Aloysius Snuffleupagus

...the question must be about 'fetching' beards.

No, the club should survive finding its level, much like Shire have done and Berwick are having to do. Obviously, we want to stay in L2 as long as we can but there is a sense of inevitability about the fact that are very strong set-ups to be found in the Divisions below us. However, as a supporter of the pyramid, I have no issue with that.

Ecrepont has been one of our better players; strong, gets forward, one of our better defenders (albeit in a very shaky defence). He found himself dropped yesterday though and his replacement (Lewis Wilson) did well. The other lad hasn't had as many appearances, and has been out of the squad recently, possibly through illness. His father is an occasional poster on here so may tell us more.

I take it we got your money rather than Airdrie, Ivo? Regardless, that's a great summary and carries more weight than someone like me with red-n-yellow specs saying the same thing. Great result for the Mo too up in The Badlands! I reckoned we were worth that in a game I'd written off. Defending from crosses (Elgin goal aside) was better, and given the goals we've lost to that route this season, it really had to be. We're not pretty but that's not a necessity to stay up; hard graft is, and we had that today. Player-wise, we're utterly reliant on Matthew Aitken. He is an absolute talisman, and offers more than just a big body to hold the ball up. We've had very few threats at free kicks since Jered Stirling, and that's more than 15 years ago. so seeing Aitken over a Rovers free kick nowadays is a reason to get excited and could be the small margin that keeps us up. Oh and a wee word for the new goalkeeper. I was surprised at that as a change since Goodfellow hasn't seemed any worse than any goalkeeper would be behind a defence of disorganised weans. However, Chris Henry took his chance today and certainly did nothing that would stop him getting a run now.

Yeah, he's coaching with the SFA at grass-roots level

I agree with almost all of that. However, I thought our play merited a draw, whilst accepting that you don't tend to get much if you don't put the ball in the net. Ciaran Donnelly was very good, and provided a level of insight that put the professionals on Sky etc. to shame; his stories were a hoot as well. Scott Chaplain, another Rovers' stalwart, did it a few weeks ago and tried his best but he was nowhere near as good as Ciaran. This despite the fact that its Chappie who holds the coaching badges and was always thought of as the brains of the outfit, with Ciaran being the daft laddie. I suspect we'll get John Gemmell soon; that will be entertaining! Performance wise, we were much better and denied by an excellent goalkeeping performance. I thought we'd be really rusty post-COVID scare, especially as we were pretty poor before but there's signs of improvement there both defensively and in terms of creation. The left back (18 year old Finn Ecrepont) was the stand-out for me. An absolute cracker of a player but only on loan until Jan; here's hoping Ayr don't take him back until the summer. As for Stirling, we frustrated them a bit but they did have lots of chances. Any team with Andy Ryan should have a good season at this level, although I suspect full-time Queens Park will not be catchable

Patchy. It's not great with baldy linesmen; mistakes their nappers for a ball

Is it bad to hope COVID kyboshes the season again? On yesterday's showing, Brechin are competent and we're doomed

Most of them would get ID'd going into pubs. We have a team of weans, and on yesterday's evidence, Brechin don't have much to worry about.

They did that. In fact they used a bit of humour to do so; something along the lines of "we'll try to be unbiased but we think these Albion Rovers players are the best players in the world" Personally, and I'm a bit biased myself, I thought they did well. You could hear them struggling a wee bit at the start as it dawned on them that there was a lot of time to fill with chat but they settled into a nice easy conversation after that albeit with yellow and red specs to the fore. I note what Cesc says above about getting things wrong re the away team, and I accept what he says as he's a knowledgeable guy and one of the best posters on here. However, to me they knew more about Stenny than I expected - former clubs that kind of thing. Certainly, they knew far more than me, so they'd clearly done some research over-and-above my looking at the team sheet to see what names I recognised. The one thing that hasn't been noted in all of this, although Jack (Bozo) hints at it above, is that there won't be huge amounts of volunteers to do this, as it's a pretty daunting task, and hard to do well with no experience. I know I wouldn't even try it so credit to Ben and Jack that they gave it a go That's a cracking idea. Get Cesc invited for the next Stenny home game if COVID keeps us out that long.

Ach! That's a bit harsh. They're just two young supporters (I'm sure one is still at school) with no training or experience. Could you not give them some tips rather than just write them off as rubbish? Game-wise I was impressed by Stenny. Lots of experienced players there that I'd give my eye teeth for. Our lack of experience really showed against them and whilst our young team will learn, I do worry about this season.

Hi 😃 Not sure what to make of today, even though its Stenny and we've got a hex over them. We're a very young, raw team, but also seem to be pretty well-organised and hard-working, and I couldn't help but be impressed with them against Stranraer. My Mrs works with Stenny's Assistant Manger and has been kidding him on that we're going to gub them; clearly taking no heed of the maxim that if you expect good things with Rovers, you will invariably be let down.

Yeah, he's apparently looking for full-time football, having rejected our offer. I suspect that will mean quite a few trials and I'm personally not sure he'll get a full-time gig. From what I've heard, he certainly lives his life the right way but I'm not sure I've seen anything from him that would suggest he would be a boon for a side outside the bottom divisions. That said, attitude and hard work can bridge the gap, and he shouldn't be found wanting on either. I suspect he probably regrets leaving now full-time Queens Park to come to us last summer, to be honest. Certainly, I'd have him back and our new manager is on record as saying the same.

He's from Townhead. Only team he's ever wanted to fund generously... I still think Messi is a bit wee but will welcome him when he signs...

Umm, our last manager persevered with him quite a bit but he never really set the heather on fire. Decent squad depth, I suppose. Byrne is a much better signing for you; he really came of age with us and his strike rate improved markedly.