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The Wheel vs The Rock


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I’ve only seen the highlights but I actually think Orsi’s finish is really clever. I reckon if he hits it harder he likely doesn’t get it right in the corner, or puts it slightly higher, giving Mutch an easier save.

Happy to get another win on the board. I cannot believe how much better this team is than last year’s.

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That was a really strange game yesterday. If absolutely predictable given what the Bairns fans had to say.

Falkirk kept possession really well. But we were defensively better and showed more quality in the final third. That's what wins you games. Not just knocking the ball about harmlessly.

I was amazed by how little a threat Falkirk posed. Nesbitt and Telfer aside there wasn't one player in navy who played well. Michael Ruth looks like the sort of striker we get on loan every season - he works hard, his touch is good, he links play quite nicely. But he doesn't really ever look like he's going to score. McGuffie absolutely stank the place out and I actually thought he had been hooked at half-time, McDaid didn't look on it and - without wanting to repeat what every Bairns fan had said - they looked a lot better with Aidan Keena on the park. Omperon looked okay in flashes I suppose, but no more than that. Hetherington was absolutely horrific.

There was a massive gulf in physicality between the teams. I wouldn't go as far as saying we bullied Falkirk, but the physical disparity was a bit like playing Rangers 'Colts' again. Some technically decent, tricky players. But they were almost all easily bumped off the ball by guys like Carsy, McGeever and Buchanan.

Listening to Sheerin's post-match would be a major red flag for me if I was a Bairn. He still talks like a development coach. Falkirk need someone to stand there with a bit of arrogance and hammer into players that they should be winning this league, and anything else is a failure. He didn't look to be that fussed because there were aspects of the performance he enjoyed. Can you imagine the likes of Ian McCall giving it that sort of patter after a home defeat to Sons?

Anyway. Enough about them. Onto us.

For the first 25 minutes or so we looked quite content to keep a solid shape and Falkirk seemed to have no real urgency about them to try and break it down.

From about the half hour mark however they upped it and we became dreadful on the ball. Falkirk created a good few openings, although didn't really force Sam Ramsbottom into a major save - with Paddy Boyle's off the line clearance from Aidan Nesbitt the closest they came.

The second-half started in the same way. Falkirk had plenty of the ball, we weren't great when we had it, and they created a few openings - but nothing too dangerous.

Then one goal kick, one excellent flick from Conner Duthie and the world's slowest finish from Kalvin Orsi later we took the lead. Orsi's finish looks a whole lot better on the highlights than it did at the time. I actually think the criticism of Mutch is a bit harsh. There is barely any power on the shot, but it knocks the post on the way in. It's well placed.

That looked to kick us on, and from that point onwards I thought we were good value for the victory. Callum Wilson's goal is superb, and credit to Carlo Pignatiello for the ball in to Wilson. It's very well weighted. The anger about a potential foul from the Bairns fans is mentioned in the highlights, but that's certainly not what I heard. The Falkirk fans around me were more seething at the ease at which we'd scored a second goal.

After that we looked comfortable and, had there not been a wild amount of injury time after a really nasty looking head injury to Paul Dixon, would've more than merited the clean sheet.

Performance wise Gregor Buchanan and Ryan McGeever were absolutely superb, and I thought Paddy Boyle had another very solid game. His positioning was excellent and he was dominant in the air. Edin Lynch looked decent enough - and offered a threat down the right. Ahead of them Stuart Carswell had another very solid game; and the introduction of all three subs made a difference at the right time. Ryan Schiavone especially stretched a tiring Bairns defence well.

Further forward I've taken a real shine to Conner Duthie. He's just such a handful to play against, all full of aggressive running and pace. I wasn't sure why Duffy signed him, I wasn't totally sure why Faz kept him. But fair play. A pre-season and some gametime and he's been like a new signing.

We've seen quite a few sides to this Dumbarton squad. We dominated Clyde and East Fife (two teams who we looked far stronger than). We were clinical and well organised against Montrose and Falkirk (two teams who, on paper, looked stronger than us). We showed a good fighting spirit against Airdrie, got punished for not being well organised or clinical against Cove and were played off the park by a far better Queen's Park team.

I've no idea what that means for this season. The league is ridiculously tight. But it's night and day from turning in the same performance week-in week-out under Duffy last year. So massive kudos to Faz and Franko for that. I'm enjoying watching Sons again for the first time since the end of the 2018-19 season.

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4 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

Simply diabolical recruitment by Holt. He’s like playing with half a player 

I know McGuffie started a ridiculously low number of games at Ayr United, despite looking quite handy off the bench fairly often.

There's a reason that a player is a sub every single week usually though. And he might be proving that this year.

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I thought Paddy Boyle had another very solid game. His positioning was excellent and he was dominant in the air.


I'm still not convinced with Boyle. Obviously he had a good block off the line and he is good in the air but whenever he is up against a winger with the slightest bit of pace, they just burn right past him and I think that's going to cause us some problems if teams decide to exploit it.

He got booked yesterday in the first half simply because he couldn't keep up with the Falkirk winger and had to go to ground to stop the attack.

Time will tell and I'm happy to be proved wrong.
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Gregor Buchanan’s faither  giving it the get it up ye routine on Facebook.

Obviously not bitter!

Alternatively he could reflect on the fact his spawn signs for a different club every season, shocking personal hygiene problem or just a fairly mediocre to poor footballer?

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4 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Gregor Buchanan’s faither  giving it the get it up ye routine on Facebook.

Obviously not bitter!

Alternatively he could reflect on the fact his spawn signs for a different club every season, shocking personal hygiene problem or just a fairly mediocre to poor footballer?

Despite all the shite we’ve been through over the last 5/6 years the fact the club tried to feed us the “hometown hero” regarding Buchanan was a farce. 

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6 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Gregor Buchanan’s faither  giving it the get it up ye routine on Facebook.

Obviously not bitter!

Alternatively he could reflect on the fact his spawn signs for a different club every season, shocking personal hygiene problem or just a fairly mediocre to poor footballer?

May be an image of 2 people, people playing sport, people standing and outdoors

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12 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Gregor Buchanan’s faither  giving it the get it up ye routine on Facebook.

Obviously not bitter!

Alternatively he could reflect on the fact his spawn signs for a different club every season, shocking personal hygiene problem or just a fairly mediocre to poor footballer?

His dad actually played for us back in 80/81.

Two appearances and bumped. Obviously still sore about it.

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32 minutes ago, gav-ffc said:

Despite all the shite we’ve been through over the last 5/6 years the fact the club tried to feed us the “hometown hero” regarding Buchanan was a farce. 

I got the sentiment about us needing players with an affinity to the club at the time but they overlooked the small matter of the player being any good. Had we managed to maybe get someone like Liam Craig and made him captain it might not have been the dropped bollock it was. 

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6 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Gregor Buchanan’s faither  giving it the get it up ye routine on Facebook.

Obviously not bitter!

Alternatively he could reflect on the fact his spawn signs for a different club every season, shocking personal hygiene problem or just a fairly mediocre to poor footballer?

I was expecting (hoping) that it would be some sort of massive GIRFUY.

But it wasn't. He posted the result with "actions speak louder than words" and then some action shots with "Another great 3 points for Dumbarton yesterday at Falkirk. I enjoyed that one for sure."

His boy got punted by Falkirk after having a rubbish time there. It's not a massive shock he enjoyed watching his new team beating them, with his son being the best player on the park. I dare say he wasn't the only ex-Bairn who enjoyed Saturday's result either.

Edited by Jan Vojáček
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