Diamonds v The Sons - 23 Oct

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

7 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

He was right to go for it IMO, just should've been more commanding.

He completely flapped at it and got nowhere near it. I thought he was absolutely hopeless today and there was about 3 sepeate occassions that my heart was in my mouth watching him. His distribution is also absolutely horrendous.

[Mr November]

That was some laugh. That’s twice this season the games between Airdrie and Dumbarton have been strangely angry and incredibly entertaining. After a few seasons of pretty uneventful games I’m all for it.

The first half was pretty even, Airdrie had slightly more of the ball but Dumbarton undoubtedly had the better chances and to be honest probably should have been ahead. It was pretty clear a Dumbarton sending off was coming at some point given the number of bookings in the first half, though I thought it would be Buchanan first rather than MacLean. The second half was pretty similar until the sending off. McCabe missing the penalty seemed to galvanise Dumbarton and even with ten men they probably created slightly better chances. 

MacLean being sent off after his antics in the previous game was funny. I said after that game that being back at games and having a pantomime villain style player like MacLean was great fun and it was the same again today. I’ve got no idea what he was sent off for though and I’m not sure anyone else around me did either. Buchanan’s red card was coming all game but Geggan should know better for his second yellow. I’m not entirely sure what Farrell was sent off for but Eric Phillips thumping the dugout after McCabe missed the penalty, then looking dejected at 2-1, going mental at the equaliser before Airdrie went on to get the winner was very entertaining.

That was Dylan Easton’s poorest game for a while but what a goal to make it 2-1. Really pleased for Salim getting his first goal too, he hasn’t really got going yet but hopefully that will give him some confidence. 

I thought Airdrie’s defending and passing was pretty poor throughout the game today. I’m not sure if it was over confidence but there was a lot more slack passes than previous weeks, particularly between the defence. We were very lucky Kerr’s mistake early on wasn’t punished and to be honest he struggled throughout the game. I know we had 5 strikers on but leaving a spare man at the back post when you have a 3 man advantage is dreadful defending. It all worked out in the end but we need a big improvement next week. It was great to see how much that win meant to the players and coaching staff though. I don’t think last season’s team would have won that, especially after Paton’s equaliser.

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

I'll concede, there was a few moments during that game where I actually turned and said the refs being generous to us. The second penalty, imo, was never a pen while I thought the first one was a stonewaller, shirt pulling which 100% started outside the box but continued into it.

I'm not going to dwell on the point of the ref, because we've been in Dumbarton's position today, of a hellish ref, and we will be again, probably sooner rather than later.

We were very slow today I thought after a decent opening 15, a lot of turning and passing back, and a couple of defensive errors as well. Not at our best by any means but still managed to scrape 3 points.  We seen the good side of this team last week, this week they've really knuckled and dragged a result out.

[Mr November]

7 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

When he blew the whistle immediately after calling the kick off back, he's genuinely been lucky to leave the pitch without having his head kicked in.

He had to be escorted off by two stewards  

[FifeSons]

Unbelievable levels of professionalism from @Jan Vojáček on the stream. 

[Shooter McGavin]

11 minutes ago, Sons Fan said:

You kept going I’ll give you that but I would be very surprised if you are challenging near the top.

We were poor today and had 3 players sent off with pretty much every other player on a yellow. The ref did all he could to help you. I might sound bitter but there are better teams in the league.

No no not bitter at all.

[NorthernDiamond]

8 minutes ago, Sons Fan said:

You kept going I’ll give you that but I would be very surprised if you are challenging near the top.

We were poor today and had 3 players sent off with pretty much every other player on a yellow. The ref did all he could to help you. I might sound bitter but there are better teams in the league.

We were very poor by our recent standards, so to come away with the win anyways is very pleasing. All your wounds were self inflicted however, I'd be raging as well with some of the bookings given if it was my team, but the ref made it clear from the start he wasn't having it and your players kept going. What did they expect? 

 

Also as for Airdrie's coaching teams celebrations at the end, seems it was as much of a reaction to the antics of the Dumbarton bench as it was to the winner.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I rarely seek excuses when we lose but in 60 years of watching football I've seldom seen such an inept display of refereeing.  We were guilty of 7 yellow cards, three reds with the Manager also red-carded, and conceded two penalties.  Would anyone in attendance today like to identify a single robust challenge in the entire proceedings ?  I would dearly love to read the report of the referee supervisor.

[NorthernDiamond]

2 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I rarely seek excuses when we lose but in 60 years of watching football I've seldom seen such an inept display of refereeing.  We were guilty of 7 yellow cards, three reds with the Manager also red-carded, and conceded two penalties.  Would anyone in attendance today like to identify a single robust challenge in the entire proceedings ?  I would dearly love to read the report of the referee supervisor.

You don't have to foul someone to be booked, as proven several times today 

[Sons Fan]

4 minutes ago, NorthernDiamond said:

We were very poor by our recent standards, so to come away with the win anyways is very pleasing. All your wounds were self inflicted however, I'd be raging as well with some of the bookings given if it was my team, but the ref made it clear from the start he wasn't having it and your players kept going. What did they expect? 

 

Also as for Airdrie's coaching teams celebrations at the end, seems it was as much of a reaction to the antics of the Dumbarton bench as it was to the winner.

I totally agree we failed big time, we should have been smarter with the ref. But also consistency from a ref would be nice. We pushed you - free kick and a yellow or we kicked the ball away - yellow card. You guys did the same - nothing. 
 

two poor teams today but that wasn’t a match where three players should have been sent off. I genuinely cannot think of a bad tackle.

[Diamond Oracle]

You could tell that the Dumbarton players lost their head after Buchanan was booked for dissent after the first penalty. Very strange as it looked a pretty clear cut penalty from where I was sitting.

The Dumbarton team appeared to be utterly raging at every decision after that.

All the cards given were deserved IMO apart from Geggan’s second yellow where Currie played for it.

To the old Dumbarton goalie coach: GIRFUY. Angry, angry man.

To Paton and Duthie who gave it big licks at the equaliser: GIRFUY.

To every man, woman and child in Dumbarton tonight: GIRFUY.

[Diamond8]

7 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I rarely seek excuses when we lose but in 60 years of watching football I've seldom seen such an inept display of refereeing.  We were guilty of 7 yellow cards, three reds with the Manager also red-carded, and conceded two penalties.  Would anyone in attendance today like to identify a single robust challenge in the entire proceedings ?  I would dearly love to read the report of the referee supervisor.

Doesn't have to be a bad challenge in the game to rack them up the way your lot did today. That's a hallmark or Farrells teams though, terribly disciplined 

[NorthernDiamond]

1 minute ago, Sons Fan said:

I totally agree we failed big time, we should have been smarter with the ref. But also consistency from a ref would be nice. We pushed you - free kick and a yellow or we kicked the ball away - yellow card. You guys did the same - nothing. 
 

two poor teams today but that wasn’t a match where three players should have been sent off. I genuinely cannot think of a bad tackle.

I thought the ref was consistent, he only booked one a player from each team for an actual bad challenge. He was incredibly consistent in that anybody giving abuse was getting a booking. Our own keeper got booked for mouthing off at the end also 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Quite surprised at the sheer amount of Dumbarton fans on this thread using the excuse of 'no robust or dangerous challenge in the game' to question the three red cards. I don't really know what happened with MacLean's red so can't comment on it, but when two players already booked for dissent commit fouls that are very clearly worthy of second bookings there's not much to argue with. We were garbage and lucky to get the win but I enjoyed it anyway.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

4 minutes ago, Sons Fan said:

I totally agree we failed big time, we should have been smarter with the ref. But also consistency from a ref would be nice. We pushed you - free kick and a yellow or we kicked the ball away - yellow card. You guys did the same - nothing. 
 

two poor teams today but that wasn’t a match where three players should have been sent off. I genuinely cannot think of a bad tackle.

Only Airdrie player I remember actually booting the ball away was Currie after Easton's goal and he was booked for it. We had no reason to waste any time other than the four minute spell when the game was 2-1.

[Chapelhall chap]

I did wonder about the level of dissent that the Dumbarton players showed at the first penalty-it's fairly  pointless when the Ref has already decided . Yes he might be new to all of us and maybe the players but it was then always likely to have an impact later. There was a lot of shirt pulling and it might be petty but Buchanan must have known what he was doing at the end. I have no idea why McLean got a straight red but it can be given it for foul and abusive dissent. It could not have happened to a better guy after his cheating against Wardrop. He was constantly questioning the ref during any challenge, so he  may have let his frustration get the better of him. The 2nd penalty was so far away that I could not genuinely see the challenge. Geggan was a wee bit unlucky as I don't think he bumped Currie that much, but again in the cliche "it gives the Ref a decision" to make.  

To the game itself after a good start and a promising lead, we were lucky not to be behind by several goals before the equaliser. Dumbarton were more threatening and deserved to be level, if not ahead.  We were so deep in all in our play and rarely looked like breaking through-some half hearted shots aside. You would think that had McCabe scored that 2nd penalty we would have finally woken up but given what Dumbarton did with /10/9/8 guys then maybe we would have gone awol as well. Easton's shot was superb and it was euphoric! How we then managed to panic and fail to simply keep the ball was shocking. Maybe having so many forwards left us leaving the covering to someone else. It was a credit to Paton that he did get the equaliser and I don't remember him being in the box before that. It is obviously sickening for the Dumbarton side that Airdrie just kept attacking and finally a corner cross was headed in. Cue astonishment . 

A win is a win and that last six minutes will live long in the memory, but there was something not quite right today in our control. As to the Ref I only complain if we win. but  I can see why many Dumbarton fans/players were less than impressed. 

[Thommo90]

48 cards in 13 games for that ref today.... Will pay attention to his next game and get lumping on the card markets 

[BallochSonsFan]

11 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Only Airdrie player I remember actually booting the ball away was Currie after Easton's goal and he was booked for it. We had no reason to waste any time other than the four minute spell when the game was 2-1.

2nd half at the fan stand side touchline. Ref called a foul on an Airdrie player. Airdrie player kicked the ball away (your guy with the beard).

I generally have no sympathy with players booked for dissent. No ref is going to change their mind regardless of how many times you call them an arsehole or question their parentage. But today some of those decisions can't have had any other reaction than to ask what the ref had taken prior to kick off?

And he got the first penalty decision correct. Buchanan was pulling the jersey outside of the box and kept doing it inside of the box. Absolutely no problems at all with that penalty decision. Pretty much the rest of the game?

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by BallochSonsFan

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

6 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Quite surprised at the sheer amount of Dumbarton fans on this thread using the excuse of 'no robust or dangerous challenge in the game' to question the three red cards. I don't really know what happened with MacLean's red so can't comment on it, but when two players already booked for dissent commit fouls that are very clearly worthy of second bookings there's not much to argue with. We were garbage and lucky to get the win but I enjoyed it anyway.

Away ye fucking go. The bookings for dissent were fairly ridiculous and I’m fairly certain if the shoe was on the other foot you’d be spitting feathers. I’m not saying Airdrie didn’t deserve the win but for a team to be reduced to 8 men when the referee has dished out 4 yellows, a straight red and sent off the gaffer for dissent then questions have to be asked. 

I’d be astounded if any Airdrie fan who watched via live stream or attended the match have ever seen such a flurry of cards for what was effectively f**k all. I’d be lording it up if I was an Airdrie fan but lets not pretend all those cards were the norm.

[Diamonds are Forever]

2 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I rarely seek excuses when we lose but in 60 years of watching football I've seldom seen such an inept display of refereeing.  We were guilty of 7 yellow cards, three reds with the Manager also red-carded, and conceded two penalties.  Would anyone in attendance today like to identify a single robust challenge in the entire proceedings ?  I would dearly love to read the report of the referee supervisor.

 

Not saying all the decisions were correct by any means, but that statement has no relation to the previous sentence. Managers generally do not get red carded for robust challenges, penalties are awarded for fouls, as are yellows and reds from 2 yellows. Why does there need to be robust tackles? The booking count shows 2 things - a picky referee, and terrible game management not to realise the type of referee and play accordingly.