Airdrieonians vs Dumbarton

[FifeSons]

My source at the game said Airdrie’s goal was the first real time they’d threatened.

Sounds like two points dropped for us.

[Jan Vojáček]

That second half was entirely predictable. We sat back, launched aimless hoofs at Aitchison and looked lazy in possession. Aitchison will be the next Loy, Little, Gallagher, Russell, Nisbet, Morrison, Roy or whatever. It's totally pointless just launching balls over his head. 

Airdrie took confidence from that and, coupled with the subbing of Grant Gallagher, looked far, far more likely to get a winner.

5 minutes ago, Diamond8 said:

7 minutes ago, squeezeboxson said:

Care to explain a bit more? I'm not at the game so not sure what you're referring to.
Sounds frustrating to not hold on but I don't think that is the worst result... if only Arbroath hadn't got that 2nd goal then it wouldn't have changed much at all.

Not very often a player can be bodied off the ball and no foul given. Led directly to your goal

I'll need to see it again, but it looked like Aitchison had the ball when the Airdrie player tried to block him/get in his way and just got knocked out the way like a skittle. 

[lorenzo71]

1 minute ago, Ross Forbes said:

That second half was entirely predictable. We sat back, launched aimless hoofs at Aitchison and looked lazy in possession. Aitchison will be the next Loy, Little, Gallagher, Russell, Nisbet, Morrison, Roy or whatever. It's totally pointless just launching balls over his head. 

Airdrie took confidence from that and, coupled with the subbing of Grant Gallagher, looked far, far more likely to get a winner.

I'll need to see it again, but it looked like Aitchison had the ball when the Airdrie player tried to block him/get in his way and just got knocked out the way like a skittle. 

Its depressing that we revert to playing shite after what seemed a decent first 45.Cmon Stevie give it up.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I think that's a fairly poor result tbh, especially given we looked to be fairly comfortable at half time against a team in poor form.

I feel that given our poor start and upcoming fixtures a draw really isn't ideal. IMO 6 or 7 points was a minimun from the 4 fixtures and that's us now looking at having to beat 2 of our next 3 opponents.

I also find it fairly baffling that Callum Gallagher now finds himself 5th choice striker behind Aitchison, Thomson (who's a midfielder), Loy and Russell (who's had 2 good games since joined). He was arguably our best player in the run in last season and hasn't really done much wrong bar missing a penalty this season.

[Jan Vojáček]

1 minute ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I think that's a fairly poor result tbh, especially given we looked to be fairly comfortable at half time against a team in poor form.

I feel that given our poor start and upcoming fixtures a draw really isn't ideal. IMO 6 or 7 points was a minimun from the 4 fixtures and that's us now looking at having to beat 2 of our next 3 opponents.

I also find it fairly baffling that Callum Gallagher now finds himself 5th choice striker behind Aitchison, Thomson (who's a midfielder), Loy and Russell (who's had 2 good games since joined). He was arguably our best player in the run in last season and hasn't really done much wrong bar missing a penalty this season.

I'd agree with all of that. In the first half especially Airdrie were absolutely all over the shop, and we really should've kept that momentum going in the second half. Instead it was evident almost immediately that we were happy to declare at 1-0 and let Airdrie attack.

The Gallagher situation is bizarre. Stevie wants to play direct football and he's clearly the closest thing we have to a targetman. It almost feels like he's punishing him for having a penalty saved!

Forbes being hooked with ten minutes to go was a weird one too. The disarray when we won a late free-kick and had to put Dyer on it was mad.

[Airdrie1977]

F**k off Findus

[Nipper]

Airdrie were a complete shambles in the first half, as bad as anything last season. Was fully expecting Dumbarton  to bang in one or two more goals in the second half but the Sons came out and were as bad as Airdrie were in the first half. On the other hand Airdrie did improve but only just.

[albundy]

Wasn't at the game so I can't comment on if the result was good/bad from a game perspective, although the comments on here certainly dont fill me with confidence that we are capable to putting teams to the sword when we have the upper hand.

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

That was absolute keech.
2 teams on paper performing well below their potential.
A draw was a fair result, for all Airdrie were shite in the first 45, Dumbarton were equally as shite the 2nd.

[squeezeboxson]

2 hours ago, lorenzo71 said:

Aye but they did.Thats why they will go up easily.We are now 9 pts adrift....

Calm doon ffs  they are ahead but like any team and season - I expect they will go through a bad spell. Pretty much most teams do every year.

[Howlin' Wilf]

3 hours ago, RGD89 said:

Callum Gallagher couldn’t trap a bag a cement. He’s hoachin. Would play Beanie ahead of him every week.

hoachin?

[cedrick1]

I thought the first half was the best we’ve played thus season. Just a pity we couldn’t carry it on for whole game,although airdrie did improve .

i would have said overall we just about shaded it but only just. 

Trying to be upbeat and positive but what has happened to Andy dowie this season. 

[Chapelhall chap]

1 hour ago, Nipper said:

Airdrie were a complete shambles in the first half, as bad as anything last season. Was fully expecting Dumbarton  to bang in one or two more goals in the second half but the Sons came out and were as bad as Airdrie were in the first half. On the other hand Airdrie did improve but only just.

Largely what I thought as well. Given how poor Gallagher was last week ( and the other midfield two) I was expecting the stubborn Findlay to keep the all in; that explains in part how bad we were in first half. Dumbarton were better in the first half  as they looked as if they had an idea of how to play. They were rubbish from about the 70th minute and we might well have won but it was two poor teams. I though the RB for sons did have a solid game against Victoria and Ian  Russell should have been Red carded for that assault on Millar. Neither of us will catch Arbroath if that is how we perform and we have to go to Gayfield next week- 7-1  nightmare?

[Airdrie76]

Absolute sh1te today. Both teams were poor I thought, with a draw being a fair result (I’ve actually yet to see what I’d class as a good team in this league yet).  

Airdrie just don’t look bothered at the moment, strolling around with players who don’t look like they want the ball or don’t know what to do with it when they get it. Not sure what our style is, the players looked confused by it all at times as well.  2nd half was a little bit better but it wasn’t until after the goal that we looked to have some fight about us. No excuse for that.

Findlay’s had ample time  (which I thought was only right) but a change is needed now. A decent, experienced manager could do much, much better with that squad. 

[AFC1878]

A decent, experienced manager could do much, much better with that squad. 

My thoughts exactly.

[FifeSons]

If we’d had the start to the season we should’ve done (beating, or at least taking a decent points haul from, Forfar, Brechin and Stenhousemuir) a point today wouldn’t have been a bad result.

Sounds like the same old stuff in the second half. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve thrown away a lead under Aitken, it really is quite remarkable.

The decision to play long balls really is very questionable, especially when you’ve got guys (that, let’s not forget, Aitken chose to sign) who would really benefit from playing into feet.

[airdrieman]

What a dire game. Two poor teams. Our midfield was nonexistent. Our 4-3-3 formation does not suit our midfield. They all seem to stand around and play in the same position with no movement on or off the ball. There's absolutely no urgency at all. Any time we had the chance to attack Dumbarton our build-up play was so slow and we would almost inevitably end up playing it back to Hutton, letting Dumbarton get settled back into their formation and waste the chance. Conroy was so deep at times (despite being the one midfielder who is not a defensive midfielder) that he was beside the centre-halves at some points. We get too easily caught on the counter-attack too as our midfielders seem to go up and attack together with no rhythm or reason, leaving loads of space in the middle of the park. Better teams will punish us for it if we continue to play this system. They don't look as if they know how to follow their instructions and play in the system or they don't know what their instructions are at all. 

Even with that our play was dreadful for most of the game. That first half is one of the worst first halves of football I've ever seen and that is really saying something. Think we had one shot on target and even then that might as well have been a passback. Hopeless long balls up to no one (probably because the midfield can't play in the three-man system) and when MacIntosh got on the end of them there was no one up with him. We needed a goal out of nothing and we got one (cracking ball through and strike though TBF). Our set pieces were terrible again. How about letting someone other than Conroy have a shot?

Having said that I wasn’t impressed with Dumbarton either. Their only chances and pressure came when we gave the ball away, made mistakes and put ourselves under pressure. I think Keiran MacDonald must have forgotten how to clear a ball before the game,  he must have made about 5 botched clearances just in the first half. 

Dale, Scotty and Joao (although thought Joao conceded too many silly fouls) all tried hard and had a few good moments of play and were solid enough at the back. Wilkie provided a fresh impetus and some actual drive forward when he came on too although I wouldn’t have said anyone was a standout. 

[Jan Vojáček]

Biggest positive for me today was that black goalkeeper kit. It's far, far nicer than the Barney the Dinosaur suit we've had up until now.

[Chapelhall chap]

3 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

Biggest positive for me today was that black goalkeeper kit. It's far, far nicer than the Barney the Dinosaur suit we've had up until now.

Was quite surprised to see you play in all red. Has that been an away strip for some seasons?  In just a wee gentle dig about the Ref.: ( I believe he is a GCU professor?) was he wearing your real strip?

[Jan Vojáček]

3 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:

Was quite surprised to see you play in all red. Has that been an away strip for some seasons?  In just a wee gentle dig about the Ref.: ( I believe he is a GCU professor?) was he wearing your real strip?

Our away strip has been red and black for the past couple of seasons (a nod to the original colours of Dumbarton Athletic) but we switched to full Stirling Albion this year.

I like Professor McKendrick as a referee and thought he was alright today. He's pretty lenient and doesn't use his cards a lot, which normally makes for a better spectacle than guys like Craig Charleston and Mat Northcroft. Seems like a nice guy as well. To be honest though, since we've came down I've been impressed with the officials in League One far more than those in the Championship.