Stirling Albion -vs- Stenhousemuir (Saturday 5 March 2022)

[Dumb yatt]

Game and score line closer than I had feared. Didn’t feel Stirling’s tackling was cynical. At close quarters, SFC, had the speed and determination. On that performance I would expect to see Stennie in the playoffs. Although to deny me a Bobby Brown pie would be a breach of my human rights. 
 We’ve all done daft things. I was always told to say “ A big boy did it and ran away”.  But to set a flare and hold it in full view of others, a steward and CCTV. Tells me state education was wasted on them. Clubs do speak to each other and I don’t think you’ll be seeing their cherub-like faces at Ochilview for some time.

[Francesc Fabregas]

I thought Stenhousemuir probably deserved the three points but, my goodness, we made hard work of that. We lacked the same kind of fluency we've shown in recent weeks and looked scrappy and short on ideas. I'm not sure if that was down to Stirling Albion's awful pitch or the fact we moved away from the successful 4-3-1-2 formation that's served us well of late. I've said in the past that Stephen Swift has a tendency to overthink things and he did it again yesterday by deploying Euan O'Reilly and Darren Christie as orthodox wingers in a 4-4-2 system because, according to his post-match interview, it worked well when the teams last played each other at Forthbank in November (?) It didn't work here, however, with O'Reilly withdrawn through injury midway through the first half and Christie game but lacking in a final ball. The pockmarked surface meant that simple 10-yard passes were treated with the upmost caution but I think we looked careless and complacent in some of our play all the same. Adam Brown chipped in with the game's only moment of genuine quality and his goal was very well taken.

Sean Crighton was our best player and dealt with everything that came his way with ease; that might have been his best performance for the club. His centre-back partner, Nicky Jamieson, was a towering presence in the air but his passing was a little hokey at times. Tam Orr grafted hard up front. Other than that? It was pretty stodgy stuff. I don't want to be too critical, however, because we've played a lot of football over the past couple of weeks and have done well to keep pace with the sides above us.

I was surprised that the altercation between Orr and Brown was omitted from the match highlights. One was unhappy that the other didn't slip him in for a chance on goal and it led to the two players squaring up to one another and being pulled apart by the opposition. I've never seen that happen before, and Swift was quite matter of fact about it in his post-match interview, but it was good to see that Orr was one of the first players to pile into Brown as he celebrated the winner.

Stirling Albion weren't fantastic. They had a good chance in the first half with an Aaron Dunsmore snapshot and a couple of good-looking balls were hit across the face of goal but they were largely second best and broke up the game with a series of niggly fouls. Marc Laird's tackle on Mikey Miller, especially when he was already on a booking, was ridiculous and really hamstrung his team going into the second half. Credit to them, they did have us pegged back towards the end of the game but they seem like a side with brittle confidence and, when you look at that team on paper, it's hard to believe they're as far down the table as they are.

A final word on the Stenny Young Team. They deserve a lot of credit for the atmosphere they can generate and they've been a welcome addition to Ochilview but you simply cannot chuck flares onto the pitch (even if it did look class). They've been given quite a long leash by the club and I imagine it'll be quickly curbed after yesterday's antics!

[StewartyMac]

17 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

I'm not sure if that was down to Stirling Albion's awful pitch

Even our pitch was good at the start of the season (one of the best grass pitches in the lower leagues in fact), but just like the players, it's become an awful shadow of itself*. Not to mention the sad decline of the board of directors. I think a Kelty witch put a curse on the club when we drew there in October. I've never seen such a downfall from every area of the club in such a short time. 

 

*Not helped by having Stirling Uni play there too, admittedly.

[Francesc Fabregas]

44 minutes ago, StewartyMac said:

Even our pitch was good at the start of the season (one of the best grass pitches in the lower leagues in fact), but just like the players, it's become an awful shadow of itself*. Not to mention the sad decline of the board of directors. I think a Kelty witch put a curse on the club when we drew there in October. I've never seen such a downfall from every area of the club in such a short time. 

 

*Not helped by having Stirling Uni play there too, admittedly.

I was taking a look at the club's form - you were second from top after the first quarter and have only won two games since!

What on earth has happened?

[MrBeeno]

It's been the same for several years now.We have had what I think were decent players and decent managers hitting highs at times then suddenly sinking into some terrible form.What are they putting into the players drink bottles?

[TheVoiceofReason]

Players inevitably lose form or consistency at our level.   We've hired a succession of managers who are fine when things are going well but lack the necessary qualities to respond to dips in performance.  When Peter was the owner he would find money to bring in the required quality on loan - often enough to get us over the line.  

What we've never had is someone with a longer term plan.  The current boards don't have the skills necessary.  This is clearly the case as we frequently have a decent budget but end up with a dip in form seeing a wholesale clear out.  Don't know why we don't just employ a full time manager.  We would attract a decent calibre of applicant if we offered a full time position.

[StewartyMac]

On 07/03/2022 at 10:48, Francesc Fabregas said:

I was taking a look at the club's form - you were second from top after the first quarter and have only won two games since!

What on earth has happened?

It's baffling, that's for sure. The players are decent but their form has all fallen off a cliff at the same time, epitmosed by the alarming decline of Jack Leitch, a player who looked far too good for this league when he first arrived, who now looks an average Lowland League player at best. 

Injurie/Covid and suspensions have also hit us hard, but the January window was a disaster. We lost Dylan Bikey, Sean Heaver and Daniel Scally and didn't replace any of them. Mason Hancock looks a good loan signing, as does Dylan Paterson, but apart from that haddie Dunsmore we recently accquired, there's been no other business and key areas haven't been strengthened. Dale Carrick, a 15-goal scorer in the league above last season has lost all his confidence. Dylan Mackin is a big coo who seemingly hates the fans, but is still the clubs top scorer with an earth shattering 5 goals. 

It's hard to judge the new manager. He was appointed without being allowed to bring in his own backroom team, and as much as this has definitely hamstrung him, I'm really not convinced with him as a boss so far. 

The close season, IF we manage to stay in the league will be huge. The Rangers money means we have a very healthy bank balance, and could potentially build a squad capable of challenging for the league. There won't be a moneybags team in the league next season a la Cove, QP, or Kelty, so it's wide open. 

TL:DR - We're a fucking shambles.