North British

Albinson McAlister Mousonda McGinty/Kirk Reading Ashford Murdoch Dempsey JML Bryden Akinyemi

I could be completely wrong with this but it does look like we are waiting for a “surplus to requirements event” at other clubs as apposed to chasing free agents . Maybe more Cammy Smith and Josh Mullin.as opposed to Charlie Telfer and Gozie Ugwa ... Watch the egg splatter on my mug in the next few days ..... On the crowds/season’s debate , the Killie boy has a point we need to increase all revenue streams to raise the quality of 5he team . There is much more than ticket and season sales in play for this . The infrastructure improvements are really the key . Don’t let the potlickers fool you , Killie were every bit the same sort of basket case as us back in the mid 80’s . The Fleetings slid in and the old Rugby Park started to disappear and the pounds started to pour in . This is exactly what Smith is trying to do at Ayr . It won’t happen in the short term , it’s more a medium term project , but it is happening so keep the faith . Arbroath at home tomorrow, can’t wait . Are they the team they were last season ? No Nouble no Hamilton . So maybe a little less class but they’ll still be down for a battle . Our guys will need to match that then take the chances that will come .

Trot off back to the ex highland league forum laddie .

This is pretty much the team I’d go with , with perhaps the exception of a new signing replacing O’Conner . Im fairly upbeat about the game this week, no disrespect to Arbroath but I’d rather be playing them than any other team in the league . You know exactly what they bring , organised , hard working , they’ll hound you and press you for 90 mins . That has to be matched which I’m sure this Ayr side can do . Having said that we can’t gift a team like Arbroath our now famous QoS clown shoes compilation. That and we have to convert two or three of our chances .

The man (LS) is a top class operator . Made it all look effortless.

Not so sure about that . We only had him for 6 or 7 games before Covid kicked in but I though he was the real deal . More an all court centre forward than Tomi , high energy and work rate with a good left peg . He’s got 13 goals in 40 games in L2 , will Tomi ? We’ll see . Would take either back in a heartbeat ....

Ooft temperatures are pretty high on here today . People are disappointed I get that . So moving forward we now have a bounce game in Perth in a few days , anyone think we’ll have any new players in in time for that game ? Would be ideal if we did , give them a chance to settle in before the Arbroath game . Also somebody somewhere must have a clue as to the identity of the name or names we’re talking to .....

We should should should be able to manage a final 20 mins against a part time League 2 team on a Wednesday night, who are down to ten men . The fact we couldn’t smacks of a lack of on field leadership . This issue has been haunting us since Kerr stopped playing . A second striker is an absolute must . Just not enough goals in the current squad . The continual mistake culprits need to be moved on as quickly as possible . As for the rest of the season , we need to stick together and support the team . Ironically Arbroath is about the best opposition we could have hoped for in our first game . Nothing fancy just a well organised hard working team . We must match them and take our chances when they come along . Which takes us right back to the two/three players inbound , we desperately need leadership and goals .

No need to explain yourself to a pot licker m8 ...

If those two can’t do it then maybe time to give Eccripont and Hewitt a chance . Either in a four or a five . The mistakes are getting tiring now .

Think the other players came up with it due him never being here ...

Bangala .

The above is pretty much spot on . Although Dipo is more a Craig Moore upgrade than anything like the style of the great LS . In short a penalty box striker . So given that last season’s tally of 38 goals will have to be taken up to 50 if we are to have the kind of season we all want, then we need to squeeze every goal we can out of Dipo and hope the rest can up their games as well . I agree JML will help as he does look decent , question is will he play on the wing or is he our no 10 . ? The Ghosts arrival might signal four at the back as no doubt he’ll be our midfield anchor , Aero’s old role last season . This would allow another three or four in midfield depending what happens up front . Nevertheless JML ,Dipo and the Ghost would appear to be bolt ons for our walk on starting eleven . The rest I think will depend on the two coming in I’d reckon .

If we persist with 352 then I see the middle three being JML , the ghost and either Murdy or Dempsey . However I think 451 is the more likely formation. , which would include Murdy and Dempsey . Great news though that the ghost is on his way ...

Dipo’s performance v QoS was very similar to Tomi’s v Hamilton last season . He got the shots off and was in position many times . I have to worries with Dipo , I have him down for 14/15 goals this season hopefully starting on Tuesday . My only issues is what happens during a dip in form or injury ? Also hopefully we have the courage to go two up front at times . So and there Championship proven striker would be extremely helpful . We need another dozen goals on last season’s total and defo need to ship a lot less than 52 .

It does smack of loans to be fair , hopefully not youths from the old firm however . We need experience, so hopefully if it does turn out to be loans its guys who have been over this course before and are looking for a fresh start and regular football .

Gonna be nearly impossible to get a midfielder in that can hit over 7/8 goals a season on the money we pay . Hard enough to find a striker that can get above that number . I would say another striker is a must , Ashford , Bryden , O’Conner etc have at no time hinted that they could get above half a dozen goals .. We need an improvement on last season’s 39 goals if we want to be involved in the other play off’s ...

On the evidence of Tuesday night I’d say we need a second striker thus mitigating our main striker (Dipo) having an off night . The question is what does Bully mean by looking for a player who plays in an advanced area ? Are we looking at an attacking midfielder or a forward . Bully also hinted that experience of the Scottish game would be desirable . There are a few strikers with Championship experience still available Danny Mullen would probably be out of our range but surely we could afford either Gozie Ugwa or Matej Poplantik . Both just about got into double figures last season so .... If it is an advanced midfielder then Robbie would be a decent shout , but the lad can’t tackle/ won’t tackle so I doubt he’d stiffen our midfield as such . Decent linking up and pushing forward though ..

Can’t go far wrong with black and white hoops .

Same craic with Danny Harvie when he arrived from Aberdeen . Twenty or so games later he’s the best left back in the division and the rest is history . i believe it would have the same with Maxwell and McInroy , but they just couldn’t wait . Agents have a lot to answer for .

Five years . Jesus ..

Had to let the dust settle on that crazy game last night . A freak of a game for sure , Queens are nothing to write home about , however we contrived to allow them eleven attempts at goal . That would be normally enough to lose a game , however not when you create 22 yes 22 shots on goal of your own . To give it some perspective Dunfermline had 8 attempts on goal last night and scored 5 , including 2 for the pantomime villain Toderov . So all the screaming about formation and shape is really a mute point when you can’t convert anything from 22 shots on goal . This should be our number one area of concern . A proven striking partner for Dipo must be a priority. Fund it by getting two or three out on loan . Second priority is pretty much agreed on , central midfield with some goals in his boots . Not easy to find but we need to sort that out . The formation issue isn’t huge , but if players need to simplify the game then 442 has to be the least complicated option , just slide Frankie across to right back . It does mean that either Murdy or Dempsey get shifted out of central midfield when The Ghost arrives from France . Last but certainly not least the elephant in the room , Mr McAdams . Had my suspicions last season but last nights performance and howler has him firmly behind Albinson for me now . Not a smashing position to be in . But it is what it is . Got two bounce games now to sort it out . Let’s get on with it ....

Ironically it puts us in a strong position again to get out the group . Tonight’s game’s status moves from bounce match to pretty important fixture , with a view to perhaps finishing the tournament with some much needed cash banked . Small matter of beating Queens and Annan required though .

Game day again . Not rocket science, expect McAdams , Kirk , Ashford, JML , all to feature . Maybe even Hewit , Bryden and O’Conner at some point also .

Positives : the football is back , 1200 at a LC game , big Charlie saved the bacon once or twice , Frankie settled in nicely , looks like a quality operator . With Alex Kirk due to make his debut on Tuesday , I wonder if Frankie will move out to rightback or slide into sweeper in a three ? On to Tuesday , I’d be looking for JML to start , same goes for Bryden up top with Tipo . Something needs done with the central midfield , all too much alike . Still got Bangala to come in at some point I suppose but we could do with a quality addition in there and as others have said perhaps another striker ! Would Danny Mullen be out of our price bracket .? Anyway looking forward to the QoS game , should give us further clues to where we’re at at this point .