Relegation Decider - EF-vs- DFC

[optimistic]

I hope the club has someone in mind quickly, and don’t wait another 3 weeks to appoint another manager

but get him out the door tonight 

[pleslie99]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Carswell told the ref he was a “fucking w****r”. The lack of discipline throughout our team is a disgrace. 

I’m just really glad our embarassment of a manager gets on well with all the staff and volunteers.

If that's the case then it's a deserved red card and hopefully the last he plays for us

[WhoAmI]

I have to admit I was panicking when I saw the team for today. Could not believe that for such a vital game our 3 first choice central defenders ie Higgins, Steele and Dunlop all out injured/COVID. We had two full backs Murdoch and Slattery in central defence and then Murdoch goes off injured replaced by Daniel Higgins who hasn’t played for weeks due to injury. But although at times it wasn’t pretty the defence cleared their lines when it mattered. A great shift put in by Slattery ably backed up by Millar, Wallace, Mercer, Smith and Watson(who arguably had his best game for us).

A big shout to the Young ones from the Community Club who really got into the game supporting the team and more than nullifying the young Dumbarton fans and their drum. Good to see players go to them at the end for photographs etc. Let’s do that again.

[sonsism]

[fifer67]

Our luck with injuries this season have been the worst I can ever remember, huge credit to the guys who came in today and played out of position. The whole team gave it their all and over the piece deserved the 3 points. The difference with Crawford is the teams work rate has increased 10 fold and they are making the opposition work for everything they get. The early goal gives the whole place a massive lift and was a really good finish by Kyle Connol. We were on the front foot until Dumbarton came into it a bit before half time. We started the 2nd half well and missed a couple of golden chances and you get a feeling it could bite you in the bum. If ever a player deserved a goal it was Danny Denholm his work rate was unreal and how he enjoyed his moment. Still a lot of work to be done but we have given ourselves a fighting chance. I’m sure Stevie Crawford won’t be getting carried away as he knows a lot of twist and turns lie ahead on the road to safety.

[FifeSons]

If the club weren’t even thinking about other managerial options ahead of today, that shows how clueless/apathetic they are.

Edited March 12, 2022 by FifeSons

[George Parr]

52 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

If that's the case then it's a deserved red card and hopefully the last he plays for us

Wait, it’s an infuriating red card to pick up and as captain he should absolutely know better but you can’t seriously be suggesting we kick him out the club for that? I’ll assume that you’re a referee.

Terrible, directionless performance today and things now look very dire indeed. I’m not sure where we go from here sadly. As others have noted it becomes increasingly difficult to identify where we’ll pick up any points now as we’re in a total death spiral.

[Raith_Raver]

Well done The Fife. You need to stay up for the big derbies next season against Kelty and Dunfermline...

[Cosmic Joe]

The referee and his standside assistant lost it towards the end of the game. 

Swanson gets wiped out, free-kick to Dumbarton and yellow card for Danny. Two minutes later, Millar tangles with Carswell. Dodgy free-kick to us and red card to Carswell for foul and abusive language. 

It didn't change the outcome of the game, but won't help their cause. 

East Fife showed enough resolve to secure the points. Danny Denholm was magnificent throughout and the makeshift defence deserve enormous credit, particularly Pat Slattery, who ran through another brick wall for East Fife again this afternoon. 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Cosmic Joe

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

12 minutes ago, George Parr said:

Wait, it’s an infuriating red card to pick up and as captain he should absolutely know better but you can’t seriously be suggesting we kick him out the club for that? I’ll assume that you’re a referee.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting we kick him out the club, but I don’t think you’ll find many folk desperate for him to be instantly reinstated to the starting 11 or have him hang around next season (he’s another donkey we have tied down on a two year deal). Stuart Carswell has been at the heart of 3 years worth of absolutely honking Dumbarton FC performances and his sending off today was absolutely pathetic. The fact he’s supposed to be club captain just makes it even worse. Would I be disappointed if I never saw him in a Dumbarton shirt again? Absolutely not.

[Nowhereman]

I don’t think anyone is suggesting we kick him out the club, but I don’t think you’ll find many folk desperate for him to be instantly reinstated to the starting 11 or have him hang around next season (he’s another donkey we have tied down on a two year deal). Stuart Carswell has been at the heart of 3 years worth of absolutely honking Dumbarton FC performances and his sending off today was absolutely pathetic. The fact he’s supposed to be club captain just makes it even worse. Would I be disappointed if I never saw him in a Dumbarton shirt again? Absolutely not.

The sending off was just frustration. He lost it. Of course he should be better disciplined but he lost the head at a poor decision. Hardly a reason to kick him out

[George Parr]

18 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I don’t think anyone is suggesting we kick him out the club, but I don’t think you’ll find many folk desperate for him to be instantly reinstated to the starting 11 or have him hang around next season (he’s another donkey we have tied down on a two year deal). Stuart Carswell has been at the heart of 3 years worth of absolutely honking Dumbarton FC performances and his sending off today was absolutely pathetic. The fact he’s supposed to be club captain just makes it even worse. Would I be disappointed if I never saw him in a Dumbarton shirt again? Absolutely not.

I don’t particularly care whether he’s in the squad next season or not, but to freeze him out at this stage of this season would be cutting off our nose.
 

I’ve not seen many decent performances from the team this term but the few that have emerged have typically involved key contributions from either Carswell, Paton or both. 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

9 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

The sending off was just frustration. He lost it. Of course he should be better disciplined but he lost the head at a poor decision. Hardly a reason to kick him out

Who is claiming we should “kick him out”? You have quite literally quoted a post with an opening sentence that says “I don’t think anyone is suggesting we kick him out the club”. His performances have been fairly pish for the best part of 3 seasons now, today’s red was absolutely ridiculous, whether it was just frustration or not. He’s not the only one in this team who can’t seem to control his anger but the fact he is club captain just makes it worse. 

I wouldn’t be in a rush to bring him back into the side, I’d rather see someone else get a shot  and if we can somehow cut him in the summer (along with a few others who are on two year deals) then I’m all for it because he is a fucking donkey.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

1 minute ago, George Parr said:

I don’t particularly care whether he’s in the squad next season or not, but to freeze him out at this stage of this season would be cutting off our nose.
 

I’ve not seen many decent performances from the team this term but the few that have emerged have typically involved key contributions from either Carswell, Paton or both. 

Each to their own, for me personally, I’ve seen far too many abject, pish performances from him for me to be in a rush to see him back in our starting 11. 

[Mon_The_Fife]

10 weeks or so ago we were absolutely doomed and miles behind but thanks to Dumbarton’s implosion we have now given ourself a bit of a chance to get 9th at least. 
With Clyde and Alloa being our next 2 fixtures, for the first time this season there is a bit of hope at the club.

[sonsanorak]

Fair play to EF they turned up, played well and took their chances.  Looked like a good mix of young kids and some senior players making up their team, who together looked well drilled and confident.

We were an absolute rabble and I'm not convinced that the players are working for the gaffer anymore.  There's no longer competition from the bench and some of the starting eleven are so poor that it frustrates their team mates.  It's a honking situation to be in and we'll be lucky to stay up.

[microdave]

10 weeks or so ago we were absolutely doomed and miles behind but thanks to Dumbarton’s implosion we have now given ourself a bit of a chance to get 9th at least. 
With Clyde and Alloa being our next 2 fixtures, for the first time this season there is a bit of hope at the club.

With your (and our) next two opponents, I think you'll be off the bottom in a fortnight.

[pleslie99]

1 hour ago, George Parr said:

Wait, it’s an infuriating red card to pick up and as captain he should absolutely know better but you can’t seriously be suggesting we kick him out the club for that? I’ll assume that you’re a referee.

Terrible, directionless performance today and things now look very dire indeed. I’m not sure where we go from here sadly. As others have noted it becomes increasingly difficult to identify where we’ll pick up any points now as we’re in a total death spiral.

Hes club captain, he should know better. Frustration fine, take it out on those who got us in the position we are in, himself and his team mates and manager. Abusing the ref ends one way, as we have found already this season, and in the 92nd minute stinks of someone who can't be arsed and wants a week off. I never said kick him out but as BBPF below says, I wouldn't be rushing him back into the side.

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I don’t think anyone is suggesting we kick him out the club, but I don’t think you’ll find many folk desperate for him to be instantly reinstated to the starting 11 or have him hang around next season (he’s another donkey we have tied down on a two year deal). Stuart Carswell has been at the heart of 3 years worth of absolutely honking Dumbarton FC performances and his sending off today was absolutely pathetic. The fact he’s supposed to be club captain just makes it even worse. Would I be disappointed if I never saw him in a Dumbarton shirt again? Absolutely not.

Couldn't have put it better. He's club captain. We've watched potentially the worst football imaginable in the past 3 years and he has been a constant in that. Let him go and stink another club out for next season.

[sonsanorak]

Carsys been a decent captain and is an important player when playing well.  Perhaps annoyingly for him today he seemed to be asked to play as an attacking midfielder with the instruction of getting close to our strikers and in the box.  That left paton to do all the dirty work and McKee to float around in midfield in an ineffective quarter back style playing long balls to short forwards.  I'd have got annoyed with that situation too after a while, the game seemed to need a creative midfielder but we kept ours on the bench and then brought him on at left mid.  I'd have got annoyed with that too.  The dissent was immediately after the ref let us play for a few seconds and then pulled the game for a foul against us, it was one of a few odd decisions from the ref.  Carswell shouldnt have acted that way and it's another stupid red to go with patons and mcleans.  It wasnt the only sign of frustration from our players, we also had Wilson wipe out the right back when we'd won a throw deep in their half and Duthie trying an overhead kick from the edge of the box when nothing was on.  Decision making and self control was terrible all over the place.

 

[NilNil]

Maybe I'm watching a different team to several others on here.  But I don't see a team full of folk who've given up or don't care or are going through the motions.  I do see a side bereft of confidence, direction and a clear way to try and play. All of  that lies at the door of the manager.  He's done.  Decent fella or not, he's got to go.

I agree that we were awful today, didn't do any of the things we needed to do to get a result and the frustrating thing is that EF didn't have to be a good side to beat us.  They're awful as well, which says a lot for us...

I think folk need to calm down with Carswell... His sending off is very frustrating and yes he should know better, but if you'd spent an entire 90 minutes getting baffling decision after baffling decision given against your team (not that the referee had any bearing on the result before anyone starts...) then I can see where the frustration comes in.  His actions aren't the actions of a man who's given up or anything, there's fight there, as is there is with most of the other players as well.  The discipline aspect too, while players have to be professional enough to avoid putting themselves in positions where these newer refs card them for anything, a lack of discipline is also something that lies with the manager as well for me.

We now have 7 huge games to try and save ourselves and the first of those needs to start with a new manager.  Faz doesn't seem to have any new ideas, he was almost motionless when the second goal went in today and the players don't look as if they're playing for him.  He looks done.  And yes, while Faz will carry the can, the players have to take professional responsibility too but we can't see the end of the season out with Faz, otherwise we'll not avoid a play off, we'll be straight down without passing go or collecting £200!