Broony88

We didn’t have three central midfielders though did we ? We had Todd and Cochrane in the middle of the park with Connelly and Mckechnie floating around and not really doing much. I’m still not sure if it was meant to be a 3-4-1-2, a 3-5-1-1 or a 3-4-3. Mckechnie kept drifting out to the right which meant the shape was totally lopsided and I can’t actually recall much play if any at all down our left side.

Had little to no footballing ability in him but worked hard and did pressure the opposition in to mistakes on the odd occasion. Seem to remember a bit like Cochrane he actually improved when we played him a bit higher up the park and he was harassing players in a more dangerous area. He was certainly no great loss to us when he left but he did well to get a stint at Dunfermline on I assume bigger wages.

Fully down to us playing 3-5-2 or a Bartley interpretation of it, looked more like 3-5-1-1 before injuries and then second became a 3-4-3 almost or Mckechnie and Connelly were certainly much closer to Reilly. No reason Walker shouldn’t have come on for Connelly earlier other than the unfortunate timing of the two injuries leaving our substitution windows short.

Connelly absolutely shat it for the Donaldson clearance off the line. Waiting for the ball to drop for him to knock it in, too scared to stick his head in where he might take a sore one. Didn’t think it was a penalty at the time as looked shoulder to shoulder from the far end but looks another to add to Colin Steven’s long list of shite decisions.

Falkirk better side without carving us wide open. We carried much more of a threat second half but didn’t really have any sustained pressure on the Falkirk goal. Think we will be anywhere between 3rd and 6th this season, definitely can’t see that being improved on. Stone, Ambrose, Houston and McClelland had everything thrown at them under control so why Marvin thought the defensive reshuffle was required is beyond me. Walker for MacIntyre seemed the safer change but he obviously didn’t fancy Walker up against Morrison. Well after three seasons if anyone can still defend Paul McKay they would be doing more of it than he has in a queens shirt.

Colin Steven reffing this will ensure that our defence will be upstaged in the comedy stakes. Can’t remember if it was him for Killie at home for the Oli Shaw penalty, foul was about three yards outside the box or if he sent off Wullie for dissent after giving an extremely soft penalty to Hamilton in the same season. Don’t think he was in charge for both but definitely one of them. An absolutely shocking referee but just got to hope he gets the decisions comically wrong in your favour.

I don’t disagree with you about Falkirk and Hamilton but I don’t think it’s totally unrealistic to expect us to put up a decent showing and have our hat in the ring. The bookies had us as third favourites for the title and I think that’s a fair assessment of where we should finish, If we will do that is another matter.

Go back and watch them again, your take of a sitter might be different to mine but they had 5/6 very very good chances that they squandered. They had 15 shots to our 6 many of which were blocked while heading goalbound or fired wide/over. I think we have fallen short of the points total we should have considering we picked up three great points at Cove. Maybe we don’t have aspirations to get out of this league but if we do the two home defeats are not good enough. The fact they have followed a very similar pattern to last season of being extremely soft at the back and lack a killer instinct at the other end is worrying. You might see it differently which is absolutely fine but the jury is out here. Like I said above the next two games will give us more of an indication of where we are. Two defeats and we are out of the title race already and in a 3/4 way battle for two play off spots while possibly nervously looking over our shoulder @9th place.

Yes.

Hard to agree that we are night and day from last season, so far we have beaten the two promoted sides that are currently occupying 10th and 9th and beat Cove who contrived to miss 5/6 sitters. I’m not knocking the job Marvin is doing as it won’t be a quick fix but let’s not forget we are 0/2 at home and we have played two teams we would have hoped to be finishing above this season. Add in a disappointing draw at home to East Fife and we have picked up 2/12 points including league cup games. I would say the start of this season is following a very familiar pattern, hope I’m wrong but I’m not overly optimistic. The next two league games will give us an idea of where we are.

His rolled down socks look majestic while he arses around though, you have to give him that. A real Rolls-Royce of a centre back, Virgil van Dick.

No idea if it’s true but a few people mentioning on Facebook group that Efe isn’t a great time keeper and this is his third offence for being late to games/meetings. If so he has to be punished but surely not to the detriment of the team, isn’t a fine going to hurt him more than actually shooting ourselves in the foot in to the bargain and dropping him. Defence with any combination that includes Paul Mckay is an accident waiting to happen, just not good enough and if we continue to pick him we are handicapping ourselves every single game. If Brydon is going to be out long term then we had to get someone else in. As above thought Ferguson was an empty jersey today and not sure why we have signed him in all honesty. He said he wants to pitch in with goals and assists but I don’t think I have seen him get beyond the ball or even attempt to really get on the ball. Did a fantastic job of just standing near opposition players but not doing anything constructive. Logan had an absolute nightmare and everything he went near turned to , Houston hasn’t pulled up many trees since signing but for me he defends fairly competently and should get his chance next week in challenge cup. Not going to judge new striker on 20 odd minutes just hours after signing but he probably should have done better with his left footed effort. Can’t wait to hear what Marvin has to say about the debacle in general though.

Nothing official but the vlog posted above shows the goals.

Pretty poor from Botterill if that’s what has happened. I would say the ref wouldn’t send him off without seeing the incident so got to assume he has seen it all. David Marshall subbed at half time yesterday for Hibs so not sure if Johnson coming back after Thursday is less likely now. Happy enough with Cowie short term anyway.

Just read match report on website and it claims it was for handball, it never even travelled close to a hand in the area so no idea where they have got that from. Will need to see it again but I was positive it was given for a late tackle as McKechnie flung himself to the ground after the shot was away.

Was surprised penalty was given, probably the right decision but normally only given after VAR pores over it for 5 minutes before letting the ref have another look. Given we missed the opportunity to level it didn’t change the outcome of the game. Annan looked like a poor league 2 side to me on the day, will need to get players back fit or signings in or could be a long hard season for them. Very similar in style and quality to Edinburgh last week, got their goal and attempted to sit deep but a lack of quality in the second half coupled with us finally finding a little of ours. Not sure what Walker was doing with his dive, looked from the main stand like he had beaten the last defender (Gibson) and was clean through before needlessly throwing himself to the ground. Awful dive too, didn’t even make it look good (not that we want to see it anyway).

Considering the reports of Doherty from previous clubs fans I was pleasantly surprised. Nice touch, a physical presence and if Ronaldo had scored that volley there would almost certainly be pundits going daft about it. Early days but could be a very good signing. Too many passengers again for the majority but they got dug out by a few that changed the flow of the game. Good three points in the circumstances but we will have up improve if we have any aspirations of getting out of this league (up the way).

Hadn’t even had time to stop laughing at Dave McKays ineptitude before Paul says you think that was bad haha hold my beer. absolute diddy.

My reaction on seeing the first half In person was “ I do believe it”

Death, taxes and Dave and Paul Mckay being bombscares.

With the quality of the passing on display at times today I think them attempting to quicken it up could be an even greater recipe for disaster.

Tough tough watch, both defences were awful but think we just shaded it. Hard to currently see what McGuffie is going to bring to the team. One sided with no pace isn’t a great combo, he can’t play wide left as can’t run past anyone and he is as ineffectual on the right cutting in. Badly need another striking option or two, not knocking Gavin but nothing to bring off the bench isn’t great. Gibson and Walker made a difference when coming on but was too little too late unfortunately. Cochrane was back to the performances he stuck in for the majority of last season, constantly giving the ball away and towing that invisible caravan again.

I mean we only surrendered possession 5/6 times in our own half in the first half by playing each other in to trouble with the playing out from the back. There’s a time and a place for it and it wasn’t working for a long spell tonight. All for playing football or at least attempting it but when it’s causing you lots of problems you just have to ditch it.

Not sure we needed the penalty scorers read out and the score in the shootout every time either. Same with goals in the 90 mins it’s just a bit weird.

Thought Mimnaugh and Botterill were stand outs tonight, Gavin and McKechnie did well too. Logan worked hard but was like a fish out of water at left back for the majority, they were getting oodles of joy down that side until we brought Walker on. Plenty positives for us though and if we play like that most weeks with a few key players still to come in we should be ok.