I think we were a bit lucky to get all three points today. Peterhead dominated the first half in terms of possession but only on a couple of occassions seriously threatened to score. Admittedly both of those occassions were really good chances, MacKay (?) and Linn through on goal. The first instance came from a Hogarth error when he should've collected the ball but dallied allowing the forward to shoot at goal while he was caught in no-man's land as Linn nipped onto a through ball but saw his lob hit the face of the bar. Had either of those chances gone in Peterhead would've won.

We were much improved in the 2nd half, or the start of it anyway. Shields scuffed a loose ball into the net after good work from Tomana and Cramb scored a well placed header from a Taggart free-kick. We had chances to extend the lead but equally Peterhead had a few good long range efforts.

Linn looked electric today and the best player on the park, however, his team mates offered little support. We simply played poorly and can't expect to be as lucky next week.

I thought we were poor in the first half and average in the second half. Peterhead could easily have been a couple of goals up in the first half but once we scored, they fell away and only threatened from long range. Not a great performance but can't complain with the outcome. Pretty much sums up our season so far.

Aye, there's no way we deserved the 3 points today. We managed to stick the ball in the back the net, but other than that Peterhead were the better team. Good to see the boys come out and raise their game from that shocking first half though.

3 points, 2nd in the league, forget the rest.

If i was a peterhead fan I'd be pretty pissed off, not only should they have been a few goals to the good come half time, but after we went ahead they just seemed content to coast to defeat and showerd no urgency at all.

Wouldn't necessarily agree with that. We were the better team in the second half and took our chances.

Well, they were more on top in the first half than we were in the second half. Obviously we took a couple of chances and they didn't which is why I'd say overall it deserved to be a draw.

Can I be the first Albion fan to say "these playoffs are a fucking joke"?

I thought our formation had a lot to do with our first half display and Peterhead dominated the play in the first half with no real end product.
Second we played a lot better and put the game to bed in the space of 10 minutes.Peterhead seemed content with this and we edged the second half.
We ground out a win today and thats a sign of a good game.Hopefully we will be more up for it next week when we take on Cowden away as our away league form has been excellent this season,.

I've noticed Nathan Taggart has been playing recently. How has he been doing? Interested as I am a friend of his brother.

Played a blinder of a game against Morton last week and didn't play too well this week-he never got the service IMO.

A definite prospect for the Binos.

Did well in the first couple of appearances including ripping the pish out of Peter Weatherson last weekend. He was too one dimensional today for my liking.

Taggs = the new Bouadji?

Aye....Taggs seems to have no plan B...he'll need to get one if he wants to have a decent chance of being a regular in the team

Interesting, I was coaching his brother today. Good player... Nathans brother, that is.

Poor game yesterday, but we got the job done. Peterhead maybe deserved more from the game and they were really unlucky in the 1st half with the lob that hit the bar, but we scored and never conceded, which was pleasing.

Winning whilst not playing well? I'll take that.

2nd in the league now eh? Fcuking stupid playoffs, what idiot designed them???

Pretty much agree with what's been said. We should have had a couple in the first half, and Linny was particularly unlucky with his lob off the bar. In saying that, I was on the brink of asking if the announcer could ask anyone who finds a final ball to return it to Peterhead FC

Stirling took their chances in the second half, though I would argue that Paul Hay stole at least 10 yards on the free kick for the second. No way would he have got such a good delivery had it been taken from the right place. It's not really his fault though, everyone does it and it's up to the officials to look out for it, especially as it was right in front of the linesman.

Still work to do defensively for us, and I really wish Bryan Gilfillan would stop pretending he's injured when we're behind

Meant to post this last night, but forgot to.

Binos, the Colin Cramb incident. Should he have been (at least) booked for deliberate handball?

We played on when Gilfillan went down, you got the ball, it was launched up towards Cramb who plucked it out the air. Only after that does the ref stop play, awarding us the free kick for the foul

Given the SFA have asked that players allow the ref to decide when play should be stopped, the "he was being sporting" argument should be negated.

I'm not saying this would have had an effect on the outcome by any means, just interested in opinions

Don't particularly remember this but I suppose in theory he should have been booked. However, maybe he had a decent view of the lad who was down and thought it sensible to stop play. Either way it's something the league need to clarify.

It would have been silly if he was booked as it looked like the boy was rolling around in some agony, even if he was faking it, so im glad sense prevailed which isnt normally the case with referee's at this level

It doesnt matter, the game wasnt stopped. Players should know to play to the whistle no matter what has happened, thats something that has been taught to you as an 8 year old, never mind a seasoned pro. If you want the game stopped kick it out, to catch the ball is asking for trouble, and should have got a yellow card.

To my mind it's up there with folk who get fouled and grab the ball to force the referee's hand. Free kick and a booking.

The SFA issued a directive to all clubs saying the referees decide when the game is stopped. The referee was happy for play to go on, we were quite happy for play to go on, why should Colin Cramb suddenly decide play needs to be stopped?

Had it been the other way around, I would have been stunned if the Peterhead player had got booked for that.

Fair enough, by the letter of the law, yes, maybe he should have been booked, but Cramb's a seasoned pro, probably thougt the injury looked serious. I'd say it was good sportsmanship, like the time Di Canio caught the ball at Goodison thon time.

About time the refs showed a bit of common sense.

But play had gone on. If he was really worried about the player injured, and wanted to be sportsmanlike, he could have kicked the ball out of play.

He could have but he didn't. End of.

I cant believe people are continuing to discuss this. It was a nothing incident that no-one complained about at the time.

Straws. Clutching at.

Incorrect on two counts there.

Why is it end of? If you get a referee that follows the rules of the game, he should have been booked. That could cost him an important appearance at the end of the season, and a stupid booking like that (that he can have no complaints over) would be a terrible way to pick up that suspension. Dont you think its a stupid booking? especially as if it was indeed because of the injury, it is just as easy to kick the ball out?

By the sounds of it the referee then went and gave us the free kick for the foul on Gilfillan, even although we had played on, and the ref had played on. This was obviously so that he didnt have to book Cramb. From what Dave said this would have no bearing on the result so we arent clutching at straws. Sounds like you just dont want to discuss it as it would mean admitting he should have been booked.

The free kick wasn't given for the foul on Gilfillan, BT, it was given for the handball by Cramb. So him grabbing the ball from the air was punished with the free kick, but not a yellow card.

That makes it even more laughable that he wasnt yellow carded then since it is 100% a deliberate hand ball.

St Cramb of Forthbank should be up for a Golden Heart if you ask me...simply thinking of his fellow pro

Is this the same Colin Cramb?

Funnily enough, I've a feeling I saw his Falkirk debut. Could be wrong though.

Try and find in the rules where that is a booking.

Incase you can't be bothered, here is the list of seven cautionable offences.



Nowhere is 'deliberate handball' a cautionable offence. It's a red card if the deliberate handball prevents a goalscoring opprtunity.

Here to help.

On reflection maybe Bryan Gilfillan should have got booked for diving as in Dave's opinion he clearly wasn't as injured as he was making out....this sort of play acting is a menace to our game and needs to be stamped out

Yes indeed, I would class that as being 'unsporting behaviour' which as you can clearly see from the above post IS a cautionable offence.

Then he should have put it out of play for a throw in.




It doesnt say a bad tackle is a cautionable offence either, yet it is

It will be listed under the "unsportsmanlike conduct". I thought everyone realised a deliberate hand ball such as catching the ball is an automatic yellow card

You could also argue that by catching the ball and stopping the game, he is committing dissent to the referee by suggesting he should have stopped the game for the injury and not played on, so should be a yellow card for that too




Neither Peterhead or the referee decided that hte injury was bad enough to stop play. He could have just been tired? or frustrated that he lost the ball or something. Was it clear that he was faking injury and trying to get the game stopped? if so then yes i agree he should be booked for the playacting

Indeed.

And the sooner Gilly gets suspended the better, given his contribution...

So if at our next game at Balmoor an Albion player stops the play by catching the ball to allow a blooded and dazed Boaby Linn to get treatment you would be screaming for a yellow card ?

I understand what you are saying but it would be truly bizarre to book a player for unsportsmanlike conduct as result of a highly sporting act. Going to the letter of the rules, I'd say a free kick should have been awarded to Peterhead against Colin Cramb, but he should not have been booked.

Maybe Cramb should have caught the ball instead of heading past Mathers. That would have been really sporting!

Seriously, I was worried when Gilfillan went down. It looked as if it was a bad injury because he hadn't moved for a few seconds. When the ball came to Cramb (who was nowhere near the touchline), the ball was at head height. He could have continued the move by flicking the ball on, caught the ball to stop play, or trapped the ball on his chest and kicked the ball out.

I would have liked to have seen the big man try the last option, cos it would have been more skillful than anything else he's come up with this season!

Personally, I was glad he did what he did, and we didn't have Freeland as ref. He'd have been sent off for sure.

That's very true. We had Freeland last week, and you saw what happened there

I have to say all the referee was guilty of on saturday was displaying common sense on a fair few ocassions, the Cramb incident being one. If im not mistaken the directive to players to allow the referee to decide when the play should be stopped was one given to Premiership players after an agreement with the managers. Mind a couple of incidents in ManU Celtic game where commentators made remakrs about it. I'll hold my hand up if the SFA have issued something, but to claim Cramb should be booked is a nonsense, what wasnt on was Peterhead keeping the ball. Its probably somewhat down to us winning, despite playing poorly, but i though the referee was excelent on Saturday, without doubt the best seen at Forthbank this season, if only for the fact he didnt deny us a STONEWALL pen.

This is quite possibly the strangest argument ever... if Cramb had been booked it would've been exceptionally harsh given that Gilfillan was audiably in distress. I thought the ref did Ok on Saturday - had the odd bizarre decision but nothing major from what I can recall.

Looks like a few folk have been bored tonight. An argument over absolutely nothing.

Another Bluetooner in talking pish about a game he wasn't at shocker!

Absolutely.

Since when did you have to be at a game to discuss something like this? maybe it would have been better to make a new topic and name them player X and player Y? and i could "talk pish" about it then?

The problem is that players had been instructed to play till the whistle even with injury because of the "deliberate play acting" to get players to put the ball out for injury in the world cup. As discussed at the time, this tactic has ruined the fair play sportsmanship in the game. If you dont think it should have been booked, then in future when a player isnt in distress (i cant say anything about how distressed Gilfillan looked obviously) and it suits a player to do this, they wont be booked yet the reason for grabbing the ball seemed to be in good faith that there was an injury. The only way to stop this tactic is to make sure the game is played on within the rules of football. If Gilfillan really was badly injured, then in my opinion the Referee should take a quick check to see what it was. If the game is played on then maybe its something for the 4th official/Assistant referee to get the game to stop. Colin Cramb may very well be acting in good faith, but as with everything like this it will be exploited by teams/players that arent as saintly.

You regualrly have bizarre opinion's and babber shite about stuff like this that you haven't even seen, you do HAVE to have seen it to have an opinion, but you do to have a properly valid one.
Especially in an odd sort of an incident like this one.

What a really pish argument!!

Id have been raging if he got booked for it

So what if Gilfillan's screaming like a girl, the Ref looks over the see if he's ok and Cramb punches the ball into the net?Would than not have a little more impact that a very petty yellow card?

I really can't see how its open to expliotation, unless a player runs and grabs the ball from another player, we had the ball, Cramb caught it, we conceded to posession via a free kick.

Had Cramb not had the ball as I stated before I could see the possible argument for a booking, but he did so I don't.