With the first quarter of the season gone is the league table now showing how it will all end?

The top four will be Brechin, Ayr, Raith and Peterhead although not necessarily in that order.

East Fife, Stirling and Queen's Park will be safe in mid table.

Stranraer, Arbroath and Alloa will fight out the relegation and play off place.


Which team is most likely to improve their position? Or alternatively completely blow it.

Been some odd results recently (e.g. Straney yesterday and EF last week). I think it is a long way off being settled at either end. I'll give till Xmas before I'll say too much. That said, if Ayr stuff Wraith in a couple of weeks, I think Ayr are best bet for promotion along with Brechin.

I think yer right about the top 4 and bottom 3. Im sure there will be a fair few more twists and turns before the season ends as i can see the top 4 being very close this season right to the death.

I think East Fife will make it a 5 horse race, making half the table fighting it out for the 4 spots, altho Peterhead might fade out of it. I reckon the title will be between us and Brechin towards the end of the season.

I think QP will slide into the relegation spot with Alloa Arbroath and Stranraer trying to avoid second bottom. Binos to stay mid table.

Winter months really are a lottery where anything can happen. The weather causes havoc to every ground and the game decents into greater levels of "hit-and-hoperry".We're doing not bad albeit our forwards could be doing a bit better. If Wales can provide the goals we're lacking then we'll become challengers.Brechin have a massive psychological advantage in going 1/4 of the season unbeaten and look a force to content with. I think if East Fife get rid of Baikie then they'll be in a better position. Peterhead seem to play well but struggle against promotion rivals. Ayr look like they have been nearly identical to us.

I didn't expect Stirling to continue where they last left off in division 2 which is brilliant for every other team. Queens Park seem to have two different teams playing from what i've read. One week they can play well the next they are terrible. As i expected, Arbroath and Stranraer are struggling albeit they have done well...especially Stranraer despite backroom problems. This leaves Alloa, who i expected to be doing a lot better. When they signed Stevenson on loan i thought they might have a chance for a crack at the league but they look to have a rift in their squad.

Would probably swop East Fife and Peterhead, and I think Alloa will pull clear of the bottom two eventually, as for QP, we need to convert a few of our draws into wins if we are to be sure of a mid-table position.

From what Ive seen, we played East Fife, Alloa and Binos off the park, won fairly comfortably against Arbroath, were somewhat lucky to beat Stranraer, Queen's and Peehied, and got a doing from Brechin. The match at Somershite told us nothing about Ayr, just as it told them nothing about us.

I'm utterly bored with it already. We're total písh, and yesterday was the first time in many years I haven't gone simply because I couldnae be arsed with it.

I've not seen a single good team in this league so far, and every one would be royally whipped in Division 1 next year unless major strengthening is done. I think this is the biggest gap in quality I've ever seen between the two divisions.

Let's just end the league now.

What do you mean that's the first quarter gone? Surely we've only played two games.

Oh no, you're right. We're just shite. I'm hacked off with it already too. Seen us get tanked off some pretty mediocre teams.

out of the top 6 we have only played raith at home all the rest being away apart from ourselves obviously
so still plenty to play for!!

Best team I've seen has been Stranraer believe it or not! Didn't get to Brechin or Codheid, so can't judge how they are-yet!
Worst game Raith have played.............away to Alloa 1-1 (again heard we were devastatingly shit at Brechin, but wasn't there.)

Best we have played..............1-1 draw home to East Fife. (Typical Rovers though, too nice not finishing teams off.)

Tip for the league..........Brechin

Raith will finish..............4th as usual with McGlynn at the helm. Blow playoffs as usual.

Relegated...............Arbroath (will be a pity, cause its a REAL football ground and a nice wee town).


1st quarter Raithport card:

Must learn to finish teams off. McGlynn must learn to adapt the teams tactics better throughout games, and learn what a substitute is for! Overall, moderately happy in that we are shite but still picking points up cause everyone else is unbelievably shitter!

We've finished 3rd at the end of both seasons since John McGlynn has been here.

We need the killer instinct. East Fife should have been hammered by 2 or 3 but our lack of potency up front (Plus 2 missed pens) put paid to that. We'll be there or thereabouts I reckon though.

McGlynn likes to finish 3rd. That's why we punt the ball into the corner of the park for our two strikers to chase, so we don't win too often.

I think it's far too early to tell but my first impressions are...

Top four will be Ayr, Brechin, Raith (although not in that order) and one of Peterhead or East Fife. Brechin look very good at the moment but I still fancy Ayr as champions. I'm also reasonably happy with our own season. I hope and believe that the team still has another gear to go up and if we click properly then we can challenge for the title. If the goals don't come though I fancy a 3rd succesive 3rd palce finish.

Mid table should be Stirling, QP and the other out of Peterhead/East Fife. QP are grinding out results and I hope they keep doing so. The other 2 will be comfortably safe.

Bottom 3 are the rest, Arbroath, Stranraer and Alloa. Alloa will surely improve and should have far too much quality for relegation. Having said that, I dont really want to lose the other 2 teams.

Edit - apartly there's an e in bottom.

To me that game confirmed both teams have reasonably solid defences but don't have as much creativity as they should in the middle.

Stewarty Mac is spot on in that no team is really that much better than any of the rest and whoever goes up could be in for a few hidings unless they spend some cash.

If we avoid suspensions,injuries and our usual November to January slump we should be in the top 4 but the lack of depth in our squad is a worry.

Doh. Should be 3rd! Thats what happens when you go on P&B at that time of the morning............

To win a league you need to be looking to get on average 2 points per game (yes I know its 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw).

At the moment Ayr and Brechin have achieved this so they are on track. However after the 2nd quarter when everyone has played everyone else H&A we will have a true picture of the league.

My money was on Ayr at the start and I'm happy with that.

However they're are still loads of anti Raith officials to come and go before the end of the season.

Im pretty happy with what ive seen so far. Brechin are the only team who concern me at the moment, everyone else we have played well against.

I think it will be between us and Brechin for the title, and i think we can do it. Our squad is pretty thin at the moment, but we are still to see the likes of Wardlaw, Hissy and Dunbar back from injuries.

Could be worse for us. Some good results, some scrappy ones.

Raith or Ayr will win the league, but East Fife will be close as well. Expecting Stranraer and Arbroath to stay below us at least, and we may be in for a long fight against Alloa for 7th and 8th.

Edited for spelling.

Found this.Predicted league finish


http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/league.j...p=19&sort=6

Any mug want to bet with me? I bet you £500 that Brechin do lose a game this season in the league.

Thats even more banal and lazy than Mark Lawrenson's weekly predictions on the BBC website.

I agree about the Winter months causing havoc with the pitches. None more so than ours a couple of yers ago. It seems to be standing up better now that the problem with the drainage has been sorted out. I do not think that East Fife will be in any better position than they are even getting rid of Baikie. Their fans should not forget that he won them the 3rd division in god knows how long. I am a Fan of Baikies ability as a Manager. Too many Prima Donas in the team and too many players who are in effect past it. I doubt whether any manager at East Fife would have total control of the players that the club sign? Due to the risk of starting a war I must state that this IMO only.

You can be guaranteed of that!

I can assure everyone that the Manager has decided which players he wanted & the Board got these players, they were not identified by the Board then signed by the Manager!
As far as the 1st quarter goes, had we beaten Stranraer on Saturday then I would have been well satisfied with it. 4 points out of 15 at home is just not good enough, 8 out of 12 away is excellent.
The end of the 2nd quarter will IMO sort the men out from the boys & I genuinely think that the top 5 & bottom 5 will split & stay in these groups til the end of the season.

In the whole I've been happy with our 1st Quarter

We dropped points to: Ayr away -fellow title contenders and with our opening day history wasn't a bad result
Alloa away- Our bogey ground from last season
East Fife home- Nerves probably got the better of the strikers at PK time
Stirling home- title contenders IMO
Brechin away- No excuse, we were pish

I'm fairly content with the season so far. The only real disappointments are drawing games we should be winning. Every team will have off days and I put Brechin away down to that (and Brechin playing very well by all accounts).

I agree with most that after another 9 games we'll have a better idea. Having Ayr, Brechin and Peterhead at home in this quarter will give a good indication of whether we've turned our home form around this season.

Genuine question, how do you know that?

I don't know who decides to sign our players. I believe that it's McGlynn but I definitely don't know for a fact.

In the 6 games I've seen the quality has been honking and combined with the stupid money we're all being charged to get in I'm seriously wondering about whether or not I should carry on attending SFL games. The standard seems to have dropped rapidly in the season that we were in the First and I can't think of one player from any other team that people from clubs in the SPL or SFL1 would be salivating over and looking to sign.

At the end of the season, the top 5 will be the top 5, we'll be 6th the bottom 4 will be the bottom 4 and Stranraer will finish bottom. It's quite possibly the most predicatable and boring league I've seen in 15 years.

Given the amount of key players we lost in the summer than I am ecstatic with 10 points and the fact we’ve only had 3 narrow defeats.

The personnel change has meant a different style of football, not the free flowing all energy stuff we’ve watched the last few seasons, and we’ve had to grind out results. The keeper and defence look strong and they’ve had to be as the midfield hasn’t really done the business for us yet

Of course it could all go t*ts up but confident it won’t

So you would be happy for Ayr to win the league over the Rovers because you have money on them?

I'm too much of a scaredy cat to predict where we'll finish at the moment so I'll say that I think Brechin will win the league.

So you think there are five teams fighting out the right to be champions, and this classes as 'boring and predictable' in your book. I'd hate to hear what you think of the SPL.

You might well think it's a boring season for Stirling, as you can only see them finishing sixth, but it won't be boring for that 'top 5'.

Who do you support?

Ayr to win the league, Raith, Brechin, East Fife in P-Off spots, Queens in rele P-Off spot and Stranraer bottom.

Please continue to right off the super Lichties but when a striker does appear we will be fine thank you very much!

Surely that's if a striker appears?

To be fair mate, we were the team that most folk were writing off at the start of the season and I notice that you're still doing it

Think there will be changes in the final positions but the top 5 teams and bottom 5 teams will remain the same!!!

couldnt agree more,hopefully most of us will have something to get excited about for most of the season,some for the right reasons others maybe not,but this league is still looking like the most exciting in scotland

1st Ayr (the following seasons whipping boys)
2nd Raith (up via play off)
3rd East Fife

That will do me nicely.

Woudn't do me nicely!

Sorry, there's a limit on how many teams you can support in one league.

If we had been able to convert a reasonable amount of the chances we're creating we'd be well clear at the top. If there's any change in that situation I think we'd win the league, but if things remain as they are it'll be play-off despair again.

So the best thing would be for us to get promoted, Wraith stay where they are, thus freeing up a place, allowing Brechin fans to then feel the unconditional love that is Whistle Blower!!!

And you would still be able to support us 'cos we'ld be in a different Division!!!

Everyones a winner!!!

Best thing is for us to win the league and the Fife to get promoted via the play-offs, then we can have a great family squabble between us yous and the pars

I said at the start of the season that all teams will have something to play for on the last day, and nothing has happened to make me change my mind.

We have started well, but we need to keep it going. Starting a week on Saturday. What has pleased me the most is our ability to win games that we should be winning. Unfortunately that ability has been lacking for a few seasons!!

We've also laid a hoodoo to rest on Saturday, our first ever home win over Peterhead in the league and we also have a bit of fight about us, again something that has been sorely lacking over the last few years.

The biggest disappointment for me was the Stirling game, but at least we got something from it. Normally we lose those sort of games 3-2.

Our next games are Raith (a) Stirling(h), Arbroath(a), Stranraer(h), QP(a)

The next two are big ones and I would be delighted with four points, reasonably happy with three, anything less I'll be a bit gutted. After that we play three of the less fancied teams and should be looking at nine points if we are going to show that we are genuine contenders. That said Gayfield has never been a happy hunting ground recently.

As for the first quarter second place, six points clear for a play off place, 1 point off top, only 1 defeat. Can't really ask for much more.

You really are an idiot sometimes. Repeating something Ad Nauseum doesn't make it true. You won against Stranraer and Peterhead in games you were played off the park, and barely a shot at goal at Somerset. Brechin and Ayr have also missed chances that would have seen more points taken, that's football.

Only a Raith fan would use not scoring goals as an excuse for not running away with the league!

To be fair, he's not being unreasonable. The main problem we've had this season is with our strikers not knowing what to do with the ball. I don't think he was arguing that you guys don't deserve to be above us.

And um, not scoring enough goals is why most people don't win their leagues.

Doesn`t seem to apply to you