craigiemack

Currently in Ayr galavanting before heading up to the game. Looking forward to tonight. Cautiously optimistic. The only competitive game I seen was the Cumbernauld calamity, which apparently was a one off. If we can perform like how we did away to St Mirren then we’ll have a chance. I’m also hoping Killie field a shite team. Going by the Cowden fans their loan players from Nice and Man Utd were the difference last time, although St Mirren fielded a very strong team. This is a big game for the club. The prize money from round 1 has allowed us to invest in the playing squad and a win tonight would only enhance that. Furthermore a win tonight would put us in a draw that could give us a Dundee, Falkirk or Dunfermline away. A couple thousand crowd that would really give the club a good payday. We’ve been here before numerous times and came up short but hopefully tonight may be different. Ease up

I’d never been to Ayrshire, hitched down one Tuesday, 60 miles to Kilmarnock just to see East Stirlingshire play Ease up Shire. Keep my dream of Caernorfan away alive.

Also I do find it amusing that Kieran Offord pretty much dragged us up the table with his goals, culminating in his 89th min winner on the last day against Berwick to secure top 4 and get into the Challenge Cup, then last night misses the penalty to send us through. A secret agent of sorts. He was one of the best shire players I’ve seen in years and I’m sure he’ll go on to much better things in his career so I’m glad he could help us one last time.

Been quite critical so far this season but fair play to the boys for last night. Gave us little chance especially when I seen their team. I know a few of our fans backed them on handicaps which probably shows the confidence a lot of us had last night. Still worrying about our lack of goals which will continue to hold us back but if the effort is there then things might turn. We’ve done quite well against the better teams the last couple of seasons so need to just hope that we continue the trend as our next 6/7 games are pretty tough. Good to get a clean sheet though, our first in 9, and Ross Connolly seemed back to his usual best. We’ve drew 11 of our last 16 competitive games which is quite mental, there surely can’t be many teams in world football that have the inability to win but not lose like we do. My younger brother also said to me that we haven’t lost in 10 away matches and are only a few games away from matching the clubs all time record? I’m sure @Dead may be able to confirm/deny this. Big game in a few weeks against Killie which I’m looking forward too. If we could win that then we have the chance of going to Ireland or Wales which is literally my dream. Even if we didn’t, pretty much every team in the draw away would be a handy helping to the clubs coffers. Someone like Falkirk or Dunfermline away with the split gate would be a huge bonus. We’ll be underdogs again but if we can get the fighting spirit that we’ve shown the past couple years then we have a chance. Big game on Saturday against the Dream Team. Could really do with a win to get the confidence rolling.

He's pretty much untouchable. The board will never have the baws to sack him, and there'll never be any fan pressure cause we have a fantatical set of happy clappers that never critisice anything to do with the club, its all a SFA conspiracy etc etc. I wasn't against him getting the job at the time but there were much better options out there and I sort of knew this would be the end result. He should've walked/sacked numerous times. Last season was the first season I would call a 'success' under him and it was still largely meh.

I was quite optimistic before the season but christ almighty wednesday night was grim. I've raked my brain and only a 5-0 defeat away to Elgin in 2014 and being humped 3-0 by Clyde in our relegation season were worse performances. I've seen some absolute horrorshows but I don't really mind if theres a bit of fight or we actually try and play decent stuff. Wednesday was embarrassing. Couldn't string two passes together, no communication, players were miles of the pace and to top it off the worst goal I have ever seen us concede. I didn't even have the arse to shout anything at the players, most of whom probably walked of without breaking sweat, the ones that did due to their chronically bad fitness levels. We're sleepwalking into a shitshow and the happy clappers don't realise it. If we dinny win the morra then we are right in a relegation battle which tbh I wouldn't mind. I'm sick of going to broadwood.

Back in FK3 visiting the parents so taking in tonights mouthwatering tie against Cumbernauld. A bore 1-1 draw to keep our very meh start going.

Seen some of the footage from the game, jack hodges miss early on is an absolute shocker and if he'd put that away it might have been a different game. The Unis goal was well taken although Connolly did appear to be doing his best Ritchie Barnard impression which brought back bad memories. Honeyman did great to turn something from nothing in his assist for our goal. A neat finish from MacDonald too, he scored bucket loads I believe for his amatuer team so hopefully that gives him the confidence to kick on. First game of the season so can't be too harsh but really disappointing to drop points in the first game. We are notoriously slow starters and we just can't do that this year. Could really do with 9 points from Edinburgh Uni, Cumbernauld and Edufrance.

Outwith Wheal and Davey, Sharif is our best quick but he can easily be dispatched, as Zimbabwe showed last year. Evans and Sole are atrocious imo, Adrian Neill I will give a pass to as when I was 13 he skittled me in a Scottish Cup game. Only time playing cricket i was geniunely terrified batting, his normal length deliveries were bouncing over my head. Tahir and Watt are good bowlers with good economies. If Greaves finds his line and length hes a solid 5th option. I can't remember the last time our batting unit functioned fluidly. Possibly the 240 we hit against Ireland about 4 years ago. We look so pre determined in our batting, rather than playing the ball it looks like they're already set on trying to smash it out the park. Oli Hairs, how many more chances will he get? Waste of a wicket. Not a lot of youth coming through either, although the youth teams are getting to the WCs. Worrying when you look at some of the players Ireland and Afghanistan are bringing through and how far they are ahead of us now. Might be a little harsh and in no way do I expect us to beat NZ but its the same errors time and time again no matter who we play.

Our fast bowling unit is absolutely horrible and has been for years. No Davey or Wheal as they're on county duty weakens it even more. 5 no balls in that innings which probably cost us about 25 runs in total and the early wicket of Guptill which might have halted their run scoring earlier. Our batters have been atrocious this year aswell, could be a big defeat incoming if the top order don't get going.

2 hard games to start so 1 win isn't the worst outcome, but what strikes me is the 6 goals conceded. EK are normally one of the more resolute defences in the league, gonny be difficult to string wins together if you're chucking in a couple a game.

I dont really know if Ross has any credit in the bank from last year but I was instantly alarmed by the squad he assembled. This is a physical league where every team is well drilled and can be hard to break down. If your teams heads drop after this start it could be a long, old season. I think yous are all feeling a bit down because you maybe set your expectations a bit too high but realistically you have played two teams that will be at the top end of the league. Maybe the manner of defeat is the worry. In a parallel universe you might've started with Edinburgh Uni and Gretna and be sitting top of the table tonight. There's a long way to go but I would certainly be getting worried if you don't pick up some wins in your next couple games.

Great result tonight, fair play

BUs top of the LL for the first time by quarter to ten the night?

Same games as the SPFL but its more the scheduling I find the issue. So many games crammed into the weeks before the South Challenge/Scottish Cup break. The Shire have a minimum of 10 midweek games this season, a few friday nights then maybe a few more midweek games for the LL Cup or resheduled. Thats a lot of midweek games for a part time team. In the SPFL you'll maybe play 4/5 midweek games at most? and that would only be because of rescheduled Scottish Cup conflicts. I get the need to finish the season early because of the play off games but the free weeks in March never make sense to me. Cowdenbeath will feasibly play over 50 games this year, even more if they go deep in the South Challenge or LL Cup. thats a ridiculous amount

For teams in the LL the League Cup groups are just a hindrance. When we were in it we had Stranraer (league 1 playoffs), Annan, Motherwell and Rangers. We put up 4 good performances, conceded last min to lose at Stranraer, held Motherwell out for an hour or so etc but the players were just shattered by the time the season started and it took us a good month or two to get going, which in this league you can’t afford to. Nobody really comes with a run in this league, whoever gets out early tends to stay there. The amount of cups we need to play in makes the league fixture list a bit of a joke. We play almost a third of our league games in the first month and a half. Signing players when pre season starts half way through June is also a nightmare, if they have a family they’re away on holiday for at least a week of pre season which doesn’t help either. I think if you can get through the first couple weeks unscathed then you should be fine. You have a nice run against some of the lesser teams to get points on the board and built from there

Despite how difficult it is to comprehend, our 7th season in the Lowland League starts tomorrow evening against Stirling Uni. I would rate last season as a solid 7/10, did brilliant in the league to get into the top 4 but disappointed in the cups. However, it’s gave us something to really build on. This is one of the first off seasons (barring the money banter years) that I feel like we’ve improved on our squad in a long time. We’ve lost Fulton, Gibbons and Hamilton but I’m more than pleased with who we’ve brought in. Granted I only seen us play in the heatwave against Jeanfield but we played some tidy stuff before the heat kicked in for both teams. We’ve bulked our squad out a bit and have a lot more quality on the bench than in recent years. We were draw specialists last year and quite one dimensional on the bench so this can only be a good thing. Signings to look out for are Kyle Ewing, centre half from Dunipace u20s. A tall, athletic ball playing defender, he looks the part. We haven’t had a dominating CB in a long time and if he can solidify our defence further then it’ll give us a chance against anybody. Only Bonnyrigg conceded fewer than us last season and Ross Connolly is well on his way to breaking the Shires clean sheet record. Marc Sludden is another exciting prospect from Dunipace u20s, with him, Dean Watson, Marc Allen and the Trialist winger if he signs. We have some frightening pace on both wings and if we utilise this on the big pitches then we could run riot. Main worry is a goal scoring striker, we’ll never replace Offord but I’ll give the strikers we’ve signed a chance to get going before making comment. I’d be disappointed if chances don’t come thick and fast to them. Our first 5 games will really make or break the season. 5 winnable games and if we come out of them with less than 12 points then we could easily be embroiled in a mid table slog. I said in my pre season view that there’ll be around 10/11 teams viewing for those Challenge Cup places and if we don’t get off to a good start it will be hard to break free from the mid table bloc. I feel quietly confident ahead of the season but I’m old enough now to not get too carried away with East Stirlingshire Soccer Club. A top half finish would be a fair return, if we could get into the Challenge Cup places that would be a great achievement giving the strength of the league. We’re in 4 cups this year, I will be boiling if we don’t get a decent run in at least 1 of them. We were unlucky in the Scottish and South Challenge last year but choked the LL Cup. The squads a year older and should be more mature now so hopefully they’ve gained some know how. I’m hoping to make Cumbernauld next week and I’d be delighted to turn up to that with 6/6 but we will see. I look forward to posting a big LOL when we lose 2-0 tomorrow night. Ease Up.

I asked the bold 'mozza' on twitter but he didn't reply so I will open it up to the fine people of pie and bovril. At what point do BSC do away with the 'Broomhill' identity. It's clear the new 'owners' see them as 'Open Goal' and I don't think i've ever heard them refer to themselves as Broomhill. I'll give it this season till its the done away with and they officially call themselves Open Goal FC which is clealy what they want. Then who knows what will come when this joke era ends.

Hearts won’t win the league though and Berwick certainly won’t lol

you don't win anything with kids and you certainly don't win anything with 37 year old SPFL rejects

Birchtree Hotel on a sunny day is probably the pinnacle of LL drinking establishments.

Good luck in the big leagues my man. Sure it will be a while till we meet again.

I’ve acquired so much knowledge about Tranent town centre that I feel like I was brought up there

I've been abusing BSC for 6 years now, scraping the barrel