Stenhousemuir vs Stranraer

[CEMSFC]

 

[Mattmc]

Decent pricing for the coverage. Not been a lover of the automated camera thus far. Annan and Brechin were both poor. A bit of commentary may make it an easier watch though. 
Think this game is similar to Edinburgh City and Stirling Albion whereby it would be great to take three points off another playoff contender. 
No reason we shouldn’t be looking for a win tomorrow. Confidence is high and in recent weeks we’ve shown how far we’ve come. 
Team seem well suited to artificial pitches so hopefully goes in our favour. 

Hard to make any changes and not aware of any that would be forced upon the manager. 
Andy Stirling and James Hilton must be champing at the bit to get a start, both very worthy players,  great to have coming of the bench. Disappointed not to see Hilton get on last week when we were chasing a win. 
Expecting a closely contended match. 

[ThroughtheTurnstiles]

Tough one to call this. Bit of preview and chat here, with differing predictions. 

 

[Francesc Fabregas]

This will be a hard game for us. If we're serious about getting into the top four this year, we really need to take something from it.

We're struggling to create chances and we're looking nervous later on in games, two things that were very noticeable in last week's win over Brechin City. Stranraer have been in superb form lately and I reckon they'll fancy their chances. There are a lot of players I like in that side, especially Kieran Millar, who I'm disappointed we didn't bring to the club after he left Airdrieonians.

Callum Yeats is still missing so I assume we'll see Ryan Watters at left-back/left wing-back again. I also think Thomas Halleran could be due a start, possibly at the expense of Ryan Blair who isn't really doing it for me at the moment, and I'd be tempted to replace Botti Biabi with Greig Spence.

God knows how we'll shape up but it might be a repeat of last time out. I've never before seen any team play with this system:

- Greig Spence - Mark McGuigan -

- Thomas Halleran -

- Ryan Watters - Callum Tapping - Jack Hodge - Jonathan Tiffoney -

- Josh Grigor -

- Creag Little - Andy Munro -

- Paddy Martin -

Hopeful of a home win but we'll see. Please buy a stream for the match, while the match not be great, we can assure you the commentary will be!

[Mattmc]

Keep your negative comments about Gregory Tade to yourself. 

[Moonglum25]

Munro Captain Fantastic giving out Xmas gifts early!

[Elric]

Stranraer in total control - we have had one decent chance.  Ryan Watters every time he goes forward and gets the ball it is a pass back. Changes required at half time.  This is grim viewing at the moment.

[beefybake]

4 minutes ago, Elric said:

Stranraer in total control - we have had one decent chance.  Ryan Watters every time he goes forward and gets the ball it is a pass back. Changes required at half time.  This is grim viewing at the moment.

Looks OK to me, so far.

[Moonglum25]

Well done the camera misses the goal and now Tapping sent off

[Moonglum25]

Better second half, well earned point, Munro at least redeemed himself.

[Blue1870]

Stunk the place out 2nd half. Would have taken a point beforehand. However what happened at half time. Jesus wasn't as if stenny were decent or anything. They were better but wow. How to throw 3 points away.

[dusty bin]

43 minutes ago, Blue1870 said:

Stunk the place out 2nd half. Would have taken a point beforehand. However what happened at half time. Jesus wasn't as if stenny were decent or anything. They were better but wow. How to throw 3 points away.

Totally agree BLUES 1870.

Cant believe we didn’t get all three points there.

First half cruising and Gal gets injured they score and it changed the game albeit we couldn’t have and should have put the game to bed at 2-1.

Maybe a bit of naivety from us.

Hey ho and we move on.

Our unbeaten run goes on.

Big game now next week with hopefully fans back a Stair Park.

KEEP THE FAITH

CMON THE BLUES.

 

[Mattmc]

3 hours ago, Blue1870 said:

Stunk the place out 2nd half. Would have taken a point beforehand. However what happened at half time. Jesus wasn't as if stenny were decent or anything. They were better but wow. How to throw 3 points away.

Too true. Sad. Would of been a great result. Still very tight for play off spots but to be there we need to see games like this out. 
Can’t say much about Stenhousemuir first goal but the second is a real f**k up between our defence and goalkeeper. Really frustrating. 
As much as I appreciate coverage once again pixleot (sp?) absolute dog dirt. These poor clubs have been had. 

[CEMSFC]

1st Goal - Spence hit a shot off the post rebounded to Biabi who tapped home, should have another angle in the highlights package 

[Francesc Fabregas]

A real game of two halves, if ever I saw one! In the first, Stranraer dominated the play, had the better of the chances and gratefully accepted their two gifted goals. I could not see Stenhousemuir coming into the game at all but they were far better after the interval took our strikes well, and probably deserved a share of the points at the death. When Callum Tapping was dismissed minutes after Botti Biabi's goal, I feared the worst but credit to the players for digging in and rescuing the draw from the unlikeliest of circumstances.

Stenny started the match quite well and had two decent chances when Biabi squared for Mark McGuigan (who may or may not have been pushed and fired wide) and when big Ayrton Sonkur cleared a shot off the line but after that, the game was almost exclusively played out on Stranraer's terms. We really struggled with Ruari Paton's runs down the right, while Tam Orr and Joao Victoria looked quite handy, drifting in and out from the flanks. There were long spells where we couldn't really get the ball out of our half and it didn't help that we lacked a) width and b) any movement in the final third whatsoever.

Ryan Watters was especially poor in the first half, even allowing for the fact he's playing in an unfamiliar position. He offered us nothing on the left flank and there was a moment just before the break when Tapping was yelling at him for his unwillingness to press forward, force Grant Gallagher back and create space or offer an option. Time and again the ball was worked over to Watters on the left, only for him to slow everything down and then pass it back inside unnecessarily. It was the same on the right with Jack Hodge, albeit not quite as egregious. We were also very static - there were several times when Tapping would look to move the ball forward but had no-one in space available for a pass; it was so easy for the visitors.

And this is before you even get onto the two Stranraer goals! The first one was a poor piece of defending from a routine set-piece that allowed Adam Cummings to fire home from close range; the second was a Paton penalty that came from a crap tackle by Andy Munro on Orr. It resembled a hip toss from the WWE, just really garbage stuff from the captain.

We kicked off the second half and looked a lot brighter. I'm not sure what Davie Irons said to his players at the break but it had an effect! We created a couple of chances, most notably a Josh Grigor drive from 20 yards that Greg Fleming did well to parry, and Watters and Hodge actually passed and moved, something neither really did previously. The things that Stranraer were doing well in the first half - overwhelming our full-backs through Paton and Victoria, preventing Tapping from getting on the ball - stopped working and old Scott Robertson looked particularly wonky at the back, with McGuigan giving him a lot of bother.

Biabi pulled one back on the hour mark, reacting quickly after Greig Spence's curling effort from distance bounced off the post and across the face of goal. I thought we were going to mount an unlikely comeback until, one minute later, Tapping was red carded for a two-footed tackle and Kieran Millar in the middle of the park. He might have won the ball but there was no need to jump in like that, on that part of the pitch, at that time of the match. Stupid!

Credit to the players, however, who continued to graft and push for an equaliser. Stranraer had a couple of efforts but nothing that really put Paddy Martin in serious jeopardy and Munro redeemed his earlier mistakes with a couple of brilliant blocks and one supremely-timed tackle on Orr (I think). With five minutes remaining, Cammy Graham replaced Biabi and made an immediate impact, winning a free-kick, only for Ryan Blair to thump it off the wall.

Graham would make a more telling contribution moments later when Fleming, who had looked uncomfortable with high balls all afternoon, missed a catch and allowed the youngster to hook it over him and into an empty net. Cue bedlam! The goal came out of nowhere and was a poor one for Stranraer to concede but it was probably merited based on how well Stenny had acquitted themselves in the second half.

While I was ultimately pleased with the point, I'm still not sure what to make of this team and I don't think the squad is quite as good as I first thought. We've spoken before about the lack of depth beyond the starting XI but today it's apparent we don't have a lot of width in attack. David Hopkirk is the only naturally wide player we have and asking Spence and Biabi to play as wide forwards doesn't work - Biabi can blow hot and cold and Spence, his part in the goal aside, contributed little - and, like Watters, I have a degree of sympathy because they're being asked to do things they're not comfortable with (Spence in particular, who's been a penalty-box striker all of his career). We have six senior forwards at the club - McGuigan, Biabi, Spence, Hopkirk, Watters and Tam Muir - and five of them all want to play through the middle. The lack of natural defensive cover is a worry too but I'm told the substitute trialist was a left-back from Ireland. We really miss Callum Yeats.

Stranraer were good going forward and I really liked the look of Paton but that back four can be got at, and the goalkeeper isn't as good as he used to be. I suspect we'll be battling with them for a top-four position. Good club, nice people involved.

[Moonball]

 

 

[Francesc Fabregas]

Those Stranraer highlights are excellent and he replays and close-ups really give you a feel for the match. Shout out to the commentary team of Heel Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Mark Madden too - while I may not have agreed with everything they were saying, they're an engaging listen. I'd like to think we might revert back to this kind of thing for our own match highlights rather than editing the Pixellot stream.

The highlights showcased how much of a disaster big Andy Munro had in the first half (I see he botched the clearance that set up Adam Cummings opener) and just how poor Stranraer did in defending Cammy Graham's equaliser - that was a real boob between Cummings and Greg Fleming!

[Neilly]

The performance of Munro pretty much summed up the team performance. Ridiculous first half but absolutely sublime second half. The usual suspects (or suspect) needs to chill out the skipper has had a great season on the whole.

Delighted with a point as didn't think we would get anything beforehand. A few players missing and we just don't have the squad to cope already which makes Tapping's tackle even harder to take. Completely unnecessary, a cowards tackle that's ultimately going to cost the team over the next few games.

Another tough game next week. I hope we are still in contention of top four by time Yeats and Muir come back but not sure how much longer we can go on with no left back.

[Landry Zahanioni]

Thought your highlights package was brilliant. And as Francesc says above, the replays and close-ups were great.

I actually enjoyed how biased the commentators were, exactly what I'd want to hear if I was a Stranraer fan.

[Clayhole Blue]

Those Stranraer highlights are excellent and he replays and close-ups really give you a feel for the match. Shout out to the commentary team of Heel Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Mark Madden too - while I may not have agreed with everything they were saying, they're an engaging listen.

 

Now you’ve said that we may use it in our publicity [emoji38] [emoji38]

 

ps - appreciate all the feedback on here. Last few weeks have highlighted how easy it is to say something on commentary which makes you look like an absolute pratt when you see it replayed the following day! But we are so lucky to have the Franks as our camera/technical experts [emoji122][emoji122]