DoonhamerDon

Clyde 1 Dunfermline Athletic 3 FC Edinburgh 2 Peterhead 0 Falkirk 3 Alloa Athletic 1 Kelty Hearts 1 Queen of the South 1 Montrose 0 Airdrieonians 0

Since the football was over so depressingly quickly this afternoon I had a proper look at our home form relative to others and it is not only longer-running than I appreciated but actually "worst in the country" levels of terrible Since the start of 2019/20 we've managed 47 points at home in the league from 48 games. 2019/20 - 14 pts from 14 games 2020/21 - 15 pts from 13 games 2021/22 - 17 pts from 18 games 2022/23 - 1pt from 3 games AFAICS no other team (still) in SPFL has fewer points over that period at home. Only Hamilton have less points per game but played more during Covid when in the Prem. Kelty actually have more points in 21 home games since joining the league than our 48 game effort.

Since beating Dunfermline 1-0 at Palmerston in early October last year (under Peter Grant so does it really count?) we've managed 3 home league wins from the next 16 and it seems a new manager, squad and lower division hasn't helped much so far. The home form has to change at some point but I can't see it being Saturday. 2-1 away win.

Airdrieonians 2 - 0 FC Edinburgh Clyde 1 - 1 Alloa Kelty Hearts 1 - 3 Falkirk Peterhead 0 - 2 Montrose QOS 1 - 2 Dunfermline

A few weeks short of the ten year anniversary https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/19629218

Alloa 2-0 Peterhead Dunfermline 2-2 Airdrieonians FC Edinburgh 1-2 Clyde Falkirk 1-1 QOS Montrose 1-0 Kelty Hearts

Appears we don't win much in Falkirk but when we do it's a doing. 3 wins since 2005; 0-3, 1-4 and 0-3. The two most recent featuring Dobbie hat tricks.

Well that is three of the first four results I would have probably taken back in June. Still just the Clyde disaster outstanding, but a win next week would likely offset that and leave us with an acceptable 8pts from the first 5. Decent chance to catch up the table a bit too with playing Falkirk and the four other teams above us all against each other. Still such a long way to go but an enjoyable victory today.

Excellent win Glass half full and heading in the right direction. Hopefully gets some confidence back into the squad.

Airdrie 1 Alloa 0 FC Edinburgh 0 Falkirk 2 Kelty 0 Dunfermline 2 Montrose 1 Clyde 0 Peterhead 1 QOS 2

This game is far too close to being a must win for us than it should be at this early stage of the season. As I said a few weeks ago we need to show that Clyde at home was an aberration. Glass Half Full A flat back four, with more players back up to full fitness and 90 minutes like the second half last week will lead to a solid win this weekend. After decent draws with Mo and Airdrie that gets us heading in the right direction (if not necessarily fully on track) Glass Half Empty Fail to win and it piles more pressure on getting results from Falkirk (A), Dunfermline (H) the next two after this and leaves us heading to Kelty mid-September still winless and probably bottom of the league!

Alloa Athletic 2-0 FC Edinburgh Clyde 2-1 Kelty Hearts Dunfermline Athletic 2-0 Montrose Falkirk 3-0 Peterhead Queen of the South 1-2 Airdrieonians Four home wins and then the standard away victory at Palmerston!

I feel like a 0-0 draw in Montrose in isolation isn't a bad result. Montrose have been in playoffs for the last four years and that is where we should be aiming. The problem of course is it's on the back of a truly shocking opening day defeat and 1 point from 6 doesn't sound great and already puts huge pressure on next week where it could easily turn to 1 in 9. The challenge for Gibson and the players is showing over the next month or two that the Clyde game was a total aberration. Today was a very small step in the right direction imo.

Airdrieonians 1 Falkirk 1 Alloa Athletic 1 Kelty Hearts 1 Clyde 2 Peterhead 0 FC Edinburgh 0 Dunfermline Athletic 1 Montrose 1 Queen of the South 1

I see we've entered a team into the returning SPFL reserve league http://www.qosfc.com/news-5823 Could have been a decent avenue to stop that B team Lowland league nonsense but as usual it's too little too late. 10 team league playing each other once Hardly seems worth the effort?

Total guess Dunfermline 3-1 Alloa Falkirk 3-0 Montrose Kelty 2-1 Edinburgh Peterhead 0-2 Airdrieonians QOTS 3-1 Clyde

A 3 or 4-0 home win to push the optimism towards "HMS Piss the League" OR a 0-0 draw/away win to smack us back to an Annan-esque response of negativity. Thats the only two ways this is going to go.

1. Falkirk 2. Dunfermline 3. QOS 4. Airdrie 5. Alloa 6. Kelty 7. Montrose 8. Clyde 9. FC Edinburgh 10. Peterhead Whilst acknowledging the potential for this being the tightest league in SPFL I can also see the above ending up in a set of mini leagues of 1-3 going for the title, 4-7 going for the last play off place and 8-10 avoiding relegation.

Really did not see us getting through with 8 points but hopefully Aberdeen can do the business (as said they definitely will be going for a win to be seeded). Looking at the group as a whole only defeat was to group winners (ignoring it's Annan but actually well chuffed for them) and then comfortable win away to Champ side, draw with Prem side and won on pens and could easily have won in 90, then a very professional win at Elgin. All very positive. Definitely got back the optimism and confidence that was here a few weeks ago so assuming it will be dashed again by a horrible 0-0 with Clyde next weekend.

I think Annan just need a point tonight to win the group? Even if they lose on penalties. Fair play if they get it, an excellent group stage performance I've been encouraged by our last two outings since the opening game but we've no chance finishing second with only 8 points looking at the other groups. Failing to hold on to the win at the weekend seemed to confirm that. Fingers crossed for the three-way tie on eight points though

Very quiet in here but probably reflective of the interest in these early group stage games - matches do start this weekend though - two derbies in four days for us I'm very much seeing them as a build up for the real start when the league kicks off but that being said very glad to have competitive Saturday afternoon football back. Hoping for a solid win Saturday vs Annan and then next Tuesday should be a reasonable test of where we are away to a lower end Championship side. Overall the group isn't too bad. Imagine if we did sneak second it wouldn't get us through though.

Djokovic wins last 5 games to take first set 6-3 - should be easy going from there - thought he might be slow after not playing any warm up. He lost the first set of the tournament last year to Draper. Last year's semi-finalist Hurkacz has just gone two sets down to Davidovich Fokina

We're definitely building from the back! Another decent recruit on paper. I wonder if Wullie wants to make sure we are well covered so he isn't needed for every minute of every game like last year. Sure he'll be around as a player if required though but perhaps keen to focus more on the manager side this year.

Don't worry I've marked in the 9 game winning run we're going on starting mid-September

Clyde at home first game is crucial I think for getting a good start and hopefully some confidence back in a game we'd expect to win - which hasn't been the case for a while. It's a classic for the hot-takes of win = champions and draw or defeat = doomed That being said I'd (and the players hopefully) would be more confident of a result away at Falkirk if we're heading there with 9+ points already in the bag (certainly possible). The alternative being a stuttering start and we could be heading there looking for our first win (also very much possible!)