Sons' sorrow

[FifeSons]

4 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

45 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Huntly will be sending a shiver down some of our fans' spines I'm imagining.

Huntly fully deserved their win that day, and we took it on the chin and moved on. I'm reckoning that the current Huntly team and possibly also the Colts team aren't any great shakes, but then again neither are we. Whatever happens it won't be any great 'shock'.

If we lost to either of them at home, it definitely would be a great shock.

[microdave]

Here they say "Dumbarton's season went downhill after that". Someone needs to get them told.

From memory, we had a dip in form immediately after that game but that could've been written soon after.
Eta in the next six games, we took five points in the days of two points for a win.

[lorenzo71]

1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Huntly will be sending a shiver down some of our fans' spines I'm imagining.

Revenge is the name of the game with that one.John Gardiner was the Huntly keeper who performed heroics that day to keep Sons out.I seem to remember he pulled some mocking faces after each save.On that day it was his personal revenge against us as a couple of seasons before he was loaned for 1 game to Stenny who had both keepers injured.He put in a wonderful performance for 75 minutes keeping the scoreline blank   before being stretchered off with a broken leg while being jeered by some of our less considerate  fans of that time.

It was all in vain as Charlie Gibson soared to head home the only goal of the game in the last minute.Revenge was his 3 years later as huntly and marco de barros scored both goals in the 1992 3rd round tie.Ultimately in 2006 Sons beat Forres Mechanics 4-1 in the cup with a certain marco de barros on the bench!!!

We should win but have no right to.We will have to earn the win by working hard and hopefully giving us a decent 3rd round tie.

[FifeSons]

Thinking back to the Bonnyrigg shambles and watching the highlights of those games has weirdly reminded me of how good our team actually was during the spell in the Championship.

I still can’t get my head around people thinking at the time going down would be in any way good for the club or preferring to see us play at places like Station Park and Stair Park to Easter Road, Tannadice and Ibrox. Give me Dumbarton FC at the highest level possible all day long.

Edited December 29, 2020 by FifeSons

[Jan Vojáček]

I was writing up my review of the year for the paper the other day and totally forgot that it was this year that Barry Smith came in for Hagi.

Given the impact that changing assistant had on Ian Murray and Stevie Aitken, I wondered how Hagi's stats compared to Barry Smith's - and there's been a clear difference.

Now before I go on I should say that, in Smith's defence, his 20 games have included two against Falkirk, one against Dunfermline and one against Kilmarnock. In Hagi's defence, his goals against ratio includes 6-1 and 6-0 defeats to Morton and Falkirk respectively.

But here we go:

Craig McPherson as assistant

Played - 55
Won - 20 (36.4%)
Drawn - 12 (21.82%)
Scored - 83 (1.5 per game)
Conceded - 93 (1.69 per game)

Barry Smith as assistant

Played - 20
Won - 6 (30%)
Drawn - 3 (15%)
Lost - 11 (55%)
Scored - 14 (0.7 per game)
Conceded - 28 (1.4 per game)

A few things really stood out to me there. Firstly since Smith came in we now score (on average) half the number of goals of our opponents. We also now lose more than half of our games.

Under Hagi we both won and drew more matches - e/g avoided defeat more often. And based on the numbers that looks to be because we had a better balance between scoring and conceding. Now we're defensively more solid, but at a cost to our forward line.

Now. Another caveat. Hagi's stats of course include having Dom Thomas, Calum Gallagher, peak Ross Forbes and Bobby Barr. So the side that he came in to had more attacking talent than the team Smith inherited. Of course therefore his stats will be better.

I quickly deleted that first season though and looked only at last year until Hagi left. With Ryan Tierney, Isaac Layne and so on, we still managed to average 1.21 goals per game. With the same squad in seven games last season under Smith and Duffy we scored seven goals. Although we did win three of those.

I'm not sure you can read anything into all of the above. But the stats told a story that we already knew. We're blunt going forward and, although relatively tight at the back, if you aren't scoring every single week then you'll lose more games than you win. 

13 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

14 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Huntly will be sending a shiver down some of our fans' spines I'm imagining.

Huntly fully deserved their win that day, and we took it on the chin and moved on. I'm reckoning that the current Huntly team and possibly also the Colts team aren't any great shakes, but then again neither are we. Whatever happens it won't be any great 'shock'.

Whilst it may not come as a shock to those of us who watch Sons every week, it would certainly go down as a shock for those on the outside (and for either Huntly or Colts, both of whom will quietly fancy their chances I reckon) for a mid-table League One side to lose to a lower mid-table Highland League side or mid-table Lowland League side.

This isn't Brora Rangers or Kelty Hearts we're facing here. Heck even when we played Bonnyrigg they were flying. Anything other than a victory will put Duffy under a bit of pressure from the fans imo - unless we get a positive result against Airdrie this Saturday.

[cameron2000]

Airdrie 3-0 Dumbarton. Or Clyde 2-0 Dumbarton.

Clyde fans on their way to ask why you’ve given Airdrie an extra goal

[Jan Vojáček]

17 minutes ago, cameron2000 said:

Clyde fans on their way to ask why you’ve given Airdrie an extra goal

Adam Frizzell would've signed a new deal if we played Clyde and he cleared a shot off the line.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

50 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Anything other than a victory will put Duffy under a bit of pressure from the fans imo - unless we get a positive result against Airdrie this Saturday.

If Duffy can’t mastermind a home victory against Huntly or Cumbernauld Colts (no disrespect to them) he should be packed up and gone by 5pm that Saturday. 

[Frank Quitely]

I was writing up my review of the year for the paper the other day and totally forgot that it was this year that Barry Smith came in for Hagi.
Given the impact that changing assistant had on Ian Murray and Stevie Aitken, I wondered how Hagi's stats compared to Barry Smith's - and there's been a clear difference.
Now before I go on I should say that, in Smith's defence, his 20 games have included two against Falkirk, one against Dunfermline and one against Kilmarnock. In Hagi's defence, his goals against ratio includes 6-1 and 6-0 defeats to Morton and Falkirk respectively.
But here we go:
Craig McPherson as assistant
Played - 55
Won - 20 (36.4%)
Drawn - 12 (21.82%)
Scored - 83 (1.5 per game)
Conceded - 93 (1.69 per game)
Barry Smith as assistant
Played - 20
Won - 6 (30%)
Drawn - 3 (15%)
Lost - 11 (55%)
Scored - 14 (0.7 per game)
Conceded - 28 (1.4 per game)
A few things really stood out to me there. Firstly since Smith came in we now score (on average) half the number of goals of our opponents. We also now lose more than half of our games.
Under Hagi we both won and drew more matches - e/g avoided defeat more often. And based on the numbers that looks to be because we had a better balance between scoring and conceding. Now we're defensively more solid, but at a cost to our forward line.
Now. Another caveat. Hagi's stats of course include having Dom Thomas, Calum Gallagher, peak Ross Forbes and Bobby Barr. So the side that he came in to had more attacking talent than the team Smith inherited. Of course therefore his stats will be better.
I quickly deleted that first season though and looked only at last year until Hagi left. With Ryan Tierney, Isaac Layne and so on, we still managed to average 1.21 goals per game. With the same squad in seven games last season under Smith and Duffy we scored seven goals. Although we did win three of those.
I'm not sure you can read anything into all of the above. But the stats told a story that we already knew. We're blunt going forward and, although relatively tight at the back, if you aren't scoring every single week then you'll lose more games than you win. 
Whilst it may not come as a shock to those of us who watch Sons every week, it would certainly go down as a shock for those on the outside (and for either Huntly or Colts, both of whom will quietly fancy their chances I reckon) for a mid-table League One side to lose to a lower mid-table Highland League side or mid-table Lowland League side.
This isn't Brora Rangers or Kelty Hearts we're facing here. Heck even when we played Bonnyrigg they were flying. Anything other than a victory will put Duffy under a bit of pressure from the fans imo - unless we get a positive result against Airdrie this Saturday.

Thank God it isn't Brora or Kelty.

[Jan Vojáček]

14 minutes ago, Frank Quitely said:

Thank God it isn't Brora or Kelty.

Or East Kilbride for that matter. I was sure we'd draw them - but thankfully Spartans took care of that.

[George Parr]

1 hour ago, Frank Quitely said:

2 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I was writing up my review of the year for the paper the other day and totally forgot that it was this year that Barry Smith came in for Hagi.
Given the impact that changing assistant had on Ian Murray and Stevie Aitken, I wondered how Hagi's stats compared to Barry Smith's - and there's been a clear difference.
Now before I go on I should say that, in Smith's defence, his 20 games have included two against Falkirk, one against Dunfermline and one against Kilmarnock. In Hagi's defence, his goals against ratio includes 6-1 and 6-0 defeats to Morton and Falkirk respectively.
But here we go:
Craig McPherson as assistant
Played - 55
Won - 20 (36.4%)
Drawn - 12 (21.82%)
Scored - 83 (1.5 per game)
Conceded - 93 (1.69 per game)
Barry Smith as assistant
Played - 20
Won - 6 (30%)
Drawn - 3 (15%)
Lost - 11 (55%)
Scored - 14 (0.7 per game)
Conceded - 28 (1.4 per game)
A few things really stood out to me there. Firstly since Smith came in we now score (on average) half the number of goals of our opponents. We also now lose more than half of our games.
Under Hagi we both won and drew more matches - e/g avoided defeat more often. And based on the numbers that looks to be because we had a better balance between scoring and conceding. Now we're defensively more solid, but at a cost to our forward line.
Now. Another caveat. Hagi's stats of course include having Dom Thomas, Calum Gallagher, peak Ross Forbes and Bobby Barr. So the side that he came in to had more attacking talent than the team Smith inherited. Of course therefore his stats will be better.
I quickly deleted that first season though and looked only at last year until Hagi left. With Ryan Tierney, Isaac Layne and so on, we still managed to average 1.21 goals per game. With the same squad in seven games last season under Smith and Duffy we scored seven goals. Although we did win three of those.
I'm not sure you can read anything into all of the above. But the stats told a story that we already knew. We're blunt going forward and, although relatively tight at the back, if you aren't scoring every single week then you'll lose more games than you win. 
Whilst it may not come as a shock to those of us who watch Sons every week, it would certainly go down as a shock for those on the outside (and for either Huntly or Colts, both of whom will quietly fancy their chances I reckon) for a mid-table League One side to lose to a lower mid-table Highland League side or mid-table Lowland League side.
This isn't Brora Rangers or Kelty Hearts we're facing here. Heck even when we played Bonnyrigg they were flying. Anything other than a victory will put Duffy under a bit of pressure from the fans imo - unless we get a positive result against Airdrie this Saturday.

Thank God it isn't Brora or Kelty.

Really? I think there's a reasonable chance we'd beat both of them at the Rock. Neither look significantly better than Cove etc. 

Drawing Hearts or Dunfermline would have had me more concerned.

[BallochSonsFan]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

If Duffy can’t mastermind a home victory against Huntly or Cumbernauld Colts (no disrespect to them) he should be packed up and gone by 5pm that Saturday. 

Aitken has the Bonnyrigg game. His bete noir. By all rights he should have been gone, but in fairness to him and the players it seemed to be the catalyst for a significant improvement in form. I'd expect the same pressure on Duffy if we fall against Huntly or Cumbernauld. Those are the kind of results that should have people asking serious questions, not least the manager himself and his players.

But thats a discussion for after the game if we have to have it. Hopefully we'll do what we need to and it wont be an issue.

[The Moonster]

It says everything about our current squad that we're bricking our pants over a home game with Huntly. 

[FifeSons]

We’ve beaten Airdrie, Clyde, Cove and drawn at Firhill this season. If we win our game in hand we’d be a point behind Partick.

The squad might be weak relative to recent seasons, but it will still have no problem dispatching a mid table Lowland/Highland League outfit.

[FifeSons]

2 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Or East Kilbride for that matter. I was sure we'd draw them - but thankfully Spartans took care of that.

I’d have loved EK tbh. Duffy could have a worse squad than Aitken and still beat his side all day.

[Jan Vojáček]

14 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

I’d have loved EK tbh. Duffy could have a worse squad than Aitken and still beat his side all day.

You're probably right to be fair. Duffy has only lost four times in 19 games against Aitken.

[airdrieman]

Will you be doing a programme again for this Saturday's match or will you be giving it a miss since it was originally our home game? Enjoyed your last effort and the ones from previous seasons. Always a good quality read. 

[Jan Vojáček]

2 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Will you be doing a programme again for this Saturday's match or will you be giving it a miss since it was originally our home game? Enjoyed your last effort and the ones from previous seasons. Always a good quality read. 

There's a programme. And it'll be absolutely smashing as per*

Spoiler

*The editor sits near the plug for the microphones for the livestream. If I say nasty things about it he'll pull it out.

 

[airdrieman]

7 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

There's a programme. And it'll be absolutely smashing as per*

  Reveal hidden contents

*The editor sits near the plug for the microphones for the livestream. If I say nasty things about it he'll pull it out.

 

Ideal thank you very much! Have ordered a couple. Much obliged. 

[FifeSons]

Is there any chance of Saturday being on? Looks like its got frozen pitch written all over it.