craigiemack

hahaha i'm not complaining. I certainly don't think anyone seen today coming. I seen a photo of the pitch and i'm still unsure how its possible to score 7 goals on that heap of shite. Exactly what we needed though. Clean sheets are great but we weren't exactly capitalizing in the goals scored department - especially considering who we have played. Now in the best position we've ever been in in the LL but it all counts for nothing if we don't beat Bonnyrigg next week.

I actually don't want relegation this year unless its Edinburgh Uni finishing bottom. Would like to go to Vale of Leithen before they inevitably go down.

I take back everything I said earlier. I know Vale are shite but what a result that is

I don't think it's the worst game in the world to get called off. Want it on though to keep momentum going before Bonnyrigg next week.

We have the easiest fixture today out of the too 6 but that doesn't mean Vale won't cause problems. The pitch will be a cowfield I would imagine after all the recent rain and that will make things difficult. BSCs result there a few weeks ago shows that Vale can match anyone on their day and we'll need to put in a professional performance to get the 3 points. Would ideally like to put a few past them to boost the GD but that may be difficult in the conditions. Our KO is 2pm so hopefully we can wrap up the points and watch a few of the big hitters bottle it big time in the 3pm's.

Any indication yet on when the draws will be for the prelim rounds ?

Last night's game was a pretty drab spectacle. The first head to head between teams expected to be in the top 4/5 made it quite a cagey affair with neither team getting anywhere near top gear. EK had the best chance of the game in the opening few mins, Marty Orr making a miraculous goalline clearance when all the EK striker had to do was lift the ball into the open net. The rest of the half was filled with half chances and I never really felt either team were capable of scoring. A few 'professional' fouls from each side make it a bit stop start and Shire lost centre half tapping to a hamstring injury late in the half that didn't help Shires fluidity. Shire were better in the second half but didn't really create any gilt edged chances. EK look susceptible to balls over the top and we had some success with this, Brennan made a few comfortable saves and Dishington dragged a shot wide when he perhaps could have done better. Rather annoyingly Del subbed Andy Shirra on rather than Ronan Kearney when Dean Watson was forced off with injury and we just sat back and contained for the last 10 mins. EK were there for the taking but I think our repeated 1-0 losses in games like this influenced Del into trying to secure the point rather than go for all three. Time will tell if that was the right move. On that showing I can't imagine either team winning the league but both will just be glad that they don't fall a loss behind any of the other big hitters. A lot of teams in this league are now defensively solid and perhaps finding it difficult to break down stodgy defences. I think there will be a lot of dropped points this year and certainly less pumpings than in previous years. Negatives for Shire will be the loss of Tapping and the new striker Dean Watson who were both forced off with injury. With Low and Brown missing we are without our real quality players. The positive to that is we are picking up points without our best players. Ross Connolly still hasn't conceded a goal. I'm sure Dead will have all the facts but it's surely been a long time since we kept 4 clean sheets in a row, never mind to start the season. Vale of Leithen on Saturday should be another victory but the pitch may be in some state with all the recent rain. 13/15 would be a very good start before another big test in Bonnyrigg on the first Saturday in November. Certainly an exciting time to be a shire fan. Long may that continue.

You know me!

Imo tonight is the biggest night in the Shires LL History so I can't wait for Chris Erskine to score an 88th min screamer as we lose 1-0.

I hope that the Albion Rovers game from the April is in there somewhere. I'm sure Scotty Maxwell scored a Van Basten esque goal that day. Don't think I've ever seen it replayed so hopefully it's as good as I remember

I think he is having a wee dig at the number of committee men behind the goal at the Kinneil end. Good spacing between them so don't see what the issue is. Yeah no issue with the distancing haha, just laughing that so many of them have blagged entry with their hi viz jackets on pretending to actually be doing something important.

Can't believe that all you need to be able to watch a Bo'Ness game is a hi viz jacket. Surely it doesn't take 5 folk to 'guard' a 60m wide area that no one can even see in anyway but anything to keep the auld junior committee men happy I suppose.

Michael Bolo. What a player McGregor, Bolo, Townsley and McGowan. The back 4 dreams are made of.

The last time we won our opening 3 games of the season. What a team. So many great days that season, still can't believe we ended up finishing 8th after the start we had, its actually a shame that the players chucked it as soon as we fell out of the playoffs because we certainly were better than our 8th place suggests. A lot of 'what if?' moments that year that could've changed not only the clubs season but the clubs future.

Another big game today and well done to the club for *hopefully* getting a live stream on as long as the 4G in cowboy country holds up. Dalbeattie is traditionally a bogey place for us but we got a resounding win there last season and hopefully that builds confidence going into this. My worry is the travel down there and how that will effect our preparations. 3 hours driving in a car before playing isn't what they are used to but it would be disappointing if that resulted in a poor performance. Any win will do, 3 wins out of 3 for the first time since 2013 would set us up very nicely for East Kilbride next week. Cmon Shire !

Having watched bits of the Bonnyrigg and Civil games I can only imagine the state of the weather at the game tonight so fair play to all the lads for getting the win. Edinburgh Uni will struggle this year I reckon but they've only conceded 6 goals in two games against Shire and Kelty so they seem to have tightened up a bit. Any less than 6 points from our first two games would've been very disappointing, and although the scorelines haven't been convincing its great to see us in the top 3 this early in the season. We have been without Nicky Low which will obviously hinder our attacking strength but 2 clean sheets on the bounce is good going. Ross Connolly still hasn't conceded a goal while playing for us. Another huge game on Saturday away to Dalbeattie ,who will no doubt be another difficult team to break down, but a win there would set us up nicely for the East Kilbride game.

No Low or Brown tonight which isn't great. Rodgers starts ahead of Kearney in our only change to Saturdays team. Was hoping we could maybe put 5 or 6 goals past them tonight and finish the night top of the league but can't see that happening without Low and Brown. We'll probably lose 1-0 now I've said that.

Our first win on the first day of a league season since a Lloyd Kinnaird goal in a 1-0 win v East Fife in 2015 and that is by far and away the most important thing. I think we were comfortably the better team until we scored then we just shut up shop and they had a few reasonable chances towards the end. I had to have emergency eye surgery in March and honestly, after watching that game on Saturday and the 2 Scotland games I wish i'd just gone blind. Eye bleeding stuff for a lot of it . The first half was quite cagey, we didn't really create anything but Jamie Dishington had a great chance to put us 1 up from around 10 yards out but his touch was poor and allowed the defender to make a great block. Civil played 5 at the back and just punted balls down the line for their striker to chase. There were a few heated moments and scuffles breaking out which was good to see, I was scared the games might be a bit half hearted without the fans and the guidelines surrounding the game but both teams went full pelt for it and fair play to both for that. Shire upped the anti in the second half, the Civil keeper made a wonder save from a Reis Peggie shot but apart from that the Shire didn't really create anything purposeful until Rodgers and Brown came on as replacements for Young and Kearney. We had a lot of play down the wings but our final ball was disappointing a lot of the time and despite having about a million corners we didn't really create much from them. The closest was a looped header from Tapping that was cleared of the line then one where their defender directed it goalwards and it was hacked off the line again by a man on the post. Ross Connolly in the shire goals misjudged a corner, he did this a few times, and the Civil centre half couldn't direct it into the empty net. That was a huge let off and Civil were made to pay as Rodgers put a wonderful free kick on the 6 yard line for Brown to slide it under the keeper. Watching it live the ball seemed to take an eternity to go in but after watching it again it was a great finish by Brown and the only moment of real quality in a cagey match. Shire then defended resolutely for the last 5 mins but Connolly had to make a great save to tip a header over the bar and thank god big Faye has two left feet as he failed to connect with two good chances that could've snatched a point for Civil. From a Shire perspective, Connolly is a step up from Barclay. People seem to think Barclay will be a big loss but I really don't think he will. Barclay is a great guy and his loyalty to the Shire was superb but hes been on a bit of a downward curve for a good year and a half now. We conceded over a goal a game last year and you can't do if you want to even attempt to challenge at the top. He obviously wasn't to blame for all the goals but we conceded a lot of soft goals and I don't think he filled the back 4 with confidence. Connolly commanded his area well and showed good hands throughout the game. His rash decisions to come for corners can be forgotten after his great save at the end. He has still not conceded a goal for us and the defence looked a lot more stable than it has been in recent years. McColm and Tapping strolled the game, Tapping is perhaps the best central defender in the league - as long as the ball isn't at his feet haha. They mopped up everything at the back and looked a good partnership. Malone is our vice captain though so I wonder if McColm may make way for him at some point. Orr was his usual reliable self and I really enjoyed watching Wylde at Left back. He could develop a really solid relationship with Henderson and we could be a powerful unit down the left wing if things click between those two. Dish was a bit disappointing but only because of the high standards he set himself last year. He plays on confidence so he just needs a bit of luck then i'm sure everything will fall into place for him. Henderson on the other wing was decent but I felt like he isolated himself a bit too much. He needs to hold the ball up for Wylde to overlap and create one on ones for himself but he showed glimpses of quality and that was good. Peggie and Gibbons controlled the midfield but maybe lacked he creativity that Low adds. I wonder if we'll stick with 4-4-2 tomorrow or change to a 4-5-1 to accommodate Low as I feel it would be harsh to drop either of them after Saturday. Young and Kearney up top were ineffectual but they were feeding of scraps and were always surrounded and man marked by numerous Civil defenders. Brown is just a class above most players in this league and once he gets up to full fitness i'm sure he'll be starting. Rodgers had a great game too, he wont be able to play 90 mins but as an impact sub he still has an important part to play in the squad. Overall a 6/10 performance but 3 points is the important thing. Civil are always a difficult team to play against. I thought they were declining but after that performance I think they'll be top half this year. BSC and Kelty will not enjoy playing them in the coming days. For Shire we need to back up that performance by defeating Edinburgh Uni and Dalbeattie on Saturday, a game I think will be very difficult. 3 wins from 3 is what we need but hopefully we can get a couple confidence boosting victories before taking on EK on the 28th. I don't think goal difference will be as big a factor this year due to the increased quality in the league but it would be good to put a few past Edinburgh Uni tomorrow.

Haha, good luck to you too. We are indeed, hopefully fans are somehow allowed back by then but I highly doubt it. A Shire-BU game on boxing Day and new year's would attract a big crowd

You have a spicy curry tonight Brian? Musta been a wee bit nippy if its going to take the weekend to clear through

Do we have a definitive list of what teams will and won't be streaming games this season? Berwick, Bo'Ness, Bonnyrigg, BSC, Caley Braves, Shire, Kelty all confirmed as yes. Cumbernauld, said they planned to stream their freindly tournament so hopefully that means they will stream games. Gala aren't streaming Saturdays game v Bonnyrigg so don't think they will do any. Gretna chairman made a statement saying hopefully the fans will be back soon to watch so doesn't seem like anything from them. Nothing from Civil, Dalbeattie, EK, The Unis, Spartans or Vale? Would be very disappointing if The Unis don't stream considering the resources they have and the ease it could be done. In all honesty though, its a shambles that teams aren't live streaming. Even a radio commentary would be better than nothing. They've had 7 months to prepare and set something up. The same teams will have the cheek to say that they are the 'centre of their communities' etc, this is a chance to show people that they are rather than leaving them to refresh twitter every few minutes on a Saturday afternoon.

I watched most of the shire home games on a stream last year and it was good quality. As long as your WiFi is good there shouldn't be a problem. A lot of the SPL teams have had problems but LL teams will have a fraction of the viewers of these teams so there shouldn't be connectivity problems. 5 years ago a lot of teams would have struggled to produce streams and would have been unable to afford high end cameras that would give good picture quality, it would have been awful then but i'm confident that all clubs streams this year will be good quality. And it is much better than not being able to watch the football at all.

It is shite that we can't get to games but we need to be thankful that we live in a world where live streaming is an option so at least we'll still be able to watch the games in some capacity. If something like this had happened even 5 years ago it may have been a different story.

The live streams last year were good quality, although at times a bit laggy. However, the chance to see games live outweighed any minor technical issues. The fact that they have been 'working on a suitable streaming serivce' sounds good. I would love them to have the ability to show replays and even another camera angle or two. The home game against Edinburgh Uni had a camera set up behind one of the goals and it just gives you a different perspective on everything.

Cheers Jerry, feel like I'm being harsh on BSC with 5th. I could genuinely make a case for any of the top 5 winning the league. I think Kelty will win it comfortably but there are so many mitigating factors that could derail any teams season. BSC have some big boots to fill with Marshall, Orr and Collins leaving and it's a lot of pressure on the young guys that have replaced them. Andy Geggan might be the key to a good season as his experience will be crucial. What a signing that was.