Early season basement battle - St. Mirren vs Ross County

[FTOF]

3 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

Honestly, quite a strange take for me. I don't think we went anything like everyone behind the ball at 1 up and about 80% of Strain's touches were in the opposition half.

Strain was breathing out his arse at 70 minutes. He done an absolute power of running today.

Absolutely.

Complete nonsense to think otherwise. 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by FTOF

[FTOF]

2 hours ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

Yup we did and it wasn't only Strain who was being told to stay in his own half.  A win’s a win as they say. 

[SuperSaints1877]

Did Ross County fans boycott the game today in Paisley?

A total of 143 away fans.

[djchapsticks]

7 minutes ago, SuperSaints1877 said:

Did Ross County fans boycott the game today in Paisley?

A total of 143 away fans.

143 is a good effort given the heat, distance and more importantly the fact it will probably cost upwards of £100 for the day when factoring in tickets, food/drink and petrol and costs similar every second week.

Fair play to those who showed up and equally understandable for those who didn't or couldn't.

[SuperSaints1877]

1 minute ago, djchapsticks said:

143 is a good effort given the heat, distance and more importantly the fact it will probably cost upwards of £100 for the day when factoring in tickets, food/drink and petrol and costs similar every second week.

Fair play to those who showed up and equally understandable for those who didn't or couldn't.

It seemed a much smaller number than usual. I was not knocking them. I too applauded. It’s a lot to ask fans of all clubs to travel these distances with the cost of living crisis.

I believe we will see attendances plummet over the next few years.

[Matty-RCFC]

Did Ross County fans boycott the game today in Paisley?
A total of 143 away fans.

Ah, that old chestnut.

[IrishBhoy]

As much as they didn’t influence the result, I thought the officials were terrible today. We all know defenders running towards their own goal with an attacker at their heels is going to go down softly and try and buy the free kick, but the referee today seemed to blow his whistle for the most obvious dives, and wave play on when the defender was genuinely fouled. 
 

There was also an instance in the first half where a County player was trying to allow a ball to go over the bye line for a goal kick, and Kiltie tried to put a bit of pressure on him. The County player used a two handed push to the chest to send Kiltie flying into the advertising boards, about a foot away from the linesman, and a goal kick was flagged for. I understand how tricky it can be when players are constantly trying to buy fouls, but the least we can expect from our top level officials is a bit of consistency over the space of one game. 

[flyingscot]

4 hours ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

Not impressed by his tactics of keeping 10 players in our half from the moment we went 1 up.  Strain was under instructions not to cross the halfway line and it was really frustrating.

County changed things to get back in the game and were getting in behind our fullbacks hence Strain and Tait dropping deeper to counter that. 

Strain didn't cross the halfway line because he was pretty much gubbed from all the running in that heat. Tough shift for fullbacks today. 

All in all I thought we played pretty well and deserved the victory. County were really poor first half, barely had a touch in our penalty area for first 30 mins and rally struggled up top. Grew into the game but I think 1-0 was fair. Just a bit worried that we lack a cutting edge.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

15 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

There was also an instance in the first half where a County player was trying to allow a ball to go over the bye line for a goal kick, and Kiltie tried to put a bit of pressure on him. The County player used a two handed push to the chest to send Kiltie flying into the advertising boards, about a foot away from the linesman, and a goal kick was flagged for.

Couldn't believe that one. The guy didn't even disguise the fact that he had no interest in playing the ball. He actually moved away from the ball to approach Kiltie and throw an NFL style block on him. With the linesman with a front row seat to it all.

 

.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Dirty Sanchez

[Torfason]

1 hour ago, Matty-RCFC said:

Ah, that old chestnut.

You guys are a good bunch and instead of being an OF supporter via Sky, you actually support your local team. 

Once the game starts then f**k the lot of you but afterwards......... Best of luck for the season 

[glenburn bud]

I really don’t get why folk would have a go about the size of the County Traveling support. Having to travel upwards of 3 hours every other week to away games, must be a massive drain on anyones funds during a cost of living crisis. 
 

Anyone who can afford to travel to away games on a regular basis from Dingwall deserve respect.

[IrishBhoy]

17 minutes ago, glenburn bud said:

I really don’t get why folk would have a go about the size of the County Traveling support. Having to travel upwards of 3 hours every other week to away games, must be a massive drain on anyones funds during a cost of living crisis. 
 

Anyone who can afford to travel to away games on a regular basis from Dingwall deserve respect.

It’s always amused me that it’s the fans that have actually turned up that take the flak for small travelling supports. Surely those jibes should be aimed at the fans not in attendance.
 

Seen a post on Twitter showing a bus full of Bonnyrigg Rose fans making a 275 mile round trip to watch their team in Stranraer. Predictably the comments are full of OF fans trying to discredit them. It’s a point I always pick OF fans up on when they come out with claims that they are the ‘best fans in the world’. I can’t imagine it’s that difficult going to Parkhead or Ibrox and singing loudly over the Champions League song, or when they put 4 or 5 past a provincial club without breaking sweat and the full stadium sings along to songs about a 17th century battle or the reunification of Ireland. Celtic fans are especially bad for thinking this, they genuinely believe they are somehow better at supporting their team than any other fan base in the world. 
 

I wonder how long these same Celtic fans would last if they were travelling from one end of the country to the other every second week hoping for a win, expecting a defeat but happy with a draw. There’s fans in Scotland who do exactly that 18 times a season. Clubs like Annan, Stranraer and Ross County, plus a few I’ve missed out, have a hardy following who turn up week after week to support their team away from home, at a great monetary cost to them and with very little success from the team in return. I would say these supporters have a far bigger claim to ‘best fans in the world’ over some bam from the outskirts of Glasgow that goes to Parkhead or Ibrox a few times a season. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by IrishBhoy

[thomas]

Baccus looks like a player his stats suggests despite the obvious physical differences he can do the Gogic job but for me he is leaps and bounds above Gogic.

[IrishBhoy]

17 minutes ago, thomas said:

Baccus looks like a player his stats suggests despite the obvious physical differences he can do the Gogic job but for me he is leaps and bounds above Gogic.

I don’t really see the comparison with Gogic apart from the fact they occupy a similar area of the pitch. Gogic was a great ball winner and was as physical as any other CM in the league. Baccus is a bit more lightweight but looks like he’s going to be excellent at getting through a midfield press, either with passes or driving through with the ball himself. He had some nice 1-2’s with Ayunga and Kiltie today which resulted in us getting the ball further towards the goal, and ultimately looking more threatening. He had a good chance to score after one of those 1-2’s but couldn’t keep his shot down. I fear he’s going to be a player that come the end of the season bigger clubs are sniffing around, which you couldn’t grudge him after moving from Australia at such a young age. 

[GAD]

I don't really get why Ross County come to Paisley and still persist with the hammer throwing, constant off the ball niggle and hitting the deck anytime anyone comes near them. As far as I can remember it sort of worked once in the last few seasons, when they managed to get Shaughnessy sent off and scrape a draw. Beyond that, they've always looked way better against us when  they play football.

[Buttocks Brown]

Very early days but if we can keep Baccus and Ayunga fit.....

Ayunga really is going to be the key player I think: he's giving us something up front which we didn't have last season. Just need to work out the best partner for him.

[Matty-RCFC]

It’s always amused me that it’s the fans that have actually turned up that take the flak for small travelling supports. Surely those jibes should be aimed at the fans not in attendance.
 
Seen a post on Twitter showing a bus full of Bonnyrigg Rose fans making a 275 mile round trip to watch their team in Stranraer. Predictably the comments are full of OF fans trying to discredit them. It’s a point I always pick OF fans up on when they come out with claims that they are the ‘best fans in the world’. I can’t imagine it’s that difficult going to Parkhead or Ibrox and singing loudly over the Champions League song, or when they put 4 or 5 past a provincial club without breaking sweat and the full stadium sings along to songs about a 17th century battle or the reunification of Ireland. Celtic fans are especially bad for thinking this, they genuinely believe they are somehow better at supporting their team than any other fan base in the world. 
 
I wonder how long these same Celtic fans would last if they were travelling from one end of the country to the other every second week hoping for a win, expecting a defeat but happy with a draw. There’s fans in Scotland who do exactly that 18 times a season. Clubs like Annan, Stranraer and Ross County, plus a few I’ve missed out, have a hardy following who turn up week after week to support their team away from home, at a great monetary cost to them and with very little success from the team in return. I would say these supporters have a far bigger claim to ‘best fans in the world’ over some bam from the outskirts of Glasgow that goes to Parkhead or Ibrox a few times a season. 

It makes you laugh doesn’t it. On one hand, you’ll have OF fans slating attendances of teams like County, Caley, St J etc. However, on route to Paisley yesterday, I passed about 6 Rangers busses coming from North of Perth. Do they not see the irony?

[Forfinn]

9 hours ago, SuperSaints1877 said:

Did Ross County fans boycott the game today in Paisley?

A total of 143 away fans.

The primary reason for this will have been the lack of supporters bus. That wasn't due to a lack of interest (as sometimes is the case). The BISC couldn't source a coach. Presumably the local firms were all booked up with holiday tours and taking gloryhunters to Ibrox. The same happened for the Hearts game on the opening day of the season.

Without a reasonably priced bus, an away day to Paisley from the Highlands can be prohibitively expensive for many, even at the best of times.

We do have a reasonable number of fans in the central belt too. Our group would normally have been out in force on a sunny Saturday in August. We probably had half the number we would have had pre-covid though. Partly that's people getting in to different habits because of the enforced break we had, but I think a bigger factor (especially for me) is a feeling of apathy with the club since appointing Malky Mackay. I'm certainly picking and choosing my games more carefully now.

More widely, I can see away attendances falling across the country this season (with a couple of notable exceptions). St Mirren appear to be the cheapest in the league (but still £25) and with the cost of living crisis, folk are going to have prioritise much more.

On the game itself, I wasn't there, but the reports are not good. Not panic stations yet (County went 10 without a win at the start of last season - although did at least have one point after three games), but it's worrying they can turn in such creditable performances against Hearts and Celtic but then be so dire in what would have been considered a winnable match.

[btb]

4 hours ago, Forfinn said:

On the game itself, I wasn't there, but the reports are not good. Not panic stations yet (County went 10 without a win at the start of last season - although did at least have one point after three games), but it's worrying they can turn in such creditable performances against Hearts and Celtic but then be so dire in what would have been considered a winnable match.

Diddy clubs like ourselves need two game plans - one for the OF and the other bigger teams (Hearts since they rejoined the top flight) and one for the scraps with each other - IMO Livi have been the best of the diddy clubs in this respect far better than us since we were promoted in 2018.

Slightly off-topic but in a similar manner I wasn't too worried by our poor LC performance last month as I didn't see it as being relevant to our League campaign - I was far more worried by the two opening losses in the league coming despite a decent performance against Well and similar start against Aberdeen, but yesterday has left me a bit more relaxed.

Edited August 14, 2022 by btb

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