Ian Baraclough’s oft repeated sentiment that he should be the recipient of fans’ criticism rather than the players shielded many who wear the strip from the worst excesses from the stands but there can be no hiding place anymore.
The departure of the manager opened the door for Les Hutchison to suggest that some should “hang their heads in shame”. Now they have the opportunity to have a fresh start and we can be sure that Stephen Craigan will make them aware of their responsibilities.
Our former captain has already had some involvement with the first team squad since his appointment as U20s manager in the summer and it will be his choice the starting eleven to face Thistle.
There have many permutations of the player pool in recent games, maybe because there was no certainty of our best starting line-up or perhaps because it was felt that some sort of rotation system should apply. Those problems of team selection would have been considered a luxury by previous men in the hot seat as they had to cope with much smaller squads.
Lasley, Moult, McDonald and Ainsworth all started on the bench on Tuesday and it would not be a surprise to them return. Hammell has missed the last two outings and will play if fit.
Before ‘Well fans get too depressed about our team’s performances, let them look at the opposition. They are rooted at the foot of the table with three points (all draws), they are also out of the League Cup and are wallowing in a five game losing streak without a win this season. They have failed to score in all but one of their matches.
If there’s any truth in the fabled bounce that follows the departure of a manager as players try to impress the new man then this should be a home win. 2-0 to the Mighty ‘Well.