DutchBorderer

It's my birthday today. Shit hasn't been fun since Johan Cruijff, who also happened to be born on the 25th of April, passed away. Still, I'd really, really, REALLY like a win on Saturday, lads. Please? If not for me, then at least for all the other fans and the town.

I'm working on a manuscript as we speak - how does Brunswick Rovers and the Ballad of Harvey Johnson sound?

Deleted since, what was contained inside?

Maybe, but would we stop leaking goals?

Current Standings With the end of the 2018/2019 season looming and some League 2 teams having already booked their holiday tickets, Berwick Rangers and Albion Rovers will meet on Saturday the 27th of April for what may prove to be the deciding match in the relegation battle this year. As can be seen, the Wee Rovers hold a five point advantage over the Wee 'Gers, with a significantly better goal difference to boot. Albion Rovers Having experienced what for all intents and purposes is a footballing resurrection since John Brogan was kicked to the curb earlier in the season, Albion Rovers are fresh off the back of a creditable 3-2 win over Edinburgh City and a hard-fought last minute draw versus table toppers Peterhead. These results coupled with a string of three wins in March have seen the club once thought dead and buried return to the land of the living, much to the delight (and surprise) of their fans and well-wishers from the larger football community. A draw versus Berwick Rangers will seal Rovers' safety and the completion of what the club's Twitter has coined #thegreatestescape. Gaffer Kevin Harper will look to secure a bronze statue of himself standing outside Coatbridge by clinching this final point needed to preserve Albion Rovers' League membership. Berwick Rangers On the other side of the Border, Berwick Rangers are finishing the season in the same way Albion Rovers started theirs; slumping to heavy defeats while conceding for fun and failing to convert any chances on the opposition's side of the field. The Black and Gold haven't scored a single goal since their coupon-busting 2-0 win over Peterhead on the 19th of March, recording five straight defeats with 17 goals scored by the opposition. The win over Peterhead was Berwick's only victory over the past 21(!) games, which included just four draws; the mathematicians among us will tell you that this means the Dream Team have taken 7 points from a possible 63. Nothing short of a win will be enough to keep Berwick's hopes of 9th place alive - which will be the target with previously injured Ousman 'Ouzy' See and Jordan Orru returning to the fold. They join a squad of which more than a dozen members were recruited by current manager Johnny Harvey. Final Day of the Season & Play-Offs Berwick and Rovers will meet Elgin and Annan respectively on the final day of the season; a draw or Rovers victory will render those matches dead rubbers as Berwick will be unable to overturn a 5/8 point deficit in just a single match. Even in the event of a win for the home side on the 27th, Berwick will need to beat Elgin and cross their fingers promotion-play-off bound Annan don't take their foot off the gas pedal versus Albion Rovers (who would only need a point to secure League status due to their far superior goal difference). Berwick Rangers will feel themselves to be an occupant of the last chance saloon, staring down the barrel of a face-off with East Kilbride or Cove Rangers should they lose, whereas Albion Rovers need just one final draw to book that flight to Ibiza. With all ingredients in place for an absolute classic bottom-of-the-table scrap, a bumper crowd is expected for what may well end up being the undoing of one of the involved clubs. Expect Albion Rovers to wear their red away tops on the day, in lieu of their yellow home and black third strips clashing with Berwick's home colours;

I really appreciate your praise, even if I'm still not sure whether you actually exist! The 27th was quite possibly the worst date for this match to be played for me (Dutch national day, my birthday on the 25th and resulting family obligations), so I can't be around; rather, it would seem my next day in the Shielfield sun will sadly be on the 18th of May....

Both should be open but expect long queues because the only way we are going to enjoy the day is by downing copious amounts of hard liquor.

It was Orru, not Barr, who was booked according to my stats.

I can fully understand and respect that position given Rovers' unfortunate predicament up until last month, but we are not beating you on the 27th - which makes the silly season shenanigans v. Elgin and Annan on the final day irrelevant. It's not been too long since City came to town and comprehensively battered us, whilst Rovers took three points off them yesterday.

The board and JH have committed to scouring the Northeast part of England for players in the coming years, hoping to hit a new well of quality players. This will decrease our reliance on the Edinburgh cachment area (which has become tougher to fish from due to Edinburgh City using their budget for football's equivalent of dynamite fishing ), but as you quite rightly pointed out, the lesser draw of LL football compared to League 2 is equally relevant for English-based players.

It's not so much the thought of going down that does me in as much as it is the knowledge that we will STAY down. The trapdoor is weighted in favour of club 42, yet we are way too shite to rely on it; instead, if/when we go down we will have to first win the LL (tough even if EK go up at our expense), then beat the HL champs (tough if Cove stay down), and then beat next year's club 42 who have home advantage and due time to prepare. Yes, yes, the LL is shaping up to be a better league with each passing year, but that doesn't mean we should prefer it over League 2. Any competitive club should aspire to play at the highest possible level, and for us that is the basement division of the SPFL right now.

It's mercy more than contempt, and everything that can be said in the post-match interviews has been said. 'Not good enough' 'Individual errors' 'Referee didn't do us any favours' 'Faith we can turn it around' 'The lads looked good in training' 'It's not my squad' Thankfully, it seems like someone did tell JH off for slagging off the fans. I really don't envy the board, and respect them immensely for their work, but a couple of things went terribly wrong and we're all in this tailspin together now.

Only thing JH ever tries to pin is blame (on someone else), and he's never quite pulled it off. Rovers are safe. We ended the season the way they started, while they have simply done better the past months than we did under Robbie Horn.

Think it's interesting that this is the second 180 degree turn over the span of two weeks regarding the fans; they were a good bunch away at Annan, the devil's spawn at home v. QP, and now they deserve much better at Clyde. Perhaps it is better if we abolish the post-match interviews for the rest of the season.