Ivo den Bieman

Nope, absolute dugmeat on yesterday’s showing.

I’m not Ivo den Bieman The real Ivo is back in the Netherlands & has been for some time. There’s a couple of recent articles about him somewhere on the official website. He takes in the odd game when the veterans have a day in hospitality.

I had the sense that if Falkirk had stayed upright & stopped trying to ref the game they might have been more dangerous. Watson in particular kept chuntering in his ear and Dowds was one or two notches away from a total cranial explosion. An absolutely dreadful player. The referee was appalling for both teams, granted. Some very baffling decisions. But his mescalin-influenced whistling seemed to bother Falkirk much more than it did Montrose. Falkirk look decent on the ball but they are very soft and defensively an absolute laughing stock. We managed the second half pretty well and all the players put in another hard-working shift. There will be tougher afternoons than this ahead, however.

Great result today and a good battling performance. Two excellent goals & good resilience shown from the guys after going a goal behind. Great strike from CJ for what was the eventual winner. Fleming made 2-3 fine saves and thought our defence handled what pressure there was very well. I knew Falkirk had their problems but didn’t expect them to be that bad. The new coach has his work cut out there. Neat & tidy on the ball but an absolute shambles defensively.

That does seem a bit catastrophist having seen City a fair bit this season. A cracking wee player who wouldn't have been anywhere near Glebe Park but for Craig Levein & his personal role in bringing him to Scotland, and a frew fringe players have left. Don't really see the issue. Fraserburgh look too consistent for everyone else this season anyway, but Brechin seem a really well run place again and should be well placed to challenge strongly for next season's title.

Significant report doubts that Russia will actually launch a full scale invasion, despite the optics to the East and a significant build up of forces in Belarus. Worth a read. The drumbeat of war seems to be sounding much louder in the West. https://kyivindependent.com/national/center-for-defense-strategies-how-probable-is-large-scale-war-in-ukraine-analysis/

Went to this with Montrose out & not fancying the glorified pre-season friendly at Pittodrie. It was a decent game. I thought that after Joao Vitoria put EK ahead with an excellent counter-attacking goal that Pheid might be in for a rough afternoon. EK were fit, motivated and neat & tidy whilst the home team, bluntly, were slow, ponderous and seemed hungover. EK should have perhaps been further ahead before "Rusty" McLean equalised after some untidy play in the EK box. Within a minute a booming right foot volley from McCarthy, at an angle fifteen yards out, turned the game on its head totally. In the second half, Pheid were on the front foot for 25 minutes or so only for Jaoa Vitoria to turn home neatly from close range after some frankly terrible defending. Having got back on terms, EK defended for their lives for the remainder of normal time and extra time. I have no idea how the ball stayed out the net. McLean had a goal late in normal time ruled out for a marginal offisde, and also hit the bar. Bravery from the goalkeeper and lack of composure in finishing saw the game finish 2-2 although the home team really should have finished the 120 minute mark about 4-2 ahead. Penalties weren't so dramatic, Pheid scored all 5 and only EK's poor no. 14 hit the bar. A very hard fought and absorbing tie maybe lacking a bit in quality, but decent enough entertainment. Peterhead under Jim McInally are just too slow and ponderous in front of goal. They lack a bit of guile on the ball and seem to try and bludgeon their way through teams. It didn't really work today against a very impressive EK who could easily be promotion challengers in League Two. There was very little between the sides. For the home team, was really impressed by Ryan Duncan who had a good game, McCarthy, and Si Ferry, strutting about the middle third like a Scotmid Souness. Smith and Old in particular showed up well at the back for EK. But theirs was a great team performance that they can take a lot from. It's fine margins- the width of a bar- at the end.

it's...almost as though, much like the Old Firm, Labour & Tory are two cheeks of the same arse.

Stenhousemuir really threw that away after being by far the better team for the first 50-55 minutes. They were neat and tidy in the first half, progressing well down the left. The goal came from a delighteful cut back from the right just at the byline about ten yards out, finished coolly- a really well worked goal. Both sides were full of endeavour but struggling to create much. I can't remember Stenny's keeper having anything of significance to deal with in the first half. Equally from the home POV there was plenty of nice approach play but little by way of end product. Indeed some of the crowd where I was sitting were more entertained by three Stenny stewards trying (and failing) to eject what seemed to be an extremely angry roaster in a red jacket on the terracing. Stirling came much more into the game after the break and for some reason the home team just froze in their headlights. There's a real softness about this Stenhousemuir team; it seemed to me that they were simply muscled out of the three points. Stenny should have been 3-0 after two extensive goal-line scrambles just wouldn't fall for them. The equaliser was a poor own goal after a difficult angled ball from a free kick on the stand side, that was extremely dubious in the first place. The winner...wow. Great persistence and execution from the dangerous Flanagan who bruished off his marker...quite why the goalkeeper was so far out of his goal at that point, only he will be able to explain. Yes it was good skill but I'm at a loss as to the keeper's positioning. Strange old game. Stirling really turned the momentum in their favour in the last 30 minutes. I was left with the impression of two poor teams who, if one of them manages to sneak into a play off spot at the end of the season, will exit in the semi-finals. A Stenny fan above questioned if Swift was the right man for them. Honestly the game management was so poor and the management from the sidelines so supine, I doubt he is.

seems to be tickets left on fanbase....

A guy coming to play with experience in the Cymru Premier and Conference North should be decent...but then you have to ask, why is he dropping down a couple of levels to come to Fort William. The less said about the Warrington pub team the better I think. Fort William's policy of playing English boys from Tier 8/9 from the pyramid has, charitably, not worked. Quite a surprise to see the new coach persisting with it. Some of the players they signed from that level are farcically bad. Only really Darren Brew looks like he has played football about Sunday league level before.

A perfect (and prob better) substitute for me after Edinburgh-Albion R was called off. I have to be in Edinburgh tomorrow evening so this is the only other game possible. Haven't seen either team this season. Stirling's struggles surprised me but Darren Young should get you moving in the right direction- a good, experienced coach now. As for Stenny, can't help but feel an important January coming up on and off the park- Steven Swift hasn't done great looking from the outside and new signings and results both needed. The attempted squad transplant from "Broomhill Sports Club" into a maroon jersey backfired badly. Never seen this derby game before so looking forward to it.

Feeney would be a strange choice. He did well at Pirin until relatively recently, but was a disaster at Newport and very mediocre at Linfield, following a promising start at Ards. Would be a big gamble and would be surprised if it's him.

In the midst of a global pandemic and climate breakdown it all seems a bit last decade, to be honest. I will still vote Yes when I am presented with a chance to, but the propsects for IndyRef2 aren't exactly propitious for the foreseeable future. I think your analysis re: the Tories holding the Trump cards (pun intended) is a bit simplistic, but this isn't really a Tory government, more a cretinous UKIP government with some Hungarian popuilist gangsterism thrown in for good measure. Scotland could and should hold a second referendum but 1. there's presently no sensible opportunity window to do so ii. even when there is (probably around 2024/5 when this pandemic has receded to a point where we're not talking about it every bloody day) this Westminster government are crooked, corrupt and do not give one single f**k about democracy. Hard to see where that leaves us as with an unwritten constiution and a Supreme Court with a Westminster loyalty baked in the SNP have few if any cards to play.

Come off it, the SNP have absolutely no intention of holding a referendum anytime soon. Having been in power in some form since 2007 they've got their feet nicely under the table of devolved government and why would they rock that boat when they are not under (too much) pressure to deliver? Alba moon howlers and the noisy anti-vaxx lot may seem significant on twitter but they are not, really. If it is true that people really have left the SNP today over restrictions on football then I'd question the level of their original commitment that made them join the party. The SNP are neatly in the back pocket of corporate lobbyists and Capital will be happy for them to stay exactly where they are as a competent administrator of late neoliberalism. No progress will be made until Covid is better managed which unfortunately looks a way off.

Tom English has had an absolute nightmare on twitter this afternoon with this: https://twitter.com/TEnglishSport/status/1473307233232506894?s=20 Only cretinous sycophants actually agreeing with him. Get him to f**k back to rugby coverage where his only audfience will be half a dozen jug-eared Tobys on a farm in the Borders.

This staement isn't clear at all. The probably effect will be a pause in football from Boxing Day though. So basically crowds of up to 500 are permitted

I'll settle for being able to attend this. Doesn't look very likely according to this morning's media though.

I got out of the habit of buying programmes, picked up a half time though (nae luck for me as usual )

There was another big penalty shout in the first half in the opposite box which looked a penalty to me. The view isn't great at Central Park so wasn't able to see the award that was given, very clearly. However as said the officials were very very poor for both sides. Wasn't as though it was even a bad tempered or difficult game to referee...both sides wanted to get on with it.

Took this in yesterday and thought Cowdenbeath were marginally the better side. Overall it wasn't a particularly memorable game other than for one of the worst penalties I've seen at senior level. Binnie in the Rovers goal saved smartly low down to his left but he was given every chance to do so. Terrible. Think Rovers also lucked out with the late disallowed goal, which appeared to be given by the referee initially. Felt the officials were very, very poor for both sides wioth the terracing side linesman being unfit, slow and unable to keep up with play at times, missing a couple of close offsides. Not a lot between the sides. Rovers played better in the first half down the road at Kelty last week and got done 6-1. They do have a good, fighting spirit though and that helped them yesterday, they could even have nicked it at the end, unjustly. As for Cowden, if Maurice Ross can bring in the right forwards (that's the big problem for Cowden) I think they could improve quickly from Janaury onwards. They are certainly trying to play the game the right way, within their obvious limitations.

Yep wouild suggest everyone gets out and enjoy a game this weekend as it may be our last for a while. Of course it may be that they let the holiday games run but lockdown is coming back in January for a while. Can see the season continuing but back to PPV streams for a while. Grim.

Yeah it's come on a huge amount in terms of professionalism & standards in the few years I've been following it closely. Think the top 8 in the top division could almost form a mini league on their own...bottom four tend to be gubbins outfits although even they are a lot stronger than ten-fiteen years ago. On facilities, for those wondering about the 70s, here's Carrick's Taylor's Avenue in a famous Euro Tie against Mick VChannon's Southampton. You can see how basic the park is.

Good to see a strong 3-way fight for the title. I always think the league's better when Cliftonville are firing on all cylinders and pushing Linfield. Must admit to being surprised to see Larne treading water, looks like the well-financed dream maybe breaking up a bit, and the squad perhaps needing refreshed. Agree also that DJ's reign at Ballymena seems to have gone stale. A pity as I thought under his tutelage the club would be much more competitive. There was always the sense that Warrenpoint would fall away when Newry City got their act together and this looks like happening this season with 'Point's luck seemingly having run out, and Newry dominating the Championship title race. A great five-way fight for the play-off spot with just a point between Ballinamallard in second and Ards in 6th. Are any of the potential promotion candidates really better than either Portadown or Dungannon Swifts? Hard to see it. Bangor may well be back in the second tier next season, between Armagh City and them at present in the Intermediate League.