Stenny vs Sons

[Nowhereman]

Fair play - those are the three worst goals a team is likely to concede all season. Dumbarton's third, where Finlay Gray was allowed to run, unchecked, for 70 yards and have two opportunities to score, is the most pathetic, most pitiful I've ever seen Stenhousemuir concede. It felt like the death rattle of some miserable failed regime, not the fourth league game of a new campaign, and it's difficult to see how Stephen Swift comes back from this. He made numerous changes to the side that lost at Stirling Albion, he altered the formation and approach, and we still looked slow, ponderous and out of ideas against a fairly ordinary opponent.
I don't think Dumbarton were tremendous but aside from our second-half goal, we didn't ask a them a single question. Gregor Buchanan and Stuart Carswell are limited defenders but they sailed through the match and barely allowed Tam Orr a kick. Aron Lynas was good at full-back and Gray looks like a tenacious little player and bounced back after being chucked around by Nat Wedderburn. They took their time to get into the match but they competed well and scored at all the right times. The high point was John Gemmell's introduction, the big man wearing the 99 jersey like some daft jobber from Serie A, and I'm pleased he's back in the big time; he could be a useful asset over the course of the campaign.
Stenhousemuir started well enough, knocking the ball about, albeit without offering any real penetration, but began to wilt as soon as the Sons sussed them out. The opening goal, scored directly from a corner kick, was one of many shambles this afternoon. Conor Brennan has shown himself to be a good shot-stopper but there's always a feeling a mistake is in the post, and so it proved when he missed his punch on Ryan Blair's corner and allowed it to sail into the net. The second goal came from a long throw and somehow tumbled inside the box before deflecting off Martin McNiff's knee. There seemed to be a sense of disbelief when the ball bounced across the line.
The Warriors made a couple of changes and pushed forward (and it's dispiriting that team have looked at the best this season when trying to salvage a two-goal deficit). Euan O'Reilly's consolation might have come from a goalkeeping error but the interplay between him and Adam Brown in the build up was sublime. We couldn't build on it, despite throwing men forward, before Gray's netted the third at the death. Virtually the entire Norway Stand emptied.
It might sound a little perverse, but the third goal was a relief. Had Stenhousemuir finished strongly, narrowly losing, Swift could have spun the defeat as a sign that his players are doing the right things, his system and his formation is the right way to proceed, and everything will click at some point soon. But the way Gray gathered the ball, motored through several half-hearted challenges, and scored at the second time of asking, obliterates any of that, and he's now under real pressure to turn around this appalling start, the second appalling start he's made to a campaign as Stenny manager. I'd like to say I'm looking forward to his post-match interview on Warriors TV but the important questions are rarely asked and bizarre non-sequiturs put to him instead. I don't have much faith in him, if I'm being honest. He's brought some good players to the club but this team is unbalanced and lacking in some important areas and probably needs additions to bring it up to standard.
What a terrible showing that was today; what a terrible season it's been so far.

Think it’s a bit harsh to blame the keeper for the first. He must have been expecting the defender to clear it but he seemed to move out of the way

[TullyBascombe]

First goal was comical. Keeper called something, certainly not ‘keepahhh’ , more like the grunting moan of a Scooby Doo villain pre-unmasking. Nothing decisive, anyway. Harsh calling it an own goal, might have flicked slightly off the keeper but seemed to go straight in. 

Thought Buchanan, Carswell and McNiff were rock solid. Ally Love chased everything. Gray looked terrific again.

Nice pies.

[Thommo90]

1 minute ago, Nowhereman said:

Think it’s a bit harsh to blame the keeper for the first. He must have been expecting the defender to clear it but he seemed to move out of the way

Thats how I seen it too.  No communication?  Certainly didn't hear brennan shout for it.  Good to see us reaping the benefits off him now though after having to suffer him previously.

[microdave]

First goal seemed to go in directly from the corner from my position right behind the goal. I was feeling really anxious after Stenny scored so Gray's superb goal at the end was soooo good a feeling. First time since 2012 that we've won four consecutive games and everything feels right this evening.

It was great to meet Boghead Ranter for the first time and really enjoyed his company. Cheers big man.

And I'll finish off by saying I fucking love the Sons!

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I think the Stenny fans are being a bit hard on their team.  Today was the fourth consecutive match in which we have basically counter-attacked our way to a win, victories which have been built on solid defence and collective hard work.

There's an element of playing the percentages in that, but full points is a great start, especially when we have been missing important players.

Stenny put a lot into the game today but like Annan last week they looked a bit one-dimensional.  We don't look like swamping teams, but we are capable of creating and taking chances whilst keeping it tight at the back.  And if there's currently a better-to-box midfielder in League Two than Fin Gray then I'll be surprised.

[Neilly]

Dumbarton are not pretty on the eye but they play percentage, streetwise football and it is effective at this level. We couldn't deal with them physically from throw ins and set plays and that's ultimately where the game was won and lost.

Apart from our well worked goal neither side really put together any decent passages of play that was cutting open the opposition. You wouldn't look at that game and say one team is top and the other bottom but our confidence seems at rock bottom (pun intentional) and its hard to see a way out of it with the constant chopping and changing of a squad of players who look an absolute mile off it.

 

[Third Son from the Rock]

Very pleasing.

The surface throws up variables at Stenny and surely I'm not the only one who has noticed the number of overhits - especially at corners and fouls but really any ball that's hit from the ground. Strangely, if the ball is rolling it seems to slow down v. quickly. 

The Gray goal was simply joyous and the performances of Buchanan and Carswell (with supporting roles from McNiff and Lynas) prevented Long from having to make a serious save. 

I agree completely with this too.

11 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I think the Stenny fans are being a bit hard on their team.  Today was the fourth consecutive match in which we have basically counter-attacked our way to a win, victories which have been built on solid defence and collective hard work.

There's an element of playing the percentages in that, but full points is a great start, especially when we have been missing important players.

Stenny put a lot into the game today but like Annan last week they looked a bit one-dimensional.  We don't look like swamping teams, but we are capable of creating and taking chances whilst keeping it tight at the back.  And if there's currently a better-to-box midfielder in League Two than Fin Gray then I'll be surprised.

 

[Silverton End]

3 minutes ago, Neilly said:

Dumbarton are not pretty on the eye but they play percentage, streetwise football and it is effective at this level. We couldn't deal with them physically from throw ins and set plays and that's ultimately where the game was won and lost.

Apart from our well worked goal neither side really put together any decent passages of play that was cutting open the opposition. You wouldn't look at that game and say one team is top and the other bottom but our confidence seems at rock bottom (pun intentional) and its hard to see a way out of it with the constant chopping and changing of a squad of players who look an absolute mile off it.

 

 

[Jan Vojáček]

It's funny, almost everyone we've played this season have said something similar post-match. That we didn't blow them away, and that we aren't world beaters, but that their side just struggled in both boxes. And I'd probably agree with them.

We haven't given anyone a real hiding, and likewise we haven't played a team who have given us an easy game. But in all four games we've played so far we've defended better than our opposition and been more clinical and inventive at the other end. That was the case again today. We look a really professional outfit at the moment.

Our defensive shape is excellent. In fact our shape full stop is excellent. We have a good range of options going forward and we have a group of players who are A) bursting their arse for the cause and B) looking more and more confident by the week.

Teams are struggling to cut us open. Stenny's goal today (which Brett Long should've saved) was the only time they really opened us up, and it was a quality move. Aside from the goal, and a Sean Crighton header that was cleared off the line by Finlay Gray shortly after, Stenny laboured to create openings. Annan had similar issues last week, despite having plenty of the ball, Albion Rovers were the same after a chaotic first 20 minutes, and so were Stirling Albion, Raith Rovers and Peterhead. Brett Long has made some wonderful saves so far, but he's also not been half as busy as our keepers were last year.

Tam Orr was very comfortably marshalled by Gregor Buchanan and Stuart Carswell all game, and Stenny seemed to either run out of space to play in, or resorted to just launching a cross into our area when they couldn't pick the lock.

I thought our entire back four were excellent. Aron Lynas barely lost a battle all game, Gregor Buchanan and Stuart Carswell were  dominant in the air and composed on the deck, and Martin McNiff put in another very steady showing at full-back - with his lack of pace rarely exposed.

It's a huge change from last year where we were indecisive and chaotic at the back, and crumbled against any team capable of stringing together more than three passes in the penalty box.

Finlay Gray going box-to-box in front of the back four is obviously making a big difference too, it's been a long time since we had a player with his engine and capabilities defensively and offensively. Dare I say it, but he actually has a wee bit of the Sam Stantons about him. Whilst the defending for his goal was questionable (why did Nat Wedderburn not just foul him and take the yellow card?) to have the drive to cover that distance and then finish at the second attempt in injury time is remarkable. His lungs must be absolutely massive.

Going forward we have a decent range of options. Declan Byrne works defenders hard and plays as a striker (e.g something we didn't have last season when everyone we played up top started dropping deep or wide), Ally Love was a threat and even big Kalvin Orsi caused a few problems with his direct running. It's just a shame his final ball let him down once he'd worked into some good positions. Off the bench Ryan Wallace and John Gemmell both used their experience well to defend from the front - and The Beast really does look in great nick. We brought him on at the right time to act as a bit of a pressure release valve as Stenny chucked everything forward.

Based on today, I wouldn't say there's a huge amount between Stenny, ourselves and the other teams we've played so far. But they do have the hallmarks of a team where something is wrong. The goals they lost were really poor, they toiled to create anything of note and nobody in maroon really looked like they wanted to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and assert themselves on it. In fact far too many looked comfortable playing keep ball - without wanting to take the risks required to actually open us up.

Stephen Swift's post-match where he said they looked like a bad team would be setting some major alarm bells ringing for me too.

[The Moonster]

Swifts pre-match would've had alarm bells ringing for me, it had a whiff of Jim Duffy in his final year with us when he said he'd tried everything to score goals but couldn't figure it out. 

[squeezebox-son]

18 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

It's funny, almost everyone we've played this season have said something similar post-match. That we didn't blow them away, and that we aren't world beaters, but that their side just struggled in both boxes. And I'd probably agree with them.

We haven't given anyone a real hiding, and likewise we haven't played a team who have given us an easy game. But in all four games we've played so far we've defended better than our opposition and been more clinical and inventive at the other end. That was the case again today. We look a really professional outfit at the moment.

Our defensive shape is excellent. In fact our shape full stop is excellent. We have a good range of options going forward and we have a group of players who are A) bursting their arse for the cause and B) looking more and more confident by the week.

I was thinking exactly this after we scored the 3rd today. It reminds me a lot of when Arbroath won League 1! They didn't look like blowing anyone away at any point but they just kept plugging away and picking off teams each week. It was so frustrating to watch because I never thought they had a better group of players than we had, but they were ultimately better managed and playing more like a team than anyone else in the league that year.

Look where they have ended up from there! There is a lot to be said for continuity (look at teams like Montrose and the aforementioned Arbroath) at this level too. My brother kept on about the 2 year deals and how they would give us a good grounding this year and he appears to have been right so far... long may it continue!

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

That’s quite the move from the Stenny chairman to be publicly criticising performances on social media. That doesn’t look good for Swift at all and perhaps it’s the sort of thing that should be kept in house.

[Shawheadrover]

Well, 'Ambitious Stenhousemuir' are bottom of the league. Expect a sacking by Monday. 

[Neilly]

26 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

That’s quite the move from the Stenny chairman to be publicly criticising performances on social media. That doesn’t look good for Swift at all and perhaps it’s the sort of thing that should be kept in house.

Not for me. He's being real. I really like that about Iain to be honest he wears his heart on his sleeve and is a very decent guy.

Swift will know himself this isn't good enough so a one liner from the chairman on Twitter is the least of his worries.

[FifeSons]

I think there’s a bit of an overreaction from everyone at Stenny here. Four games is absolutely nothing. This is how L1 looked for us after 8 games last season.

Long, long way to go.

[squeezebox-son]

https://youtu.be/eYBleom9vMk

[Sweet Pete]

29 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

I think there’s a bit of an overreaction from everyone at Stenny here. Four games is absolutely nothing. This is how L1 looked for us after 8 games last season.

Long, long way to go.

The bottom team did finish last though...

[FifeSons]

8 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

The bottom team did finish last though...

True…

I think the Sons fans are handling this great start very well. Delighted in the moment and cautiously optimistic, but certainly not complacent.

[FifeSons]

12 minutes ago, squeezebox-son said:

https://youtu.be/eYBleom9vMk

Lovely to see a goal from a long throw.

[FifeSons]

That acceleration from Finlay Gray is outrageous!