the_bully_wee

Not ideal with the other sides picking up points, in fact that result for Bonnyrigg means they're probably only a couple of points off being safe. Really need to win next week.

You should see the Stranraer supporters' Facebook group. Apparently the celebration was "disgusting" and "should be reported as a hate crime". I'd love some of whatever they put in the water down there!

Fair play to Stenny, a classic case of clean sheets win titles, and one that Capello would be proud of. Pretty nuts to think they've conceded 19 goals all season, that anomaly of a game against Clyde aside. You really can only tip a cap to that and say "fair play!". A good deal more quality is required to survive in League One I would suggest, but the club seems to be very well run at present and I wouldn't put it past them to survive and thrive a league up the coming years. A sad loss to the seasidest league.

I'm not usually a fan of players celebrating in front of opposition fans, but it was absolutely delicious watching the Clyde lads standing open-armed in front of the away crowd. I don't think anyone could argue that we didn't deserve to win that by a greater margin. Plenty of stuff that ranged from bad to awful on the day but the three points really are all that mattered. Thought Peterhead would have enough to win today but fair play to them for hanging in there and getting a late equaliser which keeps things VERY tasty at the bottom. Important that we recognise today only gives us a great chance, I suspect we will need a bare minimum of four points from our remaining games, but likely more than that.

Wow.

King is more of a reliable defensive option than McGinn, but he's a bag of nerves back there and makes so many poor decisions. Howie has had an absolute shocker as well, hopefully a few eyes opened for those who worry about Sula's work in possession. Plenty of graft elsewhere but the usual lack of quality, we're barely better than at the end of December despite the players that have come in. The good news is that we'll have the wind here, I suppose.

By all accounts, Grant showed up quite well at Peterhead, so hopefully we can put an end the Howie in midfield madness and shift him to centre or right back, depending on whether it's Lyon or Sula that McCall's tombola machine least fancies on Saturday morning. Cuddihy's a weird one; it feels like these persistent injuries wreck any rhythm he's finding in his game and then, when he does recover some form, he's swiftly out for a few weeks with another niggle. He and Ballantyne have been big disappointments of late though; I had high hopes for the latter but he hasn't shown much at all, work rate aside. If we're ever going to start Robbie Leitch again then it should probably be at home, but he's been a massive disappointment too after a bright debut and strikes me as a deluxe Euan Cameron type, who trains well enough to be rated but never really makes a mark on games. A draw doesn't kill us completely I don't think but, given our recent mini-dip in form, that or a defeat would be a big old step towards confirming 10th place. A win hauls us off bottom and big-time hands us the impetus heading into the last handful of fixtures, so hopefully we can show up in one of these games again and not hand out any freebies like we did at Bonnyrigg and Peterhead (x4).

Diddies. You're welcome.

Yeah, the goal difference hit is a real bummer given the fact it is looking like going right to the wire. The biggest concern for me is that it seems McCall still appears to have no idea what his strongest team is.

Kabia getting himself sent off in a game that's gone before a season-defining one next week. You simply have to respect it!

If we're shoehorning Howie in for his height, as we should, then it should be at right back - he did quite well in the Battle of Bonnyrigg but the Spartans game illustrated that he's a bit of an ungainly figure in the engine room. I do actually think that Ross Lyon has quietly become one of our more dependable performers since his Bonnyrigg brainfart in January, but he's not exactly playing at a level which makes him a must-start. Kabia is an immensely frustrating player but undeniably possesses that bit of stardust that can unlock a defence, so I'd like to see him starting too. A left side of King/Kabia or McGinn/Scullion is what we should be running with (the former my slight preference), and perhaps Ray Grant is due another look-in after his run on the bench.

It's beginning to look like they're a spent force, but it's imperative that we hold up our end of the bargain as one freak goal or decision could be enough to earn them a result somewhere along the line. No easy games left for us now, so hopefully we can extend what's become a wee run of sustained decent performances.

I've no idea how Ballantyne didn't score that rebound off the post. Plenty effort again today but just not at the races sadly. Still, another point chipped away.

The ref trying his best to outdo Clyde in the shite performance stakes here. Not at it at all, as has been said Howie doesn't really make sense in there. Lucky not to be behind given some of the situations Spartans have chiselled out; thankfully their final ball has been really poor.

Some folk really are never happy! The only teams to have beaten Bonnyrigg by more than a single goal, in what's been a stinking 2024 for them, are Aberdeen and East Fife. We've won more points in our last four than they have in their last twelve (ten for Stranraer), and have most of a quarter to make up three points on either side. There's absolutely no room for complacency and it's so finely poised that one-off freak results, injuries or suspensions could derail things, but we've got a tremendous opportunity now that we didn't remotely look to have after the loss at Stair Park last month.

Your username accurately describes what happens every time I check back on this thread, yourself included!

That Agnew interview is one of a man seriously feeling the heat, deary me.

It's nigh on impossible to tell from that angle, but Bonnyrigg's number 22 was looking straight at it and I think he'd have had much more to say if it was either a foul or a handball by Allan. As you say, we've been unlucky in recent times to our detriment (those Forfar goals, the nonsense Peterhead penalty) so we were due some good fortune, however it came about.

Away from the unfortunate spitgate, how lovely it was to benefit from a goalkeeping howler after some of what we've endured in the past couple of seasons; the result today hinged on the outcomes of similar fumbles by both Martin and Kinnear in that goalmouth in either half. Thankfully both went for us today, representing that wee bit of luck which seems to have evaded us at key moments for a while now. These boys have now done it all - pasted the league leaders, ground out wins home and away, in big games and tough conditions - so hopefully they can maintain it next week against a Spartans side that's on a poor old run at the moment.

You'd have to say that Bonnyrigg aren't looking too hot, and that's putting it rather politely; just one win in their last twelve league games, and that came in a midweek home game against Elgin - at the time, perhaps the assignment in the division. Theirs is a squad lacking quality in key areas and they'll have to turn the corner very quickly to save themselves - two points in eight games is truly horrendous form in such a nip and tuck league and a repeat of this will surely see them waving bye-bye to League Two. Stranraer seem to have the capacity to pull the odd win out of the hat, and I think that may well see them safe if they manage to avoid defeat against Bonnyrigg in two weeks' time; that's beginning to look like an absolutely gigantic game for both sides, with another to follow the week later when they visit Clyde. Clyde themselves continue to be a tad unconvincing with a soft centre persisting, alongside a complete inability to keep clean sheets; it's hard to ignore the recent turnaround in form, however, and of the three sides the momentum is clearly with them. It's going to be a captivating end to the season as things cement themselves further up the table; I can't shake the feeling that some of the sides from 1st to 7th are going to play a big part in this scrap at the bottom whenever affairs are settled up there, not dissimilar to when the house robots go rogue in Robot Wars.