Jump to content

Dumbarton vs Cove Rangers


Recommended Posts

A wounded Dumbarton are back at home to welcome the rampant Cove Rangers to the Rock. Quite the opposite results for this week but with Faz back in the dugout I am hopeful that there will be some fire back in the bellies of the Sons players. In abandoning Duffy ball we've been far better to watch but we're also conceding far too many goals, it's clear that the full back area is an issue for us and that doesn't fill me with confidence with the likes of Milne, Logan and Yule loading up the wings for Cove. Hopefully Lynch is restored at right back and Faz figures something out on the left. 

A fairly strong start for Cove through some difficult games, much like ourselves they don't look as strong at the back as they were last year but as we saw last week they are very dangerous in attack. It'll be a tough one for The Group Formerly Known As Aitkens Army with Big Scoop Neill lining up against us - perhaps some half and half scarves are being made as we speak. 

Looking forward to a normal day at the football back at home. @CoveRangers1922 you making the trip down pal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

A wounded Dumbarton are back at home to welcome the rampant Cove Rangers to the Rock. Quite the opposite results for this week but with Faz back in the dugout I am hopeful that there will be some fire back in the bellies of the Sons players. In abandoning Duffy ball we've been far better to watch but we're also conceding far too many goals, it's clear that the full back area is an issue for us and that doesn't fill me with confidence with the likes of Milne, Logan and Yule loading up the wings for Cove. Hopefully Lynch is restored at right back and Faz figures something out on the left. 

A fairly strong start for Cove through some difficult games, much like ourselves they don't look as strong at the back as they were last year but as we saw last week they are very dangerous in attack. It'll be a tough one for The Group Formerly Known As Aitkens Army with Big Scoop Neill lining up against us - perhaps some half and half scarves are being made as we speak. 

Looking forward to a normal day at the football back at home. @CoveRangers1922 you making the trip down pal?

A game I'm very much looking forward to after not getting the chance to make it to the Rock last season. Sons took all 3 points that day with a 1-0 win. Dabrowski was about 8ft tall and reminded me of Peter Schmeichel at his best! Unfortunately our first choice keeper, our Hartley's I should say, is perhaps only just good enough to tie the big Poles boots. 

I'm almost certain I should be making the trip down and I'd be up for meeting some of the Sons fans in the ground. 

I watched Dumbarton play Rangers B (I'll be polite and not call them what I really want to) and agree that the Sons are definitely far better to watch under Faz. There's more attacking threat, better use of the width and some creativity and experience in the middle of the park. I'd like to see Callum Wilson start and with him and Ross MacLean you have great width. What's the thoughts on Orsi, will he contribute enough goals? Can't say I've seen him much other than a few games last season for Morton.

As for Cove we are hopefully on the upward curve after the East Fife game but I'm still not convinced from what I saw there or the games before it. 15 goals conceded in 7 games shows we are/were vulnerable at the back. Saying that I think Saturday saw us pick our best back four - Logan, Ross, Strachan and Milne and I expect them to cement their place and help us get some clean sheets going forward 

Our biggest weakenesses are Gourlay, shoot from anywhere and pressurise him at set pieces as he will spill it, and Vigurs not tracking back / giving it away cheaply. I'd also say Hartley's team selection; you could almost guarantee the team line-up each week last season but now less so. We're probably marginally weaker than last season or on par to be honest. There's talk of another striker coming in before the window closes, maybe this week.

Fyvie will miss the game due to suspension. Masson might start and will vastly improve us over Leitch. Mitch looked sharp and took his hatrick well so his confidence should be sky high. 

* I'd definitely buy a half and half scarf

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

A game I'm very much looking forward to after not getting the chance to make it to the Rock last season. Sons took all 3 points that day with a 1-0 win. Dabrowski was about 8ft tall and reminded me of Peter Schmeichel at his best! Unfortunately our first choice keeper, our Hartley's I should say, is perhaps only just good enough to tie the big Poles boots. 

I'm almost certain I should be making the trip down and I'd be up for meeting some of the Sons fans in the ground. 

I watched Dumbarton play Rangers B (I'll be polite and not call them what I really want to) and agree that the Sons are definitely far better to watch under Faz. There's more attacking threat, better use of the width and some creativity and experience in the middle of the park. I'd like to see Callum Wilson start and with him and Ross MacLean you have great width. What's the thoughts on Orsi, will he contribute enough goals? Can't say I've seen him much other than a few games last season for Morton.

As for Cove we are hopefully on the upward curve after the East Fife game but I'm still not convinced from what I saw there or the games before it. 15 goals conceded in 7 games shows we are/were vulnerable at the back. Saying that I think Saturday saw us pick our best back four - Logan, Ross, Strachan and Milne and I expect them to cement their place and help us get some clean sheets going forward 

Our biggest weakenesses are Gourlay, shoot from anywhere and pressurise him at set pieces as he will spill it, and Vigurs not tracking back / giving it away cheaply. I'd also say Hartley's team selection; you could almost guarantee the team line-up each week last season but now less so. We're probably marginally weaker than last season or on par to be honest. There's talk of another striker coming in before the window closes, maybe this week.

Fyvie will miss the game due to suspension. Masson might start and will vastly improve us over Leitch. Mitch looked sharp and took his hatrick well so his confidence should be sky high. 

* I'd definitely buy a half and half scarf

 

I'll more than likely be in the Stags Head pre-match if you fancy a beer. 

I'd love to see Wilson get a run of games, he's just suffering from being in a position we have about 8 players, I believe he came on out wide against Rangers but he is generally seen as a centre midfielder. I've mentioned a few times that we've got a problem in midfield in knowing who to play - McKee, Wilson, Paton, Geggan, Pignatiello and Carswell all fighting for those positions. Orsi, the jury remains out for me (as a striker). He holds the ball up quite well and is physical but he clearly has very little bottle in front of goal, he swipes and snatches at everything, but his effort and work rate is as good as you'll get in this league. He needs to offer more as the lone striker IMO. If we had anyone else in the team who I was confident in leading the line I'd be inclined to try Orsi playing off the right instead of Hopkirk, perhaps Ryan Schiavone from hearts is that man but we can't really put that sort of expectation on a young guy getting his first games under his belt. 

A sharp and confident Mitch may well have a field day if we don't get it right at the back. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We need to change things from Saturday for sure. Fullbacks have to be Muir on the left and either Carlo or Lynch on the right. I also wouldn't be against swapping Hopkirk for Duthie.

We did really well in the Clyde game when the front 3 plus McKee pressed high up the park and when our fullbacks supported the midfield to allow the wide men to run at defenders, or sometimes even overlapped them. We saw a little bit of that against Airdrie in the first 10 minutes and after they went down to 10 men, but not enough of it and it was missing on Saturday v Queens Park. We completely lost the midfield, left Orsi alone up front with no help and pumped wasted long diagonals that our wide forwards were never catching. If we aren't making it difficult in midfield and starting to try and win the ball back between the centre circle and opposition 18 yard box then it'll be another long afternoon. We've looked at our best this year when we've pressed high up the pitch and got good support from our fullbacks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, The Moonster said:

I'll more than likely be in the Stags Head pre-match if you fancy a beer. 

I'd love to see Wilson get a run of games, he's just suffering from being in a position we have about 8 players, I believe he came on out wide against Rangers but he is generally seen as a centre midfielder. I've mentioned a few times that we've got a problem in midfield in knowing who to play - McKee, Wilson, Paton, Geggan, Pignatiello and Carswell all fighting for those positions. Orsi, the jury remains out for me (as a striker). He holds the ball up quite well and is physical but he clearly has very little bottle in front of goal, he swipes and snatches at everything, but his effort and work rate is as good as you'll get in this league. He needs to offer more as the lone striker IMO. If we had anyone else in the team who I was confident in leading the line I'd be inclined to try Orsi playing off the right instead of Hopkirk, perhaps Ryan Schiavone from hearts is that man but we can't really put that sort of expectation on a young guy getting his first games under his belt. 

A sharp and confident Mitch may well have a field day if we don't get it right at the back. 

I'm normally at away grounds around 2 so could easily stop in by for a beer. Will be in touch nearer the game.

Cove are similar to be honest, Hartley has signed a bunch of midfielders but i'd only play one of the newer signings at a push and that's Vigurs. Would rather have Fyvie alongside Scully in CM tbh. 

Yeah Mitch could be a handful especially in a 4-4-2. If he's a lone striker and we play Draper in a 5 man midfield he could become isolated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pay at the gate confirmed and Bar72 will be open. Finally back to normal! Think I'll give Bar72 a few weeks to get up to speed though, the pints were mediocre at best previously, I don't want to think what the first pint out those taps will be like on Saturday :lol:. Hopefully they've still got the DFC Pale Ale's in stock and I'll maybe grab one before kick off. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Talking to myself here but Syvertsen, Erskine and Evan Maley are all out with doubts over Geggan, Pignatiello and fucking Joe McKee. Could perhaps see Paton making his debut here and if McKee is out I hope he starts Wilson in that role. 

Yep just saw that..this season is quickly turning negative..too many stop/start for [players either due to covid or injury.Could be another humping tomorrow ...i hate being negative but this team just isnt solid at the back and cove are like brazil 94 upfront.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Talking to myself here but Syvertsen, Erskine and Evan Maley are all out with doubts over Geggan, Pignatiello and fucking Joe McKee. Could perhaps see Paton making his debut here and if McKee is out I hope he starts Wilson in that role. 

I think we need to stop trying to rush Joe back if he's clearly not fit. There's absolutely zero point in playing him when he's at 70 percent, only for it to then rule him out for the next 10 days. If that means he misses a month, but is then back to full fitness and able to string a run of games together then so be it. Shame about Norway mind you, I wouldn't have been averse to trying him in that #10 role.

Lynch in at right-back for Geggan, Paton in for Carlo and Wilson in for McKee. I like Conner Duthie, but he should be played as a winger (or maybe a forward) not a #10. He needs space to use his pace and physicality. 

Ramsbottom

Lynch McGeever Buchanan Muir

Paton Carswell

Duthie Wilson Maclean

Orsi/Schiavone

Subs: Keeper (was Paddy O'Neil, formerly of Brechin last week in case anyone cares), Boyle, Stokes, Orsi/Schiavone, Lamont, McKnight, Hopkirk.

Paton and Carswell should give the shaky back four a bit of protection. The young full-backs can give us a bit more in attack, Duthie deserves a punt over Hoppy who has gone off the boil a bit and lets get Callum Wilson on the ball loads so I can rave about him on the stream again. The blonde Iniesta. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, lorenzo71 said:

Yep just saw that..this season is quickly turning negative..too many stop/start for [players either due to covid or injury.Could be another humping tomorrow ...i hate being negative but this team just isnt solid at the back and cove are like brazil 94 upfront.

They're decent but lets calm down a bit. The same forward line scored 1 goal against us last season and we managed to beat them at home playing Duffyball. We've also conceded the same amount of goals that Cove have this season, so if we create chances there's every chance we come away with something. Agree with Jan that Paton coming into the side should hopefully make us a bit harder to break down, he certainly added that for Airdrie last season. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I think we need to stop trying to rush Joe back if he's clearly not fit. There's absolutely zero point in playing him when he's at 70 percent, only for it to then rule him out for the next 10 days. If that means he misses a month, but is then back to full fitness and able to string a run of games together then so be it. Shame about Norway mind you, I wouldn't have been averse to trying him in that #10 role.

Lynch in at right-back for Geggan, Paton in for Carlo and Wilson in for McKee. I like Conner Duthie, but he should be played as a winger (or maybe a forward) not a #10. He needs space to use his pace and physicality. 

Ramsbottom

Lynch McGeever Buchanan Muir

Paton Carswell

Duthie Wilson Maclean

Orsi/Schiavone

Subs: Keeper (was Paddy O'Neil, formerly of Brechin last week in case anyone cares), Boyle, Stokes, Orsi/Schiavone, Lamont, McKnight, Hopkirk.

Paton and Carswell should give the shaky back four a bit of protection. The young full-backs can give us a bit more in attack, Duthie deserves a punt over Hoppy who has gone off the boil a bit and lets get Callum Wilson on the ball loads so I can rave about him on the stream again. The blonde Iniesta. 

you make it sound good....really hope you are right...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

19 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I think we need to stop trying to rush Joe back if he's clearly not fit. There's absolutely zero point in playing him when he's at 70 percent, only for it to then rule him out for the next 10 days. If that means he misses a month, but is then back to full fitness and able to string a run of games together then so be it. Shame about Norway mind you, I wouldn't have been averse to trying him in that #10 role.

Lynch in at right-back for Geggan, Paton in for Carlo and Wilson in for McKee. I like Conner Duthie, but he should be played as a winger (or maybe a forward) not a #10. He needs space to use his pace and physicality. 

Ramsbottom

Lynch McGeever Buchanan Muir

Paton Carswell

Duthie Wilson Maclean

Orsi/Schiavone

Subs: Keeper (was Paddy O'Neil, formerly of Brechin last week in case anyone cares), Boyle, Stokes, Orsi/Schiavone, Lamont, McKnight, Hopkirk.

Paton and Carswell should give the shaky back four a bit of protection. The young full-backs can give us a bit more in attack, Duthie deserves a punt over Hoppy who has gone off the boil a bit and lets get Callum Wilson on the ball loads so I can rave about him on the stream again. The blonde Iniesta. 

Looks a decent starting XI to me. I like that midfield, should give a good balance between protection to the back four and attacking threat. For Cove, we'll need to try and use our wide players well and hopefully start Rory to try and mix it with McGeever and Buchanan. If Rory can hold it up and allow Mitch to play on the half turn that will aid our chances.

Edited by CoveRangers1922
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, lorenzo71 said:

you make it sound good....really hope you are right...

I'm still confident we're in a far stronger position than last season. This is a brand new squad, it will take time to get a settled consistency about it. I think the Clyde result maybe spiked expectations - but I wouldn't expect to see us playing to anything like our potential until October at the earliest. Faz needs time to work with the players, to identify his best team, and the players need time to get to know each other. If, come January, we're still shipping too many goals then I'll have concerns. But at the moment it's very early days.

Last season if we had six players ruled out (including three first choice central midfielders) then we'd really have no options - other than maybe Ruaridh Langan. The fact we're able to bring in players like Wilson, Duthie and Paton (and still have decent options on the bench in Hoppy, Stokes and one of the strikers) gives me a lot of hope.

Queen's Park beat us last week because they were the better team. They outclassed and outperformed us all over the park. If Cove turn up and are the better team tomorrow then they'll beat us. But unlike last season I feel like teams are going to have to work to take three points from games against us. Under Duffy all they had to do was score.

Given the amount of goals Cove have shipped they clearly are there for the taking at the back. Unfortunately we are in the exact same boat. Both teams can clearly score goals, but you'd put money on Megginson being more clinical with his opportunities than anybody we have. It could be a stupidly open game. Or we could camp in a wee bit to keep things tight, and then try and hit Cove with the pace we have on the break.

Who knows. But I'm certainly not getting down in the dumps about things just yet. We are night and day from where we were at this stage last season in terms of squad depth, options and style of play. We just need to find a way to bring over some of the defensive steel from last year, but without losing too much going forward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

They're decent but lets calm down a bit. The same forward line scored 1 goal against us last season and we managed to beat them at home playing Duffyball. We've also conceded the same amount of goals that Cove have this season, so if we create chances there's every chance we come away with something. Agree with Jan that Paton coming into the side should hopefully make us a bit harder to break down, he certainly added that for Airdrie last season. 

And a dubious one at that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I'm still confident we're in a far stronger position than last season. This is a brand new squad, it will take time to get a settled consistency about it. I think the Clyde result maybe spiked expectations - but I wouldn't expect to see us playing to anything like our potential until October at the earliest. Faz needs time to work with the players, to identify his best team, and the players need time to get to know each other. If, come January, we're still shipping too many goals then I'll have concerns. But at the moment it's very early days.

Last season if we had six players ruled out (including three first choice central midfielders) then we'd really have no options - other than maybe Ruaridh Langan. The fact we're able to bring in players like Wilson, Duthie and Paton (and still have decent options on the bench in Hoppy, Stokes and one of the strikers) gives me a lot of hope.

Queen's Park beat us last week because they were the better team. They outclassed and outperformed us all over the park. If Cove turn up and are the better team tomorrow then they'll beat us. But unlike last season I feel like teams are going to have to work to take three points from games against us. Under Duffy all they had to do was score.

Given the amount of goals Cove have shipped they clearly are there for the taking at the back. Unfortunately we are in the exact same boat. Both teams can clearly score goals, but you'd put money on Megginson being more clinical with his opportunities than anybody we have. It could be a stupidly open game. Or we could camp in a wee bit to keep things tight, and then try and hit Cove with the pace we have on the break.

Who knows. But I'm certainly not getting down in the dumps about things just yet. We are night and day from where we were at this stage last season in terms of squad depth, options and style of play. We just need to find a way to bring over some of the defensive steel from last year, but without losing too much going forward.

yeah you are right its very early in the season and i suspect we will improve but as for tomorrow i think we might struggle.certainly hope the young fb s are back -in.muir will improve with games like rico did 2 seasons ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, microdave said:

And a dubious one at that.

Another day the ref and/or linesman doesn't give that goal. Was a fortunate decision on the day for us and we snatched the win. I think I remember Robert Jones having a pretty clear chance near the end to get the equaliser too

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Pay at the gate confirmed and Bar72 will be open. Finally back to normal! Think I'll give Bar72 a few weeks to get up to speed though, the pints were mediocre at best previously, I don't want to think what the first pint out those taps will be like on Saturday :lol:. Hopefully they've still got the DFC Pale Ale's in stock and I'll maybe grab one before kick off. 

 

You're in luck with the Pale Ale. Tis a very good beer, I might actually put in a wee order for some more.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...