Dumbarton vs Elgin City

[Thommo90]

10 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

Can’t complain about five out of five but why do we sit so deep. We just invited Elgin on to us and we have done the same in most matches so far. The only time we haven’t was against Annan when we kept going for it even although we were ahead. Still it’s nice to come out with a win

Elgin didnt cut us open once bar the goal.  Not saying I want us to sit deep but it clearly is a strength, our defence has been superb so far this season.

Id say against annan we were the same, they had most of the ball but we dealt with everything they had really.

Good defences win leagues.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

As soon as 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' was played at half-time there was no way Elgin were getting anything.

[Silverton End]

12 minutes ago, Thommo90 said:

Elgin didnt cut us open once bar the goal.  Not saying I want us to sit deep but it clearly is a strength, our defence has been superb so far this season.

Id say against annan we were the same, they had most of the ball but we dealt with everything they had really.

Good defences win leagues.

Moving Carswell into central defence has worked out very well.

[FifeSons]

Great for Ally Love after the nastiness from the **** midweek.

Lovely 2-1 wins for Dumbarton and Chelsea. I’ll take that.

[FifeSons]

16 hours ago, squeezebox-son said:

Did someone shit in your kettle this week or something? 

His big team won today, he’ll have settled down now.

[lorenzo71]

21 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Great for Ally Love after the nastiness from the **** midweek.

Lovely 2-1 wins for Dumbarton and Chelsea. I’ll take that.

Second that..great personally for Ally today putting all that shite behind him .Onwards and upwards.

This is the sort of game we would have lost last season.

[The Moonster]

I'll be honest, we didn't string two passes today all day and were complete shite. I said previously that we sit too deep defending our own half and I thought we offered Elgin far too much respect. We were slow to break as well, which I wasn't expecting considering our deep shape, but a 10 minute blitz at the start of the second half and some resolute defending won us the game. I didn't see the foul for the first pen but the second one was a result of clever work from Lynas who I thought was man of the match today, he's an absolute warrior who would heider his granny if he had to. I probably shouldn't moan too much considering we've won the first 5 games for the first time ever but I do feel playing the way we are will get found out sooner or later. 

For me our strongest part of the team is Gray, Blair and McKee and for almost all of today we avoided playing through them. I feel we could make things much easier for ourselves with some composure and playing out from the back a bit more. Delighted for Ally Love and his family though as I've said on our thread, I don't want to seem like I'm pissing on any fires but incredibly I feel we can improve on our play despite having tremendous form.

My final point - Grays energy is actaully not right, he was motoring up the left wing in the last minute and no Elgin defender could be arsed chasing him. I'd be drug testing the wee c**t. 

 

[Jan Vojáček]

That first-half was the worst we've played all season. And I include the Albion Rovers game in that. I don't know if we underestimated Elgin, gave them too much respect or if it was a hangover from Tuesday night. But Jesus Christ we were awful.

There was absolutely no fluency about us. The amount of misplaced passes was staggering, everyone's touch was off and our tackling was clumsy in the extreme. It was howling stuff.

The only thing that was giving me hope at half-time was that Elgin really hadn't created much of note. Despite how poor we'd been, and despite them knocking the ball about nicely with Kane Hester looking like he was giving Gregor Buchanan and Stuart Carswell a really tough time.

As others have said, the ball was out in the build-up to his goal - but playing to the whistle is pretty much the first thing you are told in football. And we didn't today. The decision was a poor one, but we've only got ourselves to blame for conceding.

Who knows what happened at half-time, but we emerged a totally different team. And looked far more like it early in the second-half.

The second penalty was well won by Lynas, but a stonewaller. The first maybe looked a bit harsher - but given how much of a stickler the referee was for giving fouls, the Elgin defender took a risk manhandling Buchanan in the box.

As soon as we got ahead we never really looked like losing. We look like a bit of a pain to play against - akin maybe to Montrose. Once we get ahead then we know our shape, know our roles and basically challenged Elgin to try and break us down. And they didn't.

After a fairly iffy first-half, I thought both centre-backs were superb. Stuart Carswell especially. We managed to bring Finlay Gray and Ryan Blair into the game, and I thought Kalvin Orsi - after a really poor first-half - caused a few problems.

Love's penalties were very confidently dispatched and I couldn't fault him all game. He worked his arse off again defensively.

Our best player for me though, once again, was Aron Lynas. I absolutely love the guy. He's hard as nails defensively, he wins a crazy amount in the air for someone who is pretty small and slight, he did well to win the penalty and the way he celebrated the final whistle meant you could see what it meant to him. I've described him as throwback to guys we've had in the past, and I stand by that. He's maybe not the most naturally gifted player in the squad, but he's all heart - and his effort, commitment and desire are as good as I've seen in a Sons player for yonks.

The sign of a good team is one that finds a way to win when they don't play well. We haven't really had a Sons side that's done that for a good few years. That's twice now this squad has done that. And they've made a wee bit of history along the way.

We can spend all night discussing the performance. But in 50 years time we'll remember this start and the results. Not how poor our first-half today was.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

30 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I'll be honest, we didn't string two passes today all day and were complete shite. I said previously that we sit too deep defending our own half and I thought we offered Elgin far too much respect. We were slow to break as well, which I wasn't expecting considering our deep shape, but a 10 minute blitz at the start of the second half and some resolute defending won us the game. I didn't see the foul for the first pen but the second one was a result of clever work from Lynas who I thought was man of the match today, he's an absolute warrior who would heider his granny if he had to. I probably shouldn't moan too much considering we've won the first 5 games for the first time ever but I do feel playing the way we are will get found out sooner or later. 

For me our strongest part of the team is Gray, Blair and McKee and for almost all of today we avoided playing through them. I feel we could make things much easier for ourselves with some composure and playing out from the back a bit more. Delighted for Ally Love and his family though as I've said on our thread, I don't want to seem like I'm pissing on any fires but incredibly I feel we can improve on our play despite having tremendous form.

My final point - Grays energy is actaully not right, he was motoring up the left wing in the last minute and no Elgin defender could be arsed chasing him. I'd be drug testing the wee c**t. 

 

A pretty honest assessment Moonster, and you are correct to identify the issue of lying deep.  We are badly missing McLean's ability to break at pace, added to which Byrne is frequently left isolated.

Unfortunately today we also had Kalvin Orsi dipping from his recent improved performance levels, and Joe McKee limping off.  Having said all of that we won the game and there is no questioning the collective work ethic or willingness to graft.

And here's another thing.  In 450 minutes of league football Brett Long has had to make no more than about six or seven meaningful saves - that speaks volumes for the defence in front of him.

We created a club record today; it's wonderful that a very special season for DFC has already produced a notable achievement.

[squeezebox-son]

Can only echo what everyone is saying above. Poor start, first half was dreadful and in second we didn't do much better with many of the aspects of the game but at least had the desire to get ourselves back in the game.

You can't deny the passion from our team. Been a long time since our team were so united and all for the cause!

On a side note, pretty certain McHardy got 2 booking today but didn't get sent off?

[kenrobell]

Can only echo what everyone is saying above. Poor start, first half was dreadful and in second we didn't do much better with many of the aspects of the game but at least had the desire to get ourselves back in the game.
You can't deny the passion from our team. Been a long time since our team were so united and all for the cause!
On a side note, pretty certain McHardy got 2 booking today but didn't get sent off?

He didn’t the ref should have booked him but deliberately booked his team mate so he didn’t have to send him for early bath

[cedrick1]

Echo what most have said re lynas. I also thought today Wilson was very good when he came on after some criticism.

we did wake up in second half and can’t remember our keeper having to make a save ?? 
 

[Thommo90]

1 hour ago, kenrobell said:

He didn’t the ref should have booked him but deliberately booked his team mate so he didn’t have to send him for early bath

He 100% got booked for the love incident on 60 mins.  Its the one before on 50 mins that seems to be the problem.  Initially was given to him on flashscores etc, then changed after he was subbed.  I'm 99% sure he was booked twice.

[kenrobell]

He 100% got booked for the love incident on 60 mins.  Its the one before on 50 mins that seems to be the problem.  Initially was given to him on flashscores etc, then changed after he was subbed.  I'm 99% sure he was booked twice.

If that’s the case then it’s a cover up because I noticed in bet 365 he was booked then after the second card they had his team mate down for it number 4 I think I’m not too sure

[Sweet Pete]

53 minutes ago, Thommo90 said:

He 100% got booked for the love incident on 60 mins.  Its the one before on 50 mins that seems to be the problem.  Initially was given to him on flashscores etc, then changed after he was subbed.  I'm 99% sure he was booked twice.

I also thought the Elgin 4 was booked twice. I remember the 2, 4 and 9 for Elgin being booked, then the Elgin 4 getting booked again. A lot of people in the home end were screaming likewise.

[Thommo90]

32 minutes ago, kenrobell said:

If that’s the case then it’s a cover up because I noticed in bet 365 he was booked then after the second card they had his team mate down for it number 4 I think I’m not too sure

Number 4 was the guy who was booked twice.  I dont think it was a cover up I think just pish officiating causing confusion.  

Put it this way, he was subbed right after it, after folk started making noise about it.  He is a good goal threat for Elgin and has never been subbed this season in any competition, no coincidence there.

[FifeSons]

Very decent crowd today, 688. Especially since there won't have been much of a travelling support, I suspect.

[squeezebox-son]

2 hours ago, Thommo90 said:

Number 4 was the guy who was booked twice.  I dont think it was a cover up I think just pish officiating causing confusion.  

Put it this way, he was subbed right after it, after folk started making noise about it.  He is a good goal threat for Elgin and has never been subbed this season in any competition, no coincidence there.

Yep, this exactly. I was certain he was booked early in the 2nd half and then he upended Love (who made the most of it to be fair). Then seconds after it he was subbed off.  Was quite obvious they realised they'd got away with one.

[FifeSons]

I see Sevco fans are still having an absolute meltdown on Twitter about Love. You’d genuinely think it was a Keane-on-Haaland level of tackle the way they’re crying about it.

Ally Love has absolutely endeared himself to me now!

[kenrobell]

Very decent crowd today, 688. Especially since there won't have been much of a travelling support, I suspect.

Biggest crowd of the season yet and the was hardly any visitors