Sons' sorrow

[Homer Thompson]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

He made his debut for us almost exactly a year ago. It took him until August to score his first goal for us and the two he scored against Peterhead takes his tally to 3 goals in 35 appearances for us.  He has a goals to game ratio of 0.09 over his entire time with us - that is absolutely honking, even for a player that isn't playing directly as a striker (Ally Roy managed as many goals in his 4 months with us from the same position). There is absolutely no evidence to suggest Calum Gallagher would have continued scoring or even played well on Saturday - there is some strong evidence to suggest that he's not quite good enough to be playing Championship football though.

Gallagher is an odd one. Scored a decent amount for Cowden in a team that finished well bottom of the Championship - and looked impressive for them against Queens - but couldnt do it for Saintees and now, seemingly, looks out of his depth at Dumbarton.

Hes a player I would have happily taken at Queens when he left Cowdenbeath.

[Nowhereman]

1 hour ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

If only some of us were on the sonsteam list and could have a stab at the identity of the supporter in question.........

You think that's who it is?

[Homer Thompson]

15 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

You think that's who it is?

I can tell you exactly who it is  ... except I cant

[Nowhereman]

1 minute ago, Mr X said:

I can tell you exactly who it is  ... except I cant

I know exactly who Wilf is referring to . . .I think

[The Moonster]

34 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Gallagher is an odd one. Scored a decent amount for Cowden in a team that finished well bottom of the Championship - and looked impressive for them against Queens - but couldnt do it for Saintees and now, seemingly, looks out of his depth at Dumbarton.

Hes a player I would have happily taken at Queens when he left Cowdenbeath.

When he came to us I was sure he'd do a good job for us. Like you, when I saw him for Cowdenbeath I always thought he was a handful but since he's played for us it's really not been entirely clear what position is his best. He's been played wide, as a striker and in the hole behind the striker and is completely uninspiring in all of those positions.  He might do quite well as a striker if he had a partner up there to win headers/bully players a bit but in our system of 1 up top and 1 behind he just can't play there. Out wide he keeps his positional discipline well enough but he's rarely going to beat a man and deliver the ball into the box. 

Having said that, if we go down I'd probably keep a hold of him.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I'm no fan of Gallagher but it should be highlighted he's not being made a scapegoat here. There a number of players I don't rate highly enough for this level.

David Wilson is miles off it for me, I'm not convinced Scott Gallacher is good enough for this level and I currently have question marks over David Smith, Liam Dick and Kyle Hutton. The last 3 there may seem harsh but for me Smith has looked a little lost since his reintroduction and struggles to cope at full back against the better players. That being said I thought he was dependable last season so it may be that he needs a proper run and his confidence up. Dick has been thrown in at the deep end a bit but I've yet to be impressed bar one half against the Pars after what I thought was an awful 1st half from him. Perhaps he needs time to adjust, I'm certainly not writing him off. Hutton has shown he is capable but unfortunately he's just not shown it enough.

Defensively we have been solid this season... until it comes to a set piece. Then we turn to absolute shite. Which is fairly odd considering we have Dowie in there and Barr who will fling himself at anything. Maybe we need to work on how we set ourselves up defending corners and free kicks, Lithgow's goal on Saturday would certainly suggest that's the case.

For me our main issue has been injuries and had we not been ravaged some of the guys I'd consider squad cover wouldn't have featured so heavily, especially Callum Gallagher who has played a fair whack of games so far.

[George Parr]

55 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

For me our main issue has been injuries and had we not been ravaged some of the guys I'd consider squad cover wouldn't have featured so heavily, especially Callum Gallagher who has played a fair whack of games so far.

Yeah, this is a key point. 

If everyone were available then Smith and Dick would drop out for Wardop and Boomer. Stewart and Froxy would have starting places and Stevie would probably go with Grant Gallagher ahead of Hutton as well.

As things stand these injuries are ruining our season. We need our 11 strongest players (or close to it) fit and playing well in order to compete in this league. At the moment we're hanging on grimly (more or less) and it must be extremely frustrating for the management team.

If it is to be the playoffs for us this year then the main hope is that we have a fit squad to have a good go at it.

 

 

 

[BWAClyde]

Any thoughts on Steve Kipre, apparently on trial with you lot in the summer?

[Jan Vojáček]

2 minutes ago, BWAClyde said:

Any thoughts on Steve Kipre, apparently on trial with you lot in the summer?

This is the first I've heard of him, and I keep a pretty nerdy record of players who have featured for us. 

If he was on trial in the summer then he didn't feature in a game - and we played some gubbins trialists. Yes Saheed Mustafa and Luke Busumbru, and I'm talking about you guys here.

[cameron2000]

This is the first I've heard of him, and I keep a pretty nerdy record of players who have featured for us. 
If he was on trial in the summer then he didn't feature in a game - and we played some gubbins trialists. Yes Saheed Mustafa and Luke Busumbru, and I'm talking about you guys here.

Wasn’t there a mystery trialist that nobody could name?

[Jan Vojáček]

1 minute ago, cameron2000 said:

Wasn’t there a mystery trialist that nobody could name?

There was, aye, but he was a left-back (I believe) and this guy appears to be a striker. Having looked through the top secret pictures I was sent from the friendly he played in again there's nobody who could be related to Cedric Kipre either - although my secret paparazzi may have just missed him.

[pleslie99]

Bladdy blah I don’t particularly like him, but you can’t drop him and he’s not injured . 

That's the kind of educated and intelligent post we've came to expect from you. The thing is you Can drop him, as Stevie proved. Check out the replies below your literary masterpiece. Our resident statto's have proven that he doesn't contribute much.
Anyway this isn't about Seagal it's about you being a complete roaster and slating the team at every opportunity. Not seen you once come on here and praise the manager or the team, or indeed say anything positive at all. If your going to come on and call people names because they disagree with your opinion then I think that says a lot about you.

[sonsanorak]

.  You could not fault the lad's enthusiasm but to my mind, he looked as though he would not have been out of place in the Play For The Sons game.

Home team obvs, not the away handsomes

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

1 hour ago, sonsanorak said:

 the away handsomes

 

Fake news

 

[Rangeman]

Wake up and smell the coffee numpty ,we’re now ninth ,and  if you check you started the slagging ,I tell the truth which you don’t like. but you will won’t nade back cause that’s your limit he’s been great duh.

[BallochSonsFan]

In fairness we're ninth because we're one of only 2 part time teams in a 10 team league and would expect to be 9th.

By and large the only reason it's taken so long for us to be ninth is because Falkirk were utter bobbins for almost half the season. Given that they've woken up and are now no longer completely pish, we're really sitting where we'd probably expect to be given our complete lack of resources.

Every year we're tipped to go down.

Every year we do well to avoid automatic relegation.

So far we've punched above our weight and avoided the play-offs, although in previous years we have had fellow part timers in the league.

Occasionally we get lucky and find a gem or two who can help us punch above our weight and finish 8th or better. That usually means we'll lose those players to full time football and face another summer rebuilt.

I do wonder who you think isn't awake and painfully aware of where we are this season, and where it's likely to end for us, Rangeman?

[optimistic]

Adding to that is the fact the horrendous injury situation of late, because we were playing some nice football previously, I.e, st Mirren away. We’ll come good again I’m sure, Dumbarton usually finish the league strong with a sticky bit in the middle

[pleslie99]

Wake up and smell the coffee numpty ,we’re now ninth ,and  if you check you started the slagging ,I tell the truth which you don’t like. but you will won’t nade back cause that’s your limit he’s been great duh.

Thanks for continuing with the insults. You could just quote my post and that would aim it at me rather than the entirety of our fan base on here. I wont stoop to your level with them though. I am perfectly awake thanks and also perfectly aware of where we are in the league. I did not start the slagging I merely stated I disagreed with your opinion on ally Roy and now seagal which i am entitled to do. You are welcome to disagree with me also however flinging insults at me kind of loses your credibility. We are 9th which is where the bookies tipped us to be at the start if the season, where we should be on budget and where 99% of supporters of other teams probably fancied us to be. 9th, the same place we probably should've been the past few years but for some excellent management from Stevie, and not to mention the capitulation of teams such as Raith and livi. But of course don't let that get in the way of your personal vandetta against Stevie, and now me by the looks of things.
Just wondering though......What do you expect us to achieve this season and where do you think we should be finishing?

[sonsanorak]

Each year we've had a ft team go tits up and finish below us. Livvy, dunfermline, raith, morton, ayr etc.

A week or so ago I was confident morton, falkirk or qots would stumble through the rest of the season, but now less so.

I expect someone will go off the boil and stagger on to the end of the season, we need to be close enough to capitalise on that if it happens.

I'm hoping we get another player or two this week. Squad needs numbers in to boost competition whilst players are injured.

[lionel wickson]

Just noticed that someone seems to be upset with Craig Levein for looking to offload Ally Roy. Says he will come back to haunt "us" , just like Jason Cummings did.  At least we now know who his big team really is.