El Buckfastico

[shugd73]

Think I'll be a wee bit hoarse tomorrow. A few individual mistakes to cost us the goals but either way it's a win. A good atmosphere today behind the goal. Now back to Broomfield next week where who knows what's going to happen.

[Cooper81]

1 minute ago, waysider said:

In the old days keepers didn't need a coach. Catching the ball should come naturally regardless of your age. I can't understand the excuses made for this guy. Players like Brown and Russell get constant abuse yet Ferguson seems untouchable.

Its not excuses Ronan is 19 and is playing every week. The club should have experienced back up so that when he losses form he can take a break out of the firing line.

 

[carlukediamond]

How many goalkeepers at Rohans age are as potentially as good as him. Not many The problem is he should have more support example experienced back up keeper who can coach him would be ideal. Similar to when we had Kenny Arthur. 

The problem was the recruitment in the summer, we should have had Ferguson and an experienced keeper fighting it out for number 1. Ferguson should have never had the pressure of being number 1 from the outset.

[Kennboy1978]

Aye I went prepared to moan and vent. Don't think I celebrated till the 2nd. Great getting it right up that clown of a keeper at the end.

Ha ha, he didn't come back for his towel either.

[A186]

Great win today, what a screamer from Russell. Rohan right now is liability, don't know the answer but something has to happen as he's costing us goals week in week out. Wilson has to play Russell through the middle with Ryan and play Brown out wide where Russell has been playing. Russell is totally ineffective playing wide as its not his game.

Thought Mensing today was immense, everything in his performance is what you want in a derby, hardly lost a tackle or a header all game.

 

Finaly a massive GET IT RIGHT FUKIN UP YOU to the Rovers keeper who was giving it billy big baws to us when they equalised, arsehole didn't even have the balls to come back to his goals to collect his towel at the end for fear of a roasting 

[DestroyedByMadness]

29 minutes ago, Cooper81 said:

Similar to when we had Kenny Arthur. 

What are you talking about?

[AFC1878]

Strange one with Hutton, saw a Rovers coach in the middle of it, why was he there?

Ferguson rightly should take a lot of blame for the 1st 2 but he's been on a downward spiral since Goram left, I've heard since then he hasn't had a dedicated goalkeeping coach, if that's true, for a boy his age that's shocking.

Get rid of the waste of space Director of football and get him a coach.

I believe Chris Hillcoat has been helping out

[waysider]

33 minutes ago, A186 said:

Great win today, what a screamer from Russell. Rohan right now is liability, don't know the answer but something has to happen as he's costing us goals week in week out. Wilson has to play Russell through the middle with Ryan and play Brown out wide where Russell has been playing. Russell is totally ineffective playing wide as its not his game.

Thought Mensing today was immense, everything in his performance is what you want in a derby, hardly lost a tackle or a header all game.

 

Finaly a massive GET IT RIGHT FUKIN UP YOU to the Rovers keeper who was giving it billy big baws to us when they equalised, arsehole didn't even have the balls to come back to his goals to collect his towel at the end for fear of a roasting 

Agree with you about Russell and Brown. I've now seen Mackay enough to know that he adds nothing. He might in a few years time but shouldn't be learning the hard way to our detriment.

[Kennboy1978]

Apparently Hutton was sent off for receiving a second booking - celebrating excessively in the face of a Rovers player.

I'm quite chuffed that a loan player has been booked for over celebrating. Seems a bit OTT though, last minute, local rivals.

[waysider]

Was Ryan not booked for the same thing?

[Sydney Carton]

Hutton's first booking is one of the poorest bits of officiating I've seen in a long time. He conceded a free kick for high feet then a Rovers player kicked the ball off him about 10 yards away from where the foul was committed, and the ref gives him a yellow card! I thought the ref had a good game otherwise, a few handball shouts that could have gone either way but nothing major. We see enough clowns at this level, he wasn't one of them.

To the game, and that was a terrific second half. All credit to the Rovers for coming back again and again, if they show that level of spirit for the rest of the season they should be OK.

[Airdrie♢Diamond]

Jesus, a reason to smile. Cannae remember the last time. Think I just cracked ma face! 

Deep despair when they scored the penalty, but whit a joy 2 minutes later!!!  

♢♢♢

[Tulloch Gorum]

Well, that was certainly an exciting finish to the game.  With two teams in stinking form, it wasn't a classic by any means (lots of bad passes, from both teams), but it was hard-fought and had plenty of goals, which is what you want from a derby.  That Airdrie won obviously makes it all the better.  We really needed the win today, and hopefully it gives the players some confidence for what is shaping up to be a big game against Brechin midweek.  

If I start with the negatives, well - there's enough of those to be found.  Shipping three goals is bad enough, but it's just not acceptable against a honking Rovers team who had scored four goals in their last seven games going into this one.  In fact, the last time they got more than one goal in a game was when they beat us at home at the start of the year.  Meanwhile, we've kept three clean sheets this season, and none since beating Brechin 1-0 at home in November.  We've kept the fewest clean sheets in the division.  By my count (which may be wrong, and I'm happy to correct), the clean sheets ranking is:

East Fife - 11
Livingston, Queen's Park and Stranraer- 9,
Alloa and Peterhead - 7, 
Stenhousemuir - 6
Brechin and Albion Rovers - 5
Airdrieonians - 3.

I'd need to see the highlights to say much more about it, as from where we were it's quite hard to judge distances, but Ferguson left himself completely stranded for their first goal, and then looked a bit suspect when they hit the post shortly after that.  He was also caught out badly in the first half, though luckily Mensing was well placed to deal with the resulting shot on the goal-line.  His kicking remains poor, and his confidence is obviously shot.  I don't think he's nearly as bad as some of our fans do, but he's clearly struggling badly and if he played in any other position or if we had any viable replacements available, he'd have been dropped by now.  But, since neither of those things apply, he'll almost certainly play the rest of the season, and our defenders will have to really step up to stop crosses and shots, and stick to their man much better.  Unfortunately, at this stage, that's all we can really do.
Playing Russell on the wing continues to be a waste of time.  We've all been disappointed with him this season, and while he's brought a lot of that himself with his lack of discipline, there's only so much he can do out on the wing.  Today showed where he's best, both with his goal and his lovely, excellently-timed pass to Ryan for the second.  We need our best strikers in positions where they can score.  There was a point today, I think at 3-3, when Russell and Ryan were both out on the flank, with Ryan passing to Russell to cross to nobody.  Get Brown, Conroy and Stewart playing those balls in, not the strikers themselves!
McKay... honestly not impressed.  Drop him, and play Russell up front.  He's a better option from the bench than Schmidt was, but that's a low bar to clear.
MacDonald - well, what's there to say that hasn't been said a hundred times?  Decent, though not great, going forward, a liability at the back.  In the first half today we were badly exposed on the left flank.
Hutton, who had a pretty good game today, was daft to get himself sent off. The first booking was a baffling one, but he knew he'd been booked, and there's nothing to be gained from carrying on at the end.  We've had so many players suspended this season for stupid things, and we need to cut that out.  We've an important game on Tuesday, and could have used Hutton being available for it.

For the positives, well again there's plenty to say.  Sydney Carton has rightly pointed out the spirit shown by the Rovers players, but I think we can apply that to Airdrie as well.  Having lost our lead and then survived a close shot (off the post), Ryan put us back ahead within two minutes.  And it was excellent goal, too, with an excellent turn to lose his man, a good pass to Russell, Russell very unselfishly returning it to him, and a perfect touch to score.  Equally, having lost a late equaliser, that we pressed on and found a winner in stoppage time was a good sign.  Some people have accused our players of not caring enough, but whether or not that's been true at other times, it certainly wasn't today.  
Russell's goal, of course, was a cracker, and I can't wait to see it again on the highlights.

But, if course, it was a derby game, so the best part has to be seeing the scunnert faces of the Rovers fans as we went back to the car. 

Oh, and a word to the Rovers keeper: fair enough getting it up the opposition fans at the late equaliser.  Fans dish it out, they should expect to get some back.  But maybe next time wait until the final whistle, or you might just look a wee bit glaikit. 

[diamondman]

Believe in the Diamonds.

[Redandwhitearmy78]

Loved the tramp at half time just above the tunnel going nuts made a fool of himself [emoji23][emoji122]

[Tulloch Gorum]

2 minutes ago, Redandwhitearmy78 said:

Loved the tramp at half time just above the tunnel going nuts made a fool of himself

Aye, what was that all about? Was too far away to make out who he was having a go at. 

[Redandwhitearmy78]

Aye, what was that all about? Was too far away to make out who he was having a go at. 

Heard a dunno if it was him "Wilson your still a fanny"[emoji23][emoji23]

[Bold Rover]

8 hours ago, Vodka Vic said:

Rovers form has been poor of late , haven't recovered from 3-0 defeat by Stranraer where there was allegedly a huge dressing room bust up.

Interesting insight, Vic. During the game there were serious verbals from Mick Dunlop towards Gary Fisher. To the effect that he wasn't doing a job on Scott Agnew. Fisher was withdrawn early in the second half.

[airdrieman]

Well that was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. First half was flat and no atmosphere at all but I guess that had something to do with the form of both sides. 

Second half was cracking though. 

Ferguson was caught out dreadfully for the first two goals. As others have said he could do with dropping out for a spell. However, that is unfortunately not an option and once again is down to our dreadful recruitment at the start of the season. 

Russell's goal was a peach. Looking forward to seeing it again in the highlights package. Would like another look at Leitch and Ryan's goals too. 

Brilliant celebrations at the end. Hutton getting himself sent off is stupid but great to see some passion from the players. Up ye Ross Stewart.

[Nipper]

4 hours ago, Cooper81 said:

How many goalkeepers at Rohans age are as potentially as good as him. Not many The problem is he should have more support example experienced back up keeper who can coach him would be ideal. Similar to when we had Kenny Arthur. 

The reality is that Ferguson at the moment is a liability, he clearly needs a rest from the big team. I'm all in favour of playing young guys if they're good enough and can perform at the level we're at but if we're just going to keep playing out of form players who may or may not have potential then we'll be in this division for years to come.