troopio Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 On 11/03/2023 at 18:37, Kev8122 said: I went and unfortunately - BOD were pish. Easy win for Buckie I was there also. I have a personal attachment to BOD historically so go and watch them when I can. They started well but offered very little after taking the the lead. The lad for Buckie, Number 10, was best player on the pitch by a country Mile, did not even have to break a Sweat! BOD have done well in the step up though, they have a good model with bringing the younger lads through etc, the key will be for when they need to start regenerating the squad, that will be interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockson Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 11 hours ago, TheScarf said: That's a bad result for Buckie and takes their one hand that was on the league trophy, off IMO. I don't know. To win all four games in hand is a fairly big ask. Though winning three would see them equal on points. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev8122 Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 On 20/03/2023 at 19:36, rockson said: I don't know. To win all four games in hand is a fairly big ask. Though winning three would see them equal on points. It looks like it will be winner takes all on the 22nd. It may even come down to goal difference and I would rather have the points on the board than the games. We haven't played since the Inverurie cup game and we need to raise our game starting tomorrow night v Nairn County 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmain Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Could see that result coming for Buckie on Saturday though, after the recent excellent run then the Midweek result at Brora. Rothes are a sticky team. Taken points off Buckie home and away I think, and run Brechin close too... Interesting League this year. Still can't bring myself to pay a prescription to the P&J for coverage though... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav nan Gael Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Magnificent result for a young Vale side on Saturday. Ormsby was by far the best player on the pitch. Great day had by all in the Market Arms,Railway Inn ,PRP and later on the Seafield Arms Hotel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Shaker Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 49 minutes ago, Jimmain said: Could see that result coming for Buckie on Saturday though, after the recent excellent run then the Midweek result at Brora. Rothes are a sticky team. Taken points off Buckie home and away I think, and run Brechin close too... Interesting League this year. Still can't bring myself to pay a prescription to the P&J for coverage though... Rothes lost 2-4 on their own turf to Buckie back in October. The draw on the weekend is one of their best results against Buckie at Victoria Park in a long time, IIRC it's the fixture without an away win over the longest time, dating back to 1986 or thereabouts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Not much of a day out for Wick today, 10 hours in a coach to get beat 10-0 by Brechin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 28 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Not much of a day out for Wick today, 10 hours in a coach to get beat 10-0 by Brechin. This is where such a large league with no relegation worries for most of the teams becomes a problem. You have clubs going for championships playing clubs who are counting down to summer and only really interested in beating the teams around them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 21 minutes ago, Spyro said: This is where such a large league with no relegation worries for most of the teams becomes a problem. You have clubs going for championships playing clubs who are counting down to summer and only really interested in beating the teams around them. I don't think it's just that, Wick have always been up and down, great win one week then the reverse the next, presumably due to player availability, but this season they're really struggling. There's talk of players wanting to switch to amateur Summer football and it's hard for such a geographically isolated club to recruit from outside the area, most Highland League clubs raid Inverness and Aberdeen, or both with clubs like Buckie. Today's epic journey for a pumping won't help. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 11 minutes ago, welshbairn said: There's talk of players wanting to switch to amateur Summer football That's a big problem. It only takes 4 or 5 to decide "f**k going to Turriff and playing in the pishing rain in December" when the other option is local derbies with your mates over the summer months. Can't blame them tbh 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNU_Linux Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Grady McGrath with a goal haul straight out of his days at East Craigie. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoriginalhedge Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 14 hours ago, Spyro said: This is where such a large league with no relegation worries for most of the teams becomes a problem. You have clubs going for championships playing clubs who are counting down to summer and only really interested in beating the teams around them. Yes that seems to be a problem in the Highland. Although the Highland league opened up the bottom of the league to the pyramid , realistically at present there is no real competition from the league below due to clubs not having the adequate licencing criteria in place. This year it looks like Strathspey will avoid relegation because of this. The Lowland, a similar sized league , has healthy competition from below which does seem to perk up the teams in the lower reaches which possibly suggests that a properly worked play off system could alleviate the problem you mention. Personally I much prefer playing teams twice a season rather than the mundane routine of playing the same team 4 times (sometimes more ) a season in smaller leagues like in the SPFL. I am sure that may be the case for many fans of clubs in leagues 1 and 2 . Expanding these leagues is something I have suggested quite a few times and might be a far better and fairer opportunity to keep clubs at all levels happier than they would be with this ludicrous Conference League pish. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 33 minutes ago, theoriginalhedge said: Personally I much prefer playing teams twice a season rather than the mundane routine of playing the same team 4 times (sometimes more ) a season in smaller leagues like in the SPFL. I am sure that may be the case for many fans of clubs in leagues 1 and 2 . Expanding these leagues is something I have suggested quite a few times and might be a far better and fairer opportunity to keep clubs at all levels happier than they would be with this ludicrous Conference League pish. Any idea why L1 and L2 clubs are resistant to expansion? Is it just fear of more Coves and Keltys coming up to threaten them? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghBlue Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 15 hours ago, Spyro said: This is where such a large league with no relegation worries for most of the teams becomes a problem. You have clubs going for championships playing clubs who are counting down to summer and only really interested in beating the teams around them. It could be worse. You could have B teams in your league 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 1 hour ago, theoriginalhedge said: Personally I much prefer playing teams twice a season rather than the mundane routine of playing the same team 4 times (sometimes more ) a season in smaller leagues like in the SPFL. That's funny, because whenever league reconstruction is mentioned you usually get supporters of the perennial bottom feeders kicking off that there is nothing wrong with League 1 and League 2 and we should all mind our own business. @welshbairn hit the nail on the head imo... -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 (edited) Personally prefer fewer mid-table teams often playing glorified friendlies for the remainder of the season. League 1 is a bit of an anomaly this season whereby it's already a two horse race for automatic relegation, but with the current playoff structure then you can usually have all participating teams fighting for something significant whether that be a promotion chance or avoiding relegation (or quite frequently and remarkably both simultaneously). More 'six pointers' too. The greater variety of away days is the main attraction for expanded league (far more attractive in HL than SPFL imo) as historically there's been little enthusiasm that second trip to Coatbridge, Airdrie, East Fife, or wherever. Other than that, I struggle to see the attraction of the expanded leagues tbh. Eta: Trialist keeper started for Wick yesterday. What a start. Edited March 26, 2023 by Hedgecutter 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 1 hour ago, welshbairn said: Any idea why L1 and L2 clubs are resistant to expansion? Is it just fear of more Coves and Keltys coming up to threaten them? 10-10 provides a buffer division, we've seen how teams can freefall to club 42 status. Two championships, 6 promotion playoff spots, 2 relegation playoff spots, and 1 relegation spot keeps the divisions interesting. Go to say 12-12-18 which has often been mooted as retaining a 42 team SPFL. You're losing spots in the bottom division that have consequences and the only real way to add them would be increased chance of relegation out of the SPFL. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 6 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said: Personally prefer fewer mid-table teams often playing glorified friendlies for the remainder of the season. League 1 is a bit of an anomaly this season whereby it's already a two horse race for automatic relegation, but with the current playoff structure then you can usually have all participating teams fighting for something significant whether that be a promotion chance or avoiding relegation (or quite frequently both simultaneously). More 'six pointers' too. The greater variety of away days is the main attraction for expanded league as there's usually little enthusiasm that second trip to Coatbridge, Airdrie, East Fife, or wherever. Other than that, I struggle to see the attraction of the expanded leagues. You've been in a promotion battle for your 2 seasons up here, so you haven't experienced life further down the table, which is a battle to improve on last season's position and hopefully end up midtable or above. There's no such thing as a meaningless match. For nearly all of the Highland League's existence there's been no such thing as relegation or promotion so it's not been the only thing that brings meaning to football here. You hear SPFL managers say that having nearly every game as a do or die affair means it's difficult to risk bringing young players on in case they blow it, so there's a downside to that too. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 My argument for the larger League 1 and no League 2 was that clubs would have the breathing space to try new things, maybe try out the younger players at the end of the season without the cutthroat position of having to be 8th or 9th out of 10 similar teams. But I immediately contradicted myself when criticising the fact Wick (who are totally safe) obviously tried something at Brechin... and now Brechin's goal difference is looking better going into the championship battle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 8 minutes ago, Spyro said: My argument for the larger League 1 and no League 2 was that clubs would have the breathing space to try new things, maybe try out the younger players at the end of the season without the cutthroat position of having to be 8th or 9th out of 10 similar teams. But I immediately contradicted myself when criticising the fact Wick (who are totally safe) obviously tried something at Brechin... and now Brechin's goal difference is looking better going into the championship battle. I don't think Wick did try anything different, they lost at home to Strathspey 3 days before. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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