squeezebox-son

Very reminiscent of a certain Mr C Wilson from this time last season. Although, I feel like Fin has his head screwed on the right way and hopefully won't let that kind of thing happen to him.

I just don't actually think he is all that effective in that role. I was really disappointed with what he contributed when he was with us and felt he only really helped us to control a handful of games and his mobility meant he got caught out far too often when teams pressed or played direct attacking football. As you have touched on, I hope we can take that similar approach. We should know enough about Wedderburn (and the other Stenny players) to know how to counter how they will want to play. I just hope Faz gets it right again this week!

I totally get the point your making but I'm sure there are far better and more dangerous players in the Stenny team than Wedderburn. As someone says above though, the better teams can sustain some pressure at times but know when to push forward and when to take the game to the opposition. FWIW, this is exactly the kind of game we typically lose (I fear). Strong favourites, had some good results etc etc. Not saying anyone is getting carried away but there is certainly a bit of a buzz starting around our fans and things too... I'm still not too excited due to the fact we were top of the league above at one point last season and then went about 3 months without a win! Albeit, we seem much more balanced across the squad and it does feel a wee bit different for many reasons.

Think the problem isn't the location thing it's that Pixellot is having issues and/or is down. See below.

Meh.

He certainly does look in good shape and has clearly been working with the team for training. I now wonder if Faz is planning on using him as a last resort if nothing else can be sourced. Jan already mentioned about how there isn't really an abundance of strikers and possibly Faz is waiting to see and if the right player doesn't come along and JG has been doing well enough in training and looks fit then having him is better than nothing. Just an estimation based on what info we have though!

Ah, surely it'll be a straight swap with the beast?

To a certain extent that is true. I think for a manager being astute enough, there will be players available who would be handy to bulk up our squad a bit. I still reckon we are a few weeks away from it but some of the teams higher up the leagues will have players who they want out with a chance of playing and things and some may even be happy to accept very little for them to have a good chance of getting some minutes. I'm not really sure Faz is astute enough in the market to make that work mind you... I also appreciate we must not have much left in the bank and none of this helps the fact it looks likenhe is trying to bring in 37 year old John Gemmell. Even if he is on amateur terms and receiving basically no wage.

Yeah, to be fair he does look in decent shape (arguable better shape than he ever was with us first time around!). But it's hard to see him having a huge impact - as much as I'd love to be wrong!

Yeah, I reckon it'll definitely be more Andy Geggan or Mark Lamont than Buchanan or Boyle (not that they were particularly impressive last season).

Rumours are that John is going to sign on... I would assume if he does it's a player coach role. But he might also be winding folk up which wouldn't surprise me at all.

That's a fairly honest view and pretty much exactly what I said to my brother as we left yesterday. Lots had/have written off Albion before a ball was kicked and on the face of it - I would say there will be worse teams in our league this season. But, ultimately you have played well in 2 games and have nothing to show for it. We have been that side many times over the last few years. Playing well and looking only 1 good addition away from being a really decent team. But far too often we looked good and lost games. Right now, and last season too FWIW, I don't care so much about the football as long as the results are there. The 2 generally go hand I hand, but at the moment we are doing things right. As you say, we haven't really gelled and look like we could do with the depth of 1 or 2 more additions. But I like the look of our squad and the balance we have throughout it. I just hope you are right and we do well. All the best for this season and I hope you guys can pick up some points soon.

I thought it was a long throw from our left hand side which Lynas had come over to take, but I may be mistaken and completely wrong!

Will highlights be available anywhere from the game? Be interesting to see the red card again and the goals too. I spoke to a neutral at the match who thought it was a yellow but also mentioned that he felt the Ref didn't rush into the decision and looked to consult the linesman before making his decision. I thought the penalty was correct at the time. Looked a very clumsy challenge from the wee Rovers' player. Hasn't been mentioned but the goal we lost was very poor. It came from one of the highly hyped long throws for us too... looked all to easy to me.

I can see it as a signing but I also see him as a wind up merchant so not sure what to make of his recent social media activity... We need a different option in a bit of a target man but I don't think he will offer enough at his age, if I'm being completely honest.

I agree. Annan will be a decent measure of how we are doing. I also think we missed McLean today. He was good last week and his direct play lead to our first goal last week. Love was all over but contributed less out wide and Orsi wasn't offering much at all (as he done all last year). McLean being back would be a nice addition for sure.

Yeah, that was far from pretty and I expected us to control the game much more vs 10 men. But for all Albion looked decent throughout, Long had very little to do. I won't pretend we haven't stolen that result to an extent, but we just need to take the result and move on to next week. We are capable of playing better I am sure, and hope we can produce some much better all round performances in the coming weeks. Gray was good throughout and Love pops up everywhere... although he doesn't always make the right decisions with his final ball and things. As they say, sign of a good team to win when not playing your best etc... just hope we can continue to gel and improve. Next...

Wasn't sure if anything had changed since our last visit but sounds like it'll be a nice wee flashback tomorrow

I reckon it might be Wallace in for Orsi and Love shunted out wide. Maybe see Gray come in to the midfield but it is difficult to say if he would replace McKee or Blair. On another note, where's the best pre match pint to be found these days? Bus cancelled so will be through on the train and arriving between 13:30 and 14:00.

I may be wrong but I think it was following the charges of some kind of sexual assault, so yeah you may be correct. But I also feel like the sexual assault thing was before he played for us too. Someone will confirm anyway I'm sure. Maybe he thought he'd have a better chance of finding a club if he didn't have 64 previous clubs to his name.

We didn't buy in Clydebank as logistically it didn't work for other reasons. We did however end up a stones throw outside Dumbarton in Alexandria...

Recently bought our first house... I'd recommend looking in Clydebank because the same houses were going for thousands less. When we looked into it, Dumbarton was one of the top up and coming areas in the country apparently!

What else would I do on my birthday than drag myself (willingly in the bus!) to Coatbridge for a Dumbarton match Buzzing for my first away day for nearly 3 years too. Here's hoping for a positive results and performance.

I'm in a slightly different position this year so there isn't much point in committing to a season ticket this time around. Work has changed and I'm still already balancing childcare and gigs with everything else. Likelihood is, I'll go to well more than half of the matches but I am probably going to miss half a dozen at a guess. As has been mentioned, there was much less motivation and reason for many to part with cash upfront given the last couple of years developments so I think we are doing okay in the grand scheme of things.

Job done. Some nice stuff on display. We lost control for periods but also never looked under any significant threat during those times. Ref was pretty poor overall (no consistency) but didn't have much influence on the result. D Wilson was better than expected when he came on, C Wilson was exactly as expected, the rest showed some nice stuff throughout more or less. Shocker for the red card. How any of the Stirling players felt they could debate it was absolutely beyond me. Onto next week and an away day out for my birthday too!