Francesc Fabregas

Congratulations to Tam Orr on winning the League 2 Player of the Month award - thoroughly deserved after his performances throughout the month. He played well in every match and was the only Stenhousemuir player to score in January. Now give him a new contract!

I've just looked outside my window and after seeing that it's "quite nice", I've bought a ticket for this evening's match. I'm hoping to see a "good game of football" but I have my doubts.

There's something quite endearing about Mikey Anderson. He came across well in his post-match interview after the Elgin City game and I liked how he spoke about his role within the team. "Handy" is probably as good as it's ever likely to get for him but fair play to him all the same, you need players like him in your squad!

Don't forget Euan O'Reilly, Ross Forbes and (probably) Sean Crighton!

No arguments here. He does probably need to get better at link up play etc as Frazer Wright indicated in post match yesterday, as he can't score every game and will have dry patches so during that need a bit more but he is having some impact on the goal front and that's invaluable. Definitely, but I don't think asking him to hold up play really suits him - he doesn't have a great first touch and lacks the strength to back into defenders and keep possession. He's a finisher who just wants to get into positions where he can have a go for goal without thinking. For instance, his two strikes against Elgin City last weekend were terrific and came from him running onto the good work of others and shooting. While we're at it, give new deals to Adam Corbett, Ross Lyon, Nat Wedderburn and Robert Thomson, and get Mikey Miller tied up on a permanent contract! 'Tis the season!

I think the club should look to extend the contract of Thomas Orr, if possible. His goal record over the past two months has been extraordinary and he's a key reason we're still within touching distance of the top four. I'll admit to having written him off earlier in the season and was adamant we would require a new striker but, alas, he's proved me wrong! Mr Swift, do the right thing and sign him up!

I wasn't able to make it down to Galabank today (my windscreen wipers have packed in) but that's an impressive win and, with Edinburgh City beating Stranraer, a vital three points in the hunt for the final play-off space. I'm looking forward to reading the reports from those who attended!

Meanwhile Bernard Coll appears to be returning to East Kilbride. He spent five seasons there before moving to Forfar Athletic two years ago, and he's their record appearance holder. Good luck to him, I say!

Is there a bigger game taking place this weekend than Annan Athletic's encounter with Stenhousemuir? I don't think so! Annan are clearly a very decent side and this might be their best group of players since they joined the SFL in 2008 but, for whatever reason, Stenny have proven themselves to be their bogey team for this season, winning both of their previous meetings. On their last visit to Galabank in September, Stenny somehow came away with a 2-1 victory but they were probably the better side last time out mid-November. I'm expecting a good game on Saturday and I'm looking forward to heading down. I think Stephen Swift will reprise the 4-3-1-2 formation from the previous weekend's home win against Elgin City but I don't necessarily think the system worked (or if the right players were picked to suit it). Euan O'Reilly was given a free role behind the forwards but he drifted in and out of the game and he would have been better utilised on the left where he can do most damage. So, with that in mind, I'd like to see us go for an old-fashioned 4-4-2 and just go for it! - Tam Orr - Robert Thomson - - Euan O'Reilly - Nat Wedderburn - Mikey Miller - Mikey Anderson - - Callum Yeats - Nicky Jamieson - Adam Corbett - Ross Lyon - - Peter Urminsky - My preference is to drop Sean Crighton, move Adam Corbett to centre-back and restore Ross Lyon to right-back. Will it happen? Probably not, but still. If we do go for the same set-up as last time, maybe stick Adam Brown as the number 10 instead. The heart says we can win this, and maybe the head does too. Either way, I think it'll be a cracker.

Stenhousemuir took Connor McBride on loan from Celtic midway through the doomed 2019/20. He's one of the most nothing players I've seen at Ochilview in a long time, not bad enough to really stick out but nowhere near good enough to make it as a full-time footballer. He scored one goal, in a 3-1 defeat at Cowdenbeath, and didn't contribute much else. It was some surprise to see him move to Blackburn Rovers, but then it can't hurt of your da's a football agent! I hope he does Queen's Park a decent turn. Striker certainly has been a problem position for a good few months now.

Bernard Coll and Ryan Tierney have both left the club by mutual consent: I thought Coll was a decent left-back and looked absolutely okay whenever he featured but it was clear Stephen Swift didn't really fancy him. When Ross Lyon, a right-back, was fielded ahead of him, his status diminished further and with Callum Yeats signed on Saturday, there was very little chance of him playing again. He was nowhere near as poor a player as Forfar Athletic fans made him out to be but Lyon and Yeats are just better than him. Tierney isn't good enough for the SPFL and looked out of his depth whenever he played. In terms of his quality and overall ability, he's miles behind Tam Orr and Robert Thomson and offered very little. Too small and too slow to make an impact and someone we brought in purely to beef up our numbers.

Callum Yeats had a very good game yesterday. He didn't have much opportunity to get forward but he was excellent defensively and thwarted a lot of Elgin City's attacks down the flanks, and he look calm on the ball and used it well. He's slotted in seamlessly and it's almost as if he'd never been away. I'm delighted our supporters have got the chance to see him play because he was one of the few bright spots in the gruesome 2020/21 campaign. Apparently we're close to bringing in another player (an attacker) while up to four players are likely to move on in the next week.

That was a funny game. There were so many things to like about Stenhousemuir's performance, but there were a number of confusing, head-scratching elements that threatened to undermine all of our good work. We might as well start with the positives. I'm sure many people, myself included, rolled their eyes when they saw Mikey Anderson's name on the team sheet but that was by far and away his best display since he joined the club. He won the ball numerous times, put himself about the pitch ceaselessly and set up Tam Orr's second goal with a lovely pass. Anderson deserved to win the Man of the Match and I hope he can build on this and establish himself in the starting XI every week. He's not the most talented of boys but he's a grafter and that can go a long way at this level. Seems like a nice boy too, so fair play to him. Callum Yeats slotted in seamlessly at left-back and, at the fifth time of asking, we have someone this season who is capable of offering us so much in this position (Ross Lyon did fine here but it always felt like a temporary solution to a problem area). Mikey Miller was superb in the middle of the park and Adam Corbett continues to impress at right-back. Orr's two goals were supremely well taken, the second especially, and it was good to see Robert Thomson making his first appearance in about 10 weeks. You can see he's playing at a level beneath his capabilities and once he's up to speed, I've no doubt he'll be a huge asset for us going forward. Elgin, who came into this match in good form, were a limited bunch and didn't offer much but we did make things unnecessarily difficult for ourselves. I didn't like the formation - a 4-3-1-2, with Euan O'Reilly given a free role behind the strikers - and it didn't suit O'Reilly who didn't have much influence on the game. I don't know why we didn't stick him out on the left up against Euan Spark (and subsequently Angus Mailer, a forward, after Spark's removal through injury) because he could have caused havoc against both of them. Our management team have a tendency to overthink things and this appeared to be one of these occasions. Jordan Tapping needs to take a good look at himself. In a game we were largely in control of, with no needle or aggression, why on earth did he have a dig at Rabin Omar when both players fell to the ground following a corner? It was idiotic - most people in the ground saw what happened - and for him to give it the "who? Me?!" act as he was red carded aggravated the situation. I don't think Tapping is a good player and he always seems to have the capacity to do something stupid in whenever he plays. With Nicky Jamieson set to return from injury, he will be relegated to fourth-choice centre-back and probably won't feature much going forward. Sean Crighton didn't look particularly clever at Elgin City's goal. He seemed to briefly switch off, allowing Kane Hester to run off him and finish from close range. I think we all expected better from Crighton and his calibre of performance is not consummate to his reputation as a "good lower-league defender". I saw some people blaming the goalkeeper for not covering his near post but what do you expect to happen when a striker of Hester's quality shoots from six yards out? Peter Urminsky seems like a good lad, and it was great to see him high-fiving the support as they left the ground, but that was a shaky debut. His handling was poor at times and he seemed to flap at corners. I'm hoping this is the big man shaking off some of his ring rust because people around me in the stand were already joking about signing another goalie. Finally, I don't know why Orr was allowed to take that late penalty. We know he's poor from the spot - remember his miserable effort at Edinburgh City back in August? - so why wasn't Ross Forbes brought on immediately to hit it, instead of letting Orr have it and miss it, and then swap the players? It reminded me a little of the Nicky Jamieson substitution and subsequent change of formation against Cowdenbeath, with a decision made after the fact. That penalty would have put the game beyond doubt and it was a mistake to let Orr have his hat-trick. Thankfully it didn't prove to be costly. Those last few paragraphs might sound overly negative and I don't want them to be, because on the whole I thought we played well and merited the three points, but I think this team are capable of more. I am looking forward to visiting Annan Athletic next week. Let's hope we get another good result!

I love Euan O'Reilly but, if I'm being honest, I don't think he's been as red hot since he signed his new contract! When we went on that five-game winning run between October and November, he was excellent, but, over the course of the season, I'd wager Nicky Jamieson has been our best player.

Yesterday really was a good news day and I'm really excited for this afternoon's match against Elgin City. After reading that Graeme Smith was back in training, I assumed we wouldn't have the capacity to bring in another goalkeeper and we'd plod along with Ryan Marshall until the end of the season; I'm delighted this isn't the case and we've rectified a major problem area. I've got high hopes for Peter Urminsky - St Mirren fans speak well of him on their thread - and would like to think he can bring a degree of security and confidence to our defence that we've missed all season (and even by virtue of "saving shots", he's an enormous step up from Marshall and Davie Wilson). I wonder what this will mean for the pair of them going forward. There might be something worth pursuing with Wilson and I think he would make a useful back-up goalkeeper, so I'd be minded to loan him out somewhere (the Lowland League, perhaps?) to play regularly and regain his confidence before returning. Marshall, meanwhile, is a big dull dud and, all things being well, he'll warm our bench for the remainder of the season before departing in the summer. As for Smith, I imagine he'll leave too when his contract expires but I'd like to see him given a final game at some point towards the end of the campaign - an end-of-season dead rubber or something. Nicky Jamieson has probably been our Player of the Season and I'm thrilled he's signed up for the next 18 months. It took him a couple of games to get up to speed but since about September onwards, he's been such an important presence. He's a big unit, rarely gets pushed around, and reads the game very well. When the ball's up in the air to be won, I rarely think he's going to lose the header. Jamieson will be the bedrock of our defence going forward. Chuck in rumours that Robert Thomson is in line to start today's game and we're going into it with a fair degree of positivity!

Don't worry about that, all things being well, he'll be out undisputed #1 for the next four months.

Stenhousemuir FC have taken big Peter Urminsky on loan for the second half of the season. Goalkeeper has been a massive problem for us this term and I'm looking forward to seeing him in action. What can we expect from him?

A goalkeeper! How wonderful!

This is, as they say in the industry, a "smashing piece of business".

You're going to have to presume not. It's hard enough to justify having three goalkeepers at this level, never mind four, and bringing in someone new was always likely to be wishful thinking, no matter how much supporters clamoured for it. With Robert Thomson back from injury (and, by the sounds of things, available to appear on Saturday), I'd be surprised if we signed anyone else after reading the weekly newsletter.

Someone in the Stenhousemuir FC thread suggested the club were keen on bringing in Mark Lamont. It's probably just tittle-tattle but nevertheless: who is Mark Lamont and will be make the team better?

After two weeks off, Stenhousemuir return to action with an important match against Elgin City on Saturday. The Warriors come into this game in spotty form, having embarrassed themselves against Cowdenbeath last time out, while City will no doubt be buoyed by their excellent victory over Kelty Hearts last night. Chuck into the mix Stenny's rubbish home form (two league wins at Ochilview so far this season) and the fact they've only taken a point from their previous two encounters with Elgin, and this encounter suddenly becomes a concern. My expectations are fairly low. I'm not sure what to expect from Stenhousemuir here. I can't imagine we'll continue with the hopeless three-at-the-back system, and I don't think we'll forget to write our best player's name on the team sheet this time out, but other than that? It's hard to say. Stephen Swift, once again, threatened to change things about after the Cowden loss but what that looks like is anyone's guess. If we return to a back four, Jordan Tapping will probably be the man to miss out (something I don't think anyone will really mind) but, and I've said this many times, I'd drop Sean Crighton, move Adam Corbett into the middle alongside Nicky Jamieson and restore Mikey Miller to full-back. Maybe stick this Spencer Moreland character into midfield alongside big Nat Wedderburn while we're at it, see what he's all about. Further forward, I imagine we'll have Tam Orr leading the line with Euan O'Reilly, Ross Forbes and Darren Christie in behind him. We're all still hopeful we'll have two or three new faces in in time for this match but, for time being, we're working with what's already there. I'm hoping we've put the break to good use and the players and the management come back refreshed, motivated and ready to make a go for the top four. I do worry what a negative result will mean.

I don't know much about him, but I see he was on loan at Broomhill FC earlier in the season, thereby fulfilling Stephen Swift's main criteria for signing players.

I was thinking the same thing, but I read on another thread that more than half the sides in League 1 haven't signed any players in the window. Perhaps most, if not all, of the teams in the third and fourth tier are in the same market for players and we won't really see any movement until later on in the week. It can be frustrating, especially when you see teams around doing business, but I'm positive we'll have a couple of imports with us by Thursday. A new goalkeeper and a forward, please!

I've seen Cammy Binnie in the flesh twice this season and he's been responsible for the concession of three goals. He's capable to making good saves and commanding his area but he's been a shambles against Stenhousemuir this year!