energyzone

Surely just because @jimbaxters mistakenly posted it in the WOS forum instead of the Junior one, bless him

I thought so too, mind you it's the stage of the season where players are being approached by other clubs now that certain clubs are confirmed in a certain division. I thought it was strange that he mentioned 6 or 7, not sure how that's meant to make the rest of them feel with 3 matches left, albeit there's nothing much left to play for.

I wonder who the 6/7 players the manager referred to in his post-match interview as having conversations with are.

It was a quarter of a century ago in fairness.

Fans at this level (especially those from Talbot by the way) are notorious for being critical of artificially funded clubs but Gartcairn seem to escape most of the attention. Compare the jibes directed towards Johnstone Burgh and Darvel (and previously Irvine Meadow, Hurlford, Kilwinning, Bathgate etc) to the relative silence towards Gartcairn. At least it was mostly clear who was funding those clubs whereas all we've been told about Gartcairn is that the funders are a bunch of like-minded businessman in some sort of jolly business venture, investing in a club with no fans, while Airdrie and multiple other pre-existing clubs are a short distance away, all of whom would have welcomed the cash injection. They are warping the financial landscape at this level just as much as those other clubs but there is a curious lack of conversation here about it. Maybe the source of the finances is legitimate but it rings alarm bells for me.

Ha, good point. I meant Johnstone Burgh for the third spot - I don't think they are out of the race yet.

I'm going to go for Drumchapel, Shotts and either Blantyre, Rutherglen or Shotts for the third place. Unfortunately with Beith looking like they are winning the Premier then we won't have a fourth team promoted.

The impasse was partially down to the Junior representatives at the meetings giving false information to the rest of the group. I remember the former Kilwinning Rangers chairman saying that their representative at the PWG announced that no West Junior clubs were interested in the pyramid, which was a surprise to him as Kilwinning and others had been working for some time towards a new league structure.

True - four North Ayrshire teams next season. I don't mind playing some of the Glasgow/Lanarkshire teams but the crowds do suffer from a lack of a local rivalry.

On a brighter note, at least we will have another local derby next season with Ardrossan being promoted.

We tried to play the same way as we did last week (to great effect) and knock the ball about but that early goal came from nowhere and rattled us for a good 10-15 mins. Rutherglen are a strong physical side and they completely outmuscled us all over the park and defended very well. We didn't really get any clear opportunities at all and were relying on a second ball in the box. Unfortunately I'm not sure we win any second balls all match. I can't really fault the effort - but the quality just isn't there.

All five are definitely winnable but none of them are easy. The start of the season was a sticky patch, we then went on a good run and had another downturn in form. Hopefully last week's last-gasp winner will improve the morale and give the team some belief that it is possible. It's also possible to lose all five mind you!

He's been ok, he's been asked to do a lot of running and unglamorous work. When he was previously with us he was in a better team (and 5 years younger) and probably had a lot more action in front of goal. We are missing our two main strikers through long term injury so it's been hard for Boylan and Gavin Millar, who are both natural wingers, to essentially hold the entire frontline and do the dirty work as well as score goals.

I thought the team were excellent today. One mistake which led to the first Johnstone goal and then a lack of closing down which led to the second. Apart from that I can't think of many mistakes at all. It was a stuffy match with not a great deal of quality but we were very disciplined and deserved the win. The midfield were very good and I thought the defence was very composed and knocked the ball around well. The second equaliser was a real sucker punch and came from nowhere. But to go up the park and score the winner was fantastic. We've heard plenty of criticism of the team when things haven't gone our way so plenty of credit is due for the way they didn't feel sorry for themselves at that point and went on to win it. Great scenes at the end with the players celebrating with the young team and another good travelling support. What a fantastic ground Keanie Park is - my first time visiting and I was very impressed.

Could Talbot not request to move a game or two forward to avoid that situation?

I think so. As I said, I'm an optimist and always like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I think a team coached by Ian Durrant should be playing better football but maybe it's the personnel who aren't up to it. Having said that, the fact that no team has pulled away from the pack suggests that our achilles heels - consistency and basic mistakes - are endemic at this level. So maybe we are expecting too much and this division is just about grinding your way to promotion. So I'm not sure that any other manager would be much better.

I thought we were a bit unfortunate yesterday - I didn't think we deserved to lose and thought we had the bulk of the play. But I suppose the match summed up our season in many ways. Although an eternal optimist when it comes to football, I agree we won't get promoted now and I'm not sure where we turn to next - I can't imagine the manager will want to stay either. Apart from a decent spell earlier in the season the club has been on a bit of a slide for the past 2.5 years and I'm not quite sure how you arrest that. Having said that I don't actually think we are too far away from (relative) success - considering the gloom around the place the team have fought well to get over the awful start to the season and get into the top 3 for a good length of time - even if it's been an artificially high placing due to other teams having games in hand.

I think you've misread the post you are replying to - you've both said the same thing.

Kilmarnock's pitch looks much better in person than it does on TV, possibly due to the position of the main TV camera in relation to the sun. I agree that we would prefer a grass pitch but I don't think artificial pitches are as big a deal as a lot of people make out.

The reason some clubs don't want to take part is that it's now a glorified West of Scotland cup with a sprinkling of clubs from Tayside and the North of the country competing in the earlier rounds, run by an archaic and irrelevant organisation. I don't know why you can't understand this.

The crowds haven't been great at all recently and it's hard to muster up enthusiasm at this level - no offence to any other club in the league but most of Kilwinning's local rivals are in the league above or below. There are only 4 Ayrshire clubs in the First Division (two of which are Whitletts and Maybole) and the sense of local rivalry and the associated interest just isn't there. Coupled with both Kilmarnock and Rangers playing at home yesterday, a game v Cambuslang when neither team is playing that well isn't going to tempt many people to turn out.

I'm not sure it is, Whitletts have beaten both Kilwinning and Rutherglen in recent weeks and from what I saw of the highlights, deserved at least a point against Drumchapel. I think they'll run out of games to save themselves but I don't think many teams fancy playing them at this point in time.

I don't even think Syme played in that match? Was he not out long term through injury?

Are they a sleeping giant though?

Are the semi finals still two-legged?