How bloody luck were we? First half performance was acceptable but 2nd half we self-destructed. Credit to Brechin who looked to get right back into the game. Wales scored another excellent goal and first half it looked to be an even game. Second half to begin with was a decent start then Wardlaw scored and managing to get between two defenders and stick the ball past Nelson.

O'Neill decided to fire on 2 subs which worked wonders for them. They ran up the pitch, missed a sitter. Then repeated and stuck the ball home. We then looked totally nervous with each high ball over us causing problems. Our defense looked very poor at times. Then the inevitable came and Brechin got an equaliser which in all fairness their second half performance meritted.

The ref, as they generally are was useless, but whats the point in complaining when your team seem content to sit and draw up pressure punting long balls up to players who don't exist. We really struggled to clear our lines today which was annoying. Furthermore its allowed Ayr to fire right back into the running with us, although i agree with the consensus that I'd have taken a point today if i'd been offered one at the start. More pressure on us to take 9 points from our next 3 games, something very much possible but with Rovers it wouldn't surprise me if it went tits up!

Don't know where Brechin's 'beautiful football' went for today, but that was dire stuff, from both team, but especially them.

Wasn't at the game but smell sour grapes What a surprise!

We completely blew that.

I think we should have gone in at half time 2-0 up, Wales put us ahead with another great goal with the game being perfectly even, and suddenly we brust into life and Wales hit the bar when through before Walker had a free header ten years out he weakly headed into Nelson's arms. 2-0 would perhaps have been harsh on Brechin at the break (especially considering the pressure they had just before the whistle) but we had the chances to have the cushion.

Second half he started brightly and Wardlaw scored. Should have been game, set and match. Or not... Brechin threw Diack up front and went 4-3-3 which meant Wilson and Ellis couldn't push forward. Completely changed the game, and they scored soon after. Bad defending though, Diack had a free header. It was mostly Brechin from then until they equalised without a real clear cut chance. Twigg scored from a suspiciously offside position after O'Connor had falpped at two (or was it three) successive crosses. Sloan was unlucky with a free kick near the end, but that was pretty much that.

Overall, a point isn't too bad but we should have taken all three. On the balance of play Brechin will probably argue they deserved to win but I'd counter that by saying there was a lack of clear cut chances.

I'd drop O'Connor for the cup game next week, he had a very shaky second half despite an excellent save just before half time. Ref was absolutely shit, felt like he gave Brechin everything - and I felt that way when we were ahead as well. Not to blame for our collapse though.

Disappointing, but we're still top of the league.

Very disapointing to draw after having a two goal lead. Another fantastic goal from Wales for the opener, great strike. God knows what happened in the second, we were just useless after Wardlaw got the second. When Brechin pulled one back, I knew we just weren't going to take all three points.

I wasn't impressed Brechin with today either. Punt, punt, punt to say the least. I'd like to see the video, I thought the second goal was offside at the time, although a draw was probably justified. Neither side played as well as they are capable of, but we were especially poor today in the second half. We just couldn't keep the ball at all.

Good crowd today.

we were lucky brechin the better team on the day

happy with the point after a big struggle

Well you're in no position to judge then are you?

Agreed but a number of Raith fans seem to be saying we were the better side so don't see where the especially dire bit comes from

I said at the start of the game I'd be happy with a point. Afterwards however, I was pissed off and unhappy with a point. Winning 2-0 at home should mean a win at the end. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Can't even use the old excuse about the very dire referee. We wen't to sleep and two points went out the window.

On the plus side, another cracking Walesy goal. Think Walesy will be joining a bigger club soon the way he is playing. Hope not, but he is far too good for this level.

Also, who the hell chose the record 'Thorn in my side' for the first one played as we exited the stadium? Very appropriate seeing as we threw points away again against Brechin.

Neither team played well. Brechin for long spells thumped it whenever they got the ball. FWIW, if Brechin had tried to play the ball about a bit, I think we'd have got fucked. We were brutal in the second half.

He's going down a new career route (sure I read he's back at college) so that requires him to play part time. We're probably the biggest of the part time teams, so I'm hopeful he'll stay with us for a while yet.

On the Brechin style debate - it was long ball to Twigg all game. Only started working when Diack came on and they had two targets to aim at.

If it was a boxing match, Brechin would have won on points. A draw was pretty much fair.

First things first, that was a terrible away support considering brechin's league posistion. Brechin will feel hard done by the fact that they didnt win the game, when really they should have as we were there for the taking in the second half. For me, the turning point was when wales hit the bar in the first half, we might have just held on if it had went in. Our tactics were shite today, surely mgglynn saw what brechin were up to with regards to high and long balls, and for most of the game we matched those tactics, in the rare moments we had the ball on the deck they struggled. Any more displays like that and we'l start to slip down the table. On a cheerier note, what another beauty from wales today!

It was sooo cold

We could have been 3-0 up at half time if Wales and Walker had taken their chances, and when we did go 2 up after the break I thought we would cruise to victory but Michael O'Neil was having none of it and made the changes that won his team a point. Gary O'Connor could have done better for both of Brechin's goals and hopefully now McGlynn realises that his best goalkeeper is the one that was sitting on the bench behind him today.

Robert Sloan was well worth his man of the match, he looks like a new player from the start of the season.

Still unbeaten at home and still top of the league

would have settled for a point before the game but obviously after a 2 goal lead i feel a bit dissapointed that we didnt take all 3

The game was pretty poor to watch with alot of niggly fouls, high balls and misplaced passes. I think a combination of the weather (i know i cold i was watching the game cant imagine how cold it was on the pitch!) and the pressure of the big crowd and the importance of the game were big factors in our performance today. Not that il try and defend it, it was poor no excuses.

The ref was poor for both sides today and seemed to miss alot of fouls from both sides


Thought we should of gone to a 442 in the 2nd half and brought on Dunbar and tried to keep the ball on the deck and let wilson and Dunbar run at them and put balls into the box

I'd tend to agree with that in part. We did play a long ball a lot, but I didn't see much different from Raith. Second half it seemed to work much better, both defences seemed shaky, and god knows what happened for Raith's second, it was like the defence was suddenly repelled from the ball and Nelson dived out of the way to give Wardlaw a free tap in.

Glad we got a point, I'd have taken that easily before the game, and certainly when it was 2-0, but I think had the game gone on another 5 minutes, we'd have won.

I didn't think we played that badly.

As the old saying goes, both teams will play worse this season, and win.

Would it not be the taste of sour grapes!

HT: 1-0


Any takers for 'We should have been 4-0 up at half-time'?

roflwaffles etc

Why? It's from Aesop's fables - the fox can't reach the grapes on the vine and decides that "they were sour anyway". He's maybe got the nose of Cyrano de Bergerac and can smell the sour grapes.

I think 3-0 is a reasonable assumption because the two shots just after the 1st goal wre harder to miss. That's football for you, though.

Maybe you should research the difference between the words could and should

Well, to be fair, it should have been. We hit the bar and Walker missed a sitter of a header

What about the penalty shout. Looked like Wardlaw beat him to the ball and Nelson took him out. Maybe the Brechin fans can shed some light on the situation.

Nah, Nelson got to the ball first, it was already well on its way into the Railway Stand when Wardlaw was sent tumbling.

I shouted for it, but there was no chance

I thought this was a rather better game than most others seem to, didn't think we played that badly and I thought Brechin played pretty well, fought very hard and never let us settle. Apart from one purple patch in the first half when we scored one and missed another couple of good chances we were second best for most of it. So all credit to them, good value for at least the point. Much as I thought they were unlucky to find themselves two goals down I thought we'd go on to win it from there but they still kept at it and pressed us back.

I'm sure the ref has had better games, quite a lot of mistakes today but fortunately none of them critical. There was nothing wrong with the equaliser contrary to some claims of it being offside, and we might consider ourselves a bit lucky that Wales was only yellow-carded for a very ugly challenge early on.

I'm still confident we'll have enough over the season to win the league, but Brechin are clearly strong challengers.

Thought Brechin probably deserved to win the game but you can't really argue with the draw, especially for us having been 2-0 down and looking destined for defeat.

A beauty from Gary Wales for the opener, seemed to come out of no-where.

Brechin piled on the pressure before half time, with John Ward coming close three times. Two headers were both cleared off the line and a tremendous left foot volley which produced a stunning save from O'Connor.

The less said about Raith's second goal the better, it should never have happened. Absolutely comical defending from John Ward and David Murie, who just seemed to look at each other as Gareth Wardlaw dithered through, leaving him with an easy tap-in.

Thought the game was over at this point but credit to O'Neill, who changed the formation to 4-3-3 and introduced Richard Walker and Iain Diack, this totally changed the game.

Brechin looked like doing something every time they came forward and it was no surprise when Diack scored and then Twigg to level.

All in all a good point on the road and looking forward to a Scottish Cup trip to Edinburgh next week.

No penalty. None of the players claimed it.

All fair.

Never a penalty in a million years.

What a fickle bunch Rovers fans are btw. Boo, hiss, shout and swear at the team, then clap them off the park. Make up your fucking mind

As a neutral, thought it was quite an exciting game with both sets of fans claiming they should have won it. Thought Brechin were the better team throughout the game although Rovers had a strong spell in the 10 - 15 minutes before half time. (scoring and hitting the bar) Having said that, Brechin almost equalised on the stroke of half time with a stunning volley which was well saved and subsequently a header which was cleared off the line.

Wardlaw scored a soft goal (from Brechin's perspective) - left back played him on, central defence just stood and watched hin stroll through and stick it in.

For the rest of the second half I felt Brechin were the better team and after they scored their first, Rovers seemed to lose any confidence they might have had so it came as no surprise that Brechin equalised.

As i said at the start of my post, both teams can claim they should have won - Rovers cos they were two up and City cos they were the better team and had most of the play. Conclusion - both sets of fans should be happy and look to the rest of the campaign. Good advert for the Second Division - will be keeping an eye on it for the rest of the season.

lol

Gutted to draw that.

I thought Brechin were there for the taking after the first goal, and we tore them apart for 10 mins after the goal.

At 2-0 i thought we'd won it, but credit to Brechin for getting back into things. Gonna be some league, thats for sure.

The less said about Raith's second goal the better, it should never have happened. Absolutely comical defending from John Ward and David Murie, who just seemed to look at each other as Gareth Wardlaw dithered through, leaving him with an easy tap-in.


IT WAS WHITE AND MURIE FROM WHAT I SEEN! WARD TRIED TO STOP THE CROSS!

CAN OU REPEAT THAT? I'M NOT SURE I CAN HEAR YOU PROPERLY??

A major contradiction there I think. He did us a huge favour.

That's 700 extra fans at the game this week.

And the team dont win.

Typical

We were at different games, mate. Brechin tore us apart for most of the game.

Yes, its disappointing to lose a 2 goal lead - but we didn't throw it away. O'Neil changed his tactics. McGlynn didn't react to that. End result was a draw - and we were lucky to get that. One manager showed some awareness - the other then burried his head in the sand.

I didn't dispute the fact that Brechin played very well. All im saying is that for a spell after we got the first goal, they looked very shaky and we rose in confidence.

After going 2-0 up at home to the main title challengers, you really do expect to win the game.

Brechin looked sharp, but not great. I felt we gave them too much time on the ball after going 2 up and should have pressed them a bit more. Byers is some fucking player though, would love to see him at San Starko.

Ref had a total shocker, some very strange decisions.

On reflection, not a terrible result. We can, and in recent weeks have, played much better than that. Will just have to see how things pan out.

Strange how these things happen, I always thought he was shite when he played for us before.

Sorry, yeah, I hadn't meant to note the failure to send off Wales as one of his mistakes - that was a question of judgement rather than fact. There were a lot of decisions he just got wrong.

Yep, happy with the point.

We should certainly have chucked on Silvo for a striker when they went 3 up front as this might have protected our 3 points - it won't have been pretty but probably effective.

Credit O'Neill for going for the jugular, he's the only manager to realise we are not the tallest team and for a spell in the second half Brechin were lobbing in balls consistently to the danger area between 6 yard box and the penalty area. I wouldn't blame O'Connor too much as he had a decision to make every time due to the quality of the delivery, we just couldn't react to the 2nd ball.

Anyhoo, we can't win every week and Brechin are certainly gonna be there with us at the end of the season battling for the title.

I think we're the only title contender to have played every team in the top half of the table twice so to still be top of the league at this point is good going.

i thought Raith were the better side first half , then Brechin second. Pretty even game.

Raiths Penalty shout was never a penalty, Craig Nelson won the ball, and who ever it was challenging just stumbled, would of been harsh if it was a pen.

Also what is it with Raith fans sitting in the away end well one of them , Ned looked about 15 , 16 , was shouting at the ref about the penalty claim, then when Brechin scored and he never cheered he just put his hands on his head. Raith had a shot and he was like shouting ' Mon The F*cking Rovers', then he got chucked out, Little Mong !

Pretty much agree with most of the summing ups. All I would add that Brechin seemed more committed and gave us no room or time. When we did play some football we looked far better than them but it didnt last and overall Brechin's tactics looked more effective than ours.

Well done to O'Neil for pulling this game out of the fire for Brechin. We cant complain - we should be able to cope with this style of play.

More on the long ball game we seemed to play today - I applaud O'Neill for having the balls to change his tactics for different teams. It worked today, however ugly it was.

If a Rovers fan was ejected that takes your support down from 54 to 53 out of 2200 plus.

Most people's summing up has been spot on.

We could (and should) have been 3 up after Wardlaw scored with 2 fairly simple chances missed but that would have been utterly unjust on Brechin. On the balance of play, Brechin deserved a point and maybe all 3.

I'm concerned about our performances against Brechin this season. It's alright having a bogey team if they're mid-table or below but not if they're challenging us for league position.

What you telling me for ?

I would have taken a draw before the whistle and thought we'd lost it at 2-0 down. I thought Wales took his chance well and scored a good goal after Ward running across behind our back line to put in a vital block on his shot with only minutes on the clock. Ward won everything in the air and was unlucky not to score at some stage especially with his left foot volley. Just back from injury too!

It was freezing!!!!!

Raiths second was a mix up between White and Murie not Ward. Ward ran across to try to block the pass from which Raith scored and both White and Murie went for the ball only to leave it for the other. Some comunication would not go amiss! Both teams played the long ball but some games are like that. You has to do what you has to do!

Diack has again come on and gave us a Goal and Twigg scored again. Good to see the forwards scoring. It will come for Baird. He gets in some great positions and just needs to get the first one then they'll start flying in.

All in all a good result away to a team who have been scoring for fun. On the whole a very hard fought draw and great team character coming back from 2 goals down. Thought Chucky played well. Baird covered a lot of ground, Ward was outstanding and Darren did well just coming back from injury.

Well done lads! I thought we were going to win it at the death.

Well spotted that man!