the_bully_wee

I was pretty impressed with Murdoch when we played Spartans recently, and don't think he'll be jobbing about this level for long at all. At least you have a decent refereeing performance to look forward to tomorrow, if nothing else.

Spot on. "I pay my money like everyone else !!11111!1!11!1!1!!" merchants seem to be unable to grasp this, though.

It was truly joyous compared to experiencing the same in the five minutes before, only with the foaming-mouthed mewlings of that specky boy soundtracking it. It kicked off when, during a lull in play, the aforementioned embarked on a good twenty to thirty second tirade, shouting essentially the same thing paraphrased with different swear words and insults. If, as you say, these players will be away at the first opportunity, what good will it do anyone to make them even less arsed by constantly berating them? Would you be more inclined to try harder for a cause you don't care all that much about if you were being bollocked constantly? We all know from experience that things turning toxic rarely ends well, and what we've got at present - manager and players - are all that we can call upon to turn this shitshow around; we can't change anything else now. It's clear that the players' confidence is extremely fragile and that it evaporates the moment something goes against them in a game, and getting on their back as some are is not conducive to any manner of remotely positive outcome in May. I think most of us experience frustration at games and have the odd outburst, but that pish definitely crossed the line and then some. Nobody celebrated any of that tonight, but thankfully the majority of rational folk seem to understand the very basic reality that either encouraging the team or simply holding your tongue are far better options than slamming a bunch of guys who are not going to magically get any better off the back of being constantly bodied.

I wouldn't be so sure, David; he was left scrambling by that dipping Skelly effort and then was also back-peddling rather hurriedly for a cross-cum-shot later on. I remarked at the game about his rootedness to his line for the opener; I'd need to see it again but my initial thought was that he should've been coming to punch that, at the very least. Hopefully that is the last time we ever have to see Peter Grant starting for Clyde. Nothing against the guy, but to say his legs have gone is a complete understatement.

If, as I suspect is the case, this is being said in defence of the three absolute dullards near the centre of the stand who were boring dozens of folk around them to death with their constant stream of vitriolic bile, then I can only laugh. Not bellowing at players and repetitively calling them everything under the sun for 90 minutes doesn't make reasonable fans "happy clappers", as they were informed by many around them, several of whom they meekly tried to square up to. Thankfully we were allowed to see out the final ten minutes or so in relative peace as they finally shut the f**k up for fear of a leathering.

This is the kind of game in which we've generally done well over the last month or so - one in response to a ruinously bad result that we are firmly second favourites in. We're getting to a point now, however, where pressure exists to get a result in these games. I suspect we will improve on tonight's showing (that won't be hard!), but that Stenhousemuir will simply have too much for us.

McCall and the group he's assembled have shown they don't have The Right Stuff when it comes to big games, so the coming playoff ain't looking like too rosy a prospect right now.

No thank you! And the gap is eight points, Mr. Fabregas. Not that it makes a jot of a difference, of course.

Three proper big games in the last few weeks and we have been absolutely horrific in, and lost, each one. Don't even know where to begin with that tonight.

Forfar stand a great chance of getting the 0-0 they've come for here. Absolutely nothing for us so far, Young is like a man down up there.

Sula in for Howie if he doesn't make it, Scullion out to the left, Leitch in behind Young and keep the rest as is. Thank you, Ian.

The poor current form constitutes a massive drop-off, of course, but the more compelling grounds for canning Farrell is the fact that the pattern of starting brightly and completely falling apart has now been a feature of each of his seasons in charge. There's no doubt he has a keen eye for a player, but the football he has the team playing is all a bit too nicey-nice. At 2-0 up I'd have been bricking it against most sides today, but I never really felt that Dumbarton were capable of mounting a serious late challenge. A very soft side, and that's the key difference between yourselves and Stenhousemuir.

+1 carriage to the Lee Hamilton love train. The guy has been at least an 8/10 in every game I've seen him thus far. Our best January signing, and it's not even close.

Good to see Uncle Faz sharing a smile and a joke with Ray Grant as he disappeared down the tunnel. Howie will be a big miss for us, and I'd have fancied Allan to get a bit of change out of Andy Munro. What a tool! Still, three well-earned points; it was always going to take coming up against such a soft-centred side, but hopefully that gives them a big boost. Cammy Ballantyne's heat map must look like a bright red rectangle.

Naturally, every single other team that was in the bottom half is winning too. I only made it in after half an hour but Dumbarton have bossed what I've seen and should've equalised but for a great stop from Kinnear.

I thought McGinn looked a wee bit shaky if I'm being honest, but he certainly came on to a game attacking-wise as it wore on. He's big enough, good enough in the air and has enough recovery pace to be just fine defensively in this division too. Weird stuff.

Rennie starting and King at left back in this week's edition of McCallball roulette. Hopefully Scotrail don't cause me to miss our lightning start...

I'll remember the East Fife and Elgin performances for a long time. Thank you for the memories Jack.

It's near impossible to envision a victory, but the patter outcome would be Clyde winning in impressive fashion to give us a grain of hope before then losing to Forfar.

What's most bizarre about our "style of play" (I use that phrase loosely) of late is that we were terrific in spells against Bonnyrigg playing it on the ground, with Leitch picking up some great positions centrally and linking up well with Scullion and King on the left and right. Since then, we've shifted Leitch about and then benched him, and are now resorting to endlessly shelling it long for Allan. I hope we get a post-match offering from McCall, but I won't hold my breath waiting for one.

Seven of today's starting XI were already at the club when McCall arrived three months ago, and he's worked with two of the other four since the end of December. The argument about building a whole new team would maybe fly if he played the whole new team, but he didn't. To perform in that manner today against an opponent that has been struggling for form even worse than ourselves (and is depleted by injuries to some key players!) is embarrassing, and the blame for that has to fall on the manager's shoulders. There are obviously some extenuating factors; we were in a horrific state in so many ways when he arrived, and it's never going to be easy to conduct a rebuild of this magnitude mid-season, but we have not built on the initial improvement he oversaw whatsoever. Elgin's starting team today featured more January additions than ours...

If the money man is a fabrication then we really are fucked - the outlay on coaching and playing staff since November will have us racking up debt again and our best chance of escaping the Lowland League (the first season) would be up shit creek. If he is legitimate, and I believe he is, then we are similarly likely to be screwed; going by what's been said, he could well pull out if we get relegated, and/or if Thomson departs. I find it difficult to believe that funding will be exclusively conditional on Thomson being chairman, but if it is, then oh dear. It's very funny that we've all spent a decade and a half praying for this kind of benevolent investment and, the season we've finally secured it, we are heading out of the leagues.

Hopefully I can get a tasering outside NDP next week so I can feel something after Dumbarton rock up and claim their free three points

All sounds very unsavoury. Usually I would call for the match to be replayed as a result, but a 2-0 defeat is probably about the best we could ask for tbh.

Can we get a point for drawing in the aggro? Please?