energyzone

A really bizarre match. We controlled the majority of the first half and when we scored 3 in 4 minutes it looked like we were in for a rout. Second half we started fairly well with most of the pressure on the Petershill defence. We then lost a goal out of nowhere, Petershill tightened everything up and gave us no space to play, and we lost another two poor goals. We hardly had a shot on goal in that second half. I don't think there was a lack of effort from the players - I just think a lot aren't good enough for premier league football. We needed someone in the middle to calm things down but I also thought Petershill played the perfect game in the second half and we could still be playing 12 hours later and not have scored. The end of the season cannot come quick enough. I'm always the optimist but even now I'm beginning to think we won't do it. And the league below will be a hard one to get out of....

Kilwinning 3-5 Petershill

I actually didn't think we were that bad apart from a few defensive lapses. We just needed someone to put the ball in the net during the period of pressure we had when it was 1-1 and it would have been a different game.

Given the right set of fixtures you could technically get a glimpse of matches at Thorn Athletic, Kilwinning, Irvine Vics and Troon all on the same train journey.

In fairness that goes for most clubs in the top league at the moment. Talbot have hoovered up the majority of leagues and cups. Looking at the strength of the league and the teams who populate it, there aren't many who could say they have had great success. Perhaps Beith or Glenafton would be the closest courtesy of their one league and one junior cup each over the last decade. Everyone else has probably underachieved.

It's even more perilous after tonight's result. I thought we had the games in hand to get us out of trouble but we don't seem to be able to pick up points in the league at the moment while others around us are pulling results out the bag.

Also interested to hear why Morrison was all set to join Kilwinning on loan before Darvel pulled the plug and offered him to Hurlford instead.

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who wakes regularly and early. Normally don't have a problem getting to sleep but the end of my sleep cycles seem to be very light and I wake often for no reason at all.

We've been fairly lucky with the weather in recent years and have fortunately avoided the fixture pile up that some clubs (mostly Talbot) have had to endure due to cancelled winter games and the old method of the junior cup taking priority. I remember one year they were due to play Ballingry (I think) and the park was covered in snow for about a month, delaying all the other fixtures both clubs were due to play. This also meant that other clubs were waiting weeks to finish their season due to Talbot having a huge backlog. I don't really care for the junior cup anymore and am quite happy for the Buffs to concentrate on the other trophies (or at least avoiding relegation will do). What I don't agree with though are Junior Cup matches taking place on Saturdays mid-season between two clubs who still have to pay each other in the league or another cup competition. For me, the outstanding matches should take place first and the JC should be played on the next available date, whether that be a midweek fixture or not. It's fine just now when we are able to play most weeks but you never know when a period of bad weather delays weeks of league fixtures and the schedule then delays them further due to allocated JC dates.

They appear to have done everything that would normally be expected in a MP investigation. Released details of where and when she was last seen, the basic circumstances of her last known position and an appeal for information. Everything else appears to have been driven by the furore surrounding the investigation. They've not ascertained any criminality and in the (presumed) absence of further information, the chief hypothesis is that she's entered the river. Police comms shouldn't be driven to satisfy the public thirst for knowledge about a case they have no real right to be intimately involved in. As the family have essentially said yesterday - people need to step back and let the investigation unfold. Not getting at you though, I'm genuinely interested in what you would have done differently though.

Right, but you said it's been a monumental f**k up since day one? Just wondering what info you have to suggest much in the way of errors in the search and overall investigation? The media have been all over this since it happened and that has bled into social media, opinion pieces and commentators all giving their uninformed opinion on the police investigation. We even have retired Detectives, some of whom haven't worked for two decades, giving their opinion on where the police have gone wrong, despite having absolutely no inside information about the investigation or the reasons behind the recent press release. Then we have this search specialist who appears indignant that he wasn't given this information and claiming that his strategy would have changed if he had been told, however conveniently won't tell us exactly how it would have changed (because it wouldn't). The family will have dedicated family liaison officers who will have no doubt told them that this information was to be released prior to the event, likely to preempt a media exclusive which was going to be published anyway. There is no other tactical or strategic reason for them doing so that I can see (albeit like everyone else here I am just a guy on a discussion forum with no inside information either).

As the SIO, what would you have done differently?

Thought the game was fairly even up until the sending off, Darvel were easily the better team in the second half until then. After that, Falkirk scored immediately and the game was done. The Falkirk fans were quite good tonight, last time out I couldn't hear anything at all from the Aberdeen support but the fans tonight were quite noisy.

I get you have a real fascination with Darvel but clubs paying big wages at this level is not a new phenomenon and Talbot have been successful right through the days of Kilwinning, Meadow, Hurlford doing so. I'd be surprised given the home attendances, the cup runs and the fundraising if Talbot didn't have the second highest wage bill in Tier 6. Problem is now that the Lowland League is now a competitor for players and the actual player pool across the country has probably reduced after the lockdowns. Either that or Sloan has lost it. But finishing second in the league and winning the SJC and South Challenge Cup last season would tend to suggest not. Win the two games in hand over Darvel and Talbot are two points behind and in second place. Not the worst situation to be in.

How do you propose they do that?

People are taking this way too seriously.

The team were excellent today. It could have been 7 or 8 in the first half.

Great entertainment so far, good pace to the game and plenty of chances and incidents. More of the same in the second half please.

We did, but that was the worst Talbot performance I've ever seen so I doubt you'll be as bad as that again. Still not sure exactly how good this Buffs team are either.

Both Kilmarnock and Rangers were playing at home at the exact same time which has a major impact on our attendances. And there are still people who refused to come back when the club moved stadium a few years ago. The atmosphere was very flat though, it was much better against Tranent for some reason. Forfar were very well organised at the back and were content to let Kilwinning have most of the play. I couldn't really see us scoring in all honesty until Collins' header went in. But it wasn't a total mismatch - you could just tell one team played at a higher level consistently.

There's a reason he's now on his 4th or 5th club at this level though. I don't think the consistency will ever be there unfortunately.

Having worked in various sexual offences units, I can confidently say that the sexual exposure incident would have been allocated to some poor sod in the Met who was juggling at least 15-20 existing enquiries as well as working shifts and responding to daily ongoing incidents. Nothing may well have been done but probably not for the reasons most suspect.

I thought Tranent looked good for the first 20 minutes, well organised and comfortable on the ball, and when they scored their second I thought it was going to be a case of how many. After that though they were just out-fought for everything and never really came back into the game.

You would think for such ardent Royalists they would know that the Queen was Elizabeth I of Scotland (and the UK) and not Elizabeth II.

As an aside, whatever happened to Tommy Bryce? His teams always seemed to pay good football whenever I watched them. Is he still involved at this level?