Raith Against The Machine

Is there a possibility that McPake heard John Potter over his walkie talkie?

I found that curious/funny more than anything. By the letter of the law, the ref (who'd clearly seen both balls) should've stopped play, but he was letting it go in the interests of letting the game flow. It's not like the second ball was getting in the way. I think that's the kind of refereeing you like to see, a little bit of common sense even if it's not technically in line with the rules. When Jakubiak pings the ball, though, there's nothing the ref can do at that point. Other than, I imagine, thinking "for f**k sake, Alex!". He could hardly book Jakubiak for it, given it was a situation of his own making. A clever (and very accurate!) intervention from the Pars player, I thought.

"I'd be disappointed in my staff if that's the way they behaved." No hugging for James McPake, it seems. Didn't strike me as a puritan, but here we are.

Whit a laugh, min. First half we were terrible. Mostly because we played right into McPake's hands, sending two wee forwards to be easily marshalled by his back three, and we had a some-kind-of-right-footed-midfielder on the left wing and a woefully out of sorts Josh Mullin on the right. Neither looked remotely like getting into the space left behind the wing backs, giving Comrie and Edwards the licence to get forward without really having to worry about getting back. As a result, we were continually outnumbered in almost every area of the park, both with and without the ball. I said it earlier, but it really had the character of a game where one side is down to ten men. The Rovers were working hard, but there was always an extra Pars man on hand. Second half, each and every substitution titled the game back in our favour by a small amount. Our two changes made us stronger, in terms of occupying Dunfermline's wing backs if nothing else, and I'm not sure McPake could say the same about any of his subs. He might've made four to our two (not including Masson's thirty second cameo) but Hamilton was always going to be a downgrade in defence compared to Benedictus, and you could sellotape Wighton, Chalmers and O'Halloran together and I wouldn't give you half an Aidan Connolly or Dylan Easton for them. I still don't think the Rovers overall play approached anything you'd call 'good', but when you have such an upper hand across so much of the game without making it count, football has a habit of biting you, and so it proved today. I'd be lying if I said I could remember much about the goal itself, but it's testament to the side that Murray has built that it's not the first last minute winner we've managed this season. There's a belief running through the side that we haven't had for a good few years.

Ian Murray and Dave McKay were both definitely booked, I didn't see him book McPake.

Drawing match graphics live is a terrible strain on the animator's wrist.

Hqhahahah sniff thaaaaat

It's a consequence of how both sides have lined up, but we look like we're playing with ten men. Even when we do something good, the ball will break into space and there's invariably a red jersey there.

We scored less than a minute after half time at Kilmarnock.

No idea what the plan was from the start there. You know the Pars are going to play a back three, and we don't have our natural striker, so surely you try to dominate the midfield and leave them with an extra man in defence with nobody to mark. Instead we've gone for possibly the most orthodox front two set up we've seen Murray use, and they've had nothing (as you'd expect) off the defence. With McGill on one side, you're really relying on Josh Mullin to do a huge amount of creating on the other wing, but he's not got anywhere near enough pace to beat Josh Edwards, and there isn't enough space out there for him to dictate things from deeper. I'd have him off for Connolly now. Scott Brown, as you'd expect, has had a tough time with the movement from McCann and particularly Jakubiak, but he's coped about as well as you could hope. The Pars have largely been reduced to set pieces for their main chances, but they've definitely had a much more enjoyable half than we have. If he's at all fit, I wouldn't leave it too long before putting Easton on for McGill. We need to pose more of a threat or Dunfermline are going to be able to keep this pressure up and we'll crack eventually. They've been given far too much of the game on their own terms up til this point.

We've started this like we've been woken up by a fire alarm. Not a hint of composure from anyone in blue so far.

If you'll indulge me in some w**k tactic chat, would you call that a 4-4-2 diamond? Quite lop-sided with McGill on the left and Mullin as a proper winger on the right, but that's how it looks to me.

Aye, I'd be happier with Mitchell on that bench, just as a proper striker with fresh legs as an option.

Aye, but it's just @Raithie now.

Matty Todd invented putting your fingers in your ears.

Aye, a live version. Although in these parts we call them the Red Scott McGilli Peppers.

2-0 Rovers. Aidan Connolly hat-trick.

Zero points each, please. Absolutely miserable.

For f**k sake, Veldman. Drop your defence 30 yards for a few weeks to at least give them some confidence back. Jesus Christ.

Aye you'd have to think the pitch is going to be unplayable by lunchtime tomorrow and it's not going to have any time to recover by Saturday. The rain looks pretty relentless.

Moving it away from the Saturday will allow the club to sell it for PPV, if nothing else.

I really wasn't impressed by Dundee United. They really lacked an identity or a singularity of purpose that you'd expect from a team heavily favoured to win the league. They almost certainly will win the league, but Goodwin's tactical and strategic approach doesn't look to go much beyond "You're better players than most others in this division, go out and play football for 90 minutes". As I say, it probably will come off over the course of the season, Moult on his own is a cut above anyone else and he'll win plenty points on his own, but it can't be much fun to watch. Fotheringham and Glass looked like lost wee boys in the first half, coughing up possession again and again. I lost count of the number of times someone in United's midfield was too slow and found themselves being snapped into by Shaun Byrne or Sam Stanton. It's a reference point I go to a lot, but it felt like watching Barry Smith's League One Rovers side. There never seemed to be any sort of cohesion or attempt to mould a unit that could be better than the sum of its parts. Just an acknowledgement that you've got better players than the opposition and that over a 36 game season you'll win more games than you don't on that basis alone.

I'm not one to go on about referees, but this is absolutely ridiculous. For both sides. Callum Smith just kicked Declan Glass above the knee and nothing was given. He's lost the plot. Some of the decisions he's given, and then watched others go by seconds later, are insane.

You know, I was only about three days away from entirely forgetting Connor McBride's existence.

I've been to one football match in Northern Ireland. It was Cliftonville v Crusaders, at Solitude. Sorry for pre-emptively stealing your dream! It was a great wee ground though. Crusaders won the league that day, which put a dampener on the home crowd somewhat, but I had a great time. Like all great football grounds, it's just in the backend of an otherwise unremarkable scheme.