GordonS

Ok, but what they're definitely not is just part of the pack, no?

Hurlford are 10 points clear.

Just catching up on this thread and wanted to say something about the multiple teams in the town thing from a few pages back. There are two non-league senior/ junior clubs in each of Banff, Keith, Inverurie, Nairn, Buckie, Forres and Fraserburgh. I don't know how people feel about them locally but I've been to a few and I doubt there's much conflict or competition. If anything I'd expect that they are complementary. There's a big gulf in standard - just as in the north, I don't think many folk who watch a team of the standard of BU would be interested in a quasi-amatuer team.

They've been improving steadily over recent years, I don't think it's just about the switch to the EoS. A good set-up and ambitious plans, they deserve more support.

Ah well, hopefully it was part of the learning curve. Iceland next, on Monday.

Are single match tickets not on sale just now? I phoned the SFA a couple of weeks before tickets went on sale - see my opening post. I felt I couldn't take the risk so I bought individual tickets for the Scotland matches soon after the draw was made. The SFA emailed not long after saying that they'd announce ticket packages later, so I'm sure you'll be fine and be able to get one direct from them. Apparently 300,000 tickets have been sold so far, which is pretty impressive at this stage. Quarter of them have been sold in the US.

Kicks off at 5pm. Disappointing that there's no broadcast, Twitter updates is the best on offer.

Away ye go, Matt McGinn was a genius.

The Fort William team I saw at Linlithgow Rose in the Scottish Cup this season were much better than the Inverkeithing team I saw lose 10-0 to us in their first-ever league match, or the Ormiston team that Rose beat 11-1. Unless I saw them on a very bad day - and results suggest it wasn't atypical - I'd rank Coupar Angus below all of them. The pitch was the worst I've seen in senior or junior football in years, and genuinely, there were more people on the pitch and in the dug-outs than watching it. But I'd never call a club "dross" (unless I was winding someone up); a town the size of Coupar Angus should have a football club, and the officials running it are doing far more for Scottish football than our friend who posted earlier, sitting on his/her backside passing judgement on the internet.

Pains me to say it, but this is the best thread on the forum at the moment.

I've seen Coupar Angus this season, I caught the second half when they lost 9-1 at home to Lochee Harp. They are the worst senior or junior team I've ever seen. If they were in an EOS conference they would get at least half a dozen double-digit defeats in the season. The only reason there are mismatches in the EoS is because everyone got to join at the same level, in an extraordinary act of self-sacrifice by the original 13 EoS clubs. It takes an impressive level of denial to ignore this and slag it off for having one-sided games.

Yeah, that kind of thing could be a factor, if we ever get a winter this year.

Unless I'm missing something, the six Edinburgh clubs appear to only get 325 between them. It's tough in the capital. Anybody know how Jeanfield put such a competitive team on the park with so few supporters? Is it because they are the second-best team in Perthshire so have access to better local players?

As Auld Heid said, Linlithgow's defence is too inconsistent to make them favourites. Losing from 3-2 with 10 minutes to go, with a stiff wind at your back, is not great. Rose looked vulnerable at every set piece too. I've not seen Jeanfield this season so I can't comment on who ought to be favourites - Rose have the team to flatten weaker sides, but given we have a win and a defeat against each of Broxburn and Camelon, I think we'll go into the two Jeanfield matches with hope rather than expectation. If Bonnyrigg are as good as they were last season, no-one in Conference C will lay a glove on them. My only hope would be that there's a terrible spell of weather and they have a big fixture backlog that leaves them tired for the play-offs. That's how Rose beat them at NDP the season before last.

Dammit, you're right, Law 12. I am ashamed. You're right about that kick-off. The quality of these videos gets better each time, so big thanks to the guy filming and editing them. Ben's videos weren't better than these when he started out.