Raith Against The Machine

Ethan Ross is hurt. Had to be Poplatnik on, you'd imagine.

Credit where it's due, that was a proper bit of target man work. Maybe only the second time he's had the better of Debayo all afternoon but he's done really well with that one.

Do you want to just get a season ticket for the away end at East End Park? You are consistently more invested in their games than ours.

I remain entirely unconvinced by Ethon Varian as a lone striker.

Well this is going well...

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

With all due respect to Blaise Riley-Snow, I'd rather go out to left back myself. His skillset (both good and bad) seems uniquely unsuited to playing at full back. My personal preference would be to go to a back three with whichever one of Benedictus and Musonda is better prepared, and ask one of the wingers to play left wing-back. Although he did that - to an extent - with Armstrong last season, McGlynn tends to be more cautious when he needs to find an auxiliary fullback, hence the long-running Dave McKay at right back saga. Right now I'd put my money on Dick starting, with Musonda as the first reserve should he not make it.

Did you do a spot of painting while you were there? I think they've been waiting on you coming back.

Pre or post-decimalisation currency?

Whoever he is, he's clearly thick as fuck.

"My CV blows everyone else's out the water. Does yours?" "My CV says I'm currently employed."

YouCut_20211031_141009714.mp4

Both teams have scored in our last eight games, so there's plenty of evidence to say that we can be got at. If Queens want to give us the "respect" they showed Killie yesterday, it'd be very much appreciated, but I suspect we won't get quite the same amount of standoffishness. Ross Matthews will come right back into the midfield for us, but unfortunately it looks like he'll have to replace Brad Spencer rather than going back in alongside him. I do think Matthews/Tait is a better balance than Spencer/Tait, but losing Spencer's metronimic influence in the midfield is a big factor. Tait has been blowing very hot (multiple assists, great running) and very cold (wayward passing, odd positioning) recently. Maybe having Matthews back will mean he can get more of the former and less of the latter. And I know he got his goal from a central position yesterday, but I'd be inclined to swap Ethan Ross and Aidan Connolly, if not permanently then at least on a more fluid basis during the game. Ross' impact is blunted when he can't isolate his man, and I think Connolly is well suited to playing those short, intricate linking passes that we need from that number 10 role.

Assuming no further set backs, I suspect he's just moved above BRS in the defensive midfield pecking order. McGlynn didn't sound too confident about having Spencer available next week, so I imagine it'll be Matthews alongside Tait in the base of midfield and we'll see Musonda off the bench at some point. Has he ever played in midfield for us before? I can't think that he has. He was so comfortable with the ball in defence, though, that I'm sure he'll be able to step forward. I'm really excited to have him back.

It is starting to have a bit of a reverse-Leicester feel. You know, that season they won the league, every week it felt like "next week, that'll be when it all comes crumbling down" and it just... didn't. Every week you look at that Dunfermline squad and you think "they can't be that bad forever, they'll win one soon enough and that'll turn the corner" but 12 games is a long time. Both in terms of just not getting a result, but also for a malaise to set in. There's a big difference between saving a sinking ship that's letting in a little water through an open porthole, and one that was torpedoed underneath the waterline 20 minutes ago. Even if Dunfermline bin Peter Grant tomorrow (which you'd have to assume they will, his position is surely beyond untenable now), a very good manager would have a job on his hands to get that squad turned around and firing. And that's before you entertain the possibility that they get the appointment wrong again and being in a manager who's not up to scratch, like the Rovers did when they binned Locke for Hughes. That said, I don't think it's too late. I absolutely think the Pars will put more points on the board in the latter two thirds of the season, and I sincerely don't think they'll be relegated. But then, I didn't think Leicester City would win the Premier League...

Don't mind KP. He's nuts.

I'm sure there's at least a couple of threads on the go for talking about Dunfermline.

Well, there's a lot to be said for grinding out a result, and that collapse doesn't happen if we've got either Matthews or Spencer on the park, but we should've been out of sight with how poor Ayr were in the first half. Credit to the back four and the defence. When everyone else lost their heads, they more-or-less managed to keep theirs, Berra and Lang in particular. They were imperious. Lang a standout man of the match, for me.

We've been backs to the wall since the goal. Maybe an inch this side of outright panic stations. I can't remember Tait having a game as bad as this, and the second half has totally passed BRS by. Given his only real job is to disrupt the opposition, that's really not a great thing. And now it looks like Dick is really struggling, after injuring himself kicking someone in the face. So very Raith Rovers, darling.

The last one was hilarious. Dick ran straight into the back of Adeloyi, who had no idea what was going on, and got the freekick for it. Perplexing, but I'll take it.

Dylan, if you're going to get booked, at least actually stop the counter attack. Deary me.

That's been coming since half time. Eight games without a clean sheet, now. We were so, so in control in the first half and it's all evaporated with Spencer going off.

As far as the base of midfields go, Tait and BRS is not on the more solid end of the scale. A real slackness has crept in and we're giving far too much away.