Dumbarton v Stenhousemuir

[Chanandler Bong]

1 minute ago, Nigel Blackwell said:

Deserved win today- only shock was that it took so long for us to go ahead. We were on top most of the first half and were unlucky to fall behind. Dumbo’s reaction was telling. Goalie loitering over goal kicks when before that he  couldn’t wait to get the ball up the park, and the captain and goalkeeper advising the ball boys to take their time returning the ball. Odd behaviour from a team chasing the title with a half of football still to play, but it has become something of a trademark.

Second half we were well on top. O’Reilly’s introduction was timed to perfection and was the deciding factor. Orr’s miss was typical, while his winning goal wasn’t. It certainly surprised me.

It has been a pretty turgid season but that today was fantastic. It was great to win but also great to win against such an unlikable team with some pretty gruesome individuals. 

The slaughtering of McLean seems ridiculous. Sent on with 15 minutes to go he then proceeded to get every single ball telegraphed towards him, up against Nicky Jamieson who is not the silkiest player in the world, but give him a ball to attack with his head, he will win it. Dumbo won’t win the league. I’m just surprised they have come as close as they have.

Wow.

[Silverton End]

2 minutes ago, Chanandler Bong said:

Farrell has his faults, several, but he can’t be blamed for McLean appearing uninterested as you say, or, for the state of our pitch. The latter being a major player in our recent slump if you ask me.

Farrell signed McLean, as for the state of our pitch, other teams seem able to cope with it & beat us.

[Francesc Fabregas]

That was a brutal, ugly game of football between two mediocre teams. I think Stenhousemuir just about edged it based on the chances they created in the second half but other than that, this will be remembered as the match where Dumbarton, once and for all, chucked the league title. They looked spent, physically and emotionally, and I cannot see them catching a vibrant Stirling Albion side. They just look drained. I watched Aron Lynas at the full-time whistle and he sat on the turf, shell-shocked, in a state of disbelief. A season that started out so well has unravelled just as the finishing line is in sight.

Lynas opened the scoring with a sumptuous half-volley just before the interval, and I was sure that was going to be the difference between the sides. It was a scrappy match with no quality - balls thumped long, balls headed as far away as possible, punts up the park - and it only really livened up midway through the second half with the introduction of Euan O'Reilly and a change in formation, two alterations that ultimately won Stenny the game. O'Reilly was terrific and his positivity and willingness to put his foot on the ball galvanised us. Suddenly, the Sons were on the back foot, with Gavin Reilly equalising with a well-taken finish from 12 yards out. We should have gone ahead shortly afterwards when Tam Orr inexplicably put a shot wide of the post, despite having eons to shoot. It was an inexplicable miss but Orr made up for it when Matt Yates' corner kick landed perfectly for him at the back post. Very quickly we went from "hmm, I think we'll be keeping an eye on the bottom of the table!" to "hmm, I think we'll get fourth place!"

Despite his short time on the pitch, O'Reilly was my man of the match. Other players did well too including Adam Corbett and especially "Hurricane" Dan Higgins, who deputised at full-back following Jacob Blaney's early withdrawal. Higgins is not my favourite player and I don't quite trust him but he defended well and looked to play the ball when the opportunity arose. Fair play to Gary Naysmith too, he made the right changes at the right time and it swung the contest in our favour.

Just before the half time, Martin McNiff allowed a ball to slowly run out for a goal kick, and Brett Long took ages to collect it, spot it, and boot it back into play. I was expecting a re-run of the meeting in February, when Dumbarton wasted time over and over again. Long was at it throughout the second half until Reilly's goal sparked him and his team-mates into a bit of urgency, so it was good to see it come back and bite them this afternoon. Also: Russell McLean was terrible when he came on - he didn't win a single header and didn't do anything positive on the rare occasions he had the ball.

[Chanandler Bong]

4 minutes ago, Silverton End said:

Farrell signed McLean, as for the state of our pitch, other teams seem able to cope with it & beat us.

Very true. But McLean undoubtedly has ability, him trotting about looking as if he wants to be anywhere else isn’t Farrell’s fault and neither is us struggling to play on a tattie field of a pitch. Any manager and squad are being short-changed being asked to play on that every second week. Once in a while playing well on it, fine, teams will come and do a job, but faced with it every second game, no wonder it’s the chore it looks to play on.

[pleslie99]

f**k up, we can’t blame the pitch for Macleans performance! He’s a waste of a wage and a jersey whether it is on out tottie field or an Astro! Folk like Lynas put in effort and look genuinely upset with results. Maclean is a big bag of shite. I was at the game today with my pals that are not Dumbarton fans and they couldn’t believe his performance 

[Neilly]

1 hour ago, pleslie99 said:

f**k up, we can’t blame the pitch for Macleans performance! He’s a waste of a wage and a jersey whether it is on out tottie field or an Astro! Folk like Lynas put in effort and look genuinely upset with results. Maclean is a big bag of shite. I was at the game today with my pals that are not Dumbarton fans and they couldn’t believe his performance 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

10 hours ago, Nigel Blackwell said:

 

The slaughtering of McLean seems ridiculous. Sent on with 15 minutes to go he then proceeded to get every single ball telegraphed towards him, up against Nicky Jamieson who is not the silkiest player in the world, but give him a ball to attack with his head, he will win it. Dumbo won’t win the league. I’m just surprised they have come as close as they have.

The slaughtering of McLean is based on his lack of effort over numerous appearances, not just yesterday’s embarrassing Saturday saunter around the bottom of Dumbarton Castle. 

[TullyBascombe]

Any news on the Stenny lad who got injured early on? Never good to see a player given oxygen as he’s wheeled away on a stretcher. 

Not many positives yesterday but I thought Grant was excellent, getting his planet-sized head to everything bunted his way. Booking looked… harsh.

Lynas gave everything again, after running himself into the ground on Wednesday night. If he ever runs out of steam it’ll be costly.

Wallace buzzed about as ever, hitting the bar in the first half while that shot on the turn just past the post was probably the closest we came in the second. Hope he hasn’t done his hammy as someone suggested earlier.

With Ross MacLean hobbling off it’s not looking good when all we could muster on the bench was two teenagers with about 40 minutes of first team football between them and two big lumps. Stenny’s subs are what turned the game. We’ve two or three more weeks with that bench by the sound of things.

McLean was genuinely, properly, startlingly, beyond parody useless. Granted teams are going to put two big lads on him every time, but he trots on to the pitch with the air of someone who’s not sure why he’s being sent on to a football field wearing funny clothes and it just deteriorates from there.

A good few players looked understandably knackered yesterday. Was a long, sapping week with a return of one point from nine. Ouch.

[WC Boggs]

8 hours ago, Neilly said:

That sums up Stenny's title challenge really well.

[WC Boggs]

Oh dear Fabregas doesn't mind Stenny trolls dishing it out, but one slap back and he's all butt hurt.  You can dislike this as well Fabby. knock yourself out.  (again)

[WC Boggs]

That's it son, go for the hat trick. Be another season first for you.

[Neilly]

Absolutely bizarre stuff. I fear for my safety.

[WC Boggs]

2 minutes ago, Neilly said:

Absolutely bizarre stuff. I fear for my safety.

I fear for your mental health. Too much compassion, that's my trouble.

[Sons fan 1872]

1 hour ago, TullyBascombe said:

Any news on the Stenny lad who got injured early on? Never good to see a player given oxygen as he’s wheeled away on a stretcher. 

Not many positives yesterday but I thought Grant was excellent, getting his planet-sized head to everything bunted his way. Booking looked… harsh.

Lynas gave everything again, after running himself into the ground on Wednesday night. If he ever runs out of steam it’ll be costly.

Wallace buzzed about as ever, hitting the bar in the first half while that shot on the turn just past the post was probably the closest we came in the second. Hope he hasn’t done his hammy as someone suggested earlier.

With Ross MacLean hobbling off it’s not looking good when all we could muster on the bench was two teenagers with about 40 minutes of first team football between them and two big lumps. Stenny’s subs are what turned the game. We’ve two or three more weeks with that bench by the sound of things.

McLean was genuinely, properly, startlingly, beyond parody useless. Granted teams are going to put two big lads on him every time, but he trots on to the pitch with the air of someone who’s not sure why he’s being sent on to a football field wearing funny clothes and it just deteriorates from there.

A good few players looked understandably knackered yesterday. Was a long, sapping week with a return of one point from nine. Ouch.

He dislocated his shoulder out for the rest of the season know stennys kit man so asked him. As for our performance he ran out of steam second half and I do feel for a lot of the team who looked dead on their feet. Basically the same team has played 3 games in a week. Injuries have severely hampered us the last 2-3 weeks but now it’s all about gaining momentum for the play offs. Does anyone know when injured players wilL be back? 

[Jan Vojáček]

Watching us yesterday reminded me of the Covid season under Jim Duffy. Players dead on their feet, little or no football breaking out and a pitch that looked almost impossible for both teams. The amount of misplaced passes, dodgy touches and overhit crosses made it an absolutely brutal watch.

I said the other night that I felt for the players. And I would repeat that. Guys like Aron Lynas, Gregor Buchanan, Martin McNiff and big Peter Grant are doing their best. There's no lack of effort. But they look gubbed. Ahead of them Ryan Blair has possibly his poorest game in a Sons shirt, and looked like a guy without the energy to even try a crossfield pass.

Finlay Gray was quiet and well marshalled by Nat Wedderburn, Ally Love did little apart from start a fight and neither winger saw a lot of the ball.

Ryan Wallace, to his credit, led the line very well and highlighted how much he's been missed. When his hamstring looked to go about 15 minutes from the end I was ready to throw a big tantrum. He's 100 times the player Rusty McLean is, and the big man is currently on track to be one of our biggest disappointments in recent years. I thought he could be our missing link, as it is he's been as big a flop as Rory Loy. Albeit probably not as expensive. It's so disappointing given how good he was against us last season.

There were really only three highlights in the game from a quality point of view. Ryan Wallace's superb effort that smacked the bar, Aron Lynas' excellent strike for the goal and Euan O'Reilly's performance. It might've been a tactical masterstroke keeping O'Reilly on the bench to run at our tired defenders, because he completely changed the game when he came on. As FF says, he might've only been on for 20 minutes - but he was the best player on the park yesterday. It's also the second time Gary Naysmith has made a tactical shuffle in a game to change it in Stenny's favour. And fair play to him for that. 

As a spectacle though it was really woeful stuff, and with MacLean, Wallace and Lynch all picking up injuries I genuinely worry if we'll be able to field a team next week. I can't ever remember an injury crisis like this. Bad luck will have played a part; but is there something else the club should be looking at? Physio? Recovery after games? The park? 

We'll potentially travel to Annan next week without Carswell, Div Wilson, McKee, Orsi, MacLean and Ryan Wallace. Aside from Bucky and Blair, that's the spine of the side which had us sitting at the top of the league for most of the first-half of the season. It's staggering to have so many key men out.

Stenny are a funny side. They have a lot of good players (Yates, Reilly, O'Reilly and even the likes of Adam Brown and Tam Orr would improve us a fair whack, whilst big Nat Wedderburn is still a superb player). But they just don't seem as good as they should be? They could very well make the playoffs. Or they could finish sixth or seventh. And I don't think I'd be surprised either way.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

2 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Ally Love did little apart from start a fight

You could probably sum up his entire season with this one line IMO. 

[Jan Vojáček]

I should've said. Fair play to the ballboy in front of the Stenny fans for the way he charged about when we went behind. He was shouting at the players to let them know he'd get them a closer ball. I've just watched the GoPro goals back on Twitter and he went absolutely mental after Aron Lynas's goal. For Lynas it must've been like watching a 12 year old version of himself 

Go on wee man.

[TullyBascombe]

It’s a small thing in the great scheme but I’ve noticed how Lynas is terrific with the ball boys and girls. Even when a game’s absolutely frenetic he always, without fail, has a word for them or a ruffle of their hair when they give him the ball. Sometimes see them turning away looking absolutely starstruck. He seems like a genuinely nice fella.

[Neilly]

22 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I should've said. Fair play to the ballboy in front of the Stenny fans for the way he charged about when we went behind. He was shouting at the players to let them know he'd get them a closer ball. I've just watched the GoPro goals back on Twitter and he went absolutely mental after Aron Lynas's goal. For Lynas it must've been like watching a 12 year old version of himself 

Go on wee man.

He seemed a nice wee lad and looked like he was enjoying himself.

Probably Dumbarton's best performer on the day actually.

[LoonsYouthTeam]

Another one through the Shakehands Tom Academy?