It's hard to put a finger on exactly what has gone so badly wrong in the past fortnight but the hangover from a bad close season still lingers. The loss of Hardie and McManus to St. Johnstone earlier this year haunts us though we had looked like exorcising those ghosts in recent weeks. Frustratingly though we can see signs that we could and should be doing better though results are not going right. Is it tactical, motivational or just poor quality that is our problem? I've no doubts that it might be a combination of all three.

The biggest problem with these kind of poor runs is that crowds are affected. Next Saturday we have Livingston who are on their own poor streak, culminating in them handing QotS their first league win of the season this weekend. It doesn't get much worse than that. Livingston dont' bring too healthy a crowd when they're down so I wouldn't go looking for a box office record breaking crowd this weekend. "Bring a friend" was the plea for a director at last midweek's meeting, but I'd think it a minor miracle if the home crowd is even equal to that of our last home game. What long lost friend would willingly come along to see a side languising where we are?

With that last paragraph in mind it is even more imperative that success on the field restored, and quickly. Sandy Stewart and his backroom team have a herculean task ahead of them this week in what surely is a do or die effort. Failure to beat Livingston will be a mini disaster for the club (if the Ross Co. result wasn't already), victory will be no more than a first foot on the ladder to recovering lost faith, and ground.

I've no doubt that we have players capable of sparking the recovery. We do have some very good quality players in our ranks, especially in midfield. Kevin MacDonald looks a very adequate player at this level, Graeme Holmes oozes quality, Stuart Taylor has a wealth of experience, etc. What surprises me more is that we often bypass this area of our side with a hopeless long ball game.

We can't pick the team or tactics but I hold out hope that Sandy sparks a revival by playing to our strengths. We have an excellent midfield and some real pace in attack, McPhee and MacDougall are flying machines compared to most. Much as I like the 442 formation, we are persevering with trying to find a combination up front that works but instead we're in square peg syndrome. Almost three years ago we were in a similar funk but we made wholesale changes and went on an unbeaten run to the title, it is possible to change for the better just by looking at things with a fresh pair of eyes. Play through the midfield, counter at pace, keep our only natural goalscorer up the park and make chances for him and keep the ball on the deck where we can actually do something with it.

I loved the way that Arsenal played in Europe last season. They had lost a lot of their side to injury and had to rewrite their script. They packed their midfield with quality and pace and look where it got them. Look at Man Utd yesterday with a display of pace, intensity and guile that shredded a very capable team apart. And not a punt in sight from either side! It can be done, I repeat again that I wanted Sandy Stewart to be our manager and I still do, and I know that if he steps back and takes a good look at things this week he'll see something, just like he did after that home defeat by Arbroath in February 2004. What would be wrong with the following side taking the pitch next Saturday and starting off a wee unbeaten run up to the Xmas window, or at least something similar?