Sons' sorrow

[FifeSons]

12 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Yes, I think it's a twisted way of saying he just wants to spend the money elsewhere. 

Maybe he just didn’t want to destroy Broun’s confidence, in case he can’t get anyone. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

[cameron2000]

11 hours ago, Silverton End said:

I stopped right there, no offence Cameron but at this time last year we were in a commanding position, top of the League.

This season we are playing catch-up big time.

 

 

11 hours ago, squeezebox-son said:

Yep, I can't see how we haven't. We have less points simple. Instead of being 4 (I think) points ahead of everyone else, we sit 3rd and 10 (TEN) points off top. Yes, we appear to be playing some nicer football but that doesn't win you games or leagues. Scoring goals and not conceding them win you matches and winning enough matches will win you leagues.

I agree we are much better to watch this season, but it's a results driven business and we haven't picked up enough points this season.

 

3 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Firstly, a happy and peaceful Christmas to all - have a great day.

Now, this paragraph above, 10/10 for optimism but I can't see it happening.  Stenny look to be getting stronger every week whilst Peterhead and ourselves are sometimes misfiring to a debilitating effect, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Spartans come up on the inside rail.

And Stenny are not ourselves of last season - that's wishful thinking so let's just see where things pan out from here on in.  But if we don't exit League Two this season then the Board will have a very big decision to make.

Hi guys, firstly merry Christmas to everyone on here. Secondly, I think us being worse off than last season is largely due to how seriously impressive Stenhousmuir have been. Yes we have less points than this stage last year but do you really think we will collapse in the second half of the season again? With our current squad I think inconsistency is more likely than being consistently bad.

In the last 15 games of last season we got 18 points with a goal difference of -5.

In the first 16 games of this season we have 30 points with a goal difference of +12. Scoring more than double the games and conceding 2 less. So, yes in my eyes this progress. Certainly, it’s less points than the first half of last season but the football has been way more exciting to watch and also the results seem more likely to continue than significantly dip.

Maybe the lack of optimism is due to how unappetising the thought of a playoff seems right now, given the disaster of the last two. I appreciate we maybe have a 10% chance of winning the league. But can we really be that critical if this is due to one team being exceptionally consistent?

[The Moonster]

20 minutes ago, cameron2000 said:

 

 

Hi guys, firstly merry Christmas to everyone on here. Secondly, I think us being worse off than last season is largely due to how seriously impressive Stenhousmuir have been. Yes we have less points than this stage last year but do you really think we will collapse in the second half of the season again? With our current squad I think inconsistency is more likely than being consistently bad.

In the last 15 games of last season we got 18 points with a goal difference of -5.

In the first 16 games of this season we have 30 points with a goal difference of +12. Scoring more than double the games and conceding 2 less. So, yes in my eyes this progress. Certainly, it’s less points than the first half of last season but the football has been way more exciting to watch and also the results seem more likely to continue than significantly dip.

Maybe the lack of optimism is due to how unappetising the thought of a playoff seems right now, given the disaster of the last two. I appreciate we maybe have a 10% chance of winning the league. But can we really be that critical if this is due to one team being exceptionally consistent?

Do you have any opinions on why Dumbarton don't have title winning consistency? 

[Sweet Pete]

Merry Christmas folks

[squeezebox-son]

4 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

My Merry Christmas fact is this. We're currently averaging 1.87 points per game in the league. If we keep that up, we'll finish on 67 points. Five more than last season and the same as we finished on in 2008-09.

Have a good one guys!

I think we have a chance of bettering our final total of last season. As good as that us, it still wouldn't be enough to have won the league last season or the year before and I very much doubt it would be this season either.

[BallochSonsFan]

23 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Do you have any opinions on why Dumbarton don't have title winning consistency? 

Combination of predictability and fatigue for me.

Teams know how we're going to play. We don't have a big enough squad that we can mix things up and the guys we do have in reserve fill the same roles as our regular starters. If we needed to change things to adapt to conditions or opposition tactics then we really struggle. I don't think Faz has much of a plan B. That also hurts us because we don't get the chance to rest and rotate players. Guys are playing tired, playing with niggles and playing longer than they should. Saturday is the perfect example - Orsi was visibly struggling about 10 minutes before Farrell replaced him. 

Farrell doesnt recruit badly for the first team. But he doesnt build balanced squads and that means we can be very predictable once opponents have worked us out and we can be reluctant to manage players properly. We end up playing tired and banged up and tend to see a big drop off in consistency in the 2nd half of a season.

[Frank Quitely]

1 hour ago, BallochSonsFan said:

We end up playing tired and banged up and tend to see a big drop off in consistency in the 2nd half of a season

If that happens then we might not finish in the top four.  I wonder what would happen then.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I actually don’t think we’ve been bad this season, there is no denying we have been very unlucky with injuries. Long out for the season due to a freak training ground injury, our first choice left back out for the season by September, Durnan missing for 2 months and numerous knocks, niggles and illness that seem to rule out a different player every single week. 

I actually quite enjoy watching this squad, I think we have some very good players for this level, we play some decent football and my only real criticism of the squad Farrell has built is the lack of centre back cover. By all accounts he obviously realises that himself and has vowed to sort it in January. I wouldn’t have retained Byrne or MacLean but again it sounds like that may be rectified in January. 

I still maintain we have the best squad of players in this division, whether we are top of the league or not. I think a combination of some very unlucky injuries and a manager who is fairly tactically inept is the killer but overall form hasn’t been bad and we have amassed a respectable points tally. I’m pretty confident we can give it a go in the 2nd half of the season IF we manage to sign a good goalkeeper, you simply cannot mount a challenge with a pish goalie. Stenny will have a wobble, they can’t keep up this form forever and there is a very, very long way to go.

[Silverton End]

36 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I actually don’t think we’ve been bad this season, there is no denying we have been very unlucky with injuries. Long out for the season due to a freak training ground injury, our first choice left back out for the season by September, Durnan missing for 2 months and numerous knocks, niggles and illness that seem to rule out a different player every single week. 

I actually quite enjoy watching this squad, I think we have some very good players for this level, we play some decent football and my only real criticism of the squad Farrell has built is the lack of centre back cover. By all accounts he obviously realises that himself and has vowed to sort it in January. I wouldn’t have retained Byrne or MacLean but again it sounds like that may be rectified in January. 

I still maintain we have the best squad of players in this division, whether we are top of the league or not. I think a combination of some very unlucky injuries and a manager who is fairly tactically inept is the killer but overall form hasn’t been bad and we have amassed a respectable points tally. I’m pretty confident we can give it a go in the 2nd half of the season IF we manage to sign a good goalkeeper, you simply cannot mount a challenge with a pish goalie. Stenny will have a wobble, they can’t keep up this form forever and there is a very, very long way to go.

Definitely played some good attacking football this season, a few stand-out performances like Stenny away, scoring 4 away at Clyde, Forfar home & away.

Been a joy to watch at times.

We fall short in key games though, Stenny at home & Saturday just past where we could have gone into 2nd in the League with Peterhead dropping 3 points, but like you point out still a long way to go in the season.

Hopefully R Wallace starts this weekend as he made a big difference when he came on v Clyde.

[the snudge]

Does anyone have any pictures of the away entrance at Boghead? 

I can't remember where the away entrance was or how it was accessed. 

[Silverton End]

7 minutes ago, the snudge said:

Does anyone have any pictures of the away entrance at Boghead? 

I can't remember where the away entrance was or how it was accessed. 

Depended on who we were playing but the Boghead Avenue turnstiles were often used for bigger away crowds.

 

[Boghead ranter]

1 hour ago, the snudge said:

Does anyone have any pictures of the away entrance at Boghead? 

I can't remember where the away entrance was or how it was accessed. 

[Silverton End]

50 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

 

[FifeSons]

Just saw the attendance for Clyde was 598. Decent improvement after the disappointing Stenny turnout. Shame we didn’t get the result.

[Silverton End]

1 hour ago, FifeSons said:

Just saw the attendance for Clyde was 598. Decent improvement after the disappointing Stenny turnout. Shame we didn’t get the result.

I thought there was quite a bit more than that at the game, we were sitting left of the hospitality area, near the Clyde fans.

There was easily 150+ of away fans.

Does our turnstile(s) actually count the numbers entering?

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, FifeSons said:

Just saw the attendance for Clyde was 598. Decent improvement after the disappointing Stenny turnout. Shame we didn’t get the result.

The crowds are desperate, and on Saturday there was a decent Clyde turnout.  When cashflow, or rather the lack of it, is your biggest problem it's a massive concern.

Even the Young Sons seem to have disbanded.

[Replays]

3 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Just saw the attendance for Clyde was 598. Decent improvement after the disappointing Stenny turnout. Shame we didn’t get the result.

Looked more than that sitting in the back row of the stand. We had a decent following (more than I thought we would in all honesty) but I felt that the home end looked pretty busy too.

[FifeSons]

Didn’t realise how many away games we had coming up. After East Fife, the next four (league games) are all away.

Edited December 30, 2023 by FifeSons

[Jan Vojáček]

Big Robert Jones doing us a turn today.

[Casey]