Just a bairn

Well that was painful. Dunfermline are a good team and much more effective than us, fair play to them. Can’t say it’s not deserved. I thought our subs had a really negative effect on us. Cannot understand why McGinn was hooked. I don’t think many of our guys were that terrible to be honest but I think we were just bettered in so many areas of the pitch. It’s a sore one but we’ve got to try and pick ourselves up as quickly as possible. The playoffs are not what we wanted but the importance of winning them cannot be understated.

Probably the main thing I’ve taken away from our games against you guys is how desperately you need better options up front. Some neat moves in the buildup but how many times did they fizzle into absolutely nothing? Finishing has been the difference in the three games.

Watching it back on TV didn’t do the support justice. Was superb on Monday.

That was a fun night. Decent enough ground although some of their “fans” are an odd bunch. Not sure if they were OF fans, Killie fans or a weird part time mix. Quite enjoyed them losing tbh (I’m sure there are decent Darvel fans and fair play to them). Credit to McGlynn - it was obvious we prepared well and knew what we had to do. 5-1 maybe a wee bit harsh but equally I don’t think 2-1 was an accurate reflection either. We bullied them in the midfield, controlled the game for about 80 minutes and let them lose their discipline nicely. Have to say I’m in two minds if it was a complete goalkeeper error or a freak goal. Looking back I think it was actually an mis-hit cross and harder than it looked to save, but the pundits all seemed to agree PJ should have done better. FWIW, I think PJ has done very well since he has come back. His distribution is not as good as Hogarth but he is a much, much better shot-stopper. As for Darvel, I thought they worked hard but to be honest outside of their attacking threat were pretty soft, especially for a one-off game. They’re probably better than Clyde or Peterhead but if you compare to our most recent games then kelty and Alloa are both much better. Maybe a top end league 2 side.

Would have preferred Raith or ICT but it’s still one of the better ties we could have hoped for. This Darvel love-in is absolutely excruciating now though. Hope we can finish it this evening.

We will almost certainly be in the playoffs. Any hopes of league titles were unfortunately scuppered in the first half of the season with some horrific results against Airdrie and Kelty. Games against Dunfermline will always be 50/50 or thereabouts, but those games mentioned are really what killed us. That being said, there is plenty to be optimistic about. We’ve lost 4 games all season, are unbeaten since November, are unbeaten away from home since September and are scoring more goals than almost every other team in the league. Squad strength has undoubtedly increased over the January period. Assuming we don’t massively cock-up the next few weeks, I think we’re going to be in really strong position if we can indeed get to the playoffs.

Totally dysfunctional first half from us. No width, no passing and losing our discipline. Allan is absolutely not up to speed yet with our play IMO.

It’s been so long since we’ve had a big ugly dirty b*****d type win. Credit to the team, I thought we were completely out of it but the guys somehow managed to find a way to win. Great SCENES

Interesting Jordan Allan chat. Clearly he’s not been prolific throughout his career but has had a solid season in an utterly doomed Clyde team. In reality we score plenty of goals and have loads of chances, but struggle to score against the likes of yourselves, Dunfermline etc. 2 points from 4 games against both of those teams for example is not ideal and could easily come back to haunt us in a playoff game. I’m not an expert and to be honest don’t remember much about Allan apart from he scored against us, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if he turned out to not be prolific. Gary Oliver has probably had half a dozen chances in get the last few weeks and has scored 0. The hope would have to be that Allan is more clinical than Gary Oliver (which I don’t think will be hard), and can convert some of our draws into wins.

Great bit of business to be fair. Is 30% common nowadays? It’s been so long…

Kabia would add absolutely nothing that we don’t already have IMO

Easy to comment on other teams performances but I genuinely fail to see how we could be as shite as Aberdeen were last night. Spineless, weak and totally clueless. We’ll be in for a tough afternoon but I don’t see us rolling over like Aberdeen did.

Not sure about that. I thought McKay and Mackie dealt with him pretty easily tbh.

This fixture is a derby in my eyes (although to be fair TFS doesn’t really lend itself to it) , and nobody will convince me otherwise. Both teams in reasonably good form and scoring plenty of goals. Great chance for either team to progress. I fancy us although Donaldson out is a blow, but I’ve been reasonably happy with McKay this year when he has played centre back.

Pretty easy game. Morrison ripping the pish at times today. Clyde look absolutely doomed. Say what you like about ability but their whole team looks spineless which must be pretty galling to watch every week. Didn’t think either of the red cards were warranted but difficult to know without seeing it back.

Definitely a confidence player I think. Once he scored his first goal he grew into the team.

I expected very little of Alegria, and after his first few games I wasn’t too impressed. He turned out to be much better than Oliver, Wilson, Ruth, Keena, Ompreon etc, and that’s with him directly competing for starts with Burrell. He seemed quite a passionate lad and gave everything. Clearly still a lot of developing to do if he hopes to play at a level higher than league 1. He is a loss, but nothing like irreplaceable and given McGlynn’s reasonably strong record of recruitment so far I’m confident we’ll get a good replacement.

Dean Holden managing Charlton at Old Trafford last night.

That second ICT goal is absolutely comical. Who is your keeper? Don’t feel like he covered himself in glory for any of the goals but maybe that’s harsh

I wasn’t sure about Kennedy but he has started to play very well. A real positive from the last few weeks. He has much more to his game than than Morrison IMO. I do have concerns over the CB position. Mackie is a strange player. Sometimes he has a relatively sound game with nothing overly concerning (like QOTS), then there are games like yesterday where he hoofs random passes to nobody, gives away daft fouls and panics the whole back line. I don’t think he is the answer unfortunately. I think McKay overall is more solid than him but that’s not saying much. I’d like to see what level Watson is at when he returns from injury, although to be honest I reckon he’ll go out on loan and we won’t see him play again for us.

Did he really make 30 appearances?

Didn’t Benedictus come out and back Goodwillie? What’s your views on that? fwiw I do agree with your point, but genuinely interested to hear what you think of your captain

Not a great game but at least we are back to winning ways. Awful defending from both teams and two rotten keepers. QOTS did well after we scored and looked the more likely, and were pretty unfortunate to be level at half time. They did look very soft in the second half, and the ease at which they crumbled after conceding the third must be of concern. Seeing Henderson come into midfield gave me the fear after his last midfield cameo against Dundee, but he did well to be fair. I would start him against Dunfermline. Burrell was on fire the second he came onto the park. Why is he so inconsistent? Still think alegria starts at the moment for me. Ruari Paton giving it big licks and losing 5 though - absolute minter.

That’s an amazing effort. As for the game, I’m not sure what to expect. Dunfermline don’t have to win, but I think at a minimum we have to not lose. We’ve improved a lot in the space of a few months but then an absolutely Kelty of a performance comes out of nowhere. Dunfermline as of yet don’t really seem capable of a Kelty performance in the same way we are. I think another draw on the cards. Hopefully it’s as half as entertaining as the last game. Will we finally get a penalty?

You won’t see a better opening spell from a team all season at TFS (or anywhere?). They looked really strong in that opening period, as poor as we were. They’ll be up there at the end of the season and their recent form supports that. The first half was poor but I actually thought we were alright for large spells of the second half. Whether that is because we played better, or because kelty sat in is up for debate. A bit concerning overall. Yesterday wasn’t a disaster but what an opportunity wasted. John has improved the team but I’m not convinced he knows how to adapt his tactics to any adversity.