R.R.FC

Very professional performance I thought, never really looked like conceding (okay there was one let off in the first half but in general play we never looked under any sustained pressure). Same result as our last cup tie in Linlithgow but a much more comfortable performance. Again, couldn’t fault the attitude or commitment of the players and we upped the quality a little bit in the second half. 3 great finishes from Gullan for his goals and the offside effort, missed another one on one but that can be put down to an excellent save rather than a particularly poor finish. Hopefully do his confidence some good. Impressed with Masson at right back too. Linlithgow worked hard throughout and looked a good footballing side, hopefully they get themselves up this season.

Yeah bringing in someone that appears able to cover both full back positions as well as right across the midfield is no bad thing assuming it hasn’t taken much out of the budget for the priority positions which are centre half and striker. I guess the level of quality we bring in, if any, will be dependent on the outcome of our match against Linlithgow and if we win, who we get in the next round.

Yeah, I get what you mean, Connolly was very good for us last season too, without doubt. Was more referring to the fact he has already scored more goals this season than he did last. Also, he was out of the team restricted to sub appearances for a stretch of games around this time last year (was an unused sub on a couple of occasions too) which wouldn’t happen now he has established himself as such a key player.

Considering he’s working on a tighter budget I think his signings in general have been fine. He’s taken a few gambles in attacking areas that haven’t paid off but we don’t have the finances to go out and get proven options in that areas. I’d give pass marks to McNeil, Millen, Ngwenya, Nolan, O’Riordan, Brown and Easton. McBride and Frederiksen time has been limited but probably due to the fact they are not very good so they can be classed as failures. Likewise Connell, he had a couple of really good games but overall not what we needed. So I make that 7 out of 10 signings have been passable, not many going to fire us to the title any time soon but in a transition season on a tight budget, they’ve all added to the squad. Few of the pass marks are outstanding signings but McNeil - Is as good as you could expect for a young 3rd choice keeper. Millen - Has really improved and been fine after a slow start. Ngwenya - Isn’t perfect but offers something different at left back and gave us a boost when he was brought into the starting 11 earlier in the season and been a worthwhile signing. Nolan - I think he is probably a back up centre back if you want to aim up the league but he’s had more good games than bad and been pretty solid overall. O’Riordan - Excellent, not a whole lot more needs to be said. Brown - Underrated amongst our support IMO, with Matthews injuries we’d have been fucked without his defensive presence in midfield. Easton - Has blown hot and cold but seems to be coming onto a game again and I think when he plays well, the team plays well. I don’t really have a problem with saying Murray’s signing record has been average but I think saying his signings have been ‘more often dross’ is very harsh. Far from a perfect record but it’s not been a disaster. He’s also got more out of the likes of Liam Dick, Stanton and Connolly than McGlynn did.

Yeah, I still think an experienced head like a Berra or Anderson alongside Lang would make a big difference in terms of organisation and command of set pieces. However, it doesn’t completely fix the issue. O’Riordan was about 6 foot 4 and we conceded from set pieces when he was here. I don’t think it is an easy fix though, we are fundamentally a small team, small in midfield and up front and even Lang isn’t big for a centre back. However, it was concentration and communication that cost the goal yesterday rather than the lack of height. It’s one of those things, opposition will be aware it’s an issue and our team will know we lose a lot of goals from set pieces so that creates a nervousness when we have to defend them, particularly at the death. Very frustrating, if just one of about 6 different players had done what they should have in the last 60 seconds of that game, we win. Not much a manager can do in those circumstances.

Don’t know how anyone could argue that John was within his rights to take that shot on . Crazy decision, ball bouncing 40-50 yards out with the keeper retreating, just run it to the corner. However, it is clearly not the only reason we conceded, the corner should have been defended far, far better. There are so many people that could have done better to prevent it. Spencer’s man is able to run off him control and overhead kick the ball in the box, Mitchell could have stooped to try and get a head on the ball or at least put off the overhead kick, I think it is Dick that has just completely left his man to try and push up and we have defenders still in the 6 yard box. Normally I’d say they should have pushed up when the corner went to the edge of the box but in the last minute of stoppage time, just stay with your man. Not to mention, MacDonald getting his hands to it should have saved it IMO. A catalogue of errors, really abysmal goal to lose, very frustrating.

Agree with this. People keep saying he hasn’t had enough chances but there’s a reason for that, the manager sees him every day in training and in bounce matches. He doesn’t need to start league games every week for the manager to know if he is good enough. We already had stories on here before he officially signed (presumably passed on by players) that he looked pretty hopeless in training. We are desperate for a big strong number 9 to chip in with goals, if he had shown anywhere near the standard required in training our bounce games then Murray would clearly have given him more chances. I think we all want it to work it out for him, he seems like a nice fella and has real cult hero potential but like Fernandy Mendy, just because everyone is willing you to do well, doesn’t mean he’ll ever be good enough. Hopefully he’ll prove me wrong, I’d love nothing more.

I think our midfield and goalkeeper are realistically as good as we could expect to have and I wouldn’t be in a rush to swap with anyone else there. The main difference is the firepower of sides above us. Inverness, Dundee and Partick all have 2/3 strikers in their squad who would all be an improvement at number 9 for us. Then QP and Ayr have two of the best number 9’s in the league in Murray and Akinyemi. Not something I’d have said a year ago but I think I’d even take Robbie Muirhead as a number 9 ahead of our options there. If we had a number 9 the quality of the sides above us we could be right in the mix but without we are destined to be floating around where we are just now.

I know you have given a range down to 7th so I’m being a bit pedantic but there is no way our squad is anywhere near the 3rd best in the league. I would happily swap squads with Dundee, Partick, Queens Park, Inverness and probably Ayr in a heartbeat, particularly with what we have available just now. I genuinely think we are exactly where we should be, the only side above us who it could be argued we have better individuals than is Morton IMO but Imrie has down a fantastic job improving nearly every player in their squad.

Yeah, I thought we were really dreadful second half against Arbroath at Stark’s and for about 80 minutes of the home game against Morton in the league and I really thought we were heading for big trouble at that point. Last 4 games have been better though, as frustrating as today is. Hopefully the team respond to today in the same way they did the last time they lost a last minute goal.

Agree on our inability to defend set pieces, it is a huge concern and I imagine why Murray is looking to bring in an experienced centre back. A Big Marv/Mark Campbell/Steven Anderson type would make a huge difference in that regard, not easy to find in a January window when you have no money though. Clearly a striker is needed too and we need to be better going forward but we have only failed to score twice in our last 15 games but we haven’t won enough of them, need to be better defensively as well as going forward.

The next 5 league games look very tough, would be surprised if we’re not sucked right into the battle at the bottom by the end of it. Would bite your hand off to match the 6 points we took from the same set of fixtures earlier in the season.

Haven’t we only lost one late goal all season, which was against Morton? Stretching it to call a Dundee goal in the 78 minute the ‘final minutes’. Big of an overreaction in here for me. Incredibly frustrating to throw 2 points away at the death, costing what would have been a huge win. However, we’re 7 unbeaten and starting to play better. Legs were bound to be tired after a tough game on Wednesday with limited numbers, the squad is running on fumes at this point with injuries to key players hampering what was already a light squad.

Linlithgow did sell a small amount online, I imagine the reason they have not done all tickets this way is to ensure the allocations are respected and they don’t end up with over half the ground as Rovers fans. I imagine the issue of us selling our allocation online would be setting up the system to allow season ticket holders priority and limit to one per person so those with season tickets weren’t just snapping up 10 tickets for their mates. FWIW there are still paper tickets on sale from Linlithgow direct and hospitality spaces for £35 a head if anyone is desperate to find a way of getting along to the game.

Yeah, Davie has done an excellent job, Sim seems a difficult to interview. Very politician like in his reluctance to answer questions in a direct straight forward manner. Fair play to Davie for jumping on the Gretna comparison too which certainly alarmed me as Sim was saying it. Can’t be easy to interview what is effectively your boss but felt he was challenged when needed and pushed for further detail and answers as much as could be expected. Brought up the Goodwillie question as well and I’m surprised that Sim doesn’t make the connection (or is unwilling to admit) that adult season ticket sales may be down due to that signing rather than it being solely down to the lack of streaming (which I’m sure did play a part too). I found the last 15 minutes to be the most positive and encouraging of the whole interview. I’m not sure anyone watching will find themselves feeling ultra positive or with a clear picture of what the future holds for the club but I suppose that is John Sim, he is very much a realist and isn’t going to dress anything up. Glad there are plans for fans questions to be put direct to him in another interview, hopefully that can further clarify some key issues. Sim says all the right things about being upfront and honest but his demeanour and interviewing style doesn’t really lend itself to that IMO.

Agree with this. The ‘no team will outwork us’ quote has been brought up to criticise him on more than one occasion and I really don’t understand why. Yes, we’re not some sort of relentless pressing side for 90 minutes but there’s not been a game where I’ve come away this season thinking we’ve been out worked by the opposition. Some poor performances and generally a lack of ruthlessness in both boxes has been our undoing but can’t fault the work-rate in any game I’ve seen. Any way, cracking result given the circumstances regardless of the side Queens Park had out. Can’t help but feel a Cove win is nailed on Saturday now given what that will have taken out of our threadbare squad but that’s 6 unbeaten and the last few performances have definitely been an improvement.

Yeah, it did cross my mind. Not really sure at this stage of Lang’s comeback whether a rest or more minutes under his belt to build sharpness would be of more benefit. I’m sure Murray and the medical team will know the answer, wouldn’t be against giving him the night off. My reservation with Masson is I have never seen him play, he has no experience at this level and if he’s not near the standard required yet, a thumping at the hands of free scoring Queens Park destroying his confidence could really effect his development. Again Murray will know best on whether he is ready to compete at the required level.

We don’t have the size of squad to allow us to make wholesale changes unfortunately but hopefully we will make as many changes as we can. We’ve not lost in this tournament in 4 and a half years so we’ve had our share of success but this tournament definitely isn’t a priority. Mid table security may seem likely from the outside but I doubt there’s many Rovers fans that would think we are definitely safe at this stage. The game at Cove is on Saturday is much, much more important for us and a win there might allow us to relax a bit more. Hopefully the starting line up reflects the importance of Saturday. I’d go with: McNeil Millen Lang Nolan Young Brown Spencer Easton McBride Frederiksen Connell Would be great if we had Matthews, Stanton, Ross or even Arnott to allow us to rest Brown and Spencer too but seems unlikely any will be available unfortunately.

Yep, 1-0 wins. Failed to score in 12 of the 20 games on grass averaging 0.55 goals per game compared to 1.6 per game in away games on Astro. Didn’t realise quite how bad it was either, grim stuff.

Just to add to this. We have only won 2 of our last 20 matches on grass. Full record is: Played: 20 Won: 2 Drawn: 8 Lost: 10 Scoring average 0.55 per game. In that same time our record away from home on astro is: Played: 15 Won: 11 Drawn: 1 Lost: 3 Scoring average 1.6 per game. Obviously helped by the fact the poorer league sides like QOS and Accies play on Astro as well as defeating lower league dross like Banks O’ Dee and Falkirk but enough there to suggest our passing approach doesn’t translate particularly well to a bobbly grass surface. If we play to our maximum we will win but there is definitely upset potential in the game. Get an early goal, we might relax play our football and win comfortably. However, if we continue our wastefulness in front of goal, the longer it stays 0-0 the more belief they take and then one defensive mistake is all it takes to become a disaster. Hopefully MacDonald isn’t required to play as well as McGurn did on our last visit!

Yeah it’s hard to make sense of it. Even as a tactic to create further interest or generate another bid from an interested party it makes no sense as by basically publicly naming a preferred bidder you put others off. However, the timing of the public appeal in the courier for additional funding does suggest they were always unsure of the Hong Kong bid. If discussions have been ongoing with them for two months and they were always the preferred option, why did the club come out publicly seeking funding just a couple of weeks ago? It suggests to me they realised during the discussions (probably as these players were offered) that they were complete chancers. This would make sense, if it wasn’t for MacDonald’s interview a couple of days ago so perhaps I am giving those involved far too much credit. Another thing I find strange is how publicly this whole affair has been conducted from the appeal, to the interested parties to statements from all sides all going through local news outlets just seems very odd to me. Hopefully the silence from the other interested parties (assuming they exist) is actually a positive as they try to conduct their business in a more professional manner.

Obviously on one hand it’s encouraging that the club are suggesting they have closed the door on these wasters and the above confirms what everyone on here already thought about the dubious nature of their bid. However, it’s quite concerning that just a couple of days ago, two months into due diligence checks by the group and regular contact with the club, our chairman was speaking very positively about them telling us their bid would be ‘huge’ for the club… It’s hard to get too excited if they have genuinely been chased because I have very little faith whoever we end up with isn’t going to be cut from the same cloth.

Am I missing something? Why on earth would the club sanction 4 signings from this mob before the deal has gone through when we clearly don’t have a pot to piss in? Surely if they wanted to complete these signings they need to complete the deal for the club first? I’m no Sim and MacDonald fan but not really sure what they done wrong here, other than get involved with these complete charlatans in the first place obviously.

McBride actually played against Murray’s Airdrie side twice last season. Are you honestly so naive/stupid to think manager’s nowadays watch everyone they sign in person? Wyscout and clips of players offered by agents play a large part in signings nowadays. McGlynn admitted as much with how he sourced Musonda, Duku and Ugwu and he even said he hadn’t watched Poplatnik at all when he signed (although he had actually played and scored against us the previous season.) You obviously don’t base your whole squad on players in this way (and we haven’t) but it’s very common practice for ‘scouting’ of some new signings to be done online nowadays and it can be very effective, see the signing of Connor O’Riordan. It’s a bit more in depth than ‘YouTube videos’ of course but you already knew that.

The problem with any change of shape to get two up front is you will likely have to change the position of our one consistent goal threat at the moment, Aidan Connolly. Anything other than a bog standard 4-4-2 would mean moving Connolly into a more central area where he would be less effective (I know he normally drifts in field anyway but it’s easier to deal with when that’s his starting position). The 4-1-3-2 at the start of the season was murder, I know we have more players available now but I don’t think that’s the solution based on what we’ve seen of it. The narrow midfield diamond worked for us at times under McGlynn but that was with MacDonald and Tumilty providing width. Ngwenya is a willing runner but his quality from the wide areas is sadly lacking and I don’t think Millen has the pace to provide width on his own, he needs a winger ahead, creating space for him. Not saying we shouldn’t try something new, I agree with you that we should be looking to find a solution that gets us two up front to counter our lack of out and out number 9 and focal point but it’s easier said than done, there’s not a blindingly obvious solution staring us all in the face but I suppose that’s Murray’s job to solve the conundrum. For all our lack of cutting edge and focal point up front is our main issue and our defence overall has been fine this season, it shouldn’t be ignored that we have also lost 9 goals in our last 3 games and for the first time, O’Riordan is starting to look like he has a mistake in his game. We need solutions at both ends of the pitch. What a difference a few weeks make…