Montrose vs Dumbarton

[FifeSons]

Pretty surprised to see Montrose have the worst defensive record in the league going into this one. I'd normally associate them under Petrie with being very well organised and difficult to break down (Mo fans, please correct me if I'm wrong!). However, both sides coming off the back of two very decent results and both will feel they can win.

It would be great to get a result here to head into our run of home fixtures with, but expecting a very tough game. Would be happy enough with a point.

[GableEnder21]

Those stats are due to the fact that for the first few games in every defensive position we had our regulars injured. I was actually really pleased we managed to still get positive results with the defence we were fielding. Now that our normal back four is back we look very solid and hence we are not letting in goals like we were.
We should be high in confidence after two very impressive away wins.
Fair play to Dumbarton this season they are doing well and another good win yesterday. Should be a good test for us.

[PortyMo]

Should also be noted that we are second top scorers. Goals has always been our problem recently but big Rusty seems to have found his feet. He has had his critics in the last couple of seasons, none more so than me but he is scoring regularly now and I really hope he can carry on and win the punters over.

I'll go for a 2-1 home win with Rusty keeping his run going.

[squeezeboxson]

1 hour ago, PortyMo said:

Should also be noted that we are second top scorers. Goals has always been our problem recently but big Rusty seems to have found his feet. He has had his critics in the last couple of seasons, none more so than me but he is scoring regularly now and I really hope he can carry on and win the punters over.

I'll go for a 2-1 home win with Rusty keeping his run going.

Is that the fella who was on loan to Forfar last season? IIRC, he looked absolutely hopeless the whole match (nothing like a footballer) but in 1 moment he turned our defence inside out and scored a good goal.

In a way, he reminds me of Robert Jones who we have except he hasn't really turned any defenders inside out. He has put in a decent assist or two though I guess. But spends too much time looking like bambi on ice.

Edited December 13, 2020 by squeezeboxson

[Angus of the Mo]

1 minute ago, squeezeboxson said:

Is that the fella who was on loan to Forfar last season? IIRC, he looked absolutely hopeless the whole match (nothing like a footballer) but in 1 moment he turned out defence inside out and scored a good goal.

In a way, he reminds me of Robert Jones who we have except he hasn't really turned any defenders inside out. He has put in a decent assist or two though I guess. But spends too much time looking like bambi on ice.

He got off to a poor start at the Mo, but Petrie has stood by him and he seems to have gained confidence.

I thought selling Blair Lyons to Partick Thistle was going to be a problem, but Rusty seems to have stepped up

[Angus of the Mo]

13 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Pretty surprised to see Montrose have the worst defensive record in the league going into this one. I'd normally associate them under Petrie with being very well organised and difficult to break down (Mo fans, please correct me if I'm wrong!). However, both sides coming off the back of two very decent results and both will feel they can win.

It would be great to get a result here to head into our run of home fixtures with, but expecting a very tough game. Would be happy enough with a point.

Defence issues were glaringly obvious, but that loophole has been closed

[The Moonster]

Question for Sons fans, if McGeever is fit next week (he was out doing light work on Saturday before the game), do you move Carswell out of defence after two clean sheets against two good sides? 

[FifeSons]

4 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Question for Sons fans, if McGeever is fit next week (he was out doing light work on Saturday before the game), do you move Carswell out of defence after two clean sheets against two good sides? 

Surely the real question is, does Wedderburn get moved upfront after ending our goal drought?!

[FifeSons]

To answer Moonster’s question though, I probably would move Carswell into Midfield alongside Wedderburn to give us a bit more energy. You’ve then got to hope that the centre halves don’t resort to hoofball.

[Silverton End]

Quite like keeping a winning side starting the next game.

Could be a draw, an away point would be fine against a Montrose in decent form. 

[cedrick1]

Mmmm I’ve always said players in own position but maybe carswell is a better centre back these days 

[cedrick1]

And a better balance than 2 big guys. Remember though the 2 big guys have done ok too 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

4 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Question for Sons fans, if McGeever is fit next week (he was out doing light work on Saturday before the game), do you move Carswell out of defence after two clean sheets against two good sides? 

That's a hard one tbh, normally I'd want Carswell back in midfield and McGeever straight in at the back but I'd maybe rather we didn't change a winning team.  I actually thought big Moothy looked a lot more confident with Carswell beside him and he was playing some decent balls out from the back rather the usual lumps we've been used to.

I'd be astounded if Duffy decided to leave McGeever on the bench if he's fit mind you.

[The Moonster]

18 hours ago, FifeSons said:

To answer Moonster’s question though, I probably would move Carswell into Midfield alongside Wedderburn to give us a bit more energy. You’ve then got to hope that the centre halves don’t resort to hoofball.

 

14 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

That's a hard one tbh, normally I'd want Carswell back in midfield and McGeever straight in at the back but I'd maybe rather we didn't change a winning team.  I actually thought big Moothy looked a lot more confident with Carswell beside him and he was playing some decent balls out from the back rather the usual lumps we've been used to.

I'd be astounded if Duffy decided to leave McGeever on the bench if he's fit mind you.

I actually think a lot of the improvement in our play out from the back was down to our front line rather than who played at the back. On Saturday when Carswell or Neill looked up they had Wilson heading into the channels and Frizzell dropping a wee bit deeper. It let us stretch Cove and drop balls in the spaces. Against Thistle you had the static Robert Jones and the tactic was clearly to aim it at his head but we just aren't that accurate with our passing for that style to be effective. So in conclusion, I'd be happy with either as long as Wilson and Frizzell start up top.

I think more importantly we need to inject some pace/skill out wide, Crossan in for Church and I'd like to see Reilly given a chance on the other side in place of Forbes. Reilly was the only player who looked like doing anything on the opening day and his chances have been limited since. Church has filled a hole but it's clear he's not a winger in the attacking sense and when you're playing with 2 or 3 central midfielders who struggle to get over the half way line then it's important the wide players get forward.

[squeezeboxson]

55 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

 

I actually think a lot of the improvement in our play out from the back was down to our front line rather than who played at the back. On Saturday when Carswell or Neill looked up they had Wilson heading into the channels and Frizzell dropping a wee bit deeper. It let us stretch Cove and drop balls in the spaces. Against Thistle you had the static Robert Jones and the tactic was clearly to aim it at his head but we just aren't that accurate with our passing for that style to be effective. So in conclusion, I'd be happy with either as long as Wilson and Frizzell start up top.

I think more importantly we need to inject some pace/skill out wide, Crossan in for Church and I'd like to see Reilly given a chance on the other side in place of Forbes. Reilly was the only player who looked like doing anything on the opening day and his chances have been limited since. Church has filled a hole but it's clear he's not a winger in the attacking sense and when you're playing with 2 or 3 central midfielders who struggle to get over the half way line then it's important the wide players get forward.

I think we have to also appreciate that Cove just didn't press us as high up the pitch as Falkirk and Partick did. Other than the last 15/20 mins Cove gave us time to play it out. But 100% it helped not having Jones or Denny up there to just hit the ball at.

Also, McGeever and Neill have shown, just last season, that they can play the ball out from the back as opposed to always going long.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Ahead of Saturday's fixture, a wee bit of nostalgia from our Championship-winning season of 1971/72.  We also won 3-2 (from 0-2 down) at Links Park later that season in an eventful game in which home keeper Archie Page suffered concussion.

[Jan Vojáček]

On 13/12/2020 at 14:48, The Moonster said:

Question for Sons fans, if McGeever is fit next week (he was out doing light work on Saturday before the game), do you move Carswell out of defence after two clean sheets against two good sides? 

I wouldn't, no.

By all accounts Carsy did well at centre-half against Thistle and was excellent against Cove. His performance at CB in that game was arguably better than most of his performances in central-midfield this season, combine that with Wedderburn being absolutely outstanding and I wouldn't be too tempted to change that. It's not like we're badly missing him in CM at the moment.

Fwiw I actually think Carsy will become a centre-back over time. He has all the attributes to be a really good one - he's excellent in the air, a hard tackler, reads the game well and can ping a nice pass. I've been impressed pretty much every time he's filled in there over the last few years.

As you've said, the only changes I'd be tempted to make would be on the wing. I actually thought Church did fine on Saturday as a defensive wide player - but his final ball really let him down. I'd like to see Crossan in for either him or Forbes, but I'm not really too fussed who.

[son hawk]

So McGeever is still out along with Reilly. Expecting the same team that started against Cove but wouldn’t be against Crossan and Church swapping places.

[Silverton End]

[super-son]

Crossan missing from the team again.