O'Kelly Isley III

A contributory factor perhaps, but not a dominant one - much more damaging has been the run of injuries which has stretched an already small squad. We reached January relatively OK, with the major exceptions of Byrne and Gemmell, but since then Carswell, Wilson, McNiff, Buchanan, McKee, Wallace, Russell McLean and Orsi have all missed games, with Gray and Ross McLean also missing out on earlier occasions. I'm not sure about the Binos, but I'm guessing they may have benefitted from a bigger squad and less injuries. But such is life.

Jeezo... between this joker and the bam from Montrose, is Angus full of inbreds or what ?

Shawfield was definitely a one-off, a characterful hodge-podge of a stadium but in truth it wasn't the best place to watch a game. The terracing was very shallow and you felt a long way from the pitch due to the dog track, with the sight lines affected by numerous vertical poles. IIRC there was also a mesh fence about two feet high in there too. I also seem to recall a considerable walk from the art deco 'Shawfield' turnstiles to the terracing with the huge Tote scoreboard looming above the far end - I never understood any of it. Despite all of the above I loved going there, it was a very real football ground.

The concept of a circle narrowing is an interesting one. In terms of narrowing I would have maybe have gone for an elliptical firing squad. These distinctions will be important in an independent Scotland.

You are taking a common sense approach but I doubt many Sons fans will be taking up that 11/4 offer. For most of this season we have taken a very formulaic approach to how we've played, one that is based on the squad we have and their capabilities. It wasn't pretty at times but it got us top for three quarters of the season. That now looks to be shot through and we're really struggling to get a team on the park never mind mount a title challenge. It was very evident at Forthbank on Saturday that Stirling have genuine options on the bench, as well as a decent starting eleven so let's be honest here, if you guys blow it there something extraordinary will need to have happened - that's not defeatism, just realism. As for ourselves, we are still chasing a promotion with no financial means of consolidating it should we get there. But let's leave the club ownership - for now.

It was indeed, but the thing was, although the squad was badly weakened by injuries tonight the level of performance wasn't radically different from most of this season. For three quarters of the fixture list we have dug out wins in these types of games, and now that capability appears to have deserted us, with not too much to suggest that we can regain it. The table doesn't lie and neither do the results. We've now taken two points from twelve against a workmanlike but modest Forfar team, with an air of desperation at times in tonight's second-half. We are down to the bare bones with Stenny and Annan our next two fixtures, neither will be anything other than tough. The title is now effectively out of our hands but we just need to soldier on. Like other things connected with DFC we'd dearly love to change it, but it is what it is.

I'm pretty sure the bespectacled Ipswich Manager is Bill McGarry and the player on the extreme right is Scotsman Bill Baxter who later left for Hull City due to 'ill-discipline' in his relationship with incoming boss Bobby Robson.

As a referee you are perfectly entitled to stand up for your colleagues, but let me ask you a question - were you in attendance at Forthbank last Saturday ? If you were you would surely have witnessed a very mediocre performance by the match officials which started in the opening minutes and continued from there. I could easily list six or seven incidents which incensed the supporters of both clubs, and it's probably a good thing that the outcome was a draw. As for the fans, aye some may be ignorant on the laws but the levels of fury amongst Sons fans in the first half in particular can't be put down simply to that. And the Binos fans were right to howl about timewasting - it annoys the f**k out of us too by the way. I have great respect for those who choose to be referees but as the Nutmeg article suggests it seems that a whole lot of experience is now concentrated at the top division due to VAR and it is affecting the lower leagues. Finally, I have a question; why has the role of linesman been virtually reduced to that of a spectator with a flag ? Aron Lynas was kicked in the head (not wilfully) directly in front of the far-side assistant and yet his involvement was - nothing.

As a postscript to Saturday's questionable refereeing performance by Mr Scott, I can heartily recommend an article by John Penman in the current issue (27) of Nutmeg. In it he highlights how the intro of VAR has necessitated six officials covering each Premier Division fixture, four in the stadium and two remotely monitoring, all of which has now come at a cost in the rotation of officials and their levels of experience across the three lower divisions. Nail firmly hit on the head and fair play to the editor for looking beyond the top league.

One of the Garys - Neville or Lineker.

It maybe won't surprise you to know that on this issue there is a massive disconnect between the actions of the club ownership/BOD and the fanbase. Never mind the principles involved, it has recently had a disastrous effect on the playing surface. Whoever your 'you' is, it certainly isn't Sons supporters.

Just for the record the Sons Supporters Trust has now written to the Chairman of Dumbarton FC strongly reiterating our previously-stated opposition to any plan to enable 'B' teams to further encroach on the SPFL. We also advised that any short-term financial gain arising from voting for any such proposal would have to be very carefully considered against the prospect of supporter boycotts of 'B' team fixtures in future.

I must have missed wee Fin attaching his heid to his right boot at half-time

Yes, I mentioned this on Saturday night and not one Bino commented. Funny that.

By all accounts he was an absolute gent and he was certainly a decent player, but there can't have been many footballers anywhere whose favourite singers were Peter, Paul and Mary