Sons vs Binos

[headthebaw]

Well that was awful. Two defensive lapses and we were two down within 5 minutes. I thought we were in for a real doing but after half an hour Dumbarton resorted to time wasting and petty fouling. Only after we were reduced to 10 men did Dumbarton create anything of note.

No complaints anbout the red card, it was a bad challenge. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

18 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Whilst we're on the subject of the Archive...I was trying to think of the last player who scored a double on his league debut for us. And my mind is drawing blanks.

Chris Templeman scored a first half hat-trick at East Stirling.

[microdave]

Whilst we're on the subject of the Archive...I was trying to think of the last player who scored a double on his league debut for us. And my mind is drawing blanks.

Adam Frizzell scored twice on his debut against Forfar in October 2019.

[microdave]

Chris Templeman scored a first half hat-trick at East Stirling.

He's the last of ten players who have scored a hat-trick on their debut.

Eta it was in September 1999.

[Jan Vojáček]

16 minutes ago, microdave said:

43 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Whilst we're on the subject of the Archive...I was trying to think of the last player who scored a double on his league debut for us. And my mind is drawing blanks.

Adam Frizzell scored twice on his debut against Forfar in October 2019.

Of course! I was thinking through strikers, and very few of them have managed two goals - let alone two in one game.

[AlbionMan]

1 hour ago, BB_Bino said:

I’ll post properly when I’m home and not waiting for my Chinese. Anyway, the incident happened right in front of me and trust me, NO player was debating the red card, they were stopping the Dumbarton players ripping Clark’s face off because it was a total shocker. Can’t say I heard every word, but I definitely heard a lot of Stirling players agreeing it was a shocker and a poor decision from Clark, what the 2 Captains were booked for I have no idea, in the end it was McLean and Buchanan that calmed the situation down.

That was a complete ‘heads gone’ moment by Clark, I’ve got no idea what he was think of, no doubt it’s one of those things he’ll regret straight away, but it was a shocker and totally needless. Clark is a player I never noticed at Annan but I have been impressed in the games I have watched him in for Stirling so far, but that’s a side to him we haven’t seen until today, I really hope it was a one off and I really hope Lynas is ok, it seemed to be his leg that was the problem before walking off.

That was the way I saw follow up to the red card too, albion players trying to keep sons players away from Clark, didn't see anything the 2 captains did unless not stopping the rammy.

The game was done and dusted in 5 minutes 2 terrible bits of defending and we looked to be on a thrashing. For the rest of the first half the back 4 played tidily across the halfway line and created nothing, then  a hopeful long diagonal ball that was meat and drink for son's defence. Lack of creativity in the middle of the park and lack of movement and pace up front made it a stroll in the park for the sons. 

Second half we did get forward a bit more but rarely threatened apart from a brief flurry late on, Dumbarton coped pretty comfortably with everything we put to them.

I hope the league cup will be more of an indicator to the year ahead than today's performance, otherwise it's going to be a long painful season.

[rhliston]

Well that was a good start for us at the start of the new season, down 2-0 after 4 mins. Didn`t create much of note in the 1st half. Second half we were a bit better, Dumbarton have to thank their keeper for a couple of good saves to deny us, but the red card from Clark shocker, just what you need when your 2.0 down. 

Onwards to Elgin next week at home, need to win after this display today. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by rhliston

[BB_Bino]

Well that was chronic from a Stirling perspective, bye bye all pre-season excitement, back to reality and pretty much where we have been for the last 8 years.

It happened so quickly as well, 2 soft goals to give away, especially the first, and we were always pissing in the wind. The first goal was a shocker, Cummins not closing down his man to stop the cross and Currie looking like he wasn’t expecting it and an easy tap in. In fact, we were lucky to only go in at Half Time 2-0 down as Dumbarton has some decent chances to grab 3 or more.

I just don’t get the First Half, we were so predictable, stroking the ball about the back 4 until the Defence reached the Half Way line and then either a chip over the Dumbarton back line or a force through ball, neither worked but yet, that’s what we resorted to time after time after time.

Nobody was at the races First Half, total contrast to what we saw against Peterhead last week, but is it too much of a surprise when our most effective and creative players last week, found themselves starting on the bench this week.

Things got better in the Second Half, but we were still so toothless and only Leitch had any kind of creativity when he took to the field. On another day, the draw could have been got but for Dumbarton’s Goalkeeper Brett Long, his double save was more than impressive and he earned the high applause from the Home support.

I’ve posted about the Red Card above, so will not repeat myself, I just hope that Lynas is ok and if not, he makes a speedy recovery.

My fear before the season started was that if Carrick is not scoring, who will, where is the pace and where is the creativity in Midfield and so far, I’m still not any clearer and fear that we really are just powder puff, don’t create and don’t take chances…..really hope I’m wrong but it was another game where I didn’t see a lot in those departments.

So we go on to face Elgin now, with our 1 and only Left Back suspended and a Centre Back looking like a poor option at Right Back, wonderful. I do not know what Young see’s in playing Cummins there, but what do I know?

So flat, so despondent, o toothless and so Stirling Albion. Hope next Saturday is a better experience.

PS- That narrow pitch, wow, there really is no space and I only saw 1 long throw in the whole match.

[#GSC]

7 minutes ago, BB_Bino said:

I just don’t get the First Half, we were so predictable, stroking the ball about the back 4 until the Defence reached the Half Way line and then either a chip over the Dumbarton back line or a force through ball, neither worked but yet, that’s what we resorted to time after time after time.

The defence have no choice but to play those balls, there’s not a single midfield ball player to pass too, so when they move forward you end up with just two boys in the middle of the park, not far away from them , and four men ( 2 wingers and 2 strikers) up front inline with the opposition defence, no one shows for the ball .

[Jan Vojáček]

I remember on the opening day of last season Stevie Farrell said to me "good teams don't lose games when they are 2-0 up."

It's stuck with me. And today I thought we saw that belief put into action. We got the two early goals and then were quite happy to sit in our shape and challenge Stirling to break us down. Which they struggled to do. And even when they did, Brett Long pulled off some heroics. Good goalkeepers make big saves at key moments and all that.

That's now three clean sheets in a row against good opposition. I'd imagine the Binos will be around us come May, Peterhead (albeit with a depleted squad) were still a League One side, and Raith Rovers were obviously a Championship team. Given that we managed, I think, four clean sheets in all competitions in the whole of last season, that says to me that Faz has learnt from his experience last season.

I posted on here a few weeks ago about Gregor Buchanan's importance, and I thought that was shown again today. I thought he was excellent and cruised through the game. His decision making was good, he was impressive in the air and he didn't take any of the daft risks he did last year. A large part of that is possibly due to the fact Ryan Blair was always willing to show for a pass ahead of him. I like what I've seen of Blair so far and hopefully he can keep it up - because most fans of his previous teams had said he was a bit of a dud.

In general defensively though I thought we were pretty good. Our shape was solid, we (to coin a Duffyism) defended our box well and Brett was outstanding when called upon. Dale Carrick buzzed about a fair bit (and his workrate was absolutely outstanding) but we handled him and big Robert Thomson well.

Defending well is boring though. And for stages of the first-half we were great to watch going forward. Declan Byrne's first goal was largely due to a positive bit of wing play from Ross MacLean - aided by some fairly half-arsed Adam Cummins defending and a sloppy bit of goalkeeping - but his second was a really tremendous finish. We could've had a penalty in the build up; but the ball in from (iirc) Joe McKee, the header from Buchanan and the movement and finish from Byrne was a joy to watch.

Byrne is, apparently, still building up his fitness too. So it'll be nice to see what he can manage when he's properly up to speed.

If Ally Love hadn't managed to crack the bar from about six yards before half-time then it might've been even more comfortable. We attacked with a bit of pace and purpose and, when we hit on the counter and play through the midfield, I think we're a good side to watch. 

Did I enjoy watching the second-half? Not all that much. We didn't have as much of the ball as I'd have hoped, it was bitty and stop-start and the whistle of Duncan Williams will haunt me in my sleep. But, in terms of 'game management' I couldn't really fault us. We got in a commanding position early on and saw out the win. And did so without Finlay Gray, who looks like he could be a key player for us this season, and Ryan Wallace - who has been the handful I hoped he would be throughout the League Cup. Having them back next weekend will be most welcome.

Three points, two goals and a clean sheet to start the year. You can't really argue or grumble with that. Especially against a side who bossed and bullied us all over the park just three weeks ago.

Oh and Aron Lynas is fine. He didn't get a concussion and will be good to go at Cliftonhill next week. Crazy foul and a really daft red card. But thankfully not as bad as it looked like it might be at one stage.

[BallochSonsFan]

Some baffling decisions from the ref today. The red card was spot on, but time and again he pulled play back rather than allowing obvious advantages. I thought he was really fussy and inconsistent. Booking Long for trying to take a free kick from the wrong place, only to ignore Currie doing exactly the same thing barely 90 seconds later was particularly poor.

The 2 early goals effectively killed the game. Binos did force a couple of good saves from Brett Long, but Currie was equally effective in tipping Ally Love's powerful effort onto his crossbar. In typical fashion given his inept performance all afternoon, Duncan Williams awarded a goal kick.

[Clarko_son]

As much as I can't fault any of our players really I think I love Brett Long and Aron Lynas. The latter isn't someone I think is going to do something spectacular but about as "meat and potatoes" as it comes sometimes. 

The first game against Stirling I wanted to leave after about the hour mark but we seemed to be in control today. Two early goals killed it and we just had to manage it from there. 

[Jordo1872]

36 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Some baffling decisions from the ref today….Booking Long for trying to take a free kick from the wrong place, only to ignore Currie doing exactly the same thing barely 90 seconds later was particularly poor.

I noticed the ref giving Long the ‘hurry up’ motion earlier in the half and assume the caution was for deliberate time wasting later in the game, rather than for what you suggest. Hence why Currie wasn’t cautioned. Generally though I agree he was inconsistent but the majority of the cards were warranted imo, with the exception of McLean’s.

4 hours ago, BB_Bino said:

Iwhat the 2 Captains were booked for I have no idea, in the end it was McLean and Buchanan that calmed the situation down.

The current guidance following a ‘mass confrontation’ is for sanctions to be given to the offending player and “one additional player from each team”. I assume the referee picked both captains in the hope they’d help calm their respective teams at a time when it looked like the game could boil over.

Like most I’m pleased with the result but there remains questions over the performance and in particular Faz’s ability to change the approach when it’s clearly not working, as was the case for the first 20mins of the second half when it was clear our midfield duo in the middle were being overrun yet Faz didn’t address it.

Thought Carsy did well at CH and it’s clear that’s now his best position for us. Long continues to look the signing of the summer with another assured performance.

 

[WC Boggs]

9 hours ago, BB_Bino said:

Well that was chronic from a Stirling perspective, bye bye all pre-season excitement, back to reality and pretty much where we have been for the last 8 years.

It happened so quickly as well, 2 soft goals to give away, especially the first, and we were always pissing in the wind. The first goal was a shocker, Cummins not closing down his man to stop the cross and Currie looking like he wasn’t expecting it and an easy tap in. In fact, we were lucky to only go in at Half Time 2-0 down as Dumbarton has some decent chances to grab 3 or more.

I just don’t get the First Half, we were so predictable, stroking the ball about the back 4 until the Defence reached the Half Way line and then either a chip over the Dumbarton back line or a force through ball, neither worked but yet, that’s what we resorted to time after time after time.

Nobody was at the races First Half, total contrast to what we saw against Peterhead last week, but is it too much of a surprise when our most effective and creative players last week, found themselves starting on the bench this week.

Things got better in the Second Half, but we were still so toothless and only Leitch had any kind of creativity when he took to the field. On another day, the draw could have been got but for Dumbarton’s Goalkeeper Brett Long, his double save was more than impressive and he earned the high applause from the Home support.

I’ve posted about the Red Card above, so will not repeat myself, I just hope that Lynas is ok and if not, he makes a speedy recovery.

My fear before the season started was that if Carrick is not scoring, who will, where is the pace and where is the creativity in Midfield and so far, I’m still not any clearer and fear that we really are just powder puff, don’t create and don’t take chances…..really hope I’m wrong but it was another game where I didn’t see a lot in those departments.

So we go on to face Elgin now, with our 1 and only Left Back suspended and a Centre Back looking like a poor option at Right Back, wonderful. I do not know what Young see’s in playing Cummins there, but what do I know?

So flat, so despondent, o toothless and so Stirling Albion. Hope next Saturday is a better experience.

PS- That narrow pitch, wow, there really is no space and I only saw 1 long throw in the whole match.

I was sat at home looking at the starting line up on BBC live scores. I couldn't make sense of Cummins being fielded at RB or Leitch being on the bench, unless it was forced by players carrying a knock, or not being fully fit.

I clicked on the match text, as it was a minute or two past kick off time and found we were already a goal down.  2 down shortly afterwards.  I didn't expect Dumbarton to be caught by surprise by us a second time and was sure we'd have a much harder time of it.  Even so going 2 down in 5 minutes was really depressing.  Reading the accounts of supporters who went it was a dire experience for them. 

I can only hope we've got more in the playbook,, than the reported pattern of punting the ball forward, which on most occasions results in the ball coming straight back at you.  I  also have to hope it's not the repeated experience of a manager's instructions getting tossed out the window on matchday.  

Anyway, well Done to Dumbarton and hope your player wasn't crocked. 

Well done also to Bonnyrigg Rose for winning their first ever attempt at a league 2 match. On a day of disappointment, there isn't much left but applauding the achievements of others.

Edited July 31, 2022 by WC Boggs
typo

[TamCarson]

Aaron Lynas, back for next week is great. I've watched the pre season games and today. He doesn't make many mistakes.

[BB_Bino]

10 hours ago, #GSC said:

The defence have no choice but to play those balls, there’s not a single midfield ball player to pass too, so when they move forward you end up with just two boys in the middle of the park, not far away from them , and four men ( 2 wingers and 2 strikers) up front inline with the opposition defence, no one shows for the ball .

That's a good point #GSC 

8 hours ago, WC Boggs said:

I was sat at home looking at the starting line up on BBC live scores. I couldn't make sense of Cummins being fielded at RB or Leitch being on the bench, unless it was forced by players carrying a knock, or not being fully fit.

With coming off injured last week and with missing a bit of pre-season due to his honeymoon, I can understand the decision to have Leitch on the bench to start off with, as I'm assuming he just didn't feel right, however, to go with 2 holding players in Clark and Banner and not have Cooper in there after last week, I found that strange. I'm not saying Cooper is the answer, I don't know him, but against Peterhead he was the most likely to create something and found pockets of space to drive into. To be fair on Leitch, for 10 minutes or so he did look lively and buzzed about trying to make things happen, but before he came on we definitely lacked that. 

[cedrick1]

Can’t remember the last time we got off to flyer like yesterday. Probably no surprise we played a bit cautious after tat and I thought we were fairly tight and never really under sustained pressure. Noticed neither full back fir us ventured out of back 4 and were both pretty solid.

we probably sat a little deep after half time leaving Byrne a bit isolated and only brightened up after sending off. 
 

challenge now to build on this 

[Silverton End]

27 minutes ago, cedrick1 said:

Can’t remember the last time we got off to flyer like yesterday. Probably no surprise we played a bit cautious after tat and I thought we were fairly tight and never really under sustained pressure. Noticed neither full back fir us ventured out of back 4 and were both pretty solid.

we probably sat a little deep after half time leaving Byrne a bit isolated and only brightened up after sending off. 
 

challenge now to build on this 

I think we opened last season with a 3-0 win.

I wish that we pressed on and scored more yesterday, but 2-0 will do nicely.

 

[cedrick1]

Sorry I meant 2 goals in first five minutes 

[Boghead ranter]

16 hours ago, headthebaw said:

Well that was awful. Two defensive lapses and we were two down within 5 minutes. 

Unwritten rule that this phrase has to appear in every Sons match thread.

Usually posted by a Sons fan, so nice to see the reverse for a change.