Dumbarton V Queens

[squeezeboxson]

18 minutes ago, Silverton End said:

Fair play to Queens, got chances & took them.

Nade & Fleming, if he'd started, would perhaps have stretched QoS a bit more.

Stanton was a bit ineffective today, I'd have subbed him.

Fairly gutting that we've played decent in 3 games and lost.

Stevie, please free up another wage and get rid of big R Thomson, he can't even time a header in front of goal.

I agree Thomson seems to lack a bit of quality at this level but I wouldn't be getting rid of him. His only header in front of goal today was taken as well as anyone could reasonably expect. The ball was a little bit too high for him to get anything more on it.

[The-coo-shed]

Good win today but our inability to just stay and calm and keep the ball in last ten minutes was annoying. We had an extra man when the injured Dumbarton guy went off and proceeded just to lose the ball. It almost cost us the win again.

Mercer looks he needs more a few more game but I think he will be a good signing. So pleasing just to have a solid midfield again!

[Rjc-1988]

Thought we edged the game but not by much. We had the better chances - for a second I thought Danny must score from about 4 yards out with the far side of the goal gaping but with odds massively in his favour he hit the ball against the keeper.

Thomas was excellent for us today but despite working hard the game largely passed Thomson by.

Despite the Son's being reduced to 10 men we sat deeper and deeper in last 7/8 mins and very nearly conceded in that period from a Stirling shot cum cross.Despite the promise of learning lessons from last week we did exactly the same thing today but managed to get over the line - thankfully.

Andy Stirling was excellent for Dumbarton - he gave Mercer and to a lesser extent Higgy a pretty torrid time when he drifted to the right. If he is a player who wants to play F/T we could do a lot worse than have a good look at him. Quick feet, nice touch, tricky and clever.

Overall a decent enough performance against a good home side.

[Silverton End]

12 minutes ago, squeezeboxson said:

I agree Thomson seems to lack a bit of quality at this level but I wouldn't be getting rid of him. His only header in front of goal today was taken as well as anyone could reasonably expect. The ball was a little bit too high for him to get anything more on it.

Andy Stirling is the only player that's looked to have made the 'step up' from a lower League, and I believe he was once a St Mirren player, which would maybe explain that. Big Thomson is simply not Championship level. It's definitely a tough gap from League 1 player to Championship. I was heartened to see Stevie Aitken sign players this January window from the same League/level. Carswell, Vaughan look good, not seen enough of Calum Gallacher yet.

Big Thomson could be into double figures this season if he had any quality or a hint of composure in front of goal.

[DumbartonTheSons]

I'm not really sure how to feel about this afternoon. On one hand, Queens took their chances so deserve the win looking at it simply, but on the other hand, I think we did a lot of things well and we can feel hard done by not getting anything from the game having played decently, when our opponents weren't anything special. (Not a dig, just a decent yet unspectacular performance).

I couldn't believe how many times Nade was ridiculously manhandled by the Queens' defence yet no free-kicks awarded.

Stanton was anonymous on this occasion, but Nade, Smith and Carswell showed up very well, Smith in particular.

Too often we had a lack of a killer touch, none more so than Vaughan's at the end, but we often sent simple passes off target and Thomas (who was fantastic for Queens, as anyone could easily see) waltzed between (I think) Buchanan and Stirling for the first goal cost us dearly at a time when we were doing ok.

No need to panic yet though, improvement on pre-Bonnyrigg though and some more winnable games to come.

[DumbartonTheSons]

Stanton is the new Ryan Stevenson.

Very harsh in my opinion.

Stanton was anonymous today, but he's been great of late and he certainly puts in effort, something which to me appeared to be a completely alien concept to the now departed Stevo.

[sonsanorak]

The Stanton thing; I think he's been largely ineffectual in his time with us with one assist that I remember and one other good shot from distance. Considering that he's an attacking midfielder from a bigger team and been regarded as a good prospect for long enough, I'd expect more from him. I think today he started out on the right, balloned one miles wide on his good foot and left smith without a lot of effective cover, actually chasing the ball instead of his man repeatedly early in the second half. When moved to cm late on he again showed he can be good on the ball, if someone else can win it for him.

Stevenson seemed to be selected for his set pieces and little else. So my comparison is based on their contributions being from specific areas or parts of their games. They should offer more in an all round sense than they have done so far us / did imo.

[sonsanorak]

Perhaps the high line and pressing game that queens played had an issue in some of our performances, it wasnt just Stanton that struggled at times. I like big Nade, but he needs a partner to help take attention away from him and to stretch the opponents defence perhaps.

[Tam]

Thought we were the better side in that we created more and better chances. However, Dumbarton played some excellent stuff with midfielders making good runs 20-25 yds from goal. Thought the shot which hit the post was a stonker and would have been a terrific goal but Nade finished the rebound well. At the end, a couple  of long range efforts just needed a forward to get a touch to deflect them in.

As for us, as others have said, I think it's brilliant to see a much more effective midfield which carries a threat. Very pleasing. I was willing Danny Carmichael to score that one on one chance but I didn't think he would cos he never does. I suspect that's what he was thinking too unfortunately. Hard luck on Dumbarton at the end, having used all their subs. With Queens in these situations, you always have a chance. Some of the decision making in the last 5 mins beggared belief.

Onwards and hopefully upwards.

 

[Jan Vojáček]

By the way has anyone ever seen Steven Kirkland have a good game? He's refereed us a few times over the past couple of season, and by God he's awful. Some of his decisions today made no sense. Him and the standside linesman just seemed to guess everytime the ball went out of play.

[Sloop John B]

If we conceded late on again against 10 men I would have been at unprecedented seethe levels. I  just don't understand how a fairly experienced team is seemingly unable to grasp the concept of keeping the ball and running down time instead of giving free opportunities to concede. 

Despite our best attempts at capitulation, I thought we deserved the win. First half we were fairly calm on the ball without much end product until Dom Thomas managed to wriggle his way through a couple of Dumbarton players and unleash another shot on goal, just a joy to watch at the present. 

The Dumbarton goal was frustrating as we could have killed the game off  2 minutes beforehand if Danny scored or squared it into the middle, we then have a game of head tennis before Dumbarton are able to break before Stirling cracks off a shot. The only positive to come out of that was that it probably kept Nade on for longer and he looked absolutely scunnered from about 30 minutes onwards and his flick ons weren't being won at the second ball plus he can't close down which suited us nicely. 

The second goal was nice play on the left from Dobbie and Rankin before Thomas managed to get rebound after Thomson missed two attempts. Dan's lack of pace certainly showed against Smith who is pretty quick and he is still the most frustrating player I've ever watched. 

The referee just wasn't very good, letting Nade and the defence wrestle it out, both probably giving it as good as the other, being suddenly late on fussy about where freekicks are being taken after not giving a toss for most of the match, giving the ball the wrong way at a fair few throw ins amongst a variety of petty but fortunately not game altering decisions.

Dumbarton seem to have gone from being a stuffy side that don't have a cutting edge, to a pretty nice to watch side that don't have a cutting edge. Probably the best I've seen them play.

Just happy to get a win at a difficult place to go to tbh.

[Scottylintonstowel]

The difference between the teams was Dom Thomas. If he had been wearing a Dumbarton strip then Dumbarton would have won. His premiership class shone through as he took Harvie apart.

[Rjc-1988]

If we conceded late on again against 10 men I would have been at unprecedented seethe levels. I  just don't understand how a fairly experienced team is seemingly unable to grasp the concept of keeping the ball and running down time instead of giving free opportunities to concede. 
Despite our best attempts at capitulation, I thought we deserved the win. First half we were fairly calm on the ball without much end product until Dom Thomas managed to wriggle his way through a couple of Dumbarton players and unleash another shot on goal, just a joy to watch at the present. 
The Dumbarton goal was frustrating as we could have killed the game off  2 minutes beforehand if Danny scored or squared it into the middle, we then have a game of head tennis before Dumbarton are able to break before Stirling cracks off a shot. The only positive to come out of that was that it probably kept Nade on for longer and he looked absolutely scunnered from about 30 minutes onwards and his flick ons weren't being won at the second ball plus he can't close down which suited us nicely. 
The second goal was nice play on the left from Dobbie and Rankin before Thomas managed to get rebound after Thomson missed two attempts. Dan's lack of pace certainly showed against Smith who is pretty quick and he is still the most frustrating player I've ever watched. 
The referee just wasn't very good, letting Nade and the defence wrestle it out, both probably giving it as good as the other, being suddenly late on fussy about where freekicks are being taken after not giving a toss for most of the match, giving the ball the wrong way at a fair few throw ins amongst a variety of petty but fortunately not game altering decisions.
Dumbarton seem to have gone from being a stuffy side that don't have a cutting edge, to a pretty nice to watch side that don't have a cutting edge. Probably the best I've seen them play.
Just happy to get a win at a difficult place to go to tbh.

As you say in your first paragraph and I agree - don't think Queens fans could have taken another late concession especially against 10 men. It has all been said before but until the Manager can change this mindset it deserves to be raised as the decision making at the end of this match made no sense whatsoever.

[cameron2000]

In my opinion our performance was poor today compared to recent weeks. Barr was dragged out of position too often and Harvie was poor in possession. Stanton is awful on the wing and I would prefer to see him back through the middle where he has impressed. Carswell was solid as were Buchanan and Smith. Stirling was excellent and fully deserved motm.

I thought our quality of football was poor in terms of of team link up and too many time attacks were ended by a sloppy pass. Nade was miles off the pace but still gave queens a few issues with clever play and it was good that he was there to get a goal. Would prefer Fleming to Nade for now as he's quick, strong and I feel Nade distrupts our flow.

[cameron2000]

Queen of the South were very good going forward and could have scored more. Was particularly impressed with Dom Thomas. The fact that Dobbie is marked so tightly gives other players more time and now that they have got in some quality they are beginning to take advantage.

[Jan Vojáček]

By the way, that today means that the good Prince has scored 8 in 11 starts for us. What a man. What a club.

[Tam]

18 minutes ago, Rjc-1988 said:

 

As you say in your first paragraph and I agree - don't think Queens fans could have taken another late concession especially against 10 men. It has all been said before but until the Manager can change this mindset it deserves to be raised as the decision making at the end of this match made no sense whatsoever.

 

No, the defeat v 10 man Wee Rovers at Cliftonhill was enough for this season, thank you.

[Rjc-1988]

No, the defeat v 10 man Wee Rovers at Cliftonhill was enough for this season, thank you.

Yes that sucker punch must rank as the worst ever in a long list of gut wrenching late concessions.

[Homer Thompson]

4 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

OS updates not up to much.

Technical issues, Im afraid. Sorted now for next week though

1 hour ago, Rjc-1988 said:

Thought we edged the game but not by much. We had the better chances - for a second I thought Danny must score from about 4 yards out with the far side of the goal gaping but with odds massively in his favour he hit the ball against the keeper.

Thomas was excellent for us today but despite working hard the game largely passed Thomson by.

Despite the Son's being reduced to 10 men we sat deeper and deeper in last 7/8 mins and very nearly conceded in that period from a Stirling shot cum cross.Despite the promise of learning lessons from last week we did exactly the same thing today but managed to get over the line - thankfully.

Andy Stirling was excellent for Dumbarton - he gave Mercer and to a lesser extent Higgy a pretty torrid time when he drifted to the right. If he is a player who wants to play F/T we could do a lot worse than have a good look at him. Quick feet, nice touch, tricky and clever.

Overall a decent enough performance against a good home side.

I think thats a bit unfair on Carmichael, I thought it was a really good save by Martin. He also produced another first half to deny what looked like a certain goal for Dobbie.

As Tam said, I think we created the better chances. Martin had those saves and we had a couple of really good opportunities where a slightly better final ball would have resulted in a goal. Dumbarton had plenty of the ball but I dont remember Robinson having a save of note to make and most of their chances were long range efforts or shot/crosses fired across the box - other than Thomsons header late on which he really should have done better with.

[DumbartonTheSons]

It's interesting how people's opinions differ. I thought that, particularly in the first half, Nade was very effective.

He won a lot in the air and his hold up way was good. There was a lack of runners going beyond him, albeit Vaughan was trying a load.

He was constantly being manhandled by the Queens' defence, seemingly invisible to the referee, but made a good fist of it. He tailed off a bit after he scored, but I thought he was pretty effective today.