Raith Rovers v Ayr United

[renton]

5 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

I view a lot of it with sceptism especially when it's one side of the story tbh.

In terms of bad managers. I raise you David Hopkin who has singlehandedly tried to destroy us. If I didn't know better I would think he was a DKB double agent. 1 league wins in 13 and 0.64 points per game playing dreadful hoofball. Thankfully we hounded him out following the loss to you at Somerset. However, he left us with a horribly imbalanced squad with some of the most limited players I've ever seen playing for Ayr.

Yeah, don't get me wrong - Hopkin, f**k me, that seems to have had an awful impact on you side. A very limited side, there are some bright spots in there but I probably wouldn't have signed most of Morton's backline last season either.

There are some bright spots for Ayr if Duffy can deploy them right though. Adeloye and Afolabi are a fairly effective battering ram. I quite liked the look of O'connor when he was fit as well.

[Been going too long]

2 hours ago, HIT THE CHANNEL said:

Really good 3 points. First half was excellent. Second half was dreadful. Spencer is our most important midfielder (maybe even player?) for our system, so was always going to be a big loss. But also, and I hate to be negative or too harsh, but it was like playing with 10 men. BRS is way off it. 

Agreed BRS really was poor today

[Been going too long]

2 hours ago, Trogdor said:

All of the above may be true. 

However, it's pretty hard to dispute that loaning Vaughan to Dumbarton for Stevenson was more damaging? You simultaneously weakened yourselves and strengthened a rival.

Also, if you are positing that his 15 game spell as your manager shows he was done and a dinosaur. Then I'm then not sure how you discount a 21 game spell at County where he took them from 12th to 10th and safety. You can't have it both ways. If anything Ross County was a bigger mess than Raith and he turned it around.

I can understand why Raith fans hate him because he got you relegated. Most of you appear to hate him more than Locke which is a bit strange if you ask me.

Why didn’t county keep him on for this season then, they built up momentum but they quickly got rid and no one has gave him a job, ask yourself that A lass I used to work with cancelled her hibs season ticket after he was appointed , I used to think he was a good manager/ great bloke etc, she said he was clueless and had enough of watching /listening him and she sat near the dugouts. He has the patter and great for tv but I think you would be better sticking with Duffy this season. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

4 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

Agreed BRS really was poor today

Was he put in because there were no other options?

Was this because we were thin on the ground?

Was Duffy up to us by this time?

[Trogdor]

15 minutes ago, Enigma said:

Did well at Livi though…

I'm pretty sure that's what he said to our board! Who seemed to be totally hoodwinked.

11 minutes ago, renton said:

Yeah, don't get me wrong - Hopkin, f**k me, that seems to have had an awful impact on you side. A very limited side, there are some bright spots in there but I probably wouldn't have signed most of Morton's backline last season either.

There are some bright spots for Ayr if Duffy can deploy them right though. Adeloye and Afolabi are a fairly effective battering ram. I quite liked the look of O'connor when he was fit as well.

We need to limp on until January and then trust Duffy to sort out the middle of the park and the centre of defence. Unfortunately, he seems to be resorting to trying to make us hard to beat but our defense just isn't good enough to absorb pressure continually. We'll see what happens, I'm just hoping we're better than two of Hamilton, Queen of South, Morton & Dunfermline. Another season written off and it can't end soon enough.

[Been going too long]

8 minutes ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

Was he put in because there were no other options?

Was this because we were thin on the ground?

Was Duffy up to us by this time?

Probably was was put on because of no other option bud, I think he is normally alright just today it was noticeable he was well of it

[Roath Raver]

this week's highlights...

 

[keyser_soze]

9 minutes ago, Roath Raver said:

this week's highlights...

 

Confirmed Zanatta worldie against the team who's fans dislike him a lot. GIRFUY lol

[No_Problemo]

53 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

 

Tbh, each club has it's own heroes and villains. Ask any Ayr fan about Dario Zanatta and they'll tell you he was a shitehawk wage thief. Ask pretty much any Rovers fan and he's one of our players of the season who has improved dramatically. I can't be arsed checking the stats on it but he'll probably have scored more goals than any of our wingers from last season and we're only a few months into the season. 

Hopkin was a dreadful appointment given the mess he left at Cappielow. It was obvious that Ayr would see a similar type of season as Morton had last time out. With the likes of Hopkin and Duffy, you get the feeling Ayr are just treading water at the moment. We had similar under Grant Murray - we'd return each season with a solid, if unspectacular, 7th place finish. There's a consensus among our fans that winning the Challenge Cup against Rangers gave him a good grace period but for all he was a really likeable guy, you never felt he had the ability to get us to kick on to the next level. 

Pretty much spot on, everything on the pitch at Ayr United at the moment is very short term, with absolutely no thought to longer term planning.
 

That is exactly why we will still be a decent bit behind the likes of Raith next season - regardless if we actually appoint a decent manger. If the chairman had appointed a long term manager they would have had January to begin to build for the following season. It is inevitable we get to the end of the season with players not being offered deals as no one has any idea who the new manager is going to be - yet again we will start a mile behind everyone else. 

McGlynn appears to constantly be planning ahead and improving his squad. 

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, Been going too long said:

Agreed BRS really was poor today

He was no worse than quite a few others TBF

[roverthemoon]

BRS’s positioning when our opponents are attacking is not the greatest. If you look at him in the highlights, there’s one attack where he’s just jogging about not marking, not tackling. As someone else said, it’s like playing with ten men. He usually tackles/gets in the way reasonably ok and has a few runs forward, but there was none of that today. Yes, wasn’t the only poor performance in that second half but, as much as I hate to say it, he has looked consistently short at this level. The sooner we get others back the better. 

[TxRover]

9 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I’d like someone to do the stats on goals conceded when BRS is on the park v when he isn’t, if anyone can be arsed.

As it stands (using Championship games ONLY), using the plus/minus style of calculation per 90 minutes, RBS is at 0. Our every minute players are at 0.50, Zanatta is at 0.98, Spencer at 0.81, Connolly at 0.70 and Matthews at 0.59. Other notables with at least 200+ minutes are Varian at 0.58 and Pops at 0.38. Only negatives are Fotheringham, Mitchell and Arnott, I believe, but they all took it in the stats with our late concessions.

Worse stat….conceded 6 goals in 289 minutes played with RBS, 8 in 791 minutes played without him…oh dear.

Edited October 31, 2021 by TxRover

[Rovers_Lad]

If your going to pick holes our MOTM jogged back a number of times when they attacked,Tait also played a ball down the line for him which he stood and watched.Not wanting to be too picky as hes been generally one of our better performers this season.Tumilty gets ripped a new one for the goal and had a poor 2nd half but very little criticism of him.

i agree BRS looks short at this level but as I said he was no worse than a number of others who had played a full 45 

[roverthemoon]

4 minutes ago, Rovers_Lad said:

If your going to pick holes our MOTM jogged back a number of times when they attacked,Tait also played a ball down the line for him which he stood and watched.Not wanting to be too picky as hes been generally one of our better performers this season.Tumilty gets ripped a new one for the goal and had a poor 2nd half but very little criticism of him.

i agree BRS looks short at this level but as I said he was no worse than a number of others who had played a full 45 

Agree others had poor moments and Tumilty was very poor at the goal, but these other players have periods of play where they excel so that’s perhaps why more slack is given. The difficulty is BRS simply hasn’t got that credit in the bank. Perhaps a bit unfair as he’s not starting games, but to date (not just today) he’s looked off the pace at this level. 

[Young Eddie]

59 minutes ago, keyser_soze said:

Confirmed Zanatta worldie against the team who's fans dislike him a lot. GIRFUY lol

To be fair, Ayr fans have every reason to dislike Zanatta. Nobody minds if a player tries his hardest and is simply not good enough, but when you have talent but clearly can't be arsed/are lazy then that's unacceptable. Plus his diving is an embarrasment. If Raith have somehow turned him around and made an honest man of him (pardon the pun) then fair play to you guys. 

[roverthemoon]

Going back to the Hughes/Locke thing, Locke definitely takes more responsibility for poor recruitment and bad decisions that season, but there is no doubt both of them contributed to our relegation. I think the feeling towards Hughes is worse because his spell was characterised by horrendous arrogance. Hughes probably still thinks none of what happened was his fault, which is why most of the Rovers support dislike him. He might be a good fit for some club out there, but from what I saw off him in his time here, he’s an absolute charlatan. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by roverthemoon

[Rovers_Lad]

14 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

Agree others had poor moments and Tumilty was very poor at the goal, but these other players have periods of play where they excel so that’s perhaps why more slack is given. The difficulty is BRS simply hasn’t got that credit in the bank. Perhaps a bit unfair as he’s not starting games, but to date (not just today) he’s looked off the pace at this level. 

With the exception of a few players eg Lang and Berra there wasnt anybody that excelled in the 2nd half 

You may have a point regards his performances are down to him not starting games but it may be hes just not good enough.If thats the case  McGlynn has extended his contract on the basis to make up the numbers.Not good

[Hank Scorpio]

53 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Worse stat….conceded 6 goals in 289 minutes played with RBS, 8 in 791 minutes played without him…oh dear.

So we are twice as like to concede a goal when he is on the park. That is really not good. 

[CALDERON]

First half I thought we were superb.  Very few teams in this league can cope with that when we get in our groove, and in all honesty the game should have been out of sight.

2nd half we just seem to regress, although credit has to go to Ayr for changing things up and having a go.  Losing Spencer didn't help at all, and BRS isn't the type of player to bring on in this type of situation.  That said, it was really frustrating.

However, Berra, Lang and McDonald were immense.  Exactly what you need to grind out results.  I hope Mcglynn has some Paracetamol handy, because he's got a real headache on his hands when Benedictus is fit.

If you told me 8 days ago that we would be leaving this fixture a point closer to top spot then I would have been delighted.  I still think its a bit out of reach to call us genuine title contenders, but 4 points off the top at this stage is far better than many had feared not too long ago.

[San Starko Rover]

If ever there was a “Game of two halves” it was this one.  First half we were great and absolutely dominated Ayr, the game should have been over. Second half Ayr came our after presumably having a rocket up their arse at H/T from Duffy and we didn’t bother turning up.  I would have had no complaints if Ayr had got a draw or even won that as they were far better in the second half and only MacDonald kept us from a collapse.  I know lots like BRS but I’m still not convinced by him at all, he definitely needs to play with Spencer or Mathews.  With BRS, Tait and Ross we had no control of the midfield and Ayr made it theirs. I can only assume Spencer had an injury as without Mathews taking Spencer off is a terrible move even if we think the game is won. Big shout to Lang he was outstanding all game again. 
 

However a win is a win and we march on to the next fixture down in the rain soaked Borders.