Sons' sorrow

[Jan Vojáček]

27 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I'm not fully convinced by Seagal yet but I'd have him playing wide before Johnston who really doesn't look comfortable there.

Perhaps another indication that he's carrying a knock.

Another cause for concern is the fact that a lot of our players who aren't considered injury prone are dropping like flies. I wouldn't even consider Grant Gal injury prone, he's been unlucky with 2 different sore yins.

 

I'm not fully sold on him either, but at least he looks confident. He's willing to drive, and to take a player on. He's also rapid and appears to be pretty fit, so he'd give us a bit more defensive protection too.

24 minutes ago, roman_bairn said:

Shoulda listened....

 

Don't tell me you ignored us?

9 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

The own goal was a bit of a horror show from Dowie. I'm not sure he needs to stretch for it and theres no way he can control where any touch is going to go. Nade did well getting the equaliser and on another day could have had a couple more. Unfortunately our missed chances hurt us as Ayr scored a couple of really nicely finished goals. They were 2 chances that they should never have had and they highlight our biggest problem all night.

Midfield.

Gallacher in goals did ok. He made a couple of good saves, particularly in the first half. Our back 4 didnt have a terrible game (Dowie's OG apart) and I thought Craig Barr had a really solid game. The problem came with who was in front of them. I thought we created a few reasonable chances and I wouldn't expect our guys to be clinical in front of goal this early in the season. Losing Hill was a serious blow as it forced Barr back into defence and left us with a midfield 2 of Prior and Wilson. Prior is a young, inexperienced player who gives us effort but who needs to develop. I thought Wilson was really poor in possession. His first touch was heavy, his passing was poor and he routinely played himself into trouble. There was no fluidity in our play and our wide men didnt really do enough. In the 2nd half we completely lost the midfield battle and the 2 Ayr goals came from players allowed a criminal amount of time and space. Carswell in the middle of the park is closing them down. Without Carswell? We looked disorganised and lightweight. I know he's not a big bruiser but his positional sense is usually very good and he's generally where he needs to be to break up the opposition attack. McCrorie did it well in the latter half of last season. Sparky did it for us in the first half of the season. We've got a serious problem if Gallagher and Carswell are going to be out. Barr can obviously push forward to give our midfield a bit of dig but it's reliant on Dougie Hill not being out for too long. I think we've got the makings of a decent partnership between Nade and Stewart. Nade won a lot of headers but the understanding and anticipation just wasnt there for Stewart to really make use of the knock downs. When he was punted wide left later in the 2nd half, that effectively finished it for us.

We were ok in the first half. The game changed when Ayr took control of the midfield in the 2nd half. It highlighted just how big a problem we have in the middle of the park. We need to hope it's a problem we can solve because tonight highlighted what happens when we're not in the midfield battle.

I agree with all that. It's no surprise that our massive turnaround in form came with the arrival of Carswell. He's fantastic at keeping things organised, without ever looking to flashy. He our team's ringbinder, and without them our players are just bits of paper scattered about. Stunning imagery from me.

I think on their own Wilson and Prior would do a good job. Team one of them up with Carswell/Barr or G.Gallagher and they could start to influence things. Without a more experienced, disciplined, defensive head tonight though it was only a matter of time before we were broken down.

Stewart looked a wee bit off it tonight. You could see what he was thinking, but he moved the wrong way, didn't anticipate play correctly, and left himself with too much to do quite often.

It's going to sound like extreme straw clutching, but see for the six or so minutes that we had Hill on the pitch, and Mango in centre-mid, I actually started to feel quite confident. As soon as Hill went off though I thought it would just be a matter of time before we keeled over. Fair play to McDaid and Crawford for two really excellent goals, but the standoffish nature of us would never have happened with a natural defensive midfielder (and even leader) in there. Carswell, G.Gal and Mango are all vocal guys, Wilson and Prior (as you'd expect for younger, less experienced pros) aren't.

A lot can happen between now and Saturday. We could sign a few. We could lose another few to injuries at training. We could get good news from the scans, or bad. I saw stuff tonight I was pleased with, but until the injury situation is sorted I can't see us doing much by the way of winning unfortunately. 

[sons'r'us]

See the sons supporters fb page.... where do we find some of them??? Absolute headbangers!! 

Aye the stuff on Facebook is hilarious. I actually thought some folk were at the wind up.

[supersons]

Nearly as bad as this page big stuff, let's get beat in all the other ties before we do punt him [emoji34]

End of, we are pish in cup ties but we can turn it around.

Just hope the injuries are not serious

[Silverton End]

2 hours ago, sarti pooh said:

Look at the difference in depth

Yeah, that's a delightful sunset over Carman Hill

[pleslie99]

Anyone know why Mango's goal was chalked off? Barry F Cook seemed to point to the 'keeper, but there only looked to be two Ayr players around him.

Anyway. We didn't take some golden chances, had little luck with refereeing decisons and were overran in the middle of the park. Ayr, to their credit, scored two absolute crackers, albeit somewhat helped by the fact we looked scared to put in a challenge.

Jamie Adams smashing Nadé in the face with an elbow, the whole stadium hearing the noise, and Barry Cook awarding a free-kick to Ayr just about sums things up.

Hurrumph. Some positives. A lot of negativies injury wise, and I'm going home to throw darts at a picture of Barry Cook.

This tournament needs to change a bit for us part-timers imo. Teams are scurrying around trying to find players and, by the looks of it, we'll struggle to fill 11 shirts on Saturday. It's a lot to ask, especially when clubs aren't keen on sending players out on loan this early in the season.

Anyone know if the SeaGal is carrying an injury? He's looked decent in pre-season, and I would've had him on before Roy.

Totally agree that the tournament should be changed, we won't be the only team struggling to field a team. If these injuries are semi serious then I can see us signing a couple of guys on 1 month deals like Barclay last year just to fulfil the fixture.
If we are treating these games plus the challenge cup like pre-season friendlies then I couldn't care less if we win or lose, although I won't be paying the ridiculous entry fees for the privilege. would be nice for us to make some progress in a cup for once but as always staying up is the main objective.
I don't see all the doom and gloom about losing tonight, yeah I want to win every game but we know what the manager and club feel about these games this early. Until we get in some loans, which will be after all the big teams finalise their squads, then we can't really read much into it.

[D'Jaffo]

Jamie Adams smashing Nadé in the face with an elbow, the whole stadium hearing the noise, and Barry Cook awarding a free-kick to Ayr just about sums things up.

He's some lad

[Silverton End]

Just now, pleslie99 said:

Totally agree that the tournament should be changed, we won't be the only team struggling to field a team. If these injuries are semi serious then I can see us signing a couple of guys on 1 month deals like Barclay last year just to fulfil the fixture.
If we are treating these games plus the challenge cup like pre-season friendlies then I couldn't care less if we win or lose, although I won't be paying the ridiculous entry fees for the privilege. would be nice for us to make some progress in a cup for once but as always staying up is the main objective.
I don't see all the doom and gloom about losing tonight, yeah I want to win every game but we know what the manager and club feel about these games this early. Until we get in some loans, which will be after all the big teams finalise their squads, then we can't really read much into it.

#SeriousLackOfExclamationMarksInPost

[Silverton End]

2 minutes ago, somerset_lad00 said:

 

He's some lad

Nade? Yeah he's a top bloke

[ayrmad]

42 minutes ago, sonsism said:

Some moments of magic from Nade, Stewart and Walsh up top but apart from that there wasn't much to get excited about. Couple of good saves from Gallagher and Mango Barr won a lot in the air and scored a great header that was harshly chopped off. 

The main issue is one that will be with us all season I fear - squad numbers.  Having the youth team to fall back on - regardless of their quality - was there for us last season.  Even with the youth players involved I'm sure we weren't able to fill a bench at one point.  Yes, we'll probably get a few more bodies in on loan but it looks like Aitken's spent most of the budget and I'm deeply concerned that it's the first competitive game of the season and we're already in the midst of an injury problem.  Here's hoping for some good news on that front by the time we play Morton.

It's a running joke how shite we are in this cup but instead of just accepting it we should be addressing it.  Last year our group comprised of Dundee and 3 part-time teams in leagues below us.  We finished bottom.  This season we have a similar group, except Ayr are FT.   Second place results in an extra £25,000-£35,000 for the club and should be something we are aiming for.

Next season.

[sonsism]

5 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

Next season.

http://www.dumbartonfootballclub.com/news/?mode=view&id=3095

[itzdrk]

Nade v King Jamie Adams was a very decent battle to watch.

Thought your left back was really decent, kept McDaid quiet until we moved him up front and shifted our team to focus on attacking the other side since we were getting very little joy. 

Think you are pretty spot on about your midfield but would say they did a decent job around the half way line, it was more helping out further back they were lacking. 

[ayrmad]

7 hours ago, sonsism said:

http://www.dumbartonfootballclub.com/news/?mode=view&id=3095

The expanded version.

You'll not need to worry about it 'til next season.

[Boghead ranter]

9 hours ago, Sonoftherock86 said:

See the sons supporters fb page.... where do we find some of them??? Absolute headbangers!! 

I love the way the guy that proclaims "Nobody's more passionate than me" later says "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are Ayr not Part Time?"

Yeah, you're so passionate about your football that you missed all the talk of Ayr being FT in League1. 

[pleslie99]

I love the way the guy that proclaims "Nobody's more passionate than me" later says "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are Ayr not Part Time?"
Yeah, you're so passionate about your football that you missed all the talk of Ayr being FT in League1. 

I'm not really into Facebook so don't use it but what is the name of this page? Iv got to have a look

[Boghead ranter]

3 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

I'm not really into Facebook so don't use it but what is the name of this page? Iv got to have a look

sons of the rock

https://www.facebook.com/groups/999861413463039/

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Out of interest, what was last night's home attendance like?

 

 

[cameron2000]

Out of interest, what was last night's home attendance
About 270 in the home end.

[Jan Vojáček]

Highlights for anyone who wants to bump their gums about the disallowed goal. I forgot just how much we created early on.

 

[The Moonster]

How many times did we let Crawford run across our 18 yard line in that second half! Not sure I blame Smith too much for McDaid's goal, McDaid does well to shift it half a yard and get his shot away but the amount of times he jockeyed Crawford without actually putting a foot in was bordering on criminal. Worrying sign too that Walsh lets Andy Geggan bomb up the wing for their first goal, I think we'll see a lot of that on both wings this season. I think from Smith's reaction to Dowie putting it in his own net that he'd shouted the ball was away, you can see Smith just starting to turn as if he's going to see the ball out before Dowie throws up a leg. Standard League Cup game for us, some encouraging signs but ultimately some worrying ones and injury problems reeking havoc.

Also, how the f**k does Barry Cook think an all white kit clashes with a bright fucking yellow one? The guys an absolute trout.

[cameron2000]

I