Albion Rovers vs Queen of the South; Scottish Cup 3rd Round; 26th November

[Tam]

Just back from the game. An entertaining affair. First - well done Rovers. Took their first half set piece goal well witha stonking header. Defended manfully and then incredibly won the game with the last kick, with only 10 men.

As for QoS, no doubt many who weren't there will weigh in with their considered views.

We were very unlucky to lose the tie. It pains me to say that, although we could have been 3 goals up in the first 15 mins, generally we lacked a cutting edge for a large part of the game. Crosses into the box were really poor. I thought Lyle, Anderson,Dobbie and Picard were not particularly effective for long stretches.

The acting manager made positive substitutions by taking Dowie ( on a booking) off, moving Brownlie into the middle and bringing on the attacking threat of Hammil. It worked. So did the replacing of Pickard by Carmichael. Going into the last 10 mins, Rovers were set on seeing the game out and taking the draw. So the breakaway in the last minute was hard to take from our point of view. Robinson had had to do virtually nothing for most of the second half. 

Anyway we need to get stuck into our next two home games - and how.

Good luck Rovers v  Celtic.

[Bold Rover]

2 minutes ago, Vodka Vic said:

Superb stuff from Rovers at the end.

 

Queens biggest mistake was trying to play football on the famous San Siro surface 

To be fair, Vic, none of the Queens fans on here have used the pitch excuse.

[sam2304]

To be fair, Vic, none of the Queens fans on here have used the pitch excuse.

What was the crowd Bold?

[steakpiegravy]

Well that was painful to watch. If we'd taken our chances we could have been 3-0 up in 15min but tbh we were lucky not to be 3-0 down at half time! I don't think we have a bad group of players but they are so clearly bereft of confidence it's painful. They were queuing up to avoid having a shot at goal.
And defensively we were woeful. JT is a Queens legend but if he can't get that right then he's clearly not the man for the managers job. In fact after tonight's efforts I'd go so far to say he's not the man for the caretaker managers job either. If we don't have someone lined up for the role by the weekend is it possible to get an emergency loan manager or something? Desperate times....

[Distant Doonhamer]

2 minutes ago, Tam said:

Just back from the game. An entertaining affair. First - well done Rovers. Took their first half set piece goal well witha stonking header. Defended manfully and then incredibly won the game with the last kick, with only 10 men.

As for QoS, no doubt many who weren't there will weigh in with their considered views.

We were very unlucky to lose the tie. It pains me to say that, although we could have been 3 goals up in the first 15 mins, generally we lacked a cutting edge for a large part of the game. Crosses into the box were really poor. I thought Lyle, Anderson,Dobbie and Picard were not particularly effective for long stretches.

The acting manager made positive substitutions by taking Dowie ( on a booking) off, moving Brownlie into the middle and bringing on the attacking threat of Hammil. It worked. So did the replacing of Pickard by Carmichael. Going into the last 10 mins, Rovers were set on seeing the game out and taking the draw. So the breakaway in the last minute was hard to take from our point of view. Robinson had had to do virtually nothing for most of the second half. 

Anyway we need to get stuck into our next two home games - and how.

Good luck Rovers v  Celtic.

All credit to you in making a positive post in what is a dreadful spell of form for us. I`m finding it hard to be positive in any way.

[haufdaft]

I hope Albion Rovers spend some of the money they make improving their disgraceful dump of a stadium.

[Distant Doonhamer]

5 minutes ago, Tam said:

Just back from the game. An entertaining affair. First - well done Rovers. Took their first half set piece goal well witha stonking header. Defended manfully and then incredibly won the game with the last kick, with only 10 men.

As for QoS, no doubt many who weren't there will weigh in with their considered views.

We were very unlucky to lose the tie. It pains me to say that, although we could have been 3 goals up in the first 15 mins, generally we lacked a cutting edge for a large part of the game. Crosses into the box were really poor. I thought Lyle, Anderson,Dobbie and Picard were not particularly effective for long stretches.

The acting manager made positive substitutions by taking Dowie ( on a booking) off, moving Brownlie into the middle and bringing on the attacking threat of Hammil. It worked. So did the replacing of Pickard by Carmichael. Going into the last 10 mins, Rovers were set on seeing the game out and taking the draw. So the breakaway in the last minute was hard to take from our point of view. Robinson had had to do virtually nothing for most of the second half. 

Anyway we need to get stuck into our next two home games - and how.

Good luck Rovers v  Celtic.

 

2 minutes ago, steakpiegravy said:

Well that was painful to watch. If we'd taken our chances we could have been 3-0 up in 15min but tbh we were lucky not to be 3-0 down at half time! I don't think we have a bad group of players but they are so clearly bereft of confidence it's painful. They were queuing up to avoid having a shot at goal.
And defensively we were woeful. JT is a Queens legend but if he can't get that right then he's clearly not the man for the managers job. In fact after tonight's efforts I'd go so far to say he's not the man for the caretaker managers job either. If we don't have someone lined up for the role by the weekend is it possible to get an emergency loan manager or something? Desperate times....

Well you both agree that that we could have been 3-0 up but somewhat differing views thereafter. 

[Dougie Mills]

6 minutes ago, Tam said:

Just back from the game. An entertaining affair. First - well done Rovers. Took their first half set piece goal well witha stonking header. Defended manfully and then incredibly won the game with the last kick, with only 10 men.

As for QoS, no doubt many who weren't there will weigh in with their considered views.

We were very unlucky to lose the tie. It pains me to say that, although we could have been 3 goals up in the first 15 mins, generally we lacked a cutting edge for a large part of the game. Crosses into the box were really poor. I thought Lyle, Anderson,Dobbie and Picard were not particularly effective for long stretches.

The acting manager made positive substitutions by taking Dowie ( on a booking) off, moving Brownlie into the middle and bringing on the attacking threat of Hammil. It worked. So did the replacing of Pickard by Carmichael. Going into the last 10 mins, Rovers were set on seeing the game out and taking the draw. So the breakaway in the last minute was hard to take from our point of view. Robinson had had to do virtually nothing for most of the second half. 

Anyway we need to get stuck into our next two home games - and how.

Good luck Rovers v  Celtic.

We seem to have mastered the art of being unlucky 

[Bold Rover]

6 minutes ago, sam2304 said:

 

 

What was the crowd Bold?

 

 

Sorry, Sam - I didn't make it either.

[Mustafa_sheet]

That parasite Hewitson has to shoulder the blame. A team devoid of confidence, passion, fight, desire and ideas got what they deserved tonight.

Unless a new manager is installed rapid style I can safely say that we will not pick up another point this season.

It's obvious where the problems lie and unless we have a man at the helm who has the best interests of the club at heart and not treat it like a business adventure then I'm sorry to say that we are only going one way.

A season that had promised so much has just imploded on itself.

Good luck to Albion in the next round. The only saving grace for us Queens fans tonight is it only cost a tenner to witness that torture plus we've been saved from a right doing on national TV by Celtic!!

[sam2304]

I hope Albion Rovers spend some of the money they make improving their disgraceful dump of a stadium.

Well that didn't take long

[Mustafa_sheet]

Well that didn't take long

Nope.....but it's true!

[1320Lichtie]

I understand why you think this. But the same option is available to all clubs when their ground isn't up to an exceptional match. The police won't allow it at Cliftonhill. Would you have us excluded from the Scottish Cup for having an unfit ground. In that case there are many teams out.

Well it's happened quite a lot now, surely with all the money you make shifting these games you can actually do up your own stadium and get it up to scratch?

I don't know but if I was sitting on the Albion Rovers board I'd have no interest in doing up cliftonhill whilst we were allowed to move all our big games to 10k seaters close by and milk all the cash from it to use for players.

[Bold Rover]

Just now, Mustafa_sheet said:

 

Nope.....but it's true!

 

Hope your journey and parking went ok.

[Tam]

7 minutes ago, Dougie Mills said:

We seem to have mastered the art of being unlucky 

I do agree with steakpiegravy that when your confidence is low, then it makes everything so much tougher. When we didn't score in that excellent opening spell, I wasn't really surprised that our attacking threat dropped away. You just had to see Dobbie trying to shoot from outside the box - each attempt was worse than the last. Rovers got the breaks. On tonight's showing I wouldn't expect Lyle or Dobbie to score again this season; however, it will be interesting to see how the team react on Saturday. They did keep trying to the end but I fear if we lose the first goal....

 

[Sloop John B]

That result was the culmination of a sustained period of dreadful management starting from Jim McIntyre taking the backroom staff with him to Dingwall and us failing to even come close to replicating it. He had Gerry McCabe James Fowler and Billy Dodds whereas since then it's been rookie coaches being  left to fend for themselves. Whilst the results under McIntyre at times weren't there,the level of organisation was always there and the murmurings of discontent of the pitch were virtually zero. Since he left the results didn't decline at first but the off field issues started creeping in before the full on shambles took hold. off the top of my head i can think of a few decisions that have set off a chain of downright futility. 

• Jim filling in as assistant which sped up the departure of two players to a playoff rival.
• Not getting an assistant in to replace Jim for the rest of that season 
• Players falling out with Fowler at the end of the first season
• The mass exodus that summer and the dreadful recruitment
• Taking a while to appoint Skelton when it was obvious that he was their best/cheapest option
• The creation of a stupid position for Jim which he had no obvious credentials for
• Not sorting the very obvious flaws in the midfield 
• Skelton not getting an assistant
• Jim Signing injured players in the middle of an injury crisis.
• Taking 3 weeks to find a new manager, leaving a man who has only coached youth teams/ served teas/kindly donated John Baird and Mark Kerr to Falkirk in control.

A lot of these decisions come from the board being incredibly cheap when it comes to the coaching side and being overly loyal to the wrong people. The result might have happened anyway if we had a somewhat competent management  you would think that a well drilled team won't be giving up free headers at corner, perhaps Skelton might have hung around for a little longer, we might have had a caretaker that has the respect of the players and we might have won a league game in the past 2 months.

 

 

[Mustafa_sheet]

Hope your journey and parking went ok.

Journey and parking went well......it was the result that spoiled the evening!

Best of luck in the next round.....your players wanted it more than our mercenaries.

[Rjc-1988]

Most depressing night ever for me following Queens and believe me there have been plenty of other contenders.

Total lack of leadership on the pitch - while we dominated the entire second half we didn't create one decent chance in that time other than the Hamill header. Rovers were dead on their feet and were simply lumping the ball out of danger zone. A good Captain would have been saying - we might not win this tonight but there is no way that we are losing it.

To allow Rovers to score with 10 men on their only foray into our half in last 10/15 mins was criminal especially given what was at stake.

Lyndon Dykes had an absolute nightmare as did Dobbie - couldn't believe that Dykes was not subbed. Our central defence had virtually nothing to defend all night yet contrived to lose two goals ,survived a penalty claim and needed Robinson to save us in a one on one. By contrast after our early onslaught which was impressive we rarely looked like scoring.

Embarassing that we can't even contemplate dropping players because there is nobody else to come in.

A complete shambles I'm afraid.

[Menzel]

14 minutes ago, Mustafa_sheet said:

 

Unless a new manager is installed rapid style I can safely say that we will not pick up another point this season.

 

 

You're in the same league as St Mirren. 

[Skyline Drifter]

Well that's a sickener. And a very strange game. The best of luck to Rovers whose attitude was spot on and who will now reap the benefit of a six figure windfall. They took their chances, we didn't.

We started very well tonight. Dobbie had a header cleared off the line inside a minute and their keeper pulled off two magnificent saves in the first fifteen minutes or we'd have been miles out of sight. Then they broke forward, Lee just got something on a chip to get it out for a corner and the tallest player on the park gets a free run to score. And for the rest of the first half that was about it. In fact pretty much until Hamill came on we were fairly devoid of ideas to break them down. Hamill changed the game for us and immediately looked our best outlet and most positive player. He scored a similar goal to theirs, getting a free run at a corner and rising to head downwards and back up into the net. I don't think Rovers had an effort on goal in the last half hour from memory and when their striker was sent off for what looked a bit of a slip in the challenge, you thought it was just a question of whether we could pinch it or settle for the draw. But the defending in the last moments was criminal. We had opportunities to clear it or even if necessary for someone to "take one for the team" and just pull someone down. To leave the sub with a tap in from two yards is absolutely inexcusable. Don't think I've ever been so sick at losing a goal as that one. It will take a bit of getting over.