east fife 1 nil so far 3 mins

2 nil the fifers fuc k this piss

Who needs Jonny Smart?

Dumbarton set up their formation to stop any play coming from our midfield and created 1 good chance all game.

We started well and took the lead through a Greig McDonald header but after that we took the foot off the gas a bit and let Dumbarton back into it but they were really poor and apart from 1 good chance Scott Fox was rarely threatned as shots were coming from outside the box.

Crawford made a few good saves for Dumbarton but other than that 1-0 was probably about right at half time. 2nd half wasn't the best of games and again Crawford denied Linn with a good few saves and the game was killed off at the end with McGowne scored with a free header.

Both of our centre halfs scored and gives Baikie a bit of thinking to do for next week with Tweed and Smart both available.

Thanks to Forfar and Stenny. 12 points clear

Well done lads, I was a bit nervy about this but they've done the job again (although I see some loon is attacking Baikie on AFTN!!!!), thanks to Stenny, Albion and Forfar too for helping us to gain another 500 miles on the rest.

Another game another professional performance, and most importantly another three points.
Okay, there were spells today that we weren't stringing the passes together but the boys worked their socks off and fully merited the victory.
Dumbarton are certainly not the worst team to visit New Bayview this season and gave us more of a game than Montrose two weeks ago.
I'd also like to thank Stenhousemuir for their generous contribution towards the EFFC championship campaign this season. Can you keep this going for another week at least please?

East Fife didn't have to do much to win today and the fact that the goals came from second string players sums Dumbarton's performance up for me.

Playing 4-5-1 is never an option for me and that decision by Clark - who surely has his job application binned - was compounded by using a player who until last week hadn't kicked a ball for months.

And why no Andy Geggan? Why was McPhee left cooling his heels on the bench? And the body language from the Bee said a lot.

To the game, I thought Linn and McManus were a real handful all day and whilst the tactic was get the ball to them any which way bit loose, it's certainly effective. David Crawford's excellent positioning saved Sons from a hiding as did Bobby Linn's poor finishing.

Great hospitality shown to Sons fans from the East Fife officials (and supporters) before and after the game where officials mixed freely with the hoi polloi in the two bars creating a good atmosphere.

the sons have been poor all season this is the least talented team i've seen in dumbarton colours and i don't see how it's going to improve. any decent side would thrash us by at least 4 goals... the third division is not as good as it used to be i've not been impresed by anyone this season

Definitely not our best performance of the season but it's good to keep the juggernaut going. Dumbarton set up very defensively and the early goal was a bit of a kick in the balls but they certainly didn't look as bad as I thought they would be. A few horrendous defensive mistakes leading to the first goal and a total lack of cutting edge up front let them down.

I thought Fotheringham was immense today, he won so many tackles in the middle of the park. What a shitty wee scumbag Nial Henderson is too, Paul Stewart did very well not to react to that.

i've noticed east fife fans have a strange idea they played well today... dont think so we we're just worse than they were

Who said we played well? I would describe our performance as competent...

Eh?? Tell me where I can find the post that said that? As Angus said,we put in a competent performance which was enough to give as 3 points and a our 8th league game in a row without conceding a goal (pretty good eh?)
If our strikers had converted some of the numerous chance they had,we would have won by 4 or 5, but I suppose they are saving themselves for when we play agaisnt a better side than Dumbarton, which shouldn`t be difficult IMO.

Winning 2-0 is only a mediocre result for us these days, four 2-0s in a row is quite dissapointing.

Having read this comment by Clark after last week's game, I'd seriously hope his application was shredded.

"I shouldn't have to try and lift the players ahead of the East Fife game next week - they should be able to do that themselves. If you have any ambitions in football you should be able to do that. I think that's been part of the trouble - players looking for other people to motivate them.

Dumbarton weren't the worse team i've seen us play against this season. Far from it. In spells they looked ok but lacked any conviction in the final 3rd and never looked like scoring.
We never really got out of 3rd gear today but done just enough.
Good to see a decent support from Dumbarton and quite vocal too, although they were outsung by the Methil Schoolkids at times .
Damn sight better than the pathetic Montrose support a couple of weeks back consisting of 12 + sheepdog

ps

for all Montrose fans talk the talk on here the away support against the league leaders was fackin embarrassing.

HAHAH!!! We knew we were going to get beaten so to ease the pain we sang! Well done to the East Fife fans for the hospitality before and after the game....ye's are good sports! Didnt rub it in too much!

Re someone who hasn't played for months - maybe trying different options, seeing as previous teams/formations put out haven't worked? At least he tried something, albeit results were no better! "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you're always got".

On the other hand, leaving one of the few players who has been getting pass marks on anything like a regular basis out, doesn't make any sense, you're right there.

Fair point, but you won't get the desired effect with a players obviously not match fit.

And playing 4-5-1? C'mon. That was a tactic that got McCabe his jotters.

yup, true. Wasn't trying to disagree with you, just trying to think of a reason for shuffling the pack is all.

4-5-1 is working for us one way, despite being 2nd bottom (and sinking) we've got something like the 3rd lowest amount of goals conceded in the league. Unfortunately we have the lowest goals for, and 4-5-1 is unlikely to change that.

Maybe we should go out prepared to lose 1 or 2, in the hope of scoring 2 or 3? At least the games might be more entertaining. And even if we don't get much better, it would look like we're trying.

To score 2 or 3 we need quality strikers and we don't have any

yeah, but if you put more bodies in the box, you might get some lucky breaks? Even if a clearance cannons off someone's arse and into the goal . 1 person in the box isn't going to get much change out of 2, 3 or 4 defenders.

to score two or three we need a decent squad.

i have seen man a person on here claim that they have the abillity and just need a manager to get them playing. i strongly disagree.

i believe a new manager may get the best from them but i think the best would still be dreadful. our midfield in non-existant at times and our strikers just aren't good enough. there is no end product from david mcfarlane and brian mcphee is nearing pensioner status. we don't have a half decent right winger in the squad and campbell is perhaps one of the only players in the whole team i'd like to keep. niall henderson is a dirty we b*****d and we could do without the likes of him getting sent off and i do believe we could find a far better central midfielder. fergus tiernan started off well and i'd perhaps keep him due to the fact we have seen what he is capable of. andy geggan has been rotten this season, mick o'byrne is just straight up jobby, chris potter only started playing when i lost interest in concentrating on who was playing well, mark canning has been decent, david crawford has been decent aswell although i do feel he is slightly overated. his kick outs are atrocious and he is prone to daft mistakes, saying that id still say he's the best keeper were going to get.

we really are in a right old state.

i also expect to see a nobody appointed as manager later this week.

from todays sunday mail;

Dumbarton's stand-in boss Jim Clark was fuming at his side's defending, specially youngster Michael O'Byrne.

Clark said: "The first goal came from a straight ball down the park.

"We let two crosses into the box and gave away free headers which have cost us both goals.

"Some of the players at the back are young and are making mistakes. O'Byrne is one of them.

"He's got to learn but at the moment he's not doing that."

Aye, well drop him and play John Yule, dont come out in the press and slate him!

First time i deliberatly missed a sons game in a long time, very glad i did though!

We are pathetic can you imagine us when Nial Henderson and Robert Campbell leave ?!

The sons are in a right mess

Clark is an arsehole fare point about bringing in Yule but see if the forwards would score some goals there would be less pressure at the back! Surely anyone with half a brain can see this !!!

Agree. That said, young Michael has been abysmal of late and yesterday he was way out of his comfort zone. At fault for both goals imo. Can't jump, mis-times tackles and has no positioning. Time for a rest.

Slating players in the Press is not the best way to enhance your job application or prospects. That'll be us down to a shortlist of 20, then. Hopefully Clark's application was sifted out first anyway, but this comment should nail it.

O'byrne is too prone to making unforgiveable mistakes, we can't keep playing him. We should certainly be giving Yule a shot as he can't be any worse. As for the game i thought we wern't too bad apart from some criminal defending from O'byrne and our obvious problems upfront. Campbell had a good game and was certainly one of the positives in a few nice passing moves that just had no end product. East Fife didn't need to get out of first or second gear for most of the game.

They had a couple of nice moves but usually resorted to playing the long ball. We probabaly had most of the ball but just didn't do enough with it. I still think the team isn't that bad and with a decent manager and one or two signings i.e a centre half and centre forward we could at least challenge for play-offs. However as it looks just now we will be bottom of the league after we play Forfar.


edited to add: From what i have heard all 20 applicants the club has recieved are useless in terms of any experience in management. Mostly made up of ex-sons players, junior managers and a former Irish international.

Whos the former Irish international?? Please do not let it be tony cascarino

Tommy Coyne senior?

Correct.

Oh shit. Does that mean jnr will start every week???

Remember he had a talking knee?

I doubt TC Senior will get the job but he might be better than some of the other applicants.

Nice sig Russian

Slagging O'Byrne in public is a cheap shot by Clark. He's a young lad who is toiling and yet both Clark and McCabe before him, keep picking him week in week out. What does that say about their judgement? As Ben says, he needs to be rested.

The midfield yesterday had plenty of possession, but apart from Campbell's miss in the first half, rarely threatened to do anything incisive with it. Mind you, playing one up front has got to limit their options. East Fife I think were quite content to let us have the ball for lengthy spells, after their quick start to the game, as they could see that we were not going to cause too many problems for them in the final third of the pitch. They really didn't have to exert themselves too hard and won with plenty left in the tank.

East Fife were without their normal central defensive pairing and surely we could have at least been a bit more positive with our own team selection? After all, there's not much further us to fall before we hit the basement spot in senior football.

Just read Clark's post match comments on the website. The man is clearly several sandwiches short of a picnic.

We're shite at being shite...id rather be bottom

I've got to say Jim Clark has hit rock bottom (no pun intended) if he is going to slag off a youngster in the National press. Have a go at him in the dressing room by all means. If it had been a senior player he might have had a case but then he would have had to face him afterwards.
Smacks of a caretaker boss who hasn't a hope in hell's chance of getting the vacancy, turning on a laddie who is a convenient scapegoat...

Not long to wait now.

Clark is a tosser and should be booted out of dumbarton now. I heard him on the radio before the game on saturday and he came across as a right wee hitler. He had a go at those who thought the shire game should not have been moved contrary to what his employers were trying to do. Sorry Ben, but it certainly sounded like the switch was orchestrated by dfc via Jim Clark.

In order to bring some relief to Dumbarton fans and for the fans of other teams on this forum who have to listen to their moaning day-in, day-out, I think Montrose should let the Sons win this Saturday, although tbh I am not sure how much letting we will need to do cos we are mince at the moment. Would anyone else be grateful for the respite?

Nah we'll find sumthing else to moan about. Dont stick yer beak into a Dumbarton topic if u know we're only going to be bitterly complaining!!

Nah, the Dumbarton fans are sound. They might be going through a shitty spell but at least they have a travelling support, unlike some teams i could mention.. but i wont .
Bloody freezing at Bayview on Saturday and even though they were 1 down and looking pants they were still vocal. At times the gave the EF munchkins (kids) a run for their money

I must admit when we visited Bayview a couple of weeks back it was good to see so many youngsters at a 3rd division match (despite the annoyingly squeeky nature of their chants-their rendition of 'top of the league and you're no' was superb!!!!). The Dumbarton fans are indeed top notch, I have always had a lot of time for them, had a lot of banter in that pub next to Dumbarton East station (can't remember the name) with them.

We went through with that attitude that we were gona be up against it so we might as well have made a day of it!

We really were very poor on Saturday, and deserved, (again), nothing from the game.

East Fife were decent. Nothing better, but they didn't need to be. They did their job extremely competently without so much as a fluster.

We really aren't good enough, in all areas of the team, and for that, many people are answerable.

After decisions and comments made, you have to wonder, how much does Jim Clark actually want the job?!?! He drops our usually reliable right-back, drops a uber-reliable left-back and fans favourite in Craig Brittain, and even a blind man can see that McPhee is our best striker. Yet he is left on the bench!

The hospitality in the bar afterwards was superb, and had a long chat before and after the game with an East Fife fan who was not in the slightest gloating, and was a great laugh.

We have lots to sort out, otherwise, we are fast going to be known as the worst team in Scotland.

I thought your keeper was very good. Could've been alot worse for Dumbarton.

Aye Davie Crawford was decent, but it's the rest of the defence, the midfield and forwards that's the problem....

A new manager,a centre half,a striker,a creative midfielder and we would be a lot higher up the league shakey. The problems are certainly fixable.