Stenhousemuir v Stranraer

[car number 7]

Not much on this one even from the Stenny diehards.The blues look as as though they will field the same team for the 5th game in a row and the manager now seems to know his best 11.Fancy us for a win here and get us back on the rails after 2 narrow defeats,don't think we will repeat last Boxing Day bashing but a win will be fine.

[Cardinal Richelieu]

Nothing to add about the match but my English mate texted me about the match and his phone autocorrected Stenhousemuir to Stenhousemanure.

Hope the name sticks!

[Stair Park Stafford]

5 for the Blues improving the goal difference [emoji38]

[Moonglum25]

Congratulations to Stranraer for winning a match where they did not have to try too hard.  A big shout to our goalkeeper for yet another outstanding display and gifting the game yet again.  I have seen leaves fall down quicker than he gets down. Surely the time has come for him to be turfed. Thought that McMennamen should have been substituted instead of the youngster and well done to Stirling for standing like a statue and failing to track back for their 4th goal. You had just came on the park and should have been fresh or can you just not be bothered.?

It was also evident with some of our players that when the ball went out of the park they were in no hurry to get it back - obviously they had accepted defeat and were just playing the rest of the game out.

Things might have been different had the shot that came off the post went in as their keeper did not look too confident.

Went to the game fairly confident that we would get a result and then remembered who we have in goal and the fact we cannot defend.

Will turn up next week but if Mccabe is still in goals may well do an about turn and go home.

[Francesc Fabregas]

Man, that was incredibly disappointing. After the draws with Peterhead and Alloa Athletic and the win over East Fife I thought Stenhousemuir had turned the corner; heck, I even went into today's match thinking we'd win it. But that was abysmal, and the second-half performance in particular was unacceptable. As soon as we started the match shooting into the Tryst Road end, I knew we'd be in bother.

The weird thing is, I thought we were actually pretty good in the first half. We pressed the ball well, hit the post inside five minutes or so and made tubby Cammy Belford look very uncomfortable at times, even when we were three goals down. We were the better side. As the half-time whistle sounded I thought that if we were able to attack the second half in the same manner we did the first and get a goal within five or 10 minutes we could go on to rescue something from the game. But we looked like a different team after the restart - everything was slow and sluggish and it was so easy for Stranraer to sit on their lead before hitting us with two goals late into the match.

That said, the goals we lost today were jaw-dropping in their simplicity. Every single one of them could have been preventable:

1. As Willie Gibson stepped over the free-kick after 11 minutes, I was a little anxious - he's a lovely striker of the ball and the distance and angle seemed ideal for a player of his capabilities. Instead of hitting a powerful effort over the wall and into the 'keeper's unguarded area (like his first goal for Dumbarton), he whacked the ball low and hard, almost forcefully passing it into the net. Yes, the shot was well struck but Colin McCabe seemed very slow to get down to it. He didn't seem to be expecting it at all. Maybe the match highlights will clear things up but, for now, McCabe should have done better.
2. Willis Alves Furtado had been pretty excellent in recent weeks but he was dire today. The low point of his performance was a dreadful piece of skill deep inside his own that failed to come off and allowed the entire Stranraer frontline in on goal. Kyle Turner couldn't miss.
3. Neither could Craig Malcolm at the end of the half. I'll need to see the highlights but from memory McCabe seemed to let a tame-looking shot squirm underneath him and give Malcolm the easiest of finishes. Real head-in-hands stuff again - McCabe kept his first clean sheet of his Stenhousemuir career against East Fife with a hugely assured performance but today's showing might have obliterated any hope of him coming good. One step forward, one giant leap back for the on-loan Celtic 'keeper.
4. Stenny had offered virtually nothing in the second half but were making sporadic raids forward as the match went on. One of these forays broke down and the ball found its way to the shaggy-haired Craig Thomson in the middle of the park. As Thomson turned and made his way forward, it is no exaggeration to say there was no opposition player was within 30 yards of him. Half the team were trudging back after their attack had broken down; the rest were defenders. Thomson's pass into Christian Nadé was nice and the the big striker's finish off the crossbar was excellent but the Stenhousemuir midfield really had gone missing.
5. Malcolm's second goal and Stranraer's fifth resembled something you might see late on in a game of five-a-sides when one team, who has been tanked, stop trying to prevent their opponents from scoring. They don't press as hard, their blocks and tackles are a little lazy and the whole reeks of "will this do?" The attacking team, meanwhile, mindful of their huge advantage, aren't trying all that hard to score. The ball clumsily made its way to Malcolm through a series of wonky passes and mediocre blocks for him to tap it home.

I don't know what to make of Stranraer. They absolutely deserved the win and ended up strolling through the second half but I can't think of anyone who stood out or any moments that quickened my pulse. Craig Thomson looked pretty good. But that's about it. I don't like to be one of those tedious people who write "they were shite and we were shiter" after their team takes a rock-solid bodying but that's all I can really write about them. They do have great options on their bench, I'll say that. Boys like Christian Nadé, Scott Agnew and Frank McKeown could walk into most teams in this league and their ability to change things midway through matches will no doubt be a huge boon against better opposition.

Stenhousemuir though, eh. I can't really think of anyone who can come out of that performance with any credit. Maybe big Fraser Kerr and Vinnie Berry, they got stuck in and put themselves about but too many players coasted through the second half. Willis Alves Furtado and Alan Cook in particular didn't do enough, Kieran Millar seemed to be chasing shadows, Oliver Shaw barely got a kick and none of the substitutes made an impact.

Brechin City next week as well, my gosh!

[Clayhole Blue]

That was a much better afternoon, and rare to enjoy a trip to Ochilview - rarely a fruitful venue for us.

Ironically, we have played better than we did in the first half - yet we still found ourselves three goals up at half-time.

Pleasing that the five goals were spread around the team and also pleasing that we rarely looked like not keeping a clean sheet - although Stenny did hit the woodwork very early on.

Morena and Turner really look the part in the middle, so I'm quite comfortable that Aggie remains on the bench for now. We looked reasonable at the back, and better up front than in some recent games.

A bit of a rammy at the end did no favours to the game after Furtado spat at Gibson - not something that we want to see at football, and not something, apparently, that referee Grant Irvine even noticed. Gibson was correctly booked for his reaction, but I'm not surprised that he reacted as he did.

Very good day at the office - can never grumble about an away win, much less a 5-0 away win.

[CEMSFC]

Don't think too much of Furtado, loses the ball too often.

We were dire today and the score line showed. Still don't know why McCabe keeps starting, worrying performances week after week and is too slow to play the ball.

Tough fixtures against Brechin, Queen's Park and Alloa coming up, bottom is ours it looks like 

[beefybake]

2 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

 

I don't know what to make of Stranraer. They absolutely deserved the win and ended up strolling through the second half but I can't think of anyone who stood out or any moments that quickened my pulse. ......

 

Does that define a Brian Reid team... ?

[beaver1]

What can you say. Nothing between the teams than three goals and one fucking shite keeper. Honestly, we have no chance with him in nets.

[Clayhole Blue]

What can you say. Nothing between the teams than three goals and one fucking shite keeper. Honestly, we have no chance with him in nets.

I know what you mean as first half was pretty level. But, to be fair to your keeper, it wasn't him who allowed several of our players to make their way into scoring positions. In fact I can think of at least a couple of good saves that he made to deny us.

[beaver1]

Sorry. To be clear our 2nd half performance was horrific and he was not to blame for that, but when you play alright but find yourself behind like we did, well it's easy to see why the team, and fans, are so deflated.

[Redstarstranraer]

1 hour ago, beaver1 said:

when you play alright but find yourself behind like we did, well it's easy to see why the team, and fans, are so deflated.

Sorry but that's just nonsense.  You didn't play alright.  In fact aside from a couple of occasions when Belford had some juggling to do in the first half, (mostly because he's not all that good), Stenhousemuir created absolutely nothing.  Stranraer weren't fantastic by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly I've seen us play much more fluently and not get a result, but Stenny were pretty awful.   

Yes you could argue that the goals were easily preventable, had Stenhousemuir been better organised or more alert, but they weren't, hence partially why I'd characterise your performance as pish.  In the second half in particular they looked to have chucked it, quite frankly.  Probably the most straightforward 5-0 I've seen in a very long time in that Stranraer got their goals without ever having to really go through the gears.  Rarely have I felt more relaxed about getting the result (and I've seen us throw away a three goal lead before so I'm by no means complacent about these things) after we went ahead, mostly because I just didn't see where Stenhousemuir were going to get a goal.

I assume we just caught you on a really bad day because on the back of that performance I'd have serious concerns were I a regular at Ochilview.  Play 'alright' like that the rest of the season and the drop beckons.

[Best Team in Angus]

13 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Man, that was incredibly disappointing. After the draws with Peterhead and Alloa Athletic and the win over East Fife I thought Stenhousemuir had turned the corner; heck, I even went into today's match thinking we'd win it. But that was abysmal, and the second-half performance in particular was unacceptable. As soon as we started the match shooting into the Tryst Road end, I knew we'd be in bother.

The weird thing is, I thought we were actually pretty good in the first half. We pressed the ball well, hit the post inside five minutes or so and made tubby Cammy Belford look very uncomfortable at times, even when we were three goals down. We were the better side. As the half-time whistle sounded I thought that if we were able to attack the second half in the same manner we did the first and get a goal within five or 10 minutes we could go on to rescue something from the game. But we looked like a different team after the restart - everything was slow and sluggish and it was so easy for Stranraer to sit on their lead before hitting us with two goals late into the match.

That said, the goals we lost today were jaw-dropping in their simplicity. Every single one of them could have been preventable:

1. As Willie Gibson stepped over the free-kick after 11 minutes, I was a little anxious - he's a lovely striker of the ball and the distance and angle seemed ideal for a player of his capabilities. Instead of hitting a powerful effort over the wall and into the 'keeper's unguarded area (like his first goal for Dumbarton), he whacked the ball low and hard, almost forcefully passing it into the net. Yes, the shot was well struck but Colin McCabe seemed very slow to get down to it. He didn't seem to be expecting it at all. Maybe the match highlights will clear things up but, for now, McCabe should have done better.
2. Willis Alves Furtado had been pretty excellent in recent weeks but he was dire today. The low point of his performance was a dreadful piece of skill deep inside his own that failed to come off and allowed the entire Stranraer frontline in on goal. Kyle Turner couldn't miss.
3. Neither could Craig Malcolm at the end of the half. I'll need to see the highlights but from memory McCabe seemed to let a tame-looking shot squirm underneath him and give Malcolm the easiest of finishes. Real head-in-hands stuff again - McCabe kept his first clean sheet of his Stenhousemuir career against East Fife with a hugely assured performance but today's showing might have obliterated any hope of him coming good. One step forward, one giant leap back for the on-loan Celtic 'keeper.
4. Stenny had offered virtually nothing in the second half but were making sporadic raids forward as the match went on. One of these forays broke down and the ball found its way to the shaggy-haired Craig Thomson in the middle of the park. As Thomson turned and made his way forward, it is no exaggeration to say there was no opposition player was within 30 yards of him. Half the team were trudging back after their attack had broken down; the rest were defenders. Thomson's pass into Christian Nadé was nice and the the big striker's finish off the crossbar was excellent but the Stenhousemuir midfield really had gone missing.
5. Malcolm's second goal and Stranraer's fifth resembled something you might see late on in a game of five-a-sides when one team, who has been tanked, stop trying to prevent their opponents from scoring. They don't press as hard, their blocks and tackles are a little lazy and the whole reeks of "will this do?" The attacking team, meanwhile, mindful of their huge advantage, aren't trying all that hard to score. The ball clumsily made its way to Malcolm through a series of wonky passes and mediocre blocks for him to tap it home.

I don't know what to make of Stranraer. They absolutely deserved the win and ended up strolling through the second half but I can't think of anyone who stood out or any moments that quickened my pulse. Craig Thomson looked pretty good. But that's about it. I don't like to be one of those tedious people who write "they were shite and we were shiter" after their team takes a rock-solid bodying but that's all I can really write about them. They do have great options on their bench, I'll say that. Boys like Christian Nadé, Scott Agnew and Frank McKeown could walk into most teams in this league and their ability to change things midway through matches will no doubt be a huge boon against better opposition.

Stenhousemuir though, eh. I can't really think of anyone who can come out of that performance with any credit. Maybe big Fraser Kerr and Vinnie Berry, they got stuck in and put themselves about but too many players coasted through the second half. Willis Alves Furtado and Alan Cook in particular didn't do enough, Kieran Millar seemed to be chasing shadows, Oliver Shaw barely got a kick and none of the substitutes made an impact.

Brechin City next week as well, my gosh!

Jesus most folk just write we were shite

[car number 7]

13 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Man, that was incredibly disappointing. After the draws with Peterhead and Alloa Athletic and the win over East Fife I thought Stenhousemuir had turned the corner; heck, I even went into today's match thinking we'd win it. But that was abysmal, and the second-half performance in particular was unacceptable. As soon as we started the match shooting into the Tryst Road end, I knew we'd be in bother.

The weird thing is, I thought we were actually pretty good in the first half. We pressed the ball well, hit the post inside five minutes or so and made tubby Cammy Belford look very uncomfortable at times, even when we were three goals down. We were the better side. As the half-time whistle sounded I thought that if we were able to attack the second half in the same manner we did the first and get a goal within five or 10 minutes we could go on to rescue something from the game. But we looked like a different team after the restart - everything was slow and sluggish and it was so easy for Stranraer to sit on their lead before hitting us with two goals late into the match.

That said, the goals we lost today were jaw-dropping in their simplicity. Every single one of them could have been preventable:

1. As Willie Gibson stepped over the free-kick after 11 minutes, I was a little anxious - he's a lovely striker of the ball and the distance and angle seemed ideal for a player of his capabilities. Instead of hitting a powerful effort over the wall and into the 'keeper's unguarded area (like his first goal for Dumbarton), he whacked the ball low and hard, almost forcefully passing it into the net. Yes, the shot was well struck but Colin McCabe seemed very slow to get down to it. He didn't seem to be expecting it at all. Maybe the match highlights will clear things up but, for now, McCabe should have done better.
2. Willis Alves Furtado had been pretty excellent in recent weeks but he was dire today. The low point of his performance was a dreadful piece of skill deep inside his own that failed to come off and allowed the entire Stranraer frontline in on goal. Kyle Turner couldn't miss.
3. Neither could Craig Malcolm at the end of the half. I'll need to see the highlights but from memory McCabe seemed to let a tame-looking shot squirm underneath him and give Malcolm the easiest of finishes. Real head-in-hands stuff again - McCabe kept his first clean sheet of his Stenhousemuir career against East Fife with a hugely assured performance but today's showing might have obliterated any hope of him coming good. One step forward, one giant leap back for the on-loan Celtic 'keeper.
4. Stenny had offered virtually nothing in the second half but were making sporadic raids forward as the match went on. One of these forays broke down and the ball found its way to the shaggy-haired Craig Thomson in the middle of the park. As Thomson turned and made his way forward, it is no exaggeration to say there was no opposition player was within 30 yards of him. Half the team were trudging back after their attack had broken down; the rest were defenders. Thomson's pass into Christian Nadé was nice and the the big striker's finish off the crossbar was excellent but the Stenhousemuir midfield really had gone missing.
5. Malcolm's second goal and Stranraer's fifth resembled something you might see late on in a game of five-a-sides when one team, who has been tanked, stop trying to prevent their opponents from scoring. They don't press as hard, their blocks and tackles are a little lazy and the whole reeks of "will this do?" The attacking team, meanwhile, mindful of their huge advantage, aren't trying all that hard to score. The ball clumsily made its way to Malcolm through a series of wonky passes and mediocre blocks for him to tap it home.

I don't know what to make of Stranraer. They absolutely deserved the win and ended up strolling through the second half but I can't think of anyone who stood out or any moments that quickened my pulse. Craig Thomson looked pretty good. But that's about it. I don't like to be one of those tedious people who write "they were shite and we were shiter" after their team takes a rock-solid bodying but that's all I can really write about them. They do have great options on their bench, I'll say that. Boys like Christian Nadé, Scott Agnew and Frank McKeown could walk into most teams in this league and their ability to change things midway through matches will no doubt be a huge boon against better opposition.

Stenhousemuir though, eh. I can't really think of anyone who can come out of that performance with any credit. Maybe big Fraser Kerr and Vinnie Berry, they got stuck in and put themselves about but too many players coasted through the second half. Willis Alves Furtado and Alan Cook in particular didn't do enough, Kieran Millar seemed to be chasing shadows, Oliver Shaw barely got a kick and none of the substitutes made an impact.

Brechin City next week as well, my gosh!

FF you have put some spin on that after getting beat 5.The bottom line is that Stenny are a poor poor team and unless they do something drastic shortly ie sign a couple of decent players League 2 awaits.I don't understand how a team who score 5 are shite,it's sour grapes at its finest.You said nobody in the Stranraer ranks gets the pulse racing,what about 18 year old Kyle Turner who ran the show in midfield,a star in the making.One of the problems with Stenny is the old boy up front,you don't like to critisise him but I said he was finished last season and nothing has changed my mind.The last thing is Cammy Belford,you could do with a goalkeeper with his ability,if you think he is Tubby that's up to you.

 

[Blue1870]

Not a bad tubby belford. Saved us in numerous matches. Likes to play a bit at the back which can get us nervous at times. However great shot stopper.

[Francesc Fabregas]

25 minutes ago, car number 7 said:

FF you have put some spin on that after getting beat 5.The bottom line is that Stenny are a poor poor team and unless they do something drastic shortly ie sign a couple of decent players League 2 awaits.I don't understand how a team who score 5 are shite,it's sour grapes at its finest.You said nobody in the Stranraer ranks gets the pulse racing,what about 18 year old Kyle Turner who ran the show in midfield,a star in the making.One of the problems with Stenny is the old boy up front,you don't like to critisise him but I said he was finished last season and nothing has changed my mind.The last thing is Cammy Belford,you could do with a goalkeeper with his ability,if you think he is Tubby that's up to you.

 

Ah now, come on, I didn't say Stranraer were shite, that's not on. You don't score five goals away from home unless there's something about you but I would argue that everything was laid out on a giant plate for them. All I said was there was nothing there to get my heart racing. I thought the first half was even enough (despite us losing three goals) but there was only ever one team in it after the restart. There's nothing sour about that!

I see what you're saying about Colin McMenamin and I guess why you'd come to that conclusion - he hasn't been very good against Stranraer the last couple of times. He's fading, there's no doubt about it (and he'll be 36 in February) but he definitely brings something to the frontline that the other players don't. As for Cammy Belford, if you said to me, "We'll swap you him for Colin McCabe" I wouldn't take it. He wasn't good at all yesterday but he got away with it.

A terrible day all round yesterday - with Peterhead winning we're back to the bottom of the table and with Queen's Park and Albion Rovers both picking up three points we're looking even more desolate. It's safe to say the good vibes I woke up with this time yesterday have gone.

[Jimbo21]

Was at the game yesterday. Wasn't the best performance in the world after the effort the lads put in before the international break. 

Thought the first goal was just a well taken free kick although I'd have to see it again as the goalie is more often than not at fault he certainly should have done better with the third unless he was unsighted when the shot came in it was really poor goal keeping as the shot wasn't particularly fierce and his handling was poor to say the least. 

Mcmenamin was poor yet again. A target man that never wins a header and spends more time rolling around the ground and arguing with the ref. I hope our no 9 watched Nade when he came on as an example of how to make the ball stick when it comes up to him. I feel sorry for shaw as he worked hard yesterday and has pace to burn but had nothing to work with. 

I would have had cook off at half time as he just didn't look interested. Lost count of the amount times he gave the ball away. Would have put summers in front of meechan to tighten it up a little bit. 

Goals 2 & 3 so avoidable from our point of view and the fourth and fifth we're from us trying to get back into the game and being all over the place at the back. 

However credit where it's due and Stranraer took their chances really well. I think they might have only had 3 or 4 shots in the first half. The young lad (no 16 I think) in the middle of the park looked a quality player, why don't we have anyone like this coming through? Thought he linked the play well all over the park yesterday and kept them ticking over nicely. 

Onto next week now and if we don't get a response from the players then we might as well accept it that we're fooked. 

[beaver1]

Pretty fair summation.

[Sarge Bullman]

That was the 1st game i've attended this season and its fair to say that it was a brutal showing. We've deffo a squad of very limited ability but, and maybe i'm being a bit harsh, for me the management deserve as much critisism as the individual players. It was obvious to me early doors that Furtado wasn't going to have any impact out wide - he was continually 'double-teamed' by 2 Stranraer defenders and had no space in which to run into. Why not move him into a more central position and try bring him into the game more? The long ball into McMenamin was a repeated waste of time because, not only was the delivery often poor, he wasn't physical enough against the centre half. The few times he did win the ball there was never an option open to him for a positive pass. The lack of tactical awareness from the management team is a worry, big-style.

The less said about the 2nd half the better as it was quite frankly embarrassing. We looked amateurish with the 4th and 5th goals being given away as easily as i've ever seen in league football. FF sums it up neatly with the 5 a side comparison. 

Relegation most definitely looms.

[Blue1870]

Kyle turner came from our under 20s. Getting better every game. Son of st mirren legend tommy turner. Real prospect.