O'Kelly Isley III

Quite right Pete, but in case you are going to Nairn then you could easily make a game at Balmoor.

I agree that they were always there, but never in such numbers and across such a range of social classes. It's a moot point if the media is further inflaming their atavistic fears and prejudices or whether it is merely reflecting them - either way it's very disturbing. And after Brexit I think all bets are off on just WHO may be electable, the continental European drift towards the far right could conceivably take root in swathes of England. There's a lot of suggestible people about.

I'm less worried about what becomes of the Tories than the fact that there are so many people in the UK, but mostly in England, who are now openly responding to the deeply racist dog whistle from the likes of Anderson, Truss, Braverman and Tice. The last two weeks has been like lifting a stone and seeing the insects crawl around.

A good post. I think the sense of relief at once again winning a league game is masking another trademark patchy performance. A more incisive team than Stranraer would maybe have made much more of their second half possession, and it's a worry that we could be heading into playoffs incapable of maintaining a performance level for ninety minutes. But it is what it is, and it's not likely to change.

That was a disgraceful performance from Oliver Dowden on the Kuenssberg Show this morning. And it's disturbing that Hoyle's utterly fabricated excuse for his actions last week are now being regarded as some sort of factual narrative. The truth is that he was floundering for something to remove himself from the hook he had impaled himself on.

A pretty good summation George. And I fear that next season will see more Camp 2 players than Camp 1. I'll be very surprised if Finlay Gray hangs around and Michael Ruth must be fed up playing in a different postcode from his team-mates. And we need to remember that Cian Newbury is a loanee. Other than a very few people I don't there can be many Sons supporters who would think that Stevie Farrell hasn't now had a decent time period as team manager, in what is admittedly a difficult job. He's contracted for next season but I'm struggling to see any reason to believe that things will be any better, quite the opposite in fact. There's nothing personal in this, just an obvious realisation that the team and indeed the club is stagnating badly. If the former situation can be improved then the latter can begin to improve. Yesterday was a welcome win but there is a much bigger picture and the Board of Directors now need to show courage.

Unlike the recent Spartans game this was a much more open affair and a better watch. The win was welcome in stopping the rot but I don't think we learned too much, other than whatever team we have on the park we'll cease being an attacking force for a sizeable segment of the match. Whilst there were some decent cameos - Orsi until he tired, the hardworking Ruth, Tony Wallace, Sean Crighton and Jay Hogarth - the feeling was one of a team limping into the playoffs rather than striding. Hopefully if Callum Wilson and Mark Durnan DO return in the next couple of weeks they will make a difference, but the issue of having only one recognised striker will remain, and especially if Ruth was to get injured. With the exception of the wee lively guy up front Stranraer looked pretty ordinary, but based on their second half effort had they taken a point I don't think anyone could have complained too much.

Wow, just wow ! The Bully Wee take a felt pen to the Mona Lisa, and then some - what a result that is !

What you haven't realised Jan is that we have pioneered the concept of the football team as pacemaker. It's like the 10,000 metres - we perform for 15 games then quietly slip out of the race to let the Binos, Stenny and whoever fight it out. It's pretty impressive how we can almost precisely repeat it.

I see from tomorrow's match preview that Callum Wilson will return to the squad for next Saturday's game and Mark Durnan the week after. That sounds to me a bit like wishful thinking, and it will be asking a lot of both players, but I wish them both well.

He's been decent but is he promotion-winning decent ? It already looks to me that at best it will be more of the same, with most of those signed-up unlikely to get a gig with another league club and therefore happy to stay.

Yes, I thought ourselves and Broomhill was enough but if the Sealed Knot Society are paying us money for battle re-enactments then why not ?

Thanks Jan, so marginally over 10% of his total, there can't be many ex-players with over 50 appearances anywhere with that sort of record - it just seemed an odd one.

This is one for @microdave or @Jan Vojáček. I'm wondering if Ryan Wallace may have created some sort of record - did he ever play a full ninety minutes for us ?

It IS time to draw a line and move on but not before I say this. The Trust is a supporters representative body and as such we have a duty to respond to any behaviour, verbal or otherwise, which may be offensive to anyone, be that players, club or match officials or fellow supporters. No-one wants to be having to take people aside or banning people but it's a two-way bargain. The statement was by way of a reminder to everyone that there does exist a line as to what is and what isn't acceptable, and we don't apologise for that.

Funnily enough, the Trust has been previously approached on several occasions with comments/complaints on the behaviour of fellow fans, so obviously some people think the Trust has a relevance here. None of these previous instances resulted in any form of Trust statement, but such was the content of what was reported to us about Saturday's incident that it was felt necessary on this occasion. If that is 'wading in', then guilty as charged.

Ha ha, the Special Relationship. It's akin to the one a dog has with a lamp-post.

Well, I didn't see that one coming, or should that be going ? If RW had determined that he would retire at the end of this season then fair enough, but to decide to go at the end of February suggests to me that he really didn't fancy hanging around any longer. He leaves with our best wishes, but also the best football brain we had in the squad. Onwards and downwards.

I don't think anyone who has been watching us since December could disagree with that. And the worse the run goes, the more ragged it gets - even the better performers like Carlo, Ryan W, Finlay and Mikey Ruth are struggling, and the departure of Matty Shiels has been much more significant than most of us anticipated. As of this morning, there are now three teams seven points behind us with another a further point behind. We are still to play all of them and within that group are East Fife and Elgin, both of whom are now a very different proposition indeed. It is far from certain that we will finish in fourth place and I would hope that whoever is in charge of football at Dumbarton is now actively considering all scenarios, including that one. The only certainty is that Stranraer will visit the Rock on Saturday with little fear.

The club is skint and the Rangers money is probably long gone. We have a Manager and I presume a backroom team contracted to the end of next season. To break that contract and hire a new management team would cost money. Money the club doesn't have. I assume the banker of last resort is the club ownership, which would effectively make them the decision makers. I might be wrong but I don't imagine they would view the manager's situation as any sort of pressing decision, despite their recent claim to be Dumbarton supporters. All of which leaves genuine Sons supporters to make their own decisions, the evidence of which we will see over the coming weeks and months - possibly good news for fencing suppliers. And these decisions will perhaps also continue into next season, as I very much doubt that the 'good recruitment' of the last two seasons will be repeated - possibly bad news for season ticket suppliers.

It's a horrible prospect the lot of it, but conventional politics as we knew it cannot coexist with a society built around capitalist greed, jingoistic militarism and institutionalised corruption. I'm more drawn to the 'none of the above' spoilt ballot paper; if a sizeable number of people registered that it would at least be an action as opposed to the inaction of sitting on your arse and not voting, which can be easily dismissed.

If we go up this season I think I'll treat everyone on here to a weekend at this place..... https://www.aquaessence.ca/

Er, just to point out that we are currently parked on the League Two hard shoulder with the hazard lights on. And naebody's got a phone......

Yesterday was as bad as anything served up under Jim Duffy. I kept getting flashbacks of Conor Scullion and Ruaridh Langan.

That was a new low today, and I don't mean defeat by a team at the bottom of the division. For possibly the first time in a long while I was watching players who looked completely devoid of confidence, belief, spirit, call it what you will, with some of them really struggling with the basics. One thing is for sure. If anyone thinks we can now be guaranteed fourth spot and a Play-Off place then they might be in for a shock, because I'm really struggling to identify a League Two team we could be confident of beating right now. We could well be having the stats for the second-half of the season that Clyde had for the first half. Yes, that bad. The Board may try to ride things out, and hope that everything just turns out OK - that appears to be their position on most things. That won't cut it though the longer this slump goes on, and especially if it continues into next season. Everyone else can see it, but can they ?