Forfar v Ronnybiggs

[C_titz]

Can’t wait to get upto station park today , 7-3-0 formation Ray please .

[fafc1885]

Just the four centre backs starting this week then.

[Bridie Vision]

Just now, fafc1885 said:

Just the four centre backs starting this week then.

Yeah, Ray decided to go more attacking

[Jupiter Jazz]

It's clearly 3-4-3, so he isn't actually playing four centre halfs.

Thomson left out again though, what's that about?

[Bridie Vision]

Munro absolutely at fault for that pen. Yes Allan caused the foul but that was because Munro made a stupid pass across the box!

[fafc1885]

Just now, Bridie Vision said:

Munro absolutely at fault for that pen. Yes Allan caused the foul but that was because Munro made a stupid pass across the box!

Every. Fucking. Week.

[nofixedability]

Abysmal first half again, it’s like McKinnon had no interest in attacking. The sooner the axis of evil that is Munro and McCallum are dispensed with the better.

[Bridie Vision]

1 minute ago, nofixedability said:

Abysmal first half again, it’s like McKinnon had no interest in attacking. The sooner the axis of evil that is Munro and McCallum are dispensed with the better.

Munro, understandable. McCallum? He's not done anything egregious.

Looks like the 2nd half will be 4-4-2 route one Munro punts to Ferguson. Allardyce & Pulis would be proud.

[nofixedability]

A blind man could see Robson should have been hooked before his red card.

[Loon From Outta Toon]

Can see this being used a lot this season…

[C_titz]

Too slow , too lightweight , not much quality . 

[Jupiter Jazz]

3 minutes ago, nofixedability said:

A blind man could see Robson should have been hooked before his red card.

Difficult to notice him not being there. Like so many, just not good enough but that was obvious last season.

Bonnyrigg far better than us, should've won by more.

[Loon From Outta Toon]

The score line absolutely flattered us.

a better side would have put 5 or 6 past us.

although the second goal was well offside.  No excuses though, as we didn’t deserve anything from the game at all. 

[Bridie Vision]

Well done Bonnyrigg, well deserved. We were poor. The penalty was a gift for you guys and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

[nofixedability]

Our home first halves are a recurring nightmare of passivity and sitting off opponents to give them the impetus. This comes from the manager and his tactics, they are diabolically negative and it is hurting us every single week.

[Ivo den Bieman]

Took this in as a neutral, I've been driving a lot this week and the thought of driving down to Hamilton this morning was about as appealing as re-sitting my Higher Maths.

Must admit I expected Forfar to be quite tight and well organised if not full of goals, and this is the first time I've seen Bonnyrigg live. They brought a very good and noisy support with them.

Bonnyrigg almost scored with the first move of the game, big Faye flashing a header into the side netting from a left wing cross. Bonnyrigg are land of the giants, but they do mix things up and had a lot of pace down the flanks which Forfar struggled with throughout. The visitors seemed a yard quicker and had more enthusiasm for the game than their hosts who were flat, listless and lacking any kind of shape for all but about the last twenty five minutes.

Rose took the lead through one of the most laugable penalties you'll see all season. Faye had the ball in the box and a Forfar defender looked like he may challenge, in close proximity. Faye tumbled to the ground like a Jenga tower constructed at last orders by a gang of jakeys. Reliably malfunctioning refereeing algorithm Gavin Duncan bought these theatrical junk bonds and pointed to the spot. No one in the ground could quite believe it; Faye's sprawl was about as convincing as a £27 note with Chic Young's head on it. Martyniuk's penalty was deadly, hit very powerfully low into the right hand corner, 1-0.

Matty Allan, a Mercedes in Forfar's garage full of Ladas, hirpled off injured half way through the first half and was replaced by Thomson, who himself was replaced just before the break having twanged a hammy. It just wasn't to be snaky Ray's afternoon. This was depite visiitng keeper Paddy Martin looking less than convincing. I never like a keeper that parries by default, he did that with two perfectly innocuous shots with the ball thankfully falling clear of lurking attackers. On another occasion a shot from the edge of the box squirmed under his body and he only just got back to stop it at the very last moment. You won't challenge much with a guy like that in goal. Catch two, throw in three.

Just to try and even things up Duncan whistled for an equally absurd "foul" on the lively Euan Mutale. Mutale's spring-heeled salmon leap at the edge of the Rose box was transparently not a foul; it resembled an ill-advised student prank involving a novelty furry light shade and some experimental rocket fuel. The resulting free kick was pisspoor however and summed up Forfar's half, sailing straight out of the ground.

Forfar were a little bit better in the second half but still huffed and puffed and failed to give Martin much to do. A dodgy keeper like that is crying out for someone to pump high swirling balls on top of his head and pressure him. Forfar don't have those players though; on the one or two occasions Martin had high balls to deal with he was put under no pressure at all and was able to gather without fuss.

Still there was a leveller and it came as Bonnyrigg tried to wind the game down discordantly, a saggy old accordion's death rattle. Someone got fouled in front of the stand, Inglis' free kick was whipped in at a great height and pace, and the visiting defence for once was caught out of position and napping. The impressive Morrison bulleted a header past the luckless Martin to even things up, perhaps surprisingly.

This lasted all of two minutes. I seem to remember the ball being lofted forward either from a free kick or an odd bounce from two colliding players, Whatever, big Faye was away. The gigantic Frenchman gangled forward like a bearded grasshopper with a rolling marble under his feet. He rounded the Forfar keeper and stabbed home elegantly in front of the visiting tribunes. 2-1. The terracing lineperson got a lot of abuse from the bitter elderly Free Kirk Ministers in the home enclosure, who protested long and loud that Faye was offside. He was on the defender's shoulder and it must have been a maerginal call,  but I was standing at the wrong angle to give a definitive judgement, and would like to see a replay. I would say that lino got eveything else spot on pretty much but no one will be buying her a drink in the Ploo, that's for sure.

After that the game wound down, Forfar did try hard to make something happen but just lack any kind of quality in the final third.

An entertaining game- one that kept the attention- between two moderate sides. Bonnyrigg do what they do very well; streets ahead of Forfar in the wind-up stakes and work very, very hard, marshalled brilliantly by Midlothian's best Colin Cameron troubte act, Lee Currie. The experienced no. 10 controlled the midfield and kept the visitors ticking over- to be honest I thought he had long dropped down the divisions into the East of Scotland league and was surprised to see him. It's always nice to see an old stager having an effective curtain call. Up front big Faye and Scotland's least fulfilled journeyman, Smart Osadolor, look like they might have an effective partnership. Osadolor is a natural talent but has had more clubs than an Inuit seal hunter, so no doubt will take the huff and be off to BSC Glasgow or Deveronvale in six months. Bonnyrigg must be a nightmare to play against, and their athleticism and enthusiasm for the fray shoild see them finish higher up the table this season.

As for Forfar-ooft. Laughable to remember that some considered them promotion candidates before the season began. They seem three or four players light and have no idea how they want to play. Mutale is a useful player up front but is still a bit of an unguided missile- you never quite know what will happen with him next. They have some experienced players in the ranks but at present aren't gelling as a team at all. At least there's potential there, however, which was hard to see under Gary Irvine.

Well, not a bad old afternoon all told. Finally- Scottish football is fucked if Gavin Duncan is esteemed as a great up and coming referee. He looked like he'd never been to a football match before and had ended up officiating by accident, having got lost looking for a job interview at Strathmore's macaroni factory. He's comically gullible and hair trigger in his decision making, and even in my happy status of not really giving a f**k who won, felt aggrieved by his constant whistling; the game should flow like a river, not be broken up like droplets from a rusty tap. I'll be happy never to see him in the middle of a game ever again. Dreadful.

[Clayhole Blue]

7 minutes ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

 

Rose took the lead through one of the most laugable penalties you'll see all season. Faye had the ball in the box and a Forfar defender looked like he may challenge, in close proximity. Faye tumbled to the ground like a Jenga tower constructed at last orders by a gang of jakeys. Reliably malfunctioning refereeing algorithm Gavin Duncan bought these theatrical junk bonds and pointed to the spot. No one in the ground could quite believe it; Faye's sprawl was about as convincing as a £27 note with Chic Young's head on it. Martyniuk's penalty was deadly, hit very powerfully low into the right hand corner, 1-0.

Loved this description Ivo!!

[Jupiter Jazz]

"At least there's potential there"

What? Where? Who?

[Ivo den Bieman]

2 minutes ago, Jupiter Jazz said:

"At least there's potential there"

What? Where? Who?

Your keeper is decent, Morrison I thought was alright, Mutale has potential. Kieran Inglis is fine for this level and Nditi although not at his best today potentially is one of the best players in the division.

As we know from long years of watching terrible football indivduals don't make a team and it's down to the manager's failure to get them well set up and drilled and get across a clear vision of how he wants to play. Might be something to do with him spending most of the summer thinking he was away to England.

[Jupiter Jazz]

8 minutes ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

Your keeper is decent, Morrison I thought was alright, Mutale has potential. Kieran Inglis is fine for this level and Nditi although not at his best today potentially is one of the best players in the division.

As we know from long years of watching terrible football indivduals don't make a team and it's down to the manager's failure to get them well set up and drilled and get across a clear vision of how he wants to play. Might be something to do with him spending most of the summer thinking he was away to England.

Yeah keeper and defence when settled are good for this level. Midfield and attack is so limited especially since, in a bizarre move, he's stopped playing Thomson.

I genuinely can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching us and it's verging on being worse than under Irvine.