grinderbrokeyourhearts

Sad that Bo’ness a en Albion Rovers are letting the side down here as they’ll have one if the bigger gates. What’s going on there?

I think what we’d have got from Stowe was more goals against the top sides. Paterson and Rae are good players but not as good as Stowe. If you take out Gretna, Edinburgh and Gala heavy wins, ultimately teams that are probably EOS level (granted Gala get some great results). Both have scored 3 league goals each. Sneddon and McMullan match that. Stowe for me much more direct and would have had more goals.

Lowland League First 11 Player Binnie Skinner Thomson Ogilvie McMullan Allan Paterson Rae Too early to tell Maguire Devine Simpson Good Squad Option Thom (age) McDowell Sneddon (age) Allison For me the rest are very good East Prem players that would get into most teams at the level. So I’m not saying they are bad players but this is a level up and you can see that from our win stats. Wins mostly against the bottom 6, decent against middle six and slim pickings for points against the top six. I think our strikers have scored 3 between them against the top 6.

Yes but the cup performance has been unacceptable.

We have a squad of 18 (exc loans) and 4 out on loan. Id expect this to be trimmed further. Lowland league has been a tough step up. I make about 11 of our squad are Lowland League standard, with 4 too early to tell. The rest good EOS Prem players but short of what’s needed at this level and that reflects our position. I wouldn’t expect any of the four out on loan to make the grade either.

They are in a slightly false position in that if they win their game in hand they are level with us and if they win their games in hand on you they’d only be 3 points shy of 4th. Very few teams go on such a run but shows how tight it all is!

Sounds like you got out of jail a bit but in all seriousness I hope you go up. Best side in the league and financially too strong for the rest of us. Can see you settling near Kelty if you keep your backers.

Well beat last night. The changes made a wee difference but we never threatened. Exposed a bit physically no with two midfielders at full back as well. Just need to knuckle down and keep going with the squad really bare bones now. Im fairness to McKenzie, he must be wondering when he’s going to get a game in the goals. Plays a different position every week to cover injuries. Big amount of squad strengthening required this summer if we want to be above mid table. Thought both Rovers strikers were excellent and the difference, would take them both right now!

Can’t blame the board for this one. Blame the clubs who sold their soul. 3 more years of this then they can get lost. Teams that don’t need to win don’t belong in a league.

Was great to see us back in action against each other. Must be years since I was down Newtown for a game. Yes it was sticky and not much quality but I do think that was more to do with not wanting to go gung ho with a “second leg” on Saturday. Reckon it’ll be a lot more open on Saturday. Good point for us considering we still have Thom, Ogilvie and Heaver out. Big players for us so we are getting good results without them. Looking forward to Saturday!

There’s no way that’s passing a majority vote. I think there would be 3 votes for (Rose, Bo’ness and Tranent) and the rest against. I’d love to see the ex league clubs vote for it but they have previous when in the leagues for voting against that. Its going to be a waiting game for a few years until more come up. Best chance would be 2 down but I can’t see it. I almost understand why some of the original LL clubs would vote against it as it’s only a matter of time before they are replaced by mainly the larger West clubs. Thereafter anyone could go down. Look forward to that in a decade.

Away and crawl back under your board. An absolute diddy club after that vote last night. You should all be in hiding for the next 3 years.

Been a stitch up by the LL board on point 1. Knowing this might be the last chance to get it through. Genuinely thinking about boycotting the Yes clubs. However don’t want to devoid our players of support.

Sadly this and the relegation increase will be voted down for at least 2 more seasons. This is close the tipping point though - essentially the more promotions the more good guy votes. It’s a shame Kelty and Bonnyrigg are up as they’d have tipped the balance. Hopefully EK go up but I’d suspect Clyde might fancy a potential Celtic bump. If Forfar or EF come down I’d expect them to vote the B teams out. The real vote turner will be when Gretna and Edinburgh Uni become relegated. Replaced by teams that will vote against B teams and for increased relegation. I think all ex juniors would vote for 2 down, as they know the West and East Premier are good leagues with plenty about them. Im not sure the Shire etc would given how close they are to going down but you never know.

That’s why actually the most important vote isn’t B teams. It’s getting relegations sorted. At least 2 down, I’d say 3.

£4K. Surely everyone can see that a home tie vs Clydebank, Pollok, Talbot, Musselburgh and the likes will generate that no bother. And of course turn us into a proper league again. Teams that can fundamentally change their starting 11 as the win doesn’t matter don’t belong in a league set up. It’s that simple.

Heaver and Ogilvie are hammys I think.

And at Penicuik. He was tremendous that whole season for me.

If the rumours above are true its going to be an interesting first 11. That said there’s quality in there, just need to dust ourselves down and build for next season now.

You are missing the point. Bo’ness are in a false position. We signed our current top goalscorer from them and their other one is at Kelty. Like most of the pyramid it’s not equalised yet and I don’t see there being many places between us when it settles. They are a top half Prem team, so can bite teams like us if we aren’t at our best. Top half Prem are just as good as most of the LL including us.

Bo’ness will canter up to the EOS Prem and will challenge imo if they keep their players. Direct, intense and in your face. Disappointing result but given the team we had out and their false position it’s not a surprising defeat. Whats disappointing is our defenders not tracking runners and jogging back, all evident on all 5 goals in the video.

Feared the worst tonight but didn’t expect us to try go toe to toe. Athletic we’re excellent and learnt their lesson from last time. Blew us away then sat back and didn’t let us play. We didn’t learn our lesson and got blown away. Going to be a long season now we know Allison, Skinner, Ogilvie and Heaver are out long term. Thom looked like he also got injured tonight too so we are bare bones now with little sign of cover coming back. Fair play Athletic though, deserve the plaudits.

From the highlights we had a couple of great chances at 1-0 then the red card killed our chances. Struggling with injuries just now but it’ll come good. None of this small fish nonsense. We’ve got the largest Fanbase in this league by a distance and once we get used to it we’ll challenge! hail the gallant

Ties like this is what it’s all about!

I think the word is hard! We miss Stowe, I think he’d have scored a barrow load so far as he’s relentless and unreal especially at the start of the season. We were a lot more direct with him which forced teams into the back foot and I think we’d have a good few point more if he was still here. We haven’t had Gary Thom and Liam Alison fit at CB. That’s affecting our midfield with Skinner and Allan covering at the back (and imo where the red cards have come from). Our full backs haven’t been fully fit and they are massive threats when they are. Like fuzz says I’d like to see us have this 11 on the park as we’d do well but we haven’t managed to get them all fit. Binnie, McMullan, Skinner and Paterson I think are the only ones below who have been available most of the season. Binnie McPherson Thom Alison Thomson McMullan Skinner Ogilvie Paterson Sneddon Heaver In the EOS there were enough games we’d win with any team from the squad so we could rest players. Can’t do that at this level as every game is a test. I think if we are honest we have some players who would walk into any team in the EOS but have this season to prove they can improve enough to warrant a new contract at LL level. I think we’ll go through a bit of a transition in the summer but have the squad to finish top 6. Maybe higher if we get everyone back fit and drop out the cups (I can’t see us being able to fight on all fronts).