Mr November

He barely played for us last season as Gallagher was always first choice but I did think he struggled up front on his own in a couple of tough game at Cove and Partick Thistle. He was absolutely fine in that role against weaker teams though and to be fair to him, he didn’t exactly have much around him at Clyde and he’s done incredibly well there this season, so a decent run in a good team who create plenty of chances might allow him to kick on a bit. He certainly puts a shift in and while some Airdrie fans, myself included, were unsure how good he was last season, everyone liked him and really wanted him to do well because of his attitude and work-rate.

I actually think he’d be really well suited to one of the wider roles in a diamond, as you say he’s got the energy and physicality to get up and down the park and we’ve seen enough to know he can be a good player too. Him scoring in each of the first three games seems like a long time ago now. I think he was a victim of being overplayed at the start with the small squad and has struggled to regain his place since Telfer came in. With Frizzell back fit and Stanway looking promising he’s probably 5th/6th choice now along with McMaster but I do like him and think he’s a player worth persevering with.

Agreed, I think we’d all unanimously agree that Jamieson’s best game was when he was playing on the shoulder against Montrose, he was unstoppable that day. For whatever reason, McCabe never tried that again unfortunately. It goes back to what we were saying a few pages ago but on Saturday I’d go with something like this, assuming Ballantyne is fit, if not add ATS or big Byrd in and shuffle Watson across. I think Alloa are normally quite narrow anyway and we should have enough width with the full-backs bombing forward, knowing McCabe can drop back in to cover if needed. You’ve them got McGill or McGregor to come on to add something different if the shape isn’t working. Rae Ballantyne - Watson - Fordyce - Deveney McCabe Telfer - Frizzell - Stanway Gallagher - Smith

That’s two bits of bad news! In all seriousness, McMaster is fine, moves the ball well and keeps things tidy but I’m not sure he offers enough to go and sign him permanently. Is Olusanya the boy who hit a shot in the League Cup game at Airdrie that went so far wide it ended up with the St. Mirren right back? I’d take Jamieson over him to be fair.

I don‘t think he can play for anyone else this season since he’s already played for St. Mirren and Airdrie, so if he’s been recalled then it’s presumably to cover for Brophy going. It would be a shame for Airdrie and Jamieson if he went back to not play for five months when he’s a good fit here. For all we have plenty of forwards, half of them are unproven at this (or any?) level so losing him would be a blow.

Airdrieonians 2-1 Alloa Athletic Clyde 0-2 Dunfermline Athletic Edinburgh 1-2 Falkirk Montrose 1-0 Kelty Hearts Peterhead 1-2 Queen of the South

Sensible choice to wait until we both had a free Saturday. It does mean we have a Dunfermline double header though with a trip to East End Park the following Saturday.

McGill had a decent season at Airdrie under Murray, although it’s fair to say his form fell away after January. He scored a great goal on his debut against Motherwell (below) literally hours after signing, which is about as good a start as you can make for Airdrie. After the Rico Quitongo incident Murray started playing McGill at left back, despite ostensibly being a right footed central midfielder, where he generally did quite well and was only shown up for not being a natural defender on a few occasions. He scored a few other goals throughout the season, including a fantastic team goal featuring yer man Easton in a 3-2 win against Falkirk (also below), but he struggled a bit as the season went on and dropped out of our best eleven. He had a nightmare in the play-offs but I’d happily have had him back this season. I’m surprised he’s got a move up the way though. He never fully nailed down a regular midfield spot at Airdrie and Kelty, albeit up against strong competition. He’s definitely a decent player but a step below Easton, Spencer, Brown etc.

For the Alloa game? It’s on the 28th, unless I’m missing something we don’t have a game tomorrow.

I’d be much more concerned if McCabe and Fordyce were spending their time reading this thread and deciding the team based on whatever nonsense we’re talking about.

Very funny looking back at the team that beat Motherwell at the start of last season. Wardrop, Quitongo, Salim and McDonald all started and even Dean Ritchie came on as a sub, with no Easton or Frizzell at all!

Of the three Dumbarton signings, I wasn’t bothered at all about signing Frizzell at the time for the reasons you mention, whereas I thought Quitongo seemed fine and was happy to see us sign Wardrop

I thought Stanway did a similar job yesterday to what Frizzell did last season. Put himself about, linked play, plenty of energy to get up and down the park and had a few bits of quality going forward too. While he does put in more of a shift than I expected, Telfer isn’t really that kind of player and with Frizzell now in the more advanced creative role, having a runner like Stanway in there could make a big difference. Like @David Fernández, I was thinking about a diamond as well. It worked well for that spell last season until McInroy left and while Telfer doesn’t have the mobility Frizzell or McInroy have, it could be worth a go with Devenny as option for one of the wider roles too. McGregor had a couple of nice touches yesterday too so I’m keen to see more of him out wide too. It is nice to finally be able to have three or four different options. I think Frizzell played out wide a lot at Dumbarton and struggled, though that may just have been him not suiting Duffyball. @Jan Vojáček might know best about that.

We actually have a decent record against the top two (W1 D2) and bottom two (W4 D1), it’s the results against the teams around us that will be key to making the top four. Obviously we can’t cope with Edinburgh for some reason but so far we’re even with Alloa (W1 L1), Kelty (W1 D1 L1) and Queens (D2) and have the edge on Montrose (W2 L1). If we can win the head to heads against each of those teams that would make a huge difference in what is a very tight league. Alloa will be a tough game but two wins would give us a real boost before the Dunfermline/Falkirk double header.

As well as an MMA fighter, he was also apparently arrested and was the leader of a biker gang in Spain My main James Sharp memory is my mum calling him shite only to realise his partner was behind her and didn’t look too pleased. She can’t have been surprised as I can’t imagine he got much positive feedback from his other clubs.

A centre back! He’s maybe not the experienced defender some were after but happy to see we’ve brought in some height and physicality at the back. Who knows if he’s any good or not but we undoubtedly needed another centre back and some height in the team. Hopefully he’s more Simon Storey than Marc Warren.

@CapitalDiamond Can we get this man on the podcast please?

He joined us from Hamilton, they signed him in their relegation season from the Premiership, but he did play for Dunfermline at that level before that. I was surprised we got him as I thought he showed enough in his loan spell for a go in the Championship. He’s certainly improved a lot over the last couple of years and I agree that this might be our last season with him unfortunately. I’m happy enough with that new signing. We did need another genuine wide player so hopefully he does well. Our monopoly of Scottish football’s 18 year olds continues.

Cheers. We have a pretty top heavy squad now but hopefully he does stick around for the season, as he’s a good option to have and while it’s not his best position, I prefer him out wide to Gabby McGill.

Lyness seemed like a lovely guy but just nowhere near good enough. A career second choice, summed up by picking Peter Schmeichel as the one player he’d want to play with when that would mean he wouldn’t play! Still no mention of Jamieson, has it been confirmed anywhere what’s happening with him?

He probably still is our best defender, the ability he showed the last three seasons don’t just disappear overnight, but there’s no denying he’s been performing much worse this season. I thought even at the start of the season he looked poor and got away with a few mistakes at Queen of the South and Dunfermline particularly. He has had a few very good performances, he was excellent in the Montrose 4-0 game at home, but more often than not he seems a lot less assured than he was previously. I’m sure it was him who was marking See for Edinburgh’s 4th goal last week and just let him run unchallenged to score too, so there’s one mistake for starters. He has a big role and it is possibly just a bit too much for him. I’d love him to get back to the levels he was at previously and I do think this is a result of trying to be the main defender, captain and assistant all at the same time. Fordyce is and was a much better player but it reminds me of when Sean Crighton became the only coach at the club and his form just went off a cliff. It all goes back to not having an experienced coach in the dugout to help McCabe and Fordyce and allow them to focus more on playing, rather than having to manage a game at the same time.

Alex Henderson has signed for Glentoran. He wasn't as bad as the number of goals he conceded made him out to be but we don't need four keepers so no real loss. I panicked when it mentioned Ally Roy but he seems to be moving to a Championship team, fair play to him for pulling that off.

I'm also an ATS truther. Admittedly I went in with low expectations but he's been absolutely fine in most games he's played and while it's a smaller sample size, hasn't made the same kind of calamitous mistakes that Watson, Fordyce, Ballantyne etc have. At the least he's had a better season than Fordyce anyway. Telfer leaving would be a strange one and definitely a blow. He had a slow start but I've been quite impressed with him on the whole. He's not really been what I expected, he hasn't offered too much in terms of goals or creativity but he gets about the park more than I expected and has quietly became a solid player for us. I was talking to someone at the Edinburgh game who mentioned Lyness was only signed until January so I suppose if that's the case Telfer could be on a short-term deal too.

Alloa Athletic 2-2 Edinburgh Dunfermline Athletic 2-0 Peterhead Falkirk 3-1 Clyde Kelty Hearts 1-2 Airdrieonians Montrose 1-2 Queen of the South

Bring back Alan Love.