Loons vs Sons

[fafc1885]

I wonder if Raymond is still aiming for the play offs.

A lot was made by the club of our ‘great’ unbeaten run. Except that’s now just two wins in ten games.

[FifeSons]

We were very briefly up to 2nd. Just need a win next week and the hammer throwers to do us a favour at New Bayview.

[RateofKnots]

Just now, fafc1885 said:

I wonder if Raymond is still aiming for the play offs.

A lot was made by the club of our ‘great’ unbeaten run. Except that’s now just two wins in ten games.

Can just about still make the relegation play off.

[FifeSons]

Just now, RateofKnots said:

Can just about still make the relegation play off.

I’d say everyone from Elgin down is in danger. Today has really opened it up.

[RateofKnots]

1 minute ago, FifeSons said:

I’d say everyone from Elgin down is in danger. Today has really opened it up.

Stranraer will have to improve massively.

33% of their points tally came in their first 5 games.

[FifeSons]

Just now, RateofKnots said:

Stranraer will have to improve massively.

33% of their points tally came in their first 5 games.

Well they’re guaranteed 3 points against us at Stair Park!

[RateofKnots]

Just now, FifeSons said:

Well they’re guaranteed 3 points against us at Stair Park!

Penultimate round of fixtures has Forfar at home to Stranraer. Squeaky bum time.

[nofixedability]

Utter disgrace of a performance once again from Forfar. We really are a joke club at the moment.

[May Rckinnon]

Are you not entertained?!

[Jan Vojáček]

I enjoyed that. In fact I'm just enjoying watching us generally at the moment. We have the feel of a team challenging for promotion for the first time since we rocked up in this league, our big players are playing well and we're looking good at both ends of the park.

Today wasn't massively one-sided. But I felt we were the better side throughout and deserved all three points. 2-0 seemed like the right sort of scoreline too, especially given we had two goals chalked off. 

I thought the game would be a stick on 0-0 when I saw we were missing Ruth. But fairly play to the players, because they adapted their game around not having a guy who is our most important player.

Jinky Hilton led the line in a very different way. But did a good job. His touch was superb and he came close a few times. He's in good form at the moment and looks to be benefitting from finally getting regular gametime. He just looks like a guy who is enjoying his football.

I thought Blair Malcolm had a very decent, energetic performance and Finlay Gray also continued his terrific form of recent times. He was first to almost everything in the middle of the park, always looking to surge forward and caused Forfar all kinds of issues with his pace.

Tony Wallace's penalty was well taken and he had an excellent header ruled out for offside that I'll need to see back. The ball took forever to reach him so I've no idea if it was the right call or not, but it looked very tight. He's now on 14 for the season. That's a brilliant return. Brings him level with Dom Thomas and Calum Gallagher in 2018/19. We've not had someone this 'prolific' for a while.

At the back Mark Durnan continues to impress and largely we looked comfortable. Save for good chances in both half. One where Josh Skelly got an attempted chip over Jay Hogarth all wrong, and a horrible miss from Fin Allan in the second-half one-on-one. Kieran Inglis also probably should've done better when Hogarth kicked the ball straight to him from the left-back position. But he made a complete arse of his lob and the danger was gone.

I thought Carlo Pignatiello was the best player on the park today by a good distance. I'm his biggest fan. But also his fiercest critic. Sometimes it feels like he's playing within himself, but that wasn't the case at all today. He was different class on the wing and, especially, when moved to attacking midfield.

His goal was a lovely strike. A low left footed drive from the edge of the area. And it felt like it had been coming all game. He'd curled narrowly wide earlier in the half, and fired straight at Marc McCallum after a superb driving run started when he intercepted the ball.

I'm hoping we might see more of him in the attacking midfield role. It's one I've always thought suited him and it gets a guy who is one of our best players on the ball right in dangerous areas. The only downside is that he's also our best defender too! But Aron Lynas is back to himself at full-back, so that might solve that problem.

Our second disallowed goal was a weird one. McCallum saved from Pignatiello, the ball ended up going past the keeper to Kalvin Orsi who stuck it in the net.

It was given. We celebrated. The linesman didn't flag. But didn't move. After a long deliberation it was chalked off. I spoke to Carlo afterwards and asked him, and the linesman said he had played the ball to Orsi. But it looked like it was a Loons defender who had played it last. Albeit as a kind of sclaffed clearance. Again I'll need to see it back because I'm not actually sure what happened! 

Forfar looked exactly as their fans described them. There were a couple of decent passages of play, but both ended up with crosses being flashed across goal to nobody. Aside from that their best chance looked like coming from a mistake at the back from ourselves. Nobody really scared me in blue, it was just a collection of absolute fine performances. But with little excitement, invention or creativity.

Marc McCallum was asking for the Clyde score during the game which I thought was interesting. I didn't have Forfar down as anything like in relegation danger, but the results today do open things up a bit.

I think they'll be absolutely fine. But I can see why Ray McKinnon isn't exactly flavour of the month.

Stenny are like a better version of us from last season. Built on defensive solidity and clinical striking. Forfar are a worse version. Absolutely fine defensively. But not stand out good. And then not clinical offensively. 

I suspect they'll need to do some decent business over the summer to avoid being in a similar position next season. Especially in terms of attacking creativity. They just looked really short on ideas for most of the game.

The best news of the day though? Michael Ruth just had a dead leg. So he should be back next weekend.

[Nowhereman]

Three shut outs in a row since Durnan came back. I’m not saying we’d have won the league but losing Long and Durnan really changed our season

[fafc1885]

3 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

they'll need to do some decent business over the summer

Starting with binning McKinnon.

[May Rckinnon]

2 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I enjoyed that. In fact I'm just enjoying watching us generally at the moment. We have the feel of a team challenging for promotion for the first time since we rocked up in this league, our big players are playing well and we're looking good at both ends of the park.

Today wasn't massively one-sided. But I felt we were the better side throughout and deserved all three points. 2-0 seemed like the right sort of scoreline too, especially given we had two goals chalked off. 

I thought the game would be a stick on 0-0 when I saw we were missing Ruth. But fairly play to the players, because they adapted their game around not having a guy who is our most important player.

Jinky Hilton led the line in a very different way. But did a good job. His touch was superb and he came close a few times. He's in good form at the moment and looks to be benefitting from finally getting regular gametime. He just looks like a guy who is enjoying his football.

I thought Blair Malcolm had a very decent, energetic performance and Finlay Gray also continued his terrific form of recent times. He was first to almost everything in the middle of the park, always looking to surge forward and caused Forfar all kinds of issues with his pace.

Tony Wallace's penalty was well taken and he had an excellent header ruled out for offside that I'll need to see back. The ball took forever to reach him so I've no idea if it was the right call or not, but it looked very tight. He's now on 14 for the season. That's a brilliant return. Brings him level with Dom Thomas and Calum Gallagher in 2018/19. We've not had someone this 'prolific' for a while.

At the back Mark Durnan continues to impress and largely we looked comfortable. Save for good chances in both half. One where Josh Skelly got an attempted chip over Jay Hogarth all wrong, and a horrible miss from Fin Allan in the second-half one-on-one. Kieran Inglis also probably should've done better when Hogarth kicked the ball straight to him from the left-back position. But he made a complete arse of his lob and the danger was gone.

I thought Carlo Pignatiello was the best player on the park today by a good distance. I'm his biggest fan. But also his fiercest critic. Sometimes it feels like he's playing within himself, but that wasn't the case at all today. He was different class on the wing and, especially, when moved to attacking midfield.

His goal was a lovely strike. A low left footed drive from the edge of the area. And it felt like it had been coming all game. He'd curled narrowly wide earlier in the half, and fired straight at Marc McCallum after a superb driving run started when he intercepted the ball.

I'm hoping we might see more of him in the attacking midfield role. It's one I've always thought suited him and it gets a guy who is one of our best players on the ball right in dangerous areas. The only downside is that he's also our best defender too! But Aron Lynas is back to himself at full-back, so that might solve that problem.

Our second disallowed goal was a weird one. McCallum saved from Pignatiello, the ball ended up going past the keeper to Kalvin Orsi who stuck it in the net.

It was given. We celebrated. The linesman didn't flag. But didn't move. After a long deliberation it was chalked off. I spoke to Carlo afterwards and asked him, and the linesman said he had played the ball to Orsi. But it looked like it was a Loons defender who had played it last. Albeit as a kind of sclaffed clearance. Again I'll need to see it back because I'm not actually sure what happened! 

Forfar looked exactly as their fans described them. There were a couple of decent passages of play, but both ended up with crosses being flashed across goal to nobody. Aside from that their best chance looked like coming from a mistake at the back from ourselves. Nobody really scared me in blue, it was just a collection of absolute fine performances. But with little excitement, invention or creativity.

Marc McCallum was asking for the Clyde score during the game which I thought was interesting. I didn't have Forfar down as anything like in relegation danger, but the results today do open things up a bit.

I think they'll be absolutely fine. But I can see why Ray McKinnon isn't exactly flavour of the month.

Stenny are like a better version of us from last season. Built on defensive solidity and clinical striking. Forfar are a worse version. Absolutely fine defensively. But not stand out good. And then not clinical offensively. 

I suspect they'll need to do some decent business over the summer to avoid being in a similar position next season. Especially in terms of attacking creativity. They just looked really short on ideas for most of the game.

The best news of the day though? Michael Ruth just had a dead leg. So he should be back next weekend.

McCallum is about the only one who understands how pish we are. I wish more of the squad had his honesty.

[FifeSons]

16 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

The best news of the day though? Michael Ruth just had a dead leg. So he should be back next weekend.

Phew!

[microdave]

Well done to @Curler, @Sawkye, @lionel wickson, @Sons Fan, @SlipperyP, @FifeSons, @super-son, @Silverton End, @aftershocker, @CrispyMelon, @BullyWeeClydeFc and @Cruyff14 for correctly predicting a Dumbarton victory.

[Third Son from the Rock]

34 minutes ago, microdave said:

Well done to @Curler, @Sawkye, @lionel wickson, @Sons Fan, @SlipperyP, @FifeSons, @super-son, @Silverton End, @aftershocker, @CrispyMelon, @BullyWeeClydeFc and @Cruyff14 for correctly predicting a Dumbarton victory.

 

[squeezebox-son]

5 hours ago, fafc1885 said:

Starting with binning McKinnon.

Worst thing that ever happened was your gaffer not leaving pre-season... to think so many of you guys thought you'd win the league. McKinnon, like Jim Duffy, is a dinosaur who should give up management. Things have progressed and their approach doesn't work any more. Awful football to watch, lack or any other ideas when things aren't going well and, quite simply, underachievers.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

That’s a good, solid win. I’ve no idea what our record is up there but historically it’s a venue I’ve always viewed as a ‘tough place to go’. 

Things seem to be clicking for us at the minute. We’re playing well and guys who have been contributing very little are starting look like regular starters in a team pushing for promotion. I have absolutely no doubt that the return of Mark Durnan has made a huge difference, a great captain and a really solid operator at this level. His return seems to have galvanised this squad and we can only wonder what might have been had him and Brett Long not missed the majority of the season. How did young Lennon get on at left back yesterday? It’s the one position that worries me a bit given we don’t actually have a natural left back in the squad.

Consistency is key so we need to keep this going heading into the playoffs. With Uncle Faz at the helm I’m never fully convinced we wont go out and get pumped next weekend but maybe that’s just the pessimist in me.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

That’s a good, solid win. I’ve no idea what our record is up there but historically it’s a venue I’ve always viewed as a ‘tough place to go’. 

Things seem to be clicking for us at the minute. We’re playing well and guys who have been contributing very little are starting look like regular starters in a team pushing for promotion. I have absolutely no doubt that the return of Mark Durnan has made a huge difference, a great captain and a really solid operator at this level. His return seems to have galvanised this squad and we can only wonder what might have been had him and Brett Long not missed the majority of the season. How did young Lennon get on at left back yesterday? It’s the one position that worries me a bit given we don’t actually have a natural left back in the squad.

Consistency is key so we need to keep this going heading into the playoffs. With Uncle Faz at the helm I’m never fully convinced we wont go out and get pumped next weekend but maybe that’s just the pessimist in me.

Lennon played well but in truth we didn't have a failure across the team.  When you factor in that we had a goal disallowed in each half, the second of which was very debatable, it was a very decent win in very blustery conditions.

The only slight concern was the impressive Newbury failing to appear for the second half but I'm hoping that was precautionary rather than anything serious.

Forfar plugged away without creating a great deal - should have equalised at 1-0 however - and they struggled with the high-energy pressing and runs if Finlay and Carlo.

[fafc1885]

Another post match interview where McKinnon thinks we didn’t deserve to lose.

Not the most bizarre claim in the interview though as we apparently deserved to win and looked more threatening.