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Dumbarton vs Cove Rangers


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10 minutes ago, GordyBrow said:

Cove continuing to be a tear-stained mess I see.

Not as much as the c***s in the home end. Jesus christ, honking patter and heads gone everywhere.

It’s not the linesman’s fault we’re are 3-1 down, we are an abomination at the back and goalkeeper is a bombscare. 

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The guys around me thought it was offside but I also thought he got a touch on the ball. Ref gave it and the linesman (who was in the perfect position) appears to have missed both the offside and the touch on the ball.

We weren't really good enough but we had a chance up until that point really. Cove didn't look that good at all but they got the goals in the first half to make them comfortable.

Ref also completely bottled it from sending off Morgan Neill and also McAllister late on for his deliberate hand ball.

To sum up, the Ref ruined any chance we had of getting something, despite us not being great.

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I thought the difference between the two teams today was quality up front. 

We look seriously dodgy at the back and currently we are shipping an average of 2 goals per game which simply isn’t good enough. In our last 3 games we have been 2 down inside 50 minutes, 2 of those games being at home.

The penalty was dubious in terms of offside but I thought it was a daft challenge tbh. Christ knows what Ramsbottom was up to for the second goal but it looked like it should’ve been a fairly routine save. On the topic of Ramsbottom - his distribution is horrendous. I lost count of the amount of times he had an easy throw/pass to a defender but instead he hesitated and went for the long ball. 

Much work required for Faz, he has to sort out that gap between the defensive midfielders and attackers and he desperately needs to sign an actual striker. 

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Really annoyed with that one.

2 bad mistakes for the goals in the first half. Nobody closing down Megginson and he got his shot away far too easily. 2nd one was bad defending and bad decision making from the keeper. I thought that McGeever's decision making in the first half was terrible and Ramsbottom's was poor for the whole game. 

2nd half? Different story. We were playing the ball with more pace, running at Cove and putting balls across the face of the box. The free kick was a perfect start and I thought that we were likely to equalise. That was until the penalty. There's a strong shout for offside. There's also a shout that McGeever might have just touched the ball. Ref only sees the defender diving in and the striker going down. Linesman should have been offering him some help with the decision. Ref gives it because all he sees is the tackle from behind. 

I'm annoyed today because we played really well against Clyde but in the 2 home games we've only started playing well when we're 2 goals down. When we started the 2nd half today we looked far better. It shouldn't take until we're 2-0 down and chasing a game for us to finally start playing. We need to stop playing these long diagonals and play into feet or for players to run on to. Orsi will run all day and has a bit of pace, but he's not going to win high balls in the air. Neither will McLean or Hopkirk. I was very impressed with Callum Wilson today. Thought he was involved with a lot of the things we did well in the 2nd half.

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6 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

I was very impressed with Callum Wilson today. Thought he was involved with a lot of the things we did well in the 2nd half.

I totally agree, I think he’s an absolute gem. I’d be looking to involve him as much as possible going forward. I think he’d work pretty well out wide in place of Hopkirk, who IMO, is absolutely hopeless.

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My take.  For almost the entire ninety minutes Cove were better organised, more fluent in possession, had more of a goal threat and were better defensively than ourselves.  In other words, pretty much like Airdrie were a fortnight ago and Queens were last week.  Apart from a flurry of corners after Carsy's free-kick we never really looked like rescuing a point - we used a 'Get Out Of Jail' card a fortnight ago and you don't get too many in a season.

No doubt much will be made of the penalty award, and at 1-2 you always have a chance, but how many of us would not have been shouting for one at the other end ?  Any Sons fan who claims it cost us a point is really stretching credulity as by that stage Cove were looking comfortable.

Almost every if not all the clubs in this division is in more stable shape off the park than we are, and two of the three mentioned above have laid out serious money.  That tends to show thro in performances and results and already it looks like we may be competing in a mini-league with Clyde, East Fife and possibly Peterhead.  So be it, we just need to get on with it.

On a day when there was no shortage of mediocre outfield performances and yet more bomb-scare goalkeeping I think Paton, who hardly ever gave away possession, Wilson, who worked very hard throughout and was our main source of energy, and Orsi who put in a tremendous shift deserve honourable mentions.  Another three stupid and avoidable bookings don't.

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I cant believe that the gaffer put Dumbarton out into the 1st half in such a passive and fearful manner.  There was no pressure or anything assertive and it let Cove get a foothold in the game with a good goal while we were playing defence v attack.

 

I thought most of the team done reasonably well once we got going and was pleased for Paton to play 90 decent minutes.

Edited by sonsanorak
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Gave Cove far too much respect in the opening half hour. Made them look like world beaters as we passively stood and watched all the flicks and feints. Grew into it later and demonstrated we could compete. An equaliser wouldn't have been entirely unwarranted.

Was impressed with Paton, Wilson and, to a slightly lesser extent, Carswell (he looks a bit fitter this season).

It'll be interesting to see a replay of the penalty decision. Couldn't tell much from my position. I certainly enjoyed the theatre of it all - it's something I've missed over the last 18 months that you just can't replicate via a stream.

Stevie F seems to be saying all the right things post match, we really must stop canceding cheap goals.

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2 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Not as much as the c***s in the home end. Jesus christ, honking patter and heads gone everywhere.

It’s not the linesman’s fault we’re are 3-1 down, we are an abomination at the back and goalkeeper is a bombscare

Gourlay and Ramsbottom both aren't convincing to say the least, are error prone and their distribution is lacking somewhat.

We have a quality keeper (McKenzie) but he's sitting idle on the bench probably getting more royally pissed off each week.

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3 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

My take.  For almost the entire ninety minutes Cove were better organised, more fluent in possession, had more of a goal threat and were better defensively than ourselves.  In other words, pretty much like Airdrie were a fortnight ago and Queens were last week. 

I’m not entirely sure I agree with that tbh, I thought it was a fairly even game and the stats would appear to back that up. The main difference was that Cove have Mitch Megginson and Rory McAllister up top whilst we have Kalvin Orsi, who puts in a shift, but is never an out and out striker. In the first half Cove were the better team, in the second half we were the better team. We were much, much better than last weeks showing at Queens Park IMO.

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We sat in and tried to keep things tight but still lost 3 goals. Evident then that this team sitting in and defending isn't something we should do too often. Vigurs had the freedom of the pitch and the goals we lost were soft. We can argue about the penalty but I didn't think we deserved a point either way, not enough clear cut chances. It's annoying because despite giving Cove all that time on the ball they never looked brilliant - organised and clinical is all they had to be to take 3 points. Much work for Faz to do.

Edited by The Moonster
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29 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

It's annoying because despite giving Cove all that time on the ball they never looked brilliant 

I’m not sure we did give them all that much time on the ball, they had 52% possession. I thought in the 2nd half we had a lot more of the ball than they did.

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I’m not sure we did give them all that much time on the ball, they had 52% possession. I thought in the 2nd half we had a lot more of the ball than they did.

First half we definitely allowed them too much possession, we really need to start turning up for 90 minutes.

First I’ve seen us in the flesh for a long time, Wilson was good in the second half, McLean I was most impressed with, orsi faded,

What’s the big hearts boy to do to get a start?
Is he even any good?
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The second goal is what killed it for us. And is what's been annoying me since 23 minutes past 3 yesterday afternoon.

Yes we could've closed down Mitch for the first more effectively, but he's a cracking player with his confidence sky high. I don't have too many issues with losing that one. It's a good strike and through Lynch's legs which makes it impossible for Sam.

The second, officially 22 seconds later, is an absolute shambles. There is no way the opposition should even be back in possession in our half 22 seconds after scoring, let alone finding the net again. We lost possession far too cheaply and we gave a player a free header from an unchallenged delivery six yards out. 

Defensively we have a problem. McGeever and Buchanan are looking a whole lot better on the ball than McGeever and Neill last year, but the amount of cheap goals we lose to unmarked players in the area is a massive concern. It's easy to blame the full-backs (and I'll come to them) but the two centre-halves need to tighten up a bit - it feels like a concentration thing above all else. Hopefully they will settle into a partnership, but at the moment they aren't working.

Full-back is our biggest issue. Edin Lynch has looked decent enough (if it a bit rough round the edges) so far, but he was poor yesterday. Left-back is a big worry. You either go for Paddy Boyle - who is fine defensive positioning wise, good in the air, but slow as anything, exposed by anyone with pace and offers little going forward. Or you go for Sam Muir who is a bit wild positionally, not too handy in the air, but rapid, quality on the ball and a real threat going forward. After the last few games I'd probably switch back to Muir. If we're going to be open at the back then we need all the help we can get going forward.

Aside from the defence though there were a few good performances yesterday, and I honestly believe we're close to being where we want to be. If we had David Goodwillie, Mitch Megginson, or even Gabby McGill then I genuinely think we'd have beaten Airdrie and taken something yesterday.

We started the second-half strongly and maintained that for a good 20-25 minute spell were an equaliser felt inevitable. But two things were missing. A player to play a killer pass (or provide a killer set piece delivery from the raft of corners we had) for a clearcut chance, and a player who could hover in the box and stick the ball in the net. We have two of the former in McKee and Carlo. We have none of the latter.

That was punished when Cove decided they'd had enough of us threatening and went up to win the penalty. For what it's worth I've seen the replay and McGeever quite clearly takes the ball. But I can't have too many complaints because we had enough of the ball that we should've created a chance to get level, and only have ourselves to blame for not doing that. Aside from their three goals, Cove had one other shot on target. Can you imagine how many shots on target it would take us to score three? As BBPF says they were clinical and we were anything but in the final third.

Kalvin Orsi put in a good shift, caused the Cove defence issues and showed a few decent bursts forward. But he doesn't really ever look like scoring. Behind him Callum Wilson was a real livewire and should be starting wide on the left from now on for me. Hoppy and Maclean were both subdued and didn't make much of an impact.

Aside from Wilson though, I thought our best player was Paul Paton. His game intelligence is superb, he sniffed out danger and nullified it. He loves a slide tackle, used the ball well and dropped in to plug gaps in the back four quite naturally. It's probably no coincidence that Carsy had one of his best games in a while alongside him. I was very impressed and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

Looking at the games we've played so far, the Queen's Park match was the only one where I felt like we couldn't put forward any kind of argument that we deserved to take something. They outclassed, outplayed and outworked us. I think we'll have a clearer indication of how we're doing when we play the teams I expect to be around us; East Fife, Peterhead, Alloa and Clyde. 

If we can find a way to replicate the second-half yesterday then we'll be absolutely fine. If we keep producing sub-par first-half performances, and caving in as soon as we concede once then we'll be in bother.

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