Raith Rovers v Ayr United

[AUcal]

Meh, not very confident of us getting anything from this but will be in attendance. Surely it can't be worse than the home game against Raith. Will you guys still have key players injured? By all accounts Raith didn't play all that well last night so maybe plucky Ayr will cause an upset. 

 

[Raith_Raver]

Varian (who scored at Somerset) and captain Benedictus are both injured and midfield stalwart Matthews is suspended. Not to mention long term absentees Vaughan and Musonda, although the latter was on the bench last night. So we have the same squad available from last night; no we weren't great but considering the depleted team and the windy conditions we were happy with the draw. There should be an improvement on our own pitch on Saturday

[No_Problemo]

Raith are a better side than us so we will treat them as if we are unable to compete and will sit in and launch long balls in the vague direction of our striker. 
 

Raith win. 

[D'Jaffo]

Raith are a good side however with the players they have missing this is probably the only chance we’ll have to beat them this season.

I have a feeling that McAllister and Muirhead will be missing here so I’d bring in Houston and Moffat.

McAdams

Houston
Baird
Fjortoft
Reading

Bradley
Murdoch
Chalmers
Maxwell

Moffat
Adeloye

[San Starko Rover]

4 hours ago, Raith_Raver said:

Varian (who scored at Somerset) and captain Benedictus are both injured and midfield stalwart Matthews is suspended. Not to mention long term absentees Vaughan and Musonda, although the latter was on the bench last night. So we have the same squad available from last night; no we weren't great but considering the depleted team and the windy conditions we were happy with the draw. There should be an improvement on our own pitch on Saturday

Mathews not back for this one? Thought it was only 1 match for a Red unless it’s violent conduct? 

[UpInTheAyr]

That's both goalies had 3 games consecutively so wonder if might be going back to Albinson for this one. Team must be pretty gassed after last night so prob need to freshen it up as much as Duffy can.

[TxRover]

12 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

Mathews not back for this one? Thought it was only 1 match for a Red unless it’s violent conduct? 

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/1849/suspensions-for-players-in-mens-football-annex-c-section-4.pdf

(A1) Serious Foul play

[Hank Scorpio]

Injuries/suspensions or not; if we have any aspirations of the title then this needs to be a home win.

[ayrunitedfw]

Can I bothered with this? No. Will I still head along? Probably 

Any decent pubs close to the ground  to numb the pain of an inevitable hammering? 

[HIT THE CHANNEL]

29 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Injuries/suspensions or not; if we have any aspirations of the title then this needs to be a home win.

Agreed. To be honest, a 2nd and 3rd place finish are also very financially lucrative, and second provides a great chance of promotion via the playoffs.  These are 'must win' games in that context. 

 

18 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Can I bothered with this? No. Will I still head along? Probably 

Any decent pubs close to the ground  to numb the pain of an inevitable hammering? 

Depends on what your looking for mate. Best option in my opinion is the Exchequer (similar to Rabbies, to give you a sense). Good range on draft, does food and loads of teles. Also quite big so good chance of a seat. 'Wee quiet boozer' option is the Penny Farthing. Novar bar can be quite popular with football fans but it caters a lot for lunches and isn't a 'sport' bar in that they don't have sound on for the early kick off etc. There is the Duchess which is a wee bit more 'cocktails and nibbles' during the day but does have good IPAs on draft and has music on. Final option is Styx. Best place if you want a game of pool etc. as its a pool hall/sports bar type (5/10 min walk from the train station but the wrong way, so £4/5 taxi needed to get to the ground). 

[Hawk89]

19 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

Raith are a good side however with the players they have missing this is probably the only chance we’ll have to beat them this season.

I have a feeling that McAllister and Muirhead will be missing here so I’d bring in Houston and Moffat.

McAdams

Houston
Baird
Fjortoft
Reading

Bradley
Murdoch
Chalmers
Maxwell

Moffat
Adeloye

Had to settle for the stream the other night so maybe have a totally different perspective to everyone else on this. Thought Chalmers looked pretty decent, not confident he can play the Muirhead midfield role but hope to be pleasantly surprised. Also noticed he was shouting for balls to be played into feet rather than shelled. The centre half pairing no matter who it is gives me the fear, hopefully Fjortoft will feel he's got something to prove after his ridiculous penalty challenge. 

The big question is will we keep it on the deck and play football or will we aimlessly shell it. In the spells we've kept it on the deck in recent times Bradley has looked lively. Would love to see if he could fit into a team with O'Connor (once he's fit) in it. Maybe sitting off of Adeloye? 

[keyser_soze]

Hopefully Varion and / or Bene will be back fit, would give us a bit more depth in the squad, that said Lang and Mitchell held their own in midweek so I'd have no fear if both were still out. Matthews will be a big miss although it looks like Musonda is finally due a comeback but obviously severely lacking in game time.

Agree this is a game we have to take 3 points from if we are to be considered as serious challengers, Duffy looks to have sorted Ayr out a bit since he took over and I'd expect a tougher game than the one at Somerset earlier in the season.

[diegomarahenry]

Need three points from this after dropping 5 in the last two games. 

No doubt more players will be out for Saturday due to playing with injury and illness midweek. Mostly in defence. 

I can't see us winning it unfortunately. With Arbroath playing Dunfermline and Hamilton playing Morton, points will be dropped round about us so it is vital we pick something up. 

[CALDERON]

29 minutes ago, keyser_soze said:

Hopefully Varion and / or Bene will be back fit, would give us a bit more depth in the squad, that said Lang and Mitchell held their own in midweek so I'd have no fear if both were still out. Matthews will be a big miss although it looks like Musonda is finally due a comeback but obviously severely lacking in game time.

Agree this is a game we have to take 3 points from if we are to be considered as serious challengers, Duffy looks to have sorted Ayr out a bit since he took over and I'd expect a tougher game than the one at Somerset earlier in the season.

Both out for a few weeks Mcglynn said after Pars game.

[Hursty]

37 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

Need three points from this after dropping 5 in the last two games. 

No doubt more players will be out for Saturday due to playing with injury and illness midweek. Mostly in defence. 

I can't see us winning it unfortunately. With Arbroath playing Dunfermline and Hamilton playing Morton, points will be dropped round about us so it is vital we pick something up. 

Yup - it's a worrying wee spell of games for us at the moment after losing midweek as you could easily see us losing the next 2 after this one as well before we have a run of games against all the other bottom sides - on paper perhaps this one against a possibly under strength Raith might be our best chance of a win....

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Hawk89 said:

Had to settle for the stream the other night so maybe have a totally different perspective to everyone else on this. Thought Chalmers looked pretty decent, not confident he can play the Muirhead midfield role but hope to be pleasantly surprised. Also noticed he was shouting for balls to be played into feet rather than shelled. The centre half pairing no matter who it is gives me the fear, hopefully Fjortoft will feel he's got something to prove after his ridiculous penalty challenge. 

The big question is will we keep it on the deck and play football or will we aimlessly shell it. In the spells we've kept it on the deck in recent times Bradley has looked lively. Would love to see if he could fit into a team with O'Connor (once he's fit) in it. Maybe sitting off of Adeloye? 

He just doesn't do it for me at all.

He doesn't get involved enough, he's too slow and ponderous and when he has the ball tends to play a sideways / backwards pass, he doesn't score goals and he doesn't do much tackling, so basically while he can be "tidy" enough, he's just not contributing anywhere near enough for my liking. 

You would also think he would be taking set pieces but after 2 or 3 horrific corners v Partick he's off that as well, so really, what's the point ??

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Hawk89 said:

Had to settle for the stream the other night so maybe have a totally different perspective to everyone else on this. Thought Chalmers looked pretty decent, not confident he can play the Muirhead midfield role but hope to be pleasantly surprised. Also noticed he was shouting for balls to be played into feet rather than shelled. The centre half pairing no matter who it is gives me the fear, hopefully Fjortoft will feel he's got something to prove after his ridiculous penalty challenge. 

The big question is will we keep it on the deck and play football or will we aimlessly shell it. In the spells we've kept it on the deck in recent times Bradley has looked lively. Would love to see if he could fit into a team with O'Connor (once he's fit) in it. Maybe sitting off of Adeloye? 

 "Paddy Reading and Nick McAllister lined up on wing back positions. Andy Murdoch returned to midfield alongside Cammy Salkeld and Steven Bradley with Daire O’Connor and James Maxwell on the wings playing into Tomi Adeloye upfront as designated striker"

The above report was from the Dunfermline Win and the following week v Hamilton we had Bradley, O'Connor and Adeloye all playing together again.

In my opinion, those have been our two best league performances of the season, especially from an attacking perspective and both included Bradley and O'Connor supporting Adeloye and it just made us look so much better. Good footballers with pace and a decent touch, all linking up, that's exactly what that gives you and what we've been missing with O'Connor out.

[TxRover]

2 hours ago, keyser_soze said:

Hopefully Varion and / or Bene will be back fit, would give us a bit more depth in the squad, that said Lang and Mitchell held their own in midweek so I'd have no fear if both were still out. Matthews will be a big miss although it looks like Musonda is finally due a comeback but obviously severely lacking in game time.

Agree this is a game we have to take 3 points from if we are to be considered as serious challengers, Duffy looks to have sorted Ayr out a bit since he took over and I'd expect a tougher game than the one at Somerset earlier in the season.

 

2 hours ago, CALDERON said:

Both out for a few weeks Mcglynn said after Pars game.

Lang and Bene look interchangeable right now, so not a huge miss.

Varian’s play is different than Poplatnik’s, but both are effective, we simply need to adjust our attacking. Mitchell looks comfortable and capable, I’d love to see another 20’ cameo.

Ross as the #10 wasn’t the most effective, but I think he’s better there than Connolly would be…might like to see Zanatta tried there. Alternately, RBS fills the deeper mid role Tait played, Tait forward and Ross used to spell Connolly, Zanatta, Tait or RBS (dropping Tait back in Ross in Tait’s slot. Given what JMcG said, Tait prefers playing deeper, so I doubt he’ll be shoved forward Saturday.

Musonda to get 10’, if the game allows it, probably at mid.

[Trogdor]

I was going to go to this but Tuesday has curbed my enthusiasm. Maybe I'll change my mind come Saturday.

[Scary Bear]

Injuries and suspensions could be an issue for us. Hopefully McGlynn can get us back to winning ways, but if he can’t I wouldn’t blame him. Could we see Frankie Musonda at some stage on Saturday?