sonsanorak

I remember travelling to east fife in the fans bus to be told that the game had been called off, snow I think. If I'm right John Sharp from their board met us at the door, apologised and invited us up to the bar for a bit before. Late cancellations will unfortunately happen. What makes the difference after that is the reaction from the club. We rely to a huge extent on volunteers manning almost everything except the catering, security and front desk, so there would have been a lot of people on our side who may have been uninformed and unsure what to do. Comms and customer care should have been thought of, but it's easy to say that after the event and intensity has died down.

I wonder how this poll would look if it was reopened. From 5 points ahead in March to 9 points behind is incredible. Fair play to Stirling, deserved champs over the season.

Fair do's to Annan, they were much better than us. When I heard the line up I couldn't figure out the shape and for most of the first half it wasnt clear either. What is clear is that Ally Love has no idea how to defend and Greg Wylde wont. Playing against a mobile passing team we cant carry anyone, but Fazz put us out in the normal shape but with pegs in square holes. As opposed to clapping the fans at full time today he should have came over at half time, explained that it was damage limitation and that we wouldn't be trying to get back into the game. The change of shape to play wing backs was a waste of time and seeing the game out playing 5-4-1 speaks volumes for intent. Hopefully Wallace is ok and there are no reactions from the 3 back from injury today. We need a good performance and result soon.

Annan are a very good side and we're struggling for fitness and players just now. I think Annan are due a win over us this season and it should be now or never. The away game earlier in the season relied a lot on a good defence, hard work and some good fortune. Here's hoping for more again. Wheres Tommy Goss got to? I noticed he didn't play last week.

That was a terrible game of football. We were rotten and bereft of options from the bench to try and change it. This season feels about 5 months too long for us now. I'm now hoping for a decent squad and form in the playoffs.

I am quite content for Stevie to say that, the majority of fans I talked to expected us to get beat. I travelled hoping for a good performance and not to get beat, we got both so I'm happy with that.

I think the style of play puts off the casual fan who might come along to see their local team who seem to be doing well at the top of the league. But on it's own, it wouldn't keep them coming back. I've felt a sense of unease all season, as if it was too good to be true. But it is, we went on a great run at the start of the season and deserve to be where we are in the league. Can we defend well? Aye, normally it's the most obvious characteristic of our team. Can we nick a goal at the other end, yes, we have good options up front and wide. Can we get it to click for us in the last quarter? I dont see why not. I've got one observation about Russell McLean and that is that despite his height he's not a target man and both wallace and byrne would struggle with the type of passes he's being sent recently. He's a clever, capable penalty box striker who hasnt had many chances facing goal. If we can improve on that I think we'd see the best of him.

He was unwell or injured on Saturday ffs.

Fair play to elgin, they played us well. Too many poor performances today, but I dont think there was much wrong with the lineup or shape. Write it off and move on

Yip, Dec hasnt played for months and was playing with an injury before that. Is Ally Love our 2nd top scorer now? Has he scored our last 3 goals?

I expect an Annan win today tbh. They hammered us to a 1-0 defeat at theirs when we rode our luck at times. The defensive shape and structure are all good, but imo we need to play more assertively. Much like we did in spells last week. We have good strikers, just need to find a way to get them and the ball in front of goal together

Grant in for Carsy I wonder?

My feeling is that the players need to be motivated to keep standards high toward the end of the season. Players work for cash, bot the badge or the fans. So,the players need to be weighed in too to some extent. If they have promotion or win clauses then great.

I think the chat about another forward was pre John Gemmell. It could well be 1 in 1 out, but we should be looking to strengthen our options, at least up front.

Looking forward to it. Quite a hard team selection to make this week with Blair fit again and the reported uncertainty at right back. Robert Thomson and Carrick were given far too much space in the away game and they showed that they can beat us if we lose our shape and organisation. Hopefully we're more robust today and one goes in at the other end.

I want our strongest 11 out and to try and win. I think Fazz (and the club board) will feel the same. By all means, get game time into some of them, but only once the tie's decided

What's the song played when the teams walk out at Annan? Was it used for the top 40 at some point? Another great day in Annan, smashing set up with the social club. We essentially limited Annan to hoofing it towards Bucky and Goss/muir. Most of which Bucky dealt with, he would have been my dumbarton motm and not Wylde despite his goal. That would be a great 3 points at any point of the season.

I think the hamilton game is more likely to be televised than ours.

Fair play to you Colpie for coming on here to try and put your point over. In amongst all the noise when you joined I may have misunderstood what you were all about. I thought you were joining us to try and put players in the shop window. All the best

We have some match winners in our squad who are capable of dragging us through this tie. If they turn up, we'll be fine. Is Wallace suspended?

Thought they were great and we weren't. Robert Thomson ran the show and it's ironic that he might have picked up a knock just before half time when Bucky decided to challenge him at the half way line, having given him so much space everywhere else before that. He absolutely bossed it. Highlight was the Beef Satay pie. We must bring more to our attacking play than long throw ins, one trick pony wingers and hail Mary's from centre backs.

Not even a great chance today and he dispatched it really well to score. I thought he might just be a penalty box poacher, but no! Delighted with how he's doing and deserves his place in the starting 11

A friendly against St Anthonys

If John's fit I'd have him back, we dont have another player in the squad that can play the target man role well.

He plays in an over 35s team with Faz I think...