Brechin City FC

I think players from both teams lost it to be fair, and the ref completely lost control of the situation, which is a shame as I thought he'd been reasonably good, penalty incident aside. Highlights will be interesting as I didn't see what Hill did to deserve his red card.

This season's squad, but swap Paul McManus for Ross Kavanagh.

I thought we looked much better after Crawford went off - we were more solid in midfield and started to get into the game. Hamilton and Knox pushed on a bit and were supporting from wide - a couple of times Hamilton took on his man and held on a bit too long when Knox was free on the other side and looking for the ball. A bit better decision making at times and I think it could have been a different scoreline. Not that we were any great shakes, but I didn't think much of Annan either. And don't get me started on the ref. Our heads went after he started giving them everything with about 10-15 mins left and that's how the penalty came about.

This year or...?

The ref was pretty poor and missed a few key decisions, but either way we should have lost that game and it took a fantastic save from McMinn to keep the scores level. Our lack of fitness late on in the last two games has really shown, I think it demonstrates how much effort the players are putting in. Definite progress being made but there's a long way to go.

Bit out there but I like this. Could also have Fraser at wing back and Christie in behind McBurnie instead.

Not sure how you can count this against him - was he not managing those two players in particular? You can't blame him for the team conceding 66 goals and not credit him for the goals the team scored? You lost to an Alloa side that we somehow fluked our way past in the final. The same Alloa side got promoted the next season and are still there, doing well for themselves in the Championship. His playing career would suggest he probably is bigger and better than Airdrie. By the sounds of thing Aidrie fans are pretty hard to please - I wouldn't consider 3rd in the league and losing in the playoffs isn't a bad season for Airdrie.

There's also a lot of good guys who have dedicated time to work for the club for nothing and don't deserve to have accusations thrown at them. It must be very easy for you to sit there and bad-mouth these people, yet whenever there's an AGM the only thing anybody has to complain about is why we've bought a tractor or why the tannoy system hasn't been improved.

You're up there with citydiehard on the bell-end scale.

Wish all the best to Smith. His heart was clearly in the right place and at least he's brave enough to admit the results weren't good enough - if our previous manager had done the same we might not be in this position! He was on a hiding to nothing last season, I'm not sure there were any managers that could have kept us up last season, and he's only been given 3 games to bed a whole squad together this season which I'm not sure is enough (I'm not counting the cup games as they were essentially pre-season for us). We were also unlucky not to get at least a point against Annan. As far as a new manager goes, I have no idea where we go from here. None of the names mentioned I feel would be an improvement on Smith, and I think it's too much of a gamble at this stage to go for someone inexperienced. I just hope the board take their time and make sure they get it right. As a couple of previous posters have said, there is some quality there and with one or two key loan signings (midfielder and striker) I don't see why we can't turn things around. I'm happy with the keepers we have, happy with Hill, Page and Reekie at the back, happy with McLaughlin, happy with McCord and Watt and happy with McManus and Hamilton. That's 9 decent players. The defence will improve as the team gets to know each other, we just need someone to put the ball in the net. I'd like to see us try something like: Sinclair Reekie - Page - Hill - McLaughlin McIntosh - McCord - Watt Hamilton - McManus - Knox or 5-4-1/5-2-3 with McIntosh slotting in at Right back.

There was some nice passing in spells, still looked a bit open at the back but I think that's to be expected with so many new players. McMinn has been excellent in goals and I'd hope he would be first choice to start the season based on his pre-season performances. McLaughlin was very good in the first game but was a bit quieter in the other two (oddly the one game he played out of position) Watt has looked like he has something about him in spells and think he could strike up a good partnership with McCord (when up to fitness) in the middle. Liked the look of Hamilton before he went off injured, hopefully he's fit for the weekend. McManus has really impressed me with his fitness for his age. Haven't seen much to say one way or the other about the rest of the signings/trialists, but there's certainly a decent core of a team there.

McCord was tidy on the ball but lacked fitness, McLaughlin looked excellent.

I didn't see enough of Miller to judge him, thought he looked ok at the end of the season though. I liked Euan Smith but plenty of others didn't.

hee haw.

Stenny haven't had two relegations in two years and Albion Rovers are signing our cast-offs.

That seems reasonable enough and a nice compromise. As far as signings go, I'm not sure what people are expecting. I didn't expect many - if any - of the ones that were offered contracts to re-sign, and now we are in League 2 we will likely have to wait until sides in leagues above us have their squads shaping up before we can get anyone that's available. Nobody is going to agree to sign for Brechin right now if they have potential offers elsewhere.

Not sure there's much of a point to this? I thought the whole point was to give the club cash at the start of the season to get players in etc? You'd also be as well paying at the gate every second week, granted you'd be paying an extra couple of quid each time.

I sympathise with Smith to a point - he was brought in too late, handed a squad who hadn't won a league game in over a year (and had only won one cup game IIRC) and totally bereft of any confidence. I think he was always going to be feeding off scraps in January and whilst he brought in guff like Kavanagh, he also brought in Toshney and Thomson who I felt did very well. I assume the keeper you're talking about is Brennan? That was Dods that brought him in. Was Bowman bad? He gave Paddy his chance and I thought he got longer than he probably should have, he had a few very good games early on but mistakes were creeping into his game (one sticks in my mind where he was lobbed whilst still on his line). That said, I agree that there wasn't much improvement and he should move on. I wouldn't have swapped our promotion for stability despite what's come since, however it's certainly been the worst period in my time supporting City. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse.

Interesting as the rumour mill has Forfar after one of our players.

Keep: Craig Thomson - been our best player since he's signed Callum Tapping - would be our best player if fit Euan Smith - think he has more to offer us Scott Robertson - brings a bit of composure to the team Dougie Hill - wouldn't have kept him if we stayed up but should stroll it in League 2 Euan Spark - imagine he's on relatively cheap wages and is solid enough Undecided: Paul McLean - very poor season by his standards Sean Burns - started the season well but tailed off Mikey Miller - not seen enough of him to judge Jordan Sinclair - imagine he will go as he's not really been in favour/injured but think he would do ok in League 2. Keep if he's not on big wages Andy Jackson - no brainer if he can stay fit, hasn't looked in the best of shape lately and hasn't been helped by the long ball tactics. Punt: Not fussed about the rest, think we need a big clear out and start over. Special mention to Kavanagh who is as poor a player as I've seen in 20+ years watching Brechin. Think Barry Smith needs to go as well.

They should have advertised Darren Dods as the victim.

Goal machine

Watch the opening goal and get back to me

Doubt it.

I imagine this new keeper will be cheaper than Brennan and if he goes it frees up wages to get new players in. I think another striker or two and we should be sorted.