BinoBalls

I’m not especially confident. I think Kelty will be safe. Annan are getting result after result at the moment. We have them on the last day and that could be a potential nerve shredder. Yes we won on Saturday but it was an awful game and if it had finished 0-0 the mood would be a lot worse. Granted QOS are as weak as they have been in decades but I still don’t see them finishing 9th. So it’s between us and Annan.

I noticed Hamilton had equalised and thought ah well at least Annan didn’t win. Then Annan scored. I never believed for a minute we were playoff contenders at the top of the table. We largely have the same team as last season, this season was always about consolidation. We have a 7 point cushion over Annan which is handy, but if we want to keep it that way, we need to be creating more chances and that means more game time for a few of the guys who seem to be benched despite clearly offering more attacking threat than a few of the regular starters.

Alloa in good form and at home. Think they’re still a shade better than us at the moment. We also played midweek so will be some fatigue. I’d take a draw. Really disappointed the manager didn’t rotate a little in midweek, he seems quite regimented with not changing a winning team but then again I’m sure he know 1000 times more than me how best to manage a football team. Think this will be a home win but I’d be delighted to be wrong.

When City lost 3-1 at Alloa recently, succumbing to 2 late goals, I noticed a few Alloa fans saying they were surprised how decent Edinburgh looked and that they have a few good players. Then you should have beaten (an admittedly slightly weakened) Falkirk but for that embarrassing dive for the penalty. What’s happened since then? Has the points deduction knocked the stuffing out the team?

Anyone else notice how unfit Jack Leitch is at the moment? He was struggling throughout the 2nd half until he was hooked. Obviously has great delivery from corners etc and I think that’s the main reason he’s in the team. But he looked like he was blowing out his arse for most of yesterday.

Fantastic result and God bless Murray Dowey and all his family and friends. Really moving minute’s applause both before and during the game. An absolute tragedy but I hope the love and support brings some comfort to all who were affected. So sad. We will never forget and if anyone reading this is affected I am so sorry for your loss. It wasn’t a 5-0 game. Probably wasn’t even a 3-0 game. But we played great in the 2nd half and finished well. Very welcome 3 points.

Read a few comments a month back from Paul McLean basically saying it’s a very tough league, we’re part time, we should judge ourselves against the other part timers etc… Thats all well and good for a fan to say but I don’t really want to hear that from the club captain. Some of the performances and results suggest the team has mentally decided we’re going to lose before the kick off. I can’t see (e.g.) Alloa being comprehensively dismantled like we were today, so being part time is no excuse. I don’t expect us to win at Falkirk but I expect us to give it a fucking good go and make it as difficult as possible. Our aggregate half-time score in Grangemouth this season is 7-0. We shouldn’t be losing 3-0 after 16 minutes to any team outside the premier league, no matter how good Falkirk clearly are. More fight required please, and less defeatism. As for Falkirk, looks like they finally have a team putting the performances their fanbase deserves after the last few years of misery. Fair fucks to them.

Will this thread represent a Safe Space where both sets of fans can avoid contact with Falkirk supporters? Let the healing begin. Prediction 0-0. Attendance 841.

Stenhousemuir are a whopping 12/5 to win this (currently at bet365). Not sure why the bookies have Bonnyrigg such clear favourites. Don't see the Stenny price lasting coming Saturday morning.

That 5-2 game was crazy. We were down to 9 men at 1-1. Then with about 15 to go we got a corner. Put 2 men in the box and scored. I was young and naive and went crazy like we’d just won the World Cup. Should have known better. Falkirk had a very good team back then and we eventually succumbed, with the Bairns firing in 4 more goals. The emotional comedown was brutal. Aside: My Dad and all his family were/ are Falkirk fans. In fact if any of you Bairns reading this are familiar with the McNee family (father and son both sadly passed away in recent years, both had season tickets for Falkirk), then i send my regards. Great people.

I think that was a different game — either 1-1 or 2-2. It was midweek i think. Willie Irvine took the penalty that Gow saved. My memory is fucked these days though so could be wrong.

I don’t think we will hit Stenny numbers. There’s been a lot of fans not show up at Alloa for our previous 2 cup meetings in recent seasons, amidst accusations of unfair pricing and the perception that the stadium isn’t the best. I think that mindset will still keep about 100 away. Hope I’m wrong.

This is going to be exceptionally difficult. Alloa will be a level above the cup game. Especially tough if Hilson is still out. I’d take a point now if offered it. We’re very tough to beat in general so can see this one being 2-2.

Will take that. Was tough going at times in the first half and Edinburgh dominated most of the ball. Thought their CF was very lucky not to be sent off in the first half when he kicked out at McLean, and a minute later he passed up a great chance when clean through. However we controlled the 2nd half and deservedly took the 3 points after a stunning 30 yard free kick from Cammy Clark, who was excellent in general. Edinburgh looked alright in patches I thought, but I suspect both teams will be in the bottom half of the table. Away to Alloa next week will be an even bigger test and we will need a huge performance. Hoping we have Hilson back but since he wasn’t even on the bench today that seems unlikely. Spence doesn’t quite convince for me, I’d rather we played Thomson because he holds up play very well.

An away trip to a big team would be perfect, so I’m fully expecting to be drawn away to Livingston.

I’ll settle for 6 wins and a couple of draws.

Hamilton keeper absolutely should have been off. Once he realised he couldn’t get the ball he swiped Sammon’s leg away and then it’s probably 0-2 and 10v10. I see Alloa as our biggest rivals and wasn’t too upset at the result, but you’ve got to say fair fucks to them getting into the playoffs in the first place. Been a decent force for a long time now.

There were issues with the young team at the Annan game when we clinched the league. There were 100 of them all in the first 6 or 7 rows of seats. Game starts and they won’t sit down. There were families behind them and they couldn’t see anything. I tried roaring aggressively at them to FUCKIN SIT DOWN but the ones at the back just said they couldn’t sit because then they wouldn’t be able to see. I could see fine because I was on the end of the row but there was a girl of about 8 who couldn’t see a thing. Her family were just accepting it but I approached a hapless steward who said (incorrectly) that they’ve tried everything to get them to sit but they won’t sit. Problem could be solved by employing a burly couple of stewards and once some start getting chucked out then the rest will pay attention. It kind of spoiled the occasion a bit for me. They sang and created a good atmosphere and it’s great to see many young people supporting the club but there needs to be some pushback. The family behind them probably won’t be back. That said, it is very very important to remember there’s probably only a small minority who are toublemaking bampots. The rest will be fine. I know one of the boys and he’s a pleasant quiet wee guy. So I think we need to condemn the arsehole ones but let’s not tar them all with one brush. The club should be looking to get stewards who these guys are actually afraid of, instead of what looks like mellow supermarket checkout staff on their day off wearing yellow jackets and unable to control anyone. Because right now some of the young team have realised they can get away with anything, and the bad stories will continue until something changes.

Unpopular opinion but I don’t think Geeks is good enough for League One. Yes he’s played very well this season but he’s been with us forever and has hardly stood out even in some really quite poor teams. The Annan winger completely skinned him from a standing start a couple of teams last month. I’d keep him because he’s versatile but I wouldn’t start him in League 1 (if we can bring in someone better which is a big if).

Do you think L1 strikers are that much quicker than L2 strikers? Yes they’ll be better but not necessarily faster.

See I think Paul McLean is still our best centre back despite his advancing years. I don’t think McGregor has looked too clever this season. I think we need better options out wide for sure. I don’t think Denholm will be around next season as he’s getting on a bit as well. That leaves Moore and maybe Cooper who can play out wide. Think we need to strengthen there.

Greenied just for this poetic description that perfectly encapsulates the frequent frustration and misery of being a lower league football fan.

It’s one thing saying “I expected more celebrating”, it’s quite another to say we are a “gormless fanbase” for not going wild at the final whistle — that gets into sour grapes territory and of course people are going to push back.

The level of celebration is always going to be relative to expectation level. Saturday was an explosion of euphoria… crazy scenes behind the goal, everyone knew then we were almost certainly champions and that we had plenty of games left to do it. Last night we quite didn’t manage to seal it. Any other club’s fans in exactly the same situation would have reacted the same, the notion that 600 people didn’t behave the “right” way is ridiculous. The management didn’t celebrate, the players didn’t celebrate, the Twitter guy didn’t celebrate and the fans didn’t celebrate. But somehow we’re all wrong and a couple of Dumbarton fans know best? Aye whatever.

Was Orsi the right winger? He looked excellent. Had our full back in knots a few times. And it’s not exactly a great pitch for skillfull players.