mistakes, Hammell is still a decent left back. What are our chances of improving on him? If we keep him, he might regain the form which earned him his full 
This is the problem which Terry faces, more or less all over the park. Jim Hamilton has recently been criticised for his lack of movement off the ball but he does do many things well. He’ll almost certainly be well into double figures in the goals column by the end of the season. There’s not much more we can realistically ask for from a ‘Well striker.
So, while the 3-0 defeat was disappointing, it is something we need to deal with and move on. Our season was not cruelly curtailed in
However, we do still have an outside chance of the top six. Every game now is do or die. Let’s go for some wins and hope for the best!