The Rock, 23/3/10

So. Two games against Stenny in ten days, two goals apiece and an equal share of six points. Better off than with two draws then.

Yet more midfield manoeuvrings, I see.

Now eleven points clear of ninth place albeit Arbroath are playing tonight. Dare I dream of safety?

Gayfield, 27/2/10

Well the goals against predictor didn’t need to be changed……

I don’t know why I bother going to Gayfield. We almost never do well there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen us win in Arbroath. Maybe I should just stay away.

Despite the fact we started brightly and the trialist (David Winters) blasted in a great cross by Chissie we soon began to go up blind alleys on our left hand side.

Even though in the first half Arbroath were poor, at half time I didn’t fancy us holding out for another forty five minues.

And so it proved. The midfield became more and more invisible as time wore on and in the end we lost our customary three.

Apart from Dr Jan, only the trialist and maybe Dennis Wyness (who did get the ball in the net for 2-2 but was given offside) of the starters get pass marks. Scott Chaplain and Ross O’Donoghue had the worst games I’ve seen them play – which is saying something. Even Ben Gordon was rubbish; and Chris Smith continues to look like a mistake waiting to happen.

The fans gave Chissie some stick but he was cruelly exposed by lack of support from midfield.

Ross Clark and Derek Carcary improved things a bit but we were chasing the game and pushed up too much, so lost the third goal.

The trialist seems to be a player, though. Onebrow’s verdict on him was he’s too good to sign for us. He and Wyness linked up well and he’d have put Wyness in for a one-on-one if Dennis had been alert enough to it.

Arbroath’s defence looked decent which makes me puzzled as to why they’re so low in the table.

Yet for all the above we’re still fifth.

How?

The Rock, 24/10/09

A win’s a win, however narrow. Especially welcome when it’s October and it’s the first home win of the season. And with the added bonus of a clean sheet as well.

There’s now distance between us and bottom place.

Next Saturday is another big test, though.

Gayfield, 15/8/09

Well, that’s the unbeaten run at Arbroath gone, then. (Four league draws in a row up to yesterday.) Plus we’re now bottom of the division. The only consolation here is that both teams with full points are the two we’ve played already.

The first thing to say is that we were dominant early on. Not much to show for it beyond a McNiff cross that Roddy Hunter just failed to reach. The longer this continued without us troubling the keeper overmuch the more I had a foreboding.

Onebrow remarked he’d take the draw now and I said he shouldn’t have said that and then I compounded it by adding that I felt a sucker punch coming.

It duly arrived with a wind assisted sixty yard punt (in both senses) that completely took out the badly positioned Michael White (not, at that time) in goal. It knocked us back but in this league we’ll need to get over setbacks like that.

The big blow was the badly defended corner just after half time. 2-0 and a much bigger ask.

The rest was us huffing and puffing with Arbroath breaking a lot but never really threatening.

Then a bit of concerted pressure near the end and a good Ben Gordon header from a throw-in led to a poached Roddy Hunter goal.

At which point we threw up Gordon and Dunlop and went for it. Chissie did have a great chance to equalise but mishit the ball. Full marks for chasing the game, Chappie, even if it backfired as Arbroath broke away and made our lack of cover at the back count.

Why is every match at Gayfield played in a gale? And why can we neither play with the wind nor against it? We should have peppered the Arbroath keeper with long-range shots all second half.

I liked McNiff and his long throws – we’ve lacked a weapon like that for long enough (since the two games of James Okole in fact) – but he’s still a bit raw.

Has anyone else noticed the remarkable similarity between Scott Chaplain and Fergus Tiernan? (Except for Tiernan’s goal scoring obviously.)

Note to the manager – we did look more solid when Ryan McStay came on.

Next Saturday’s game against Clyde is now very important.

Edited to add:-
Arbroath were no great shakes, but a big physical team much like Alloa. Then again at this exact time two seasons ago I wouldn’t have said they were promotion material. (They made the play-offs and scraped up.)

During a break at work yesterday I noticed the leaves on one of the trees outside were turning yellow.
It’s still August!
There were more trees like this on the way home, and even more today when I travelled to Perth and back.
I don’t remember trees turning so early before.
After a not very warm summer – the second in a row – maybe I was more sensitive to it but this was dispiriting.
Just goes to show the Scottish weather is totally bizarre.
Only two years ago I took in the delights of Gayfield (note to that American Christian website; it is not Homosexualfield) on the last Saturday of October to see Dumbarton achieve their now traditional draw there. And it was warm.
Before this I’d never been warm in Arbroath in my life!