Queen's Park 1 Dumbarton 1

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

9 hours ago, Bogheidman said:

Thought there was nothing in that tonight really. Queen’s Park were murder, not a chance going up playing like that. They had good energy in midfield at times but other than that were a team of hammer throwers. Not sure if the number 19 had seen a football before tonight. Wow.

Disappointing to get level deservedly and then such a poor goal for the winning one

Thought we played quite well without being amazing far from it but queens looked a bit of a rabble and I’d expect them to get battered in a playoff

whether that’s their usual quality or not who knows but for some of their players to be on four figures plus a week I’d be expecting much more if I was a fan of theirs

Queens Park have absolutely shagged us twice this season so on the evidence Sons fans have seen so far their usual quality is better than they displayed last night. 

I don’t think we’re in any position to be talking about rabbles and time wasting either. 9 points out of 9 against us this season and a far healthier league position. I’d probably advise being more concerned about our current plight than theirs.

 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Queens Park have absolutely shagged us twice this season so on the evidence Sons fans have seen so far their usual quality is better than they displayed last night. 

I don’t think we’re in any position to be talking about rabbles and time wasting either. 9 points out of 9 against us this season and a far healthier league position. I’d probably advise being more concerned about our current plight than theirs.

 

This.  There's been too much toys oot the pram posting about last night's game by a number of Sons fans.  We competed well but we lost, but it's hardly Queens Park's fault that they are better financed and currently a better team than ourselves.  As are Cove and very likely Kelty.  

[Anonymous Spider]

Good win and maybe signs of encouragement for Queen's? We're still such a flaky team tho - it was probs for the best we scored right on half time coz it meant we couldn't just shite it immediately after! 

Good to see Longstaff scoring, Darcy looks like he's a player, Kilday and Smith were good. Liam Brown a bit too deep for me, much rather have him higher up splitting defences, rather than trying to thread a pass from 30 yards. 

Not remotely dominant but a win's a win - options off the bench might give us the edge in the run in too...  

[Bring Your Own Socks]

1 hour ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

This.  There's been too much toys oot the pram posting about last night's game by a number of Sons fans.  We competed well but we lost, but it's hardly Queens Park's fault that they are better financed and currently a better team than ourselves.  As are Cove and very likely Kelty.  

And possibly Bonnyrigg Rose, who gave us a really tough game early in the season, and a few others coming through the pyramid. There were two main arguments for us voting to go professional. One was an annual robbery by senior clubs, SPL, taking our best youngsters for free as an amateur contract automatically expires annually. At least now they’ll have to pay. The second, as you suggest, was we could see the slaughterhouse door closing behind us. A L2 team dropping into the Highland league has an even chance of getting back up but the Lowland league is full of predators. 

And it’s a double-whammy for poorer clubs. Not only does it make life difficult on a matchday, it also makes the available player pool in your area shrink as good part-timers are drawn to the money. Berwick suffered from the promotion of Edinburgh City and Cowdenbeath likewise from having Kelty a couple of bus stops away.

We”re still in transition. I was as disappointed about the quality of our win last night as I have been about recent games but I recognise change never comes easy. But it’s essential it comes. As frustrating as it is, which is entirely measured by a belief system that says we're paying handsomely for some average players, we still sit in our highest league position since the 1950s.

[GroundHoppingBear]

Deserved win in the end I'd say but a strange performance from Queens. Thought that they went through spells where they took the foot right off the gas and let Dumbarton back in. When they played with more tempo Dumbarton really struggled. Thought Connor Smith was very good.

Oyinsan is a handful for Dumbarton but they couldn't really get others close to him.

[qpfc]

8 minutes ago, GroundHoppingBear said:

Deserved win in the end I'd say but a strange performance from Queens. Thought that they went through spells where they took the foot right off the gas and let Dumbarton back in. When they played with more tempo Dumbarton really struggled. Thought Connor Smith was very good.

Oyinsan is a handful for Dumbarton but they couldn't really get others close to him.

That really describes our season. Until we score an opener, we tend to play some great stuff, playing at a high intensity giving the opposition little room to breathe. However I’ve lost count the amount times we sit off afterwards and let teams play and more often than not we always pay the price for it. We’re definitely a talented enough squad as you don’t take the lead most games if you aren’t good. It must be a mental block within the squad 
 

I think we’ve improved under Beuker personally. Individual performances are improving with the likes of Kilday, Smith Longstaff and even Robson looking a lot more effective. There’s probably realisation that guys are now playing for their full time careers. 

[GroundHoppingBear]

26 minutes ago, qpfc said:

That really describes our season. Until we score an opener, we tend to play some great stuff, playing at a high intensity giving the opposition little room to breathe. However I’ve lost count the amount times we sit off afterwards and let teams play and more often than not we always pay the price for it. We’re definitely a talented enough squad as you don’t take the lead most games if you aren’t good. It must be a mental block within the squad 
 

I think we’ve improved under Beuker personally. Individual performances are improving with the likes of Kilday, Smith Longstaff and even Robson looking a lot more effective. There’s probably realisation that guys are now playing for their full time careers. 

I thought the last ten or so was much better too. When the Dumbarton player missed the backheel I thought at that point they were in the ascendency, then Queens made a couple of changes and it sparked them in to life again. They were getting to the by line, creating decent openings and if it wasn't for a couple of good blocks then they would have scored a third.

I also thought for a relatively young goalkeeper that Calum Ferrie looked quite commanding. He didn't have much to do really but he made one really good save in the first half. But I thought he was organised, never looked out of position, moved the ball out quickly. Would like to see him again in a match where he has more to do.

Shout out to the boy that got papped out early on for drinking a bottle of tonic  And the boys watching the rest of the game from the grassy hill  

[cameron2000]

Weird game last night but a decent watch.

Early on in the game Queens absolutely dominated, playing some lovely football and deservedly got the goal. At this point I was thinking this could be a bit of a pumping.

As the first half went on we slowly came back into the game and actually put together some nice attacking moves. Then we got the penalty - no doubt about the decision but I have no idea why the player stuck his arm out when it was a poor corner travelling away from the goal and to nobody. Near half-time we looked confident and I though there was even a chance we could get another before the break. Most of our attacks seemed to arise from nice link up play between Duthie and Pignateillo down the right-hand side. Unfortunately Pignateillo had some issues with his final ball in this game.

Right on half time came the sucker punch - everyone watching the game knew it was about to be half time. Carswell had just won the ball back when he was caught sleeping in possession allowing Queens Park into the final third with a 3 v 3, Paddy Boyle tracked a man that wasn’t his and again ended up holding hands with Buchanan, this gave Longstaff plenty of time to cut in a shoot precisely into the bottom corner. Terrible time to concede.

Second half was not as I expected. I thought Queens would come out, up the tempo and kill the game off. This didn’t happen, they actually sat very deep trying to contain us most of the half. That being said it was a fairly successful approach, we created a few half chances (Duthie nearer scored with an audacious back-heal) but it certainly wasn’t constant pressure on the Queens goal and Bob McHugh should have sealed it but missed an absolute sitter.

All in all an improved performance from us despite taking nothing - a draw would probably have been a fair result. One thing of note is that on a few occasions we moved the ball quickly enough to play a low pass into Oyinsan’s feet rather than a long ball to his head. I felt he looked far more effective in these situations. We simply have to drop Paddy Boyle - this is the one area of the team that is still a massive weakness and getting someone competent in his position could make a *really* significant difference.
Bronski or Duthie were the best 2 players for us I felt and Wright impressed me - his distribution and decision making when rushing out is on another planet to Ramsbottom.

Queens Park in their spells of pressure and high tempo play looked really good! It’s just these spells were far too infrequent and in all honesty I’m not sure why - they have way more quality than us and should also be fitter. Liam Brown is a brilliant player as everyone who watches him will know. Going forwards with the philosophy Queens Park have and the aim to play possession-based football, I reckon there’s a few changes that need to be made but you’ll get there eventually. One thing is for sure you’re going to have to find a better CB than Charlie Fox, he was absolutely woeful, his passing and ball control are clearly hindering you when building attacks.

[Zanetti]

5 minutes ago, cameron2000 said:

One thing is for sure you’re going to have to find a better CB than Charlie Fox, he was absolutely woeful, his passing and ball control are clearly hindering you when building attacks.

Fox is generally brilliant. Last night was probably the poorest we've ever seen him play, his distribution was especially disappointing, but he's been one of our most consistent players this season; solid at the back and capable of chipping in with the odd goal here and then too. He just won our player of the month for January (deservedly so) too, and I don't think any Queen's fan would be disappointed if we chucked a 3 year contract at him right now.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Zanetti

[cameron2000]

Fox is generally brilliant. Last night was probably the poorest we've ever seen him play, his distribution was especially disappointing, but he's been one of our most consistent players this season; solid at the back and capable of chipping in with the odd goal here and then too. He just won our player of the month for January (deservedly so) too, and I don't think any Queen's fan would be disappointed if we chucked a 3 year contract at him right now.

He’s a really solid defender and is super dominant in the air. I’ve no doubt in a defensive minded team like ours he would be fantastic but the more expansive you get and the less you start sitting back in games, he’s going to be exposed more.

[qpfc]

2 minutes ago, cameron2000 said:

He’s a really solid defender and is super dominant in the air. I’ve no doubt in a defensive minded team like ours he would be fantastic but the more expansive you get and the less you start sitting back in games, he’s going to be exposed more.

His distribution and the way he can carry the ball is generally one of his strongest aspects. It was horrendous last night in fairness 

[CathcartSkins]

With that win, and how we are improving week by week, this Saturday at Cove is one to look forward too, rather then dread; which was the feeling a few games back.

[Alf Stamp Army]

Very Pleased for Longstaff, I personally haven’t been too impressed with him this season but the past 3-4 weeks I feel like he’s slowly adapting to 1st team football and maybe the belief Beuker has shown in him will do him wonders going forward. 

Agree with this Longstaff definitely showing signs of improvement. Along with Thomson and Mchugh he gets pelters from the football manager experts standing in our home end so pleasing that all 3 involved in last night's winner [emoji122]

[Nowhereman]

3 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

This.  There's been too much toys oot the pram posting about last night's game by a number of Sons fans.  We competed well but we lost, but it's hardly Queens Park's fault that they are better financed and currently a better team than ourselves.  As are Cove and very likely Kelty.  

All three of these teams are clearly better financed than us but when you consider the players that have dropped down divisions to play for them and the fact that none of them break the 700 mark for average attendances it is obvious that it is not sustainable

[GroundHoppingBear]

When you see his size you would just expect Oyinsan to be a big target man but that old cliche "good feet for a big man" applied. QP struggled to get it off him when he had it under control. I thought Fox really struggled with him but Kilday was very effective.

Thomson is a strange player for Queens. Came through Rangers with a good reputation but only made a couple of squads. There were times he played very quick smart passes, made one twos and looked like he could dominate. Yet other times he was pushed off the ball far too easily or caught in possession. You can definitely see why there were big hopes on him as a youngster though. Tried a few passes that I don't think anyone else on the park would have attempted.

[Frank Quitely]

1 hour ago, Nowhereman said:

All three of these teams are clearly better financed than us but when you consider the players that have dropped down divisions to play for them and the fact that none of them break the 700 mark for average attendances it is obvious that it is not sustainable

You could apply that argument to just about every club in the top two divisions.

[Bring Your Own Socks]

1 hour ago, Nowhereman said:

All three of these teams are clearly better financed than us but when you consider the players that have dropped down divisions to play for them and the fact that none of them break the 700 mark for average attendances it is obvious that it is not sustainable

I doubt if Liverpool, or Barca or Man Utd could afford their squads on season tickets alone. It’s all relative. At every level from Champions League to the Lowland league you can draw a straight line diagonal through the money/success axis at the very top of each level. There’s one or two teams that are always at the top and then a tranche that rise and fall and then the rest. Unfortunately the rise of the money-men has reached the Scottish lower leagues and each club will have to live or die by it in their own way. It’s the provincial clubs that look most vulnerable. Berwick, Shire (Falkirk), Brechin so far, Cowdenbeath almost certainly this season.

[Nowhereman]

24 minutes ago, Frank Quitely said:

You could apply that argument to just about every club in the top two divisions.

Well no you couldn't really. Several clubs in the top two divisions wont rely on one man putting money in in the way that these three clubs appear to

[qpsnapper]

6 hours ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

As frustrating as it is, which is entirely measured by a belief system that says we're paying handsomely for some average players, we still sit in our highest league position since the 1950s.

We've been higher than this a few times in relatively recent times,  we were top of what is now League One for a few weeks at the start of the season in 2000/01 and again in 2007/08 following promotions.

Angus also had us in third place in this division with 33 games played in 2016/17.

[Hampden Diehard]

Happy enough with that. Looked to me that the ball bounced up awkwardly for the penalty.  But it's a hand ball.

Very pleased for Longstaff as he's been a wee bit disappointing, but he had a wee bit about him last night that maybe comes with game time. He was certainly more confident in front of goal; great to see. 

Kilday a standout and just as well as the big guy Oyinson up front was half decent. Hard to see why Fox is getting a bit of pelters here. A challenging evening at the back and he did ok.

Not the prettiest game ever but we were the better side and deserved the win.

Definitely more confident about the trip to Cove than I was. It'll be a hard shift to stay ahead of Falkirk; let's hope either Mo or Airdrie stutter a bit. Unlikely, I know.