Annan vs Dumbarton

[squeezebox-son]

Just now, WC Boggs said:

I was hoping you'd get your first win today, but no luck at all.  So ok you need to start winning, but when nobody has been able to beat you I like to think surely there's hope a win is imminent. Anyway, good luck sons, I hope you start getting them over the line soon.

I reckon with a different referee today could have been a 5 or 6 goal victory for Dumbarton. It just had that feeling about it. Annan were absolutely rattled by our attack and offered nothing going forward. Even playing against 10 for so long, the young goalie only had a couple of saves to make and Annan offered very little.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

23 minutes ago, super-son said:

I can’t really grumble about the red card tbh. If you’re coming 35-40 yards out your goal, then you have to make sure you clearly get the ball. Questions need asked about the defending at times too. Clark got caught out about half a dozen times on the left and we were caught sleeping which lead to the red card incident.

Apart from the red card the referee and co got progressively worse as the game went on, giving Annan a free kick any time our Strikers challenged for the ball in anyway. Not to mention the high foot challenge on Niang.

Thought a lot of our players had quite a bad game today after we were down to 10 men in particular. Niang was poor on the ball and just seemed to be a yard off it for most of the game. Mike Miller was poor for most of the game but done well in the closing stages. Mumbongo was absolutely rotten, he couldn’t get the ball to stick to him and lost possession way too much, even though he did have some harsh fouls ruled against him.

Final shoutout to Luke Smallwood, who was fantastic today! I was worried when I seen how young and small he was but he managed everything thrown at him today, was pretty composed and only made one small error in spilling the ball but between him and the defence, they managed to scramble it clear.

More than deserved a point today. I’m happy to write this one off due to the red card but it’s becoming a recurring theme that we can’t get these wins over the line and take all 3 points.

Onwards and upwards!

I think you're being a bit harsh there.  Clark actually (again) had a very decent game but Matty Shiels in front of him seemed to forget there's a defensive side to the game, and that's why Todd in particular was able to dink balls over Clark into space for the runners.  The second half was a bit better because we were digging in deeper.

Secondly, after the red card our ten men faced 72 further minutes with 45 of those into a gale, and with the rookie of all keepers between the sticks.  Despite that we created two one-on-ones and that's two more than Annan managed.

Raith lost a man after 15 mins last night and went down 2-0 with Dabrowski in goal.  That was a helluva team effort from us today.

[The Moonster]

I assume we played a 4-2-3-1? For the first 17 minutes anyway.

Edited Saturday at 18:53 by The Moonster

[super-son]

10 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I think you're being a bit harsh there.  Clark actually (again) had a very decent game but Matty Shiels in front of him seemed to forget there's a defensive side to the game, and that's why Todd in particular was able to dink balls over Clark into space for the runners.  The second half was a bit better because we were digging in deeper.

Secondly, after the red card our ten men faced 72 further minutes with 45 of those into a gale, and with the rookie of all keepers between the sticks.  Despite that we created two one-on-ones and that's two more than Annan managed.

Raith lost a man after 15 mins last night and went down 2-0 with Dabrowski in goal.  That was a helluva team effort from us today.

For me, it was Clark who was neglecting the defensive side, in the first 20 mins or so anyway. He was doing well with attacking, overlapping and getting good crosses in but when we lost the ball we had glaring gaps down the side and Durnan just doesn’t have the pace to do anything about a counter attack down the wings.

Shiels should have had a hattrick today and the poor finishing cost us.

[squeezebox-son]

48 minutes ago, super-son said:

I can’t really grumble about the red card tbh. If you’re coming 35-40 yards out your goal, then you have to make sure you clearly get the ball. Questions need asked about the defending at times too. Clark got caught out about half a dozen times on the left and we were caught sleeping which lead to the red card incident.

Apart from the red card the referee and co got progressively worse as the game went on, giving Annan a free kick any time our Strikers challenged for the ball in anyway. Not to mention the high foot challenge on Niang.

Thought a lot of our players had quite a bad game today after we were down to 10 men in particular. Niang was poor on the ball and just seemed to be a yard off it for most of the game. Mike Miller was poor for most of the game but done well in the closing stages. Mumbongo was absolutely rotten, he couldn’t get the ball to stick to him and lost possession way too much, even though he did have some harsh fouls ruled against him.

Final shoutout to Luke Smallwood, who was fantastic today! I was worried when I seen how young and small he was but he managed everything thrown at him today, was pretty composed and only made one small error in spilling the ball but between him and the defence, they managed to scramble it clear.

More than deserved a point today. I’m happy to write this one off due to the red card but it’s becoming a recurring theme that we can’t get these wins over the line and take all 3 points.

Onwards and upwards!

Wow. So much I disagree with in this. Very harsh on a lot of the guys.

Thought the majority were very good today. Clark was fine, Mikey Millar never fills me with confidence but he was better once shifted into midfield. Niang was everywhere and I thought he had a great game until he tired a bit. Durnan was really good, apart from the error which led to the red - should've been a yellow since those challenges aren't automatically a red these days.

Mumbongo was onto nothing when he came on. Every time he did outmuscle his opponent off the ball, the ref gave a foul and every time he was fouled, the red gave a foul to Annan. Apart from that, he was being asked to run about like a headless chicken, as was Ruth before he was subbed off.

Disappointed that Finlay isn't influencing games more the last few matches, because he is capable of so much more. Shiels should've had the game put to bed and will be disappointed with his finishing.

[The Moonster]

3 minutes ago, super-son said:

For me, it was Clark who was neglecting the defensive side, in the first 20 mins or so anyway. He was doing well with attacking, overlapping and getting good crosses in but when we lost the ball we had glaring gaps down the side and Durnan just doesn’t have the pace to do anything about a counter attack down the wings.

Shiels should have had a hattrick today and the poor finishing cost us.

Surely if Clark is overlapping it's on Niang or Gray to cover him? If there's gaps there then either Clark is overlapping when he's been told not to or someone else isn't doing their job. I suspect it was the latter given Carlo and Shiels have both been given freedom to overlap previously. 

[super-son]

3 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Surely if Clark is overlapping it's on Niang or Gray to cover him? If there's gaps there then either Clark is overlapping when he's been told not to or someone else isn't doing their job. I suspect it was the latter given Carlo and Shiels have both been given freedom to overlap previously. 

I agree and it’s probably more of a tactical error than Clark tbh. I was more trying to point out that there were glaring gaps and we were pushing too many people forward and the few players left defending didn’t have the pace or the position to deal with the counter attacks.

[super-son]

31 minutes ago, squeezebox-son said:

Wow. So much I disagree with in this. Very harsh on a lot of the guys.

Thought the majority were very good today. Clark was fine, Mikey Millar never fills me with confidence but he was better once shifted into midfield. Niang was everywhere and I thought he had a great game until he tired a bit. Durnan was really good, apart from the error which led to the red - should've been a yellow since those challenges aren't automatically a red these days.

Mumbongo was onto nothing when he came on. Every time he did outmuscle his opponent off the ball, the ref gave a foul and every time he was fouled, the red gave a foul to Annan. Apart from that, he was being asked to run about like a headless chicken, as was Ruth before he was subbed off.

Disappointed that Finlay isn't influencing games more the last few matches, because he is capable of so much more. Shiels should've had the game put to bed and will be disappointed with his finishing.

Mikey Millar was much better after being moved to midfield which is why I said he was better in the latter stages.

I wasn’t blaming Durnan for the goal at all, merely pointing out he didn’t have the pace to deal with the red card incident which wasn’t his fault. I agree and think that Durnan had an outstanding game. He was winning everything in the air and always managing to get a foot around the strikers from behind to clear balls. He would probably be my MOTM.

I still disagree on Mumbongo. For me, his touch was really bad and he could have held the ball up much more effectively than he did. I hope it’s a one off because his touch and general play have been fairly good so far when he’s been paired with Ruth.

Edited Saturday at 19:39 by super-son

[FifeSons]

I thought Senna was really good and Gray was a bit disappointing in giving the ball away too often.

[Deputy Keeper]

Sons started the game very much on the front foot and could well have been three up before the game-changing incident in the 18th minute.  Seemed very harsh to deem it a clear goal scoring opportunity, but as the old cliche goes, the referee was given a decision to make.  Setting aside the rights and wrongs of the red card, it rather spoiled the game as a spectacle.

From being on the front foot, Jinky Hilton was sacrificed to make way for our 16-year old sub goalie and we basically spent the rest of the game trying to protect our lead.   I had the fear when Luke Smallwood came on, as there appeared to be about a six foot gap between the top of his head and the crossbar.  Credit to the young lad, who acquitted himself very well for the remaining 75 minutes or so.  

We put in a disciplined and hard working performance until our luck ran out in stoppage time.  A shot deflected into the path of an Annan player on the right hand side of the penalty box, with his hard low cross being turned in to the net.  There was just time for the home team to mount one more attack, and they narrowly missed what would have been the cruellest of defeats for Sons had it gone in.

For all of Annan's possession, the best two chances of the match probably fell to Matty Shiels.  A tap-in from six yards just on half-time which hit the keeper, then a one-on-one early in the second half which again the keeper blocked.  Had either gone in I don't think there was any way back for Annan.  Not to be, but again we showed there is nothing to fear from our opponents in what is turning out to be a very competitive league.

Finally, the one disappointment for me was big Joel Mumbongo.  Replaced a clearly knackered Mikey Ruth, but gave up possession too easily and didn't do enough to release some of the pressure on our hard working defence.  Maybe not up to full match fitness yet so will cut him some slack.

[FifeSons]

Mumbongo was very disappointing, but I wonder if it’s just a bit of a lack of confidence. He had one great opportunity to run across the last defender towards goal, but didn’t back himself.

On the red, I reckon you’ll get people saying it was the clearest red you’ll ever see and some saying it was an atrocious decision. I’d really need to see it again to tell if there was contact, but I think it was harsh. I’ve just seen Robert Sanchez (much worse keeper than Long) only receive a yellow card for taking out a player to concede a penalty. I don’t know if the rule is they won’t give a red and a pen unless it’s a shockingly bad Porteous-esque tackle. 

Edited Saturday at 20:16 by FifeSons

[squeezebox-son]

1 hour ago, super-son said:

Mikey Millar was much better after being moved to midfield which is why I said he was better in the latter stages.

I wasn’t blaming Durnan for the goal at all, merely pointing out he didn’t have the pace to deal with the red card incident which wasn’t his fault. I agree and think that Durnan had an outstanding game. He was winning everything in the air and always managing to get a foot around the strikers from behind to clear balls. He would probably be my MOTM.

I still disagree on Mumbongo. For me, his touch was really bad and he could have held the ball up much more effectively than he did. I hope it’s a one off because his touch and general play have been fairly good so far when he’s been paired with Ruth.

Yeah I agreed with Millar, I'm not convinced and was a bit disappointed he stayed on... but he did improve.

I really would like to see Durnan with another CB partner and see if we could see more of what we seen, particularly in the 2nd half, today.

He hopefully won't have to play that role very often. We sacrificed the support to Ruth (and then Mumbongo) for the sub 'keeper. He won't be that isolated unless that happens again.

It was such a shame, because we really looked good for that first 20 mins or so today.

[super-son]

I wonder why Ethan never got played today. Maybe the plan was to get him on later in the game, but that went out the window with the red card?

Although it would be strange to do that instead of just starting the pair together.

[Nowhereman]

2 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Mumbongo was very disappointing, but I wonder if it’s just a bit of a lack of confidence. He had one great opportunity to run across the last defender towards goal, but didn’t back himself.

On the red, I reckon you’ll get people saying it was the clearest red you’ll ever see and some saying it was an atrocious decision. I’d really need to see it again to tell if there was contact, but I think it was harsh. I’ve just seen Robert Sanchez (much worse keeper than Long) only receive a yellow card for taking out a player to concede a penalty. I don’t know if the rule is they won’t give a red and a pen unless it’s a shockingly bad Porteous-esque tackle. 

It’s only a booking in the penalty area because the penalty is seen as enough punishment. Outside the box it’s always going to be a red card if it prevents a goal scoring opportunity 

[squeezebox-son]

4 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

It’s only a booking in the penalty area because the penalty is seen as enough punishment. Outside the box it’s always going to be a red card if it prevents a goal scoring opportunity 

I'm sure it is "clear" goal scoring opportunity. Which is why is should've merited a yellow, in my opinion.

[George Parr]

23 minutes ago, squeezebox-son said:

I'm sure it is "clear" goal scoring opportunity. Which is why is should've merited a yellow, in my opinion.

Yes, “obvious” goal scoring opportunity, which of course it wasn’t. Yellow would have been appropriate.

What an incredibly frustrating football match. The growing realisation throughout the 90 that Annan were watery diarrhoea, propped up by a few ageing dinosaurs unable to put a team to the sword in their own grun, who had been reduced to ten men for more than 75% of the game.

For all of Annan’s possession, how often did they manage to break our lines and get one on one with Smallwood? Did they pepper our goal with shots that hit the bar, post etc? No - the best chances of course fell to Dumbarton, and with a bit of composure from Matty Shiels we would have been up the road home and hosed.

Im gutted for our players, they put in a terrific shift today and 3 points would have been a just reward for their endeavours. 

[Jordo1872]

3 hours ago, FifeSons said:

 

On the red, I reckon you’ll get people saying it was the clearest red you’ll ever see and some saying it was an atrocious decision. I’d really need to see it again to tell if there was contact, but I think it was harsh. I’ve just seen Robert Sanchez (much worse keeper than Long) only receive a yellow card for taking out a player to concede a penalty. I don’t know if the rule is they won’t give a red and a pen unless it’s a shockingly bad Porteous-esque tackle. 

I’ve not seen the incident yet but if Long is deemed to have denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity and it’s outside the box then the red card is the right decision. Inside and it’s a penalty and the red card is downgraded to a yellow due to the ‘double jeopardy’ ruling. Unless there’s no clear attempt to play the ball in which case you’re going for an early bath regardless.

it’s really hard to be critical of a team that hasn’t lost a league game I six but being second bottom shows how important it is to turn those draws in to wins. That said, 72mins with 10-men away from home and taking a point deserves praise. We certainly look a team that’ll be hard to beat this season and that’s a real positive.

[Skyline Drifter]

For what its worth having seen the highlights, as daft as Long's decision to come for that ball was, if the red was for DOGSO its pretty harsh. The ball's probably been kicked out of play and the rule does refer to an attacker heading towards goal, which he isnt at the time. 

It's a bad enough challenge it might have been for Serious Foul Play though? 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 minute ago, Skyline Drifter said:

For what its worth having seen the highlights, as daft as Long's decision to come for that ball was, if the red was for DOGSO its pretty harsh. The ball's probably been kicked out of play and the rule does refer to an attacker heading towards goal, which he isnt at the time. 

It's a bad enough challenge it might have been for Serious Foul Play though? 

Be assured that had the attacker evaded Long he would still have had a considerable amount of work to do to find the net, always assuming that the ball remained in play.  That's not my interpretation of a clear goalscoring opportunity.  I was sitting near to the player who passed the through ball and it appeared to be arcing towards the touchline when it left his boot.

I'd also like to know what input the assistant referee who was nearer the incident than Mr Murdoch provided.  Given the red card I'd suggest very little, especially as these officials seem to have become little more than ornamental in the modern game.

[The Moonster]

44 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

 

It's a bad enough challenge it might have been for Serious Foul Play though? 

I've just watched it and there's no f**king chance it's serious foul play