Airdrieonians v Dumbarton

[Spanish Armada]

Who was the fella that folk were getting pictures with outside the stadium before the game? Was behind him in the club shop queue but couldn’t really see his face!

Dougy Allsop?

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Who was the fella that folk were getting pictures with outside the stadium before the game? Was behind him in the club shop queue but couldn’t really see his face!

Dom Thomas.

[aftershocker]

Probably a draw was a fair result

I thought Airdrie had the better of the first half. Definitely want to see their first goal again...looked offside for the shot Adam saved

Fantastic effort from Barr for the equaliser and we were in the ascendancy after that, then Airdrie scored against the run of play. Fine goal though from Thomas

Perhaps the argument shouldn't be can Hutton and Carswell play together...it should be can Forbes and Hutton play together. Both very slow and static which allowed Airdrie to control the midfield

Good performances again from Ballantyne, Thomas, Adam an Barr

[dk81130]

As a neutral I took in today’s game . Airdrie the better team first half . Glass was running the show. A big mistake by Adam for 1st goal and the lad Ferguson was sleeping as well. Adam had a bit of a nightmare first half but has genuinely made a world class save in the second half . To be honest there wasn’t much in the game . Thought Dumbarton were much better in the second half and the introduction of Armour changed the game . 2 fabulous goals from Dumbarton . Dom T is a standout at this level. Also cammy ballantine was excellent as well. All in all a draw was a fair result.

[Nipper]

Yes a draw was a fair result. Don't think Dumbarton are as bad as some of their fans were making out on here before the game. Airdrie on the other hand are bang average and will continue to frustrate us to the end of the season.

[lionel wickson]

I wonder if there is another SPFL team that has a slower, more immobile midfield than ours?  I know that Hutton is something of a hate totem, but can anyone tell me what positives Michael Paton brings to the side? Two excellent  goals today though and a well earned point that looked unlikely at half-time.

[Nowhereman]

Seems to me that the fact that we took a point is colouring opinions of our display yesterday. Until the last ten minutes I thought we yet again looked like a bunch of individuals who just didn't have the motivation to bother their arses. Yet in the last ten minutes it was very different and we looked as if we could win. If only they could actually put in the effort throughout the game. And somewhat ironic that Hutton was substituted today given that Forbes and Paton contributed nothing to the middle of the park

[super-son]

Pretty poor first half.  First minute goal conceded yet again... How many times have we conceded in the first 5 minutes of a game this season? It was definitely a yard or 2 offside but it was also poorly dealt with. Spent the rest half aimlessly lumping balls up the park seemingly without lifting their heads to look for a player. There was absolutely no shape to the team and I think that is the biggest issue we have at the moment. Players are all over the place and there is no fluidity because there is no understanding of each others movement.

I think our season could be summed up well with the free kick we had 40 yards out. We have our defenders up waiting for the ball. Forbes who is known for putting an excellent ball into the box decides to pass it sideways instead of putting it in.  That player then comes under pressure, passes it back to Forbes again who by this point is also under pressure and loses the ball. Airdrie then end up with a very strong counter attack from our shocking stupidity.

Second half started a little better and and we seen a bit more of he ball. Managed to level the game up with a fantastic well struck shot from Barr when no team looked like they had a hold of the game. That seemed to give the team a flood of confidence they have been lacking for most of the season and we looked likely to score again. Airdrie manage to score a goal against the run of play which looked as though it could have been defended much better. Airdrie played the ball through our defense way too easily today and should have punished us more in the first half. 

The team responded well to the goal and started pressing Airdrie again. Nice bit of link up play between Armour and Thomas to get through for a shot. I was definitely not expecting Thomas to score from that angle but he just managed to squeeze it under the keepers hand into the bottom corner with what was a fantastic strike. I think we definitely deserved at least a point from that and would have been very hard done by to come away with nothing.

 

Special mention to Melingui who fought for everything for the full match and put the Airdrie defenders under constant pressure. His touch is pretty poor quite alot of the time but I hope that will improve with a bit of game time.

Bobby Barr also worked really hard today and had a number of successful ventures up the wing and overall had a great game in my opinion even without the goal. Needs to work on his defensive side a little as he found himself too far forward when we lost the ball.

Also thought that Hutton had a pretty good game. Noticed him bringing the ball down a few times with good control and managing to get a decent pass off.

 

Absolutely shocking display by the stand-side linesman. Some of the decisions by him had me truly dumbfounded. Also what is it recently with referees who put up with constant fouling in the first half by the opposition who could easily of had 3 bookings and then decide to book a Dumbarton player with a very soft foul at the start of the second half. How Airdrie never received a single booking today is ridiculous.

[squeezeboxson]

Said at the time I wasn't sure he was offside in the lead up to the first goal. I was the only one in my general area who wasn't sure - Everyone else seemed certain he was off. Having checked back I think he may have been on.

Done my best to capture it on my phone and I think Henk is playing him on. You can just see his arm on the left of the picture. Adam also has to do better with the initial shot.

It is well hit but more or less straight at him so for me he simply can't push it into the area he does. Push it wide, push it over, punch it anything but palming it right in front of himself where the Airdrie player is running in.

[Jan Vojáček]

I’m not one to have a go at officials, but quite how John McKendrick and the wee linesman in front of our fans managed to see this is a corner is beyond me. The fact the linesman didn’t make his decision until after Hutton had been high-fived by this teammates, and then had a wee laugh about the seethe with the ballboy makes it all the worse. It’s an outstanding save.

#AnyoneButDumbarton imo.

[Howlin' Wilf]

[Old Scrotum]

51 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

I’m not one to have a go at officials, but quite how John McKendrick and the wee linesman in front of our fans managed to see this is a corner is beyond me. The fact the linesman didn’t make it his decision until after Hutton had been high-fived by this teammates, and then had a wee laugh about the seethe with the ballboy makes it all the worse. It’s an outstanding save.

#AnyoneButDumbarton imo.

Only one of many decisions that were so bad that they were laughable.

Don't forget that magical moment when DT knocked the ball off a defender for a corner only for the linesman from 5 feet away to give a goal kick. DT was probably to stunned to be bothered arguing.

 

[Old Scrotum]

Don't Section B look much younger than they used too.? (If they clubbed their pocket money they might have managed a scarf between them.) I look forward to the match-up between them and our Ultras although I think our lot would be accused of bullying folk half their size.

 

"Mr. FORWARD!" surpassed himself.  When Carswell hit that long pass-back to Adam which took a nasty bounce and the 'keeper could only hoik the ball out of play he spent the next couple of minutes berating Adam for not picking it up. 

[Jan Vojáček]

Those are two really good goals from our point-of-view. At the time I thought Hutton should maybe be saving the second, but it's a brilliant finish from DT. It's got the power, it's got the pace and it ends up in the only part of the goal that the 'keeper can't have covered. 

As has been said already (and by Jim post-match) the longer the game went on the better we got - which is a roundabout way of saying that we were absolutely garbage in the first-half for the most part. The paceless midfeld (with Bobby Barr the honourable exception, he had another good game yesterday and is showing a few of the fighter traits that we're needing) offered us nothing until the last 15 minutes, and Airdrie played through them pretty easily. Despite winning the ball back in the lead up to both goals Forbes was miles off it, and with him and Hutton pretty much cemented into their positions Airdrie's quicker guys could just play around them.

I was surprised to see Paton start, and I'm not really sure why he did. The only positive was that he's probably more of a winger than Calum Gallagher, but that's saying very little - especially considering Gallagher actually has a bit of pace. Him and Forbes both want too much time on the ball when trying to clear the second - and we're punished for it. Smashing through-ball from Grant Gallagher though to be fair to him, shame he didn't ever manage to show that sort of ability with us.

Defensively we looked very, very shaky in the first-half but, again, settled as the game went on. Ballantyne was excellent, but I can't help but feel playing him on the left is nullifying him a wee bit. Ferguson struggled in the air, Henk looked like he needed a leader to talk him through the game and Carsy (seriously mental first-half backpass aside) was his usual steady self until forced off. Ideally I'd like to see us bring Mango into the heart alongside Henk, with Ballantyne and Ferguson at full-back - but I'm not sure Jim'll do that.

Ross Perry deserves a mention too. In his first appearance since November he settled into the back four really nicely. Obviously he's not fantastic on the ball, but he did the basics well and stayed disciplined. I'm pleased for him.

Further forward there were some encouraging signs from Boris and DT in the second-half. Partnerships take time, but I think we might have something there. Boris is such a likeable player, and could 100% be this season's Pat Walker. He works hard, is brave, decent shielding the ball and driving forward, and flashed a couple of opportunities wide. 

I said it post-match, but I'll say it again. Duffy played a major role in winning us that point today. The decision to hook Hutton for Armour at 2-1 and change shape had a major impact in swinging the game in our favour. Armour was full of running and stretched the Airdrie defence a bit, whilst Hutton going off seemed to result in Forbes starting to look like the player he's been for most of the season again. Only come May will we know how important a point that could be.

10 minutes ago, Old Scrotum said:

Only one of many decisions that were so bad that they were laughable.

Don't forget that magical moment when DT knocked the ball off a defender for a corner only for the linesman from 5 feet away to give a goal kick. DT was probably to stunned to be bothered arguing.

You'd have thought that the Airdrie player letting out a frustrated scream might've given that one away, but nope. 

1 minute ago, Old Scrotum said:

"Mr. FORWARD!" surpassed himself.  When Carswell hit that long pass-back to Adam which took a nasty bounce and the 'keeper could only hoik the ball out of play he spent the next couple of minutes berating Adam for not picking it up. 

I had the pleasure of sitting just a few rows in front of the chap yesterday, and he seemed worse than usual. Between that (which Adam dealt with extremely well given the pitch and how crazy the backpass was) and telling Adam "GET ON YUR LINE AND STOP ORGANISIN HINGS" he sounded like a guy with absolutely no idea what he was watching. 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I had the pleasure of sitting just a few rows in front of the chap yesterday, and he seemed worse than usual. Between that (which Adam dealt with extremely well given the pitch and how crazy the backpass was) and telling Adam "GET ON YUR LINE AND STOP ORGANISIN HINGS" he sounded like a guy with absolutely no idea what he was watching. 

His behaviour isn't healthy, he must be on the verge of a seizure with the seethe he channels into his ranting and raving. I actually thought he was disabled until he was pointed out to me.

I can only imagine how his young son feels listening to his dad rant and rave like an absolute lunatic in public. If my dad had went on like that when I was his age I'd have been mortified.

[FifeSons]

Who played where in defence yesterday?

[Jan Vojáček]

16 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

His behaviour isn't healthy, he must be on the verge of a seizure with the seethe he channels into his ranting and raving. I actually thought he was disabled until he was pointed out to me.

I can only imagine how his young son feels listening to his dad rant and rave like an absolute lunatic in public. If my dad had went on like that when I was his age I'd have been mortified.

 

I remember a few years ago at East End Park a guy basically told him to clamp it, and he was pretty much silent for the rest of the game. That made me think it was an attention seeking thing rather than someone getting far too involved in the game. As you say if his wean isn't embarrassed by it now he will be when he gets a wee bit older, poor kid must be totally deaf on one side too.

Him spending 63 minutes behind me at Somerset Park hollering "GET FLEMING ON" only for Gaz to come on and, in near enough his first contribution, just about snap Ross Docherty's ankle and get sent-off was quite comical.

3 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Who played where in defence yesterday?

From right to left; Stuart Carswell (Ross Perry) Henk van Schaik David Ferguson Cammy Ballantyne

[Pesadilla]

Didn't think Dumbarton were really in the game until the final ten or 15 minutes - where we looked like we'd contrived to throw the game away......again.

I don't think the substitutions helped. We changed shape, trying to consolidate our defense and maintain the lead, but we looked utterly shambolic. 

I say it quite often, but I just don't see what Conroy does to earn a starting place. He doesn't track back, doesn't tackle and although he makes the occasional good pass, he's just not able to give us any creativity.

Young Declan Glass looks a real prospect. He's a pleasure to watch. Took a lot of rough tackles from the Dumbo back line too. 

Draw was probably a fair enough result. Don't really see what the Dumbo fans are raging about with the ref and lino. They got a few calls from them both TBH.

[FifeSons]

Two top quality goals from us. Two really poor goals conceded, as usual.

[Diamond8]

A draw was a fair result yesterday, young glass is a decent prospect just wish he'd pass the ball a bit more rather than trying to do it himself. He's exciting to watch.

Two very nice finishes from Dumbarton as well and one from a player I hate to see score against anyone and the other from someone that over the whole game didn't impress me too much at all, nice strike though and that's all the counts.