Frankie S

Apologies, I was in the midst of posting the exact same thing.

Mo Salah throwing the toys out of the pram after getting subbed, and replaced by Doak, in the away game against Chelsea last month probably hasn’t helped. Liverpool used 5 subs today, but Salah played the full 90 mins despite the team cruising to a comfortable win (it was the same against Newcastle last week, Liverpool used 5 subs, but Salah played the full match). It would have been an ideal time to give Doak some minutes towards the end today, but pandering to Salah’s ego is probably Klopp’s priority ATM, given the persistent Saudi speculation.

Have you ever watched the under 21s under Scott Gemmill? We have some decent individuals, but as a team - the word ‘rabble’ would dignify things unduly. Anyone starting regularly in the English Championship, which Hackney is, walks into that squad. Hackney has started all of Middlesbrough’s games this season. I was slightly surprised at the time that he wasn’t one of the Under 21 players Clarke called up to have a look at and train with the first team at the Spanish training camp in the summer (Conway, Fiorini and King IIRC). Maybe he’s picked up a knock in training, or has asked to be left out to concentrate on his club career (which didn’t hurt Hickey or Anderson’s full international prospects to be fair), but his omission is unlikely to be as a result of lack of form (or talent).

This post reminds me of Ed Begley in ‘12 Angry Men’ for some reason.

Botterill has just been sent off after an altercation with a Cove player after he tried to pick up the ball in the box (while play had been stopped) and the Cove player impeded him. The Cove player then fell to the ground as if he’d been struck. Hard to tell from the other end of it was play acting from the Cove player or not, though his fall looked theatrical to say the least. Cowie on, and Walker withdrawn. McKay on too so looks like 5 at the back now.

Fantastic free kick from Mimnaugh into the top corner just before half time to make it 2-0, albeit slightly against the run of play. Formation looks fluid: 4-5-1 switching to 4-4-1-1 at times. Cove have had the best of the first half and we’ve ridden our luck at times, but we are a real threat on the break, and Walker had one glorious surging run down the middle half way through the half, which looked like it was ended by a foul, though his reputation obviously precedes him and the ref played on . Reilly has done well and is a much improved player this season compared to last. Shame to lose Cochrane to injury again though. Not quite sure of what to make of MacIntyre so far. He looks very slight and small, but I guess that’s not always a problem with a full back. He’s done ok so far, to be fair. Ambrose has held things together fairly well in central defence, McLelland has been decent but has a tendency to make me nervous at times, and has picked up his obligatory booking already, and Botterill’s handling has been good. Not sampled the catering yet, as we had a Burger King before the match.

Cove are a decent team who have had slightly the better of the first half of the first half, with a couple of half chances and dangerous looking scrambles in the box, with the Queens defence looking shaky at times, but Queens always look a threat on the counter. I expect more goals in this one.

Great start at Cove with a swift counter attack ending in a lovely finish by Harvey Walker. Edit: Walker just fired a great ball into the box which almost resulted in a second.

Anyone who thinks any other Scottish side outwith the OF (both of whom I’d expect Villa to beat fairly comfortably in a two-legged European tie) would have done much better against Villa is deluded. That’s the most one-sided game of football I’ve ever seen, and I was at the Malmo game. Yes, Hibs have a porous defence (and to be fair some reasonable quality in attacking areas as shown by the Luzern games), but Villa always had several gears in reserve and treated much of the match (second half especially) as a training session. Villa have quality in every position, and are simply streets ahead of anything Hibs will encounter in the Scottish Premiership. Hibs played very narrow, and gave Lucas Digne the freedom of Lochend, but Villa would have sworded them if the full backs had got drawn out too. The first touch and passing of the Villa players was on another level, and while Hibs pressed reasonably effectively at times in the first half, Villa’s technique and precision allowed them to play out with ease. A good example was towards the end of the first half, when McGinn (who, along with Digne and Watkins, was one of Villa’s best players - that slide-rule pass to Digne for the cross for the third goal was sumptuous) was under pressure in his own box from a three man press: he simply pinged a pass right across the six yard line to Diego Carlos, with Youan positioned no more than a yard or two out of the line of the pass. The pace on the pass meant Youan wasn’t getting there, but any slight inaccuracy would have left the Hibs player with a tap in. Hibs instantly went from having a good press on to being hit on the break, and in that break Watkins should have slid in a fourth, for his hat trick, just before half time. That, in microcosm, was the story of the game, and the gulf between the sides. It’s likely Villa will play a second string team in the second leg, but their squad is deep, and even that will be a daunting prospect for Hibs.

Christ, tough job Walker’s got in extracting any praise from the Queens crowd it seems. Didn’t make the Annan game due to work commitments (though planning to be at Cove next week), but I was hugely impressed with him at Edinburgh City. He clearly has loads of pace, raw ability and potential. If he was the finished article, he wouldn’t be at Palmerston.

I have a pal who’s a Leicester City season ticket holder, and he raves about Barnes and can’t believe he hasn’t had more of a chance with England. He made one appearance for them, as a late sub in a friendly against Wales in 2020, and hasn’t had a sniff since. Always thought he was the sort of player Scotland need - direct, pacy, strong, and weighs in with his shares of goals and assists. It was reported last season that Clarke and Carver were down at a Leicester game, which was curious at the time as neither team had a player obviously eligible for Scotland, other than Barnes. After that, I thought there might be an announcement that Barnes had switched to Scotland. Nothing happened, and he wasn’t in the next squad. Given Clarke’s thoroughness, I expect this avenue has been explored.

I was down that end in the first half too - parallel with the edge of the box Edinburgh City were defending, so a good vantage point to see him in action in the first half today, and I thought some of his cut backs were excellent. Floated crosses into the box are fairly pointless given the size of our attack, and his options were limited to cutting it back to an incoming player, or firing it with pace low across the front of the six yard box. He did both well. I can recall one overhit cross, but more good balls that would have found a willing taker had our strikers been on the same wavelength. I didn’t think our forwards were making great runs in support tbh, and Walker’s options were always limited, but I was really impressed with him today. He was head and shoulders our best player in the first half.

Very well taken debut goal from Doherty, following a good whipped cross from Gibson, reminiscent of one of his assists at Meadowbank last season. The McClelland second booking was incredibly harsh: as has already been mentioned he didn’t run to the crowd at the barrier - the fans invading the pitch ran to him. That’s one where the pitch invaders (mainly kids) will have to take a share of the blame. I was hoping Gibson would come on at half time, but I guess it was always going to be a like for like replacement for Walker, who was hugely impressive in the first half, though perhaps drifted out of it a bit in the second before the substitution. Great to have two wide players like Walker and Gibson in the squad as it always gives us an option from the bench. Gibson is one of these players that makes things happen. I can’t see him being at Palmerston for too long, so let’s enjoy him while we can. None of McKechnie, Connelly and Reilly had great games tbh. Mimnaugh was also disappointing today. I don’t know what’s happened to Connelly. I keep expecting him to deliver on his initial promise, but he dithered when put in a good position from Walker on the edge of the six yard box in the first half, and that summed up his contribution today. We really stepped it up in the second half of the second half, and Cochrane was unlucky to see a curling shot come back off the post, and their keeper made one very good save, but it should have been more comfortable. Edinburgh City are a very poor side, and will surely struggle this season, so no great accolades are due for a win that was harder work than it needed to be. Relieved to get the 3 points on the board though, as for a long time it looked like we were never going to score.

Queens have dominated the match so far, but lost a goal from a corner against the run of play. Harvey Walker has been outstanding: pacy and threatening. He has the right back on toast, and has put a succession of good crosses and pull backs into the box throughout the half, but there’s very little movement from the forwards, and a number of good opportunities have been squandered. We’re really lacking up front. Connelly, Reilly and McKechnie are so diminutive that any cross above head height is a waste of time (though Walker’s service has been very good to be fair, we just haven’t been able to capitalise). Edinburgh City look as resoundingly average as they did last season. They’re here for the beating, but it’s an open question whether we’ll be able to take advantage. edit: not sure why Mimnaugh’s on corners with Walker on the field: his delivery’s been terrible, that’s another corner that didn’t beat the first defender.

Tbh, that doesn’t sound particularly unusual. Searches and checks at football are usually quite cursory compared to big concerts, which have become draconian. I took my son to see Wu-Tang Clan at the Hydro in Glasgow a couple of months ago, and full airport-style checks including metal detectors were in operation. Not only that, but stewards were actually inserting their hands directly into people’s pockets to check the contents, rather than asking them to disclose the contents or empty them out. They were also asking people to open up their specs cases and wallets and take out the contents. I told my son that if a steward attempted to put his hands into my pockets, or my son’s, I’d be demanding to speak to a supervisor and taking the matter further, but fortunately it didn’t happen in our case. I was quite vocal in expressing my opinion towards the stewards (many of the people they were intimately searching were just kids), and a number of people in the queue also spoke up in agreement. Had a steward attempted to search us in that fashion I’d have refused and made a complaint. There’s definitely a line that can be crossed, from effective and responsible stewarding and security to an invasion of privacy and a breach of civil liberties. From your description there, I’d say the steward was only doing his job.

My bad, yes, it was Mark Adair that was dismantling the Scotland bowlers.

Scotland secured a narrow a win against Ireland at the Grange today in the last of the T20 qualifiers. Scotland’s in-form openers, Hairs and Munsey, both got themselves out early, but it was a tale of two immensely promising young cricketers, the first of which is 23-year-old Brandon McMullen, who ruthlessly dismantled Ireland’s bowling attack, scoring 68 from 35, with 4 fours and 5 sixes. Had he not holed out on the boundary in the fifteenth over, Scotland would surely have posted an even more impressive total than the formidable 213 they racked up at the end of 20 overs. The second cricketer is 24-year-old Brad Currie, whose bowling was exceptional, taking 5 wickets for 13 runs from his four overs. He should have had Tector before he did, with the umpire mystifyingly missing a thick edge, safely taken by wicketkeeper Cross, shortly before Berrington caught the same batsman off Currie’s bowling. Currie was fantastic in the field too, as he always is, with two good catches, which would have been three had he not uncharacteristically dropped one off the last ball of the innings. He also pulled off a spectacular stop on the boundary, palming the ball back into play in mid-air from over the rope, preventing a six. These two were definitely the difference today, albeit McMullen had good support from Berrington, and the Scottish captain has had a good tournament, notwithstanding the fact that he can’t win a toss (that’s a remarkable eight tosses in a row lost now). Other than Currie, the rest of the Scotland bowlers got thumped all around the Grange by the Irish batsmen, and by (edit) Mark Adair in particular, who was the pick of their batsmen with 72 from 36. It was slightly disappointing that Ireland ran Scotland so close, after Currie picked up the first four Irish wickets for not very many in his opening spell. George Munsey was unlucky to catch Irish captain Paul Stirling on the boundary, just touching the rope in the process, from Mark Watt’s bowling, but it’s fair to say that no-one in the Scottish bowling department really stepped up to give the outstanding Currie much assistance, with Main in particular being smashed all over the place, going for 18 from the 18th over. I’m surprised Berrington persisted with him after his first two had gone for 26. Still, beating the fiercely-competitive Irish without really firing on all cylinders is a promising sign of the potential of this emerging Scotland team. I maintain that man for man (taking into account that pace bowler Chris Sole wasn’t fit for these matches, and we couldn’t call on the services of a number of county players), Scotland currently has a more talented squad than the Irish, and it’s been a while since we’ve been able to say that. That’s consecutive victories over our old rivals in the ODI qualifiers in Zimbabwe, and the T20 qualifiers. All in all, a dominant performance by Scotland in this tournament, deservedly progressing to the finals in 2024, with six wins from six.

Weather looks set fair for Scotland v Ireland at the Grange this afternoon. Should be a good contest, although the wicket wasn’t the most batsman-friendly yesterday for the game against Denmark, and Germany have struggled after a good start to get runs on the board against Italy this morning, finishing on 141 all out after 19.5. Can Scotland win a toss? Checking back, we’ve lost 7 tosses in a row - against Zimbabwe and the Netherlands in the ODI WC qualifiers, and 5 in a row in these T20 qualifiers.

A bit of a struggle for Scotland’s batsmen today, not the typically fluent batting performance we’ve come to expect in these qualifiers (the match against Jersey aside). Berrington more or less single-handedly salvaged the innings, with brief late support from Leask. Not sure of the wisdom of bringing Mackintosh in at 5 - he looked nervous and tentative throughout (aside from one classy sweep shot), as he has in most of his performances with the bat for the national side to date. It’s definitely bowler-friendly conditions at the Grange today though. I’d expect 159 to be more than enough.

Ireland v Germany at Goldenacre abandoned due to weather. Pitch inspection at midday for Italy v Austria. Scotland v Denmark at the Grange (reduced to 18 overs per side) will start at 11.30am if there’s no further rain. Even if it’s not raining in Stockbridge atm, that looks optimistic as it’s raining steadily in Leith at the moment, and the sky is ominously grey.

Delighted to see George Munsey reclaim the record for the top score by a Scottish batsman in T20 internationals, albeit he’d only shared top spot with Oli Hairs for a day. Fantastic knock from him today. Netherlands apart, Scotland are clearly on a different level from the other European associates (and that’s without a bunch of county players that weren’t released for this series, or the recent ODI World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe), in both ODI and T20 formats, so it’s high time the ICC promoted us to full member status. It’s also about time that we saw the advent of a prestigious annual European T20 competition (similar to the Six Nations in rugby) including Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland (England too, if they could be bothered) and qualifiers. The likes of Munsey, Hairs, McMullen, Berrington, Leask, Sharif, Watt, Currie et al. are far too good to be wasting away in the hinterland that is associate cricket. They need exposure to a better class of cricket on a regular basis, and I’m sure that they would thrive. This is the best group of players I’ve seen represent Scotland, and I’ve been watching Scotland for over 30 years. Though he wasn’t at his fluent best with the bat today, McMullen’s potential (as has already been noted) is astronomical, as we saw yesterday against Italy, but there are high quality players throughout the team and the squad now. Scotland have been kept locked outside the door with a begging bowl for far too long by the ICC. This group of players deserves better.

Scotland lose the toss again, for at least the fifth time in a row (including all 4 matches to date in this tournament). Austria put us in to bat. Not sure that will help them much though…

Excellent all round performance by Scotland today. We were good in all departments, after a below par performance against Jersey. Italy are no mugs, with some high quality county players in their ranks, but we completely outclassed them today. Oil Hairs was at his belligerent best, but Madsen dropped him early in his innings, putting down a relatively simple chance, and he was dropped again (albeit a tougher chance) when he was in the 20s. He’s such a big hitter that you have to get him out early. As has already been said, he could cause absolute carnage against the likes of Austria or Denmark. McMullen was absolute quality though. He’s such a good all round cricketer (he had a brilliant run out to his name today too), and it was a batting masterclass from him, with some absolutely sublime shots. Real shame he didn’t get the century he deserved. Delighted to see him moved up to number 3. Good bowling performance, with Main the pick of the bowlers, and we looked sharp and switched on in the field. Can’t see us not qualifying now. Expect a comfortable victory against Austria tomorrow, and (weather permitting) the same against Denmark on Thursday. Looking forward to the Ireland game on Friday. Scotland should go into that match with real confidence.

Hairs gets his century, scoring 102 from 40 balls. I was at The Grange in 2003 when Ryan Watson scored 103 off 43 against Somerset, and this has been a similarly brilliant knock from Hairs today, albeit with let off early in his innings when he was dropped by Madsen.

Scotland off to a good start at The Grange. 97 for 1 after 9, with Hairs back to his belligerent best, currently on a quickfire 63 from 25. Italy have dropped a couple of chances though, and Munsey still looks a bit out of form, going cheaply for 12. Glad to see McMullen in at 3. We should be able to rack up a big total here.