BLUE TOON vs DUMBARTOON

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Not sure the shortened season is a positive. We could be staring down the barrel of a relegation dogfight after the next four games.

You misunderstand me. A shorter season equates to watching 675 hoofed clearances as opposed to 900. But you are bang on the money with your prediction.

[FifeSons]

29 minutes ago, cedrick1 said:

Watching Scotland and Dumbarton in last week. Even when playing ok and arguably the better team both are toothless and lack creativity.

Definitely parallels. An inability to score and a big diddy striker that everyone other than the manager seems to know is hopeless.

(maybe the McBurnie comparison is a bit harsh on Jones)

[peternapper]

Important win today. Both teams had spells but mainly outside the box, we are struggling to get a team on the park  certainly in their normal positions  and after getting off to a flier with the early goal with Ferry going off seemed to struggle a bit. There were a few games against Dumbarton that we should have won comfortably but ended up getting beat so will take todays result. Probably cant grudge him an off day as they are far & few between but Scott Brown was poor today, on the other side thought Lyle Cameron was our best player. The new gear bought in for streaming made a big difference much improved & also gave the commentary guys the chance to do a good job., Hopefully Layne is not too bad & think if we could finally get Mc Kenzie in looking after thing at the back we get on ok. Looks like there are going to be top half teams & bottom half this season we need to make sure we are no worse than  between the two.

[Boghead ranter]

2 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Hope they’re not related to Paul Martin.

Depends if it's Martin the player or Martin the manager.

[Howlin' Wilf]

Do we really think the team was so short today? I thought it was a decent performance away from home. I have seen various performances at Peterhead where we have returned with three points and not played  well. We beat Airdrie by digging in and striking on the break. Today we pressed the opposition to no great end result. It happens. It's really a bit early to talk about a relegation dogfight.

[cedrick1]

My issue wilf goes back to earlier in year and is continuing. We are no threat and rarely look like scoring. Defensively we are sound enough but 4 goals in 5 games is poor and even looking at chances created -also lacking. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

Do we really think the team was so short today? I thought it was a decent performance away from home. I have seen various performances at Peterhead where we have returned with three points and not played  well. We beat Airdrie by digging in and striking on the break. Today we pressed the opposition to no great end result. It happens. It's really a bit early to talk about a relegation dogfight.

I sure hope you're right Wilf but I'm really struggling to  find grounds for optimism.  But rather than critique a group of honest but mostly moderate players, a team management trying to build a team on a shoestring and a Board of Directors trying manfully to keep the club afloat, I would encourage everyone to turn their attention to the huge, ugly elephant in the room., because that's where the real problem lies. 

 

[FifeSons]

1 hour ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

Do we really think the team was so short today? I thought it was a decent performance away from home. I have seen various performances at Peterhead where we have returned with three points and not played  well. We beat Airdrie by digging in and striking on the break. Today we pressed the opposition to no great end result. It happens. It's really a bit early to talk about a relegation dogfight.

It was a decent performance and we didn’t deserve to lose, but taking nothing from today and East Fife is not something we can afford to do. Especially in such a short season and with some very difficult games coming up.

Far too many glorious missed chances today and against East Fife.

[BallochSonsFan]

2 hours ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

Do we really think the team was so short today? I thought it was a decent performance away from home. I have seen various performances at Peterhead where we have returned with three points and not played  well. We beat Airdrie by digging in and striking on the break. Today we pressed the opposition to no great end result. It happens. It's really a bit early to talk about a relegation dogfight.

Massively short.

That Peterhead defence wasnt put under anything like enough pressure. Their keeper had very little to do. Dabrowski was in a similar position - he didnt really make many difficult saves because Peterhead didnt really test him that often. Our lack of creativity is a worry. We don't carry enough of an attacking threat. We'll have plenty of games this season where our midfield and defence will be solid enough to make us look comfortable and where we'll only concede the odd goal. That's not enough if we're carrying almost no threat going forward. No use being solid enough at the back if we can't put teams under meaningful pressure in the final 3rd.

[Jan Vojáček]

Yesterday was a hugely frustrating one and, on the balance of play, we probably deserved a draw. But Peterhead played us at our own game. We're a good counter attacking team, but the early goal allowed them to sit in and then hit us on the break - and with Frizzell realistically our only outright creative force we couldn't find a way through.

As BSF says though (and Duffy said post-match) we absolutely needed to be testing their keeper more often. We seem scared to have a pop from outside the box - and Frizzell is especially guilty of that. He needs to be a bit more selfish and not be afraid to have a few digs like he did against Clyde.

I also wasn't sure about Duffy's subs. Wilson wasn't looking as sharp as he had done in previous weeks, but he was still a threat - and the same goes for Frizzell. We look a really decent team when we get the ball on the ground and attack teams with pace, but far too often we flick into lazy long ball mode. And that leaves them feeding off scraps.

Wedderburn was on a booking, so I can sort of understand why we hooked him, but he was the only person linking the defence and the attack with passes, rather than hoofs that bypassed them. Bringing on Jones and Johnstone (who really don't work together) saw us flick from 70% long balls to 100% long balls, and low and behold between the two of them they threatened once in 20 odd minutes on the park.

On the more positive side, Sam Wardrop had another good game and is looking a serious threat going forward, so that's great to see. Hopefully he can continue to build-up gametime and get through the campaign injury free. Wee Chris Hamilton had a good game yesterday too, it doesn't matter where we put him he always adapts well and you'd never know he was a centre-half by trade. 

We've now got a really tough run of games coming up, haven't scored in our last three and lost our last four in-a-row (conceding in the first 20 minutes of all of them). If we can keep things tight and hit Falkirk, Thistle and Cove on the break then we might have a chance given that suits our way of playing. But at the moment it's difficult to see us getting anything from those matches.

Fair play to Peterhead though. They were down to bare bones but were well organised, solid and created a handful of decent chances. Given their squad situation that was a smashing result for you guys.

[As Easterly as it gets!]

1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Yesterday was a hugely frustrating one and, on the balance of play, we probably deserved a draw. But Peterhead played us at our own game. We're a good counter attacking team, but the early goal allowed them to sit in and then hit us on the break - and with Frizzell realistically our only outright creative force we couldn't find a way through.

As BSF says though (and Duffy said post-match) we absolutely needed to be testing their keeper more often. We seem scared to have a pop from outside the box - and Frizzell is especially guilty of that. He needs to be a bit more selfish and not be afraid to have a few digs like he did against Clyde.

I also wasn't sure about Duffy's subs. Wilson wasn't looking as sharp as he had done in previous weeks, but he was still a threat - and the same goes for Frizzell. We look a really decent team when we get the ball on the ground and attack teams with pace, but far too often we flick into lazy long ball mode. And that leaves them feeding off scraps.

Wedderburn was on a booking, so I can sort of understand why we hooked him, but he was the only person linking the defence and the attack with passes, rather than hoofs that bypassed them. Bringing on Jones and Johnstone (who really don't work together) saw us flick from 70% long balls to 100% long balls, and low and behold between the two of them they threatened once in 20 odd minutes on the park.

On the more positive side, Sam Wardrop had another good game and is looking a serious threat going forward, so that's great to see. Hopefully he can continue to build-up gametime and get through the campaign injury free. Wee Chris Hamilton had a good game yesterday too, it doesn't matter where we put him he always adapts well and you'd never know he was a centre-half by trade. 

We've now got a really tough run of games coming up, haven't scored in our last three and lost our last four in-a-row (conceding in the first 20 minutes of all of them). If we can keep things tight and hit Falkirk, Thistle and Cove on the break then we might have a chance given that suits our way of playing. But at the moment it's difficult to see us getting anything from those matches.

Fair play to Peterhead though. They were down to bare bones but were well organised, solid and created a handful of decent chances. Given their squad situation that was a smashing result for you guys.

A fair summary. A draw would've been a fair result, but I think ourselves and The Sons are in our rightful positions and will probably be happy to stay in this league at seasons end.

 

[FifeSons]

Interesting to think we’ve only conceded 3 goals in 5 games, yet have managed to lose 2 of them.

[As Easterly as it gets!]

26 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Interesting to think we’ve only conceded 3 goals in 5 games, yet have managed to lose 2 of them.

Could've been worse.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

15 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I sure hope you're right Wilf but I'm really struggling to  find grounds for optimism.  But rather than critique a group of honest but mostly moderate players, a team management trying to build a team on a shoestring and a Board of Directors trying manfully to keep the club afloat, I would encourage everyone to turn their attention to the huge, ugly elephant in the room., because that's where the real problem lies. 

 

I don’t think we should absolve the coaching staff and players of any sort of blame or criticism just because we have owners who don’t dip their hands in their pockets. Duffy is a hugely frustrating gaffer when it comes to being lazy as hell with his transfers. Everyone knew Jones wasn’t good enough last season, and quite frankly he put in some woeful displays, so why has he been retained? Duffy also tried to keep Pettigrew and Brennan, thankfully they both told him no and he had to put a bit of effort in to find a replacement. Unsurprisingly that little bit of effort has meant we now have an upgrade. I fully appreciate that working on a tight budget means you wont be signing world beaters but why keep guys that you already know aren’t good enough? It’s baffling.

Why do Neil and McGeever just shell the ball up the park every time they get it? If that’s a tactical decision that is coming from the manager then he deserves criticism for that as well because it doesn’t work and is eye bleedingly bad to watch.

Our off the pitch situation isn’t great but it’s been the same for a very long time. Duffy and his players deserve as much criticism as the last guy and his players if things aren’t going our way on the pitch.

[BallochSonsFan]

Brabco are a massive problem. Unfortunately it's unlikely that we'll find an owner willing to throw money at the club. They've previously stated their objection to any fundraising that dilutes their shareholding so they're potentially a barrier to investment, but we're not going to see anybody coming in with regular funding any time soon. The club needs more income. Some fresh capital would absolutely help by allowing the club to invest in facilities. Even then there's still a big gap between where the club is now and where it needs to be. A lot of work to be done when things are back to normal to make the stadium a working facility that brings in money and to somehow try and get more fans through the gates.

But thats more for the Sorrow thread than a match discussion.

[FifeSons]

30 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Some fresh capital would absolutely help by allowing the club to invest in facilities.

Purely out of curiosity, what would a ballpark figure be that would make a significant difference to the club?

[BallochSonsFan]

16 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Purely out of curiosity, what would a ballpark figure be that would make a significant difference to the club?

It depends on what you'd want to do.

There was previously talk of replacing the dance floor in the community suite. You could also look at replacing the PA system used for functions and the projector that would allow conferences and similar events. 

Significant difference is difficult. The reality is that we're based in a small town within travelling distance of Glasgow. There isnt a huge local market for conferences and functions and we've got some local hotels in Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Vale of Level that compete for similar events. The comedy club is a fantastic idea - something that nowhere else in the area offers and a good way to get non-football people down to the stadium and change their perceptions to being a facility that can be used for a load of different things. I'd like to see gigs at the rock. I go to a lot of gigs throughout the year and if you look around the UK there are plenty of small towns that have regular gigs. I think there's a market for 2 or 3 shows a month with crowds of up to 100 people that could potentially bring in a nice regular income throughout the year.

There's no single thing that will make a significant difference. It has to be lots of small things. It's a conversation that Alan Findley and me have had in the past, usually after Brabco repeated their warnings of a cycle of decline. The only way lower league football clubs can thrive in the modern era is be becoming community hubs and offering things outside of 3pm on a Saturday.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

It depends on what you'd want to do.
There was previously talk of replacing the dance floor in the community suite. You could also look at replacing the PA system used for functions and the projector that would allow conferences and similar events. 
Significant difference is difficult. The reality is that we're based in a small town within travelling distance of Glasgow. There isnt a huge local market for conferences and functions and we've got some local hotels in Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Vale of Level that compete for similar events. The comedy club is a fantastic idea - something that nowhere else in the area offers and a good way to get non-football people down to the stadium and change their perceptions to being a facility that can be used for a load of different things. I'd like to see gigs at the rock. I go to a lot of gigs throughout the year and if you look around the UK there are plenty of small towns that have regular gigs. I think there's a market for 2 or 3 shows a month with crowds of up to 100 people that could potentially bring in a nice regular income throughout the year.
There's no single thing that will make a significant difference. It has to be lots of small things. It's a conversation that Alan Findley and me have had in the past, usually after Brabco repeated their warnings of a cycle of decline. The only way lower league football clubs can thrive in the modern era is be becoming community hubs and offering things outside of 3pm on a Saturday.

Two good posts BSF, but as you say, this issue does not belong on a match thread. Rest assured though it will not remain dormant, as every Sons fan needs to be aware of the bind the club now finds itself in.