Scottish Cup Round 4, Shielfield Park, 30/11/13

Well, that’s my Shielfield duck broken. The only other time I’d been there was in a late September, we’d just been relegated to the bottom division – then designated 2 (out of three) – the season before, had started poorly but Berwick were worse and had not yet won. It blew a howling gale and they beat us 1-0.

I had previously seen us beat Berwick away though, but not at Shielfield. There was some dispute over the terms Berwick had for using the ground so they were temporarily playing home games at Cliftonhill. We won that easily and also promotion that season as I recall.

Anyway, to the game. I picked up Eric Brown on the way down in order for him to experience his first taste of Scottish football. He lives in Dunbar now (or close to it.)

The first half produced only one chance but three goals.

For the third game in a row now I’ve seen us lose a goal to a belting strike. This was an exquisitely struck and placed free-kick but Jamie Ewings’s positioning seemed off from before the ball was hit. He was too far over to get to a well-taken shot and every team nowadays has a player that can do those.

We hadn’t managed to create anything either when a cross was handled by a defender in the box. Brian Prunty hit the penalty low and hard enough to beat Berwick’s tall keeper. Shortly before half-time came the chance and beautifully worked it was too, Mitch Megginson despatching the end of a fine move.

Berwick had been trying to knock us off our stride and first half it worked. We had lots of possession but couldn’t get space in their half. Second half we were on top again and another great passing move (Eric was impressed) was finished off by Scott Linton for what I think is his first for the club.

Berwick had two more efforts on goal, one that was scuffed and one bender from way out that Jamie Ewings got a good hand on. They looked spent and devoid of ideas after our third went in, resorting to the long range stuff.

Kevin Smith hit the post with a header, I actually saw Colin Nish – on as sub for Brian Prunty – get the ball in the net but there was a hand ball in there somewhere, he later got a header on target but also on the keeper and Jordan Kirkpatrick forced a fine save very late on.

Comfortable enough in the end, I suppose.

Now. When was the last time we were in the last 16 of the Cup? Heady days.

SPFL Tier 2, Almondvale Stadium,* 16/11/13

Well; after half an hour I couldn’t see this coming. We had looked sprightly enough early on but never threatened their keeper and then about twenty minutes in they scored when there appeared to be no danger. Sometimes you just have to say it was briiliant. The ball came on from the wing and Mark McNulty hit it exquisitely first time. Jamie Ewings was never stopping it. That’s two wonder strikes against us in the last two games I’ve been to. Jamie did make a great tackle in a one-on-one a few minutes later and had another good save in the second half. Plus he had had to look lively at their first corner to stop the wind taking the ball in, and they hit the bar at 1-0.

Mitch Megginson’s leveller was a thumper. Andy Graham then Colin Nish held it up in the box. Mitch fair belted the lay-off, Sons fans perfectly placed to see it was in the moment he hit it.

Second half we came out much more aggressively and had more attempts on goal in the first minute than in the whole of the first half. Mark Gilhaney’s shot then Jordan Kirkpatrick’s parried effort which Colin Nish ought to have converted rather than poking it over.

Looked like Ian Murray had told them during the interval to press much higher. Whatever, it worked. We started to exploit them on the break. Paul McGinn’s great run up the wing saw him cleverly step inside, the defender took him over inside the box. After some dealy Chris Turner converted. Some turn round.

We began to defend a little too deeply for a bit but a swift counter attack took the ball from our box to theirs via a fine upfield ball to Jordan Kirkpatrick who switched it all the way across to Mark Gilhaney who eveded his man to get clear in the box and looke dset to score but cleverly tuned tha ball across for sub Brian Prunty (on for the mostly ineffectual Colin Nish) to tap it in.

The rest of the game was spent waiting for the final whistle – only a couple of near-close things.

This was a win we needed though. Had we lost things would be looking a bit glum.

*Edited to add:- They’ve changed the stadium’s name again. It’s now the Energy Assets Arena. Oh tempora!

SPFL Tier 2, Falkirk Stadium, 19/10/13

A welcome and (before the game, unexpected) win.

Considering we had a cobbled together midfield due to injuries this was heartening.

We started brightly enough having the better of the very early exchanges but Falkirk always looked as if they could be dangerous when they got the ball out wide where they seemed to have lots of room.

The goal came after a good move, Jordan Kilpatrick collected in space on the left and his shot (sclaffed I think) was turned back and into the goal by Garry Fleming. A few minutes later Jordan Kilpatrick again took the ball in space: his shot this time went just over the bar. Scratch midfield or not, we were putting together some good passing moves.

Our second was a sweeping move from our own half, Paul McGinn’s cross clipped in off the post by Mitch Megginson’s first time touch.

Towards the end of the half their number 9 took the ball infield from the wing and hit an unstoppable shot past Jamie Ewings. Not long after that the same Falkirk player showed an outrageous piece of dissent towards the referee. He should have been off then and there. (He did pick up a booking during the game and was red-carded in the last minute after stupidly booting the ball away.)

Second half they came out looking to play the ball faster and pressing higher up the pitch. Our defence managed to frustrate them though. They did hit the bar at one point and also claimed for a penalty later on but from where I was it looked as if there was no contact.

Despite all their possession and looking as if they knew what they were doing Falkirk had a tendency to over-elaborate. The goal apart, Jamie Ewings didn’t have a save to make all game.

All the players put a good shift in, though. Even Kevin Smith when he replaced Garry Fleming. It was Jordan Kirkpatrick’s first full 90 minutes. He did well in the first half but faded out a bit in the second – as did most of our attacking efforts to be fair.

SPFL Tier 2, Recreation Park, 14/9/13.

A first away win. Excellent.

We dominated the early proceedings, forcing corners early on and only fell out of it a little towards the latter part of the half. Their goalie was troubled just the once though – by a slightly deflected Chris Turner shot – and Jamie Ewings not at all.

The goal had a touch of flukery about it, the ball came back to Mark Gilhaney after a corner, his shot struck Andy Graham who was still up in the box. He pivoted and slotted it in. The ball was only in play for two more seconds before half-time!

Second half they tried to keep the ball and suck us out but we resisted until we could flow forward. Nevertheless Jamie Ewings had to make a good save. Their equaliser had a similar touch of flukery to our goal, the ball rebounding to their player after the corner came over, with much the same result.

That gave them a bit of confidence and they started to press a bit more. Jamie Ewings had another good save (after an unbelievable point blank one from an offside player) but we continued to look menacing in attack. One great cross from Paul McGinn in particular.

The winner came when Andy Graham was demolished in the box. Scott Agnew buried the penalty.

Alloa ended up running out of ideas and resorted to humping the ball upfield, moving ex-Son Ben Gordon up front from centre half towards the end but really never creating anything.

2-1 but not many clear-cut chances. I’ll take it though.

Pass marks for everybody but Chris Turner wasn’t as effective as usual and could have talked himself into a sending-off. He was subbed, possibly as a precaution. Garry Fleming put himself about to good effect when he came on.

6^th! Not bad, and only one point off 2^nd.

SPFL Tier 2, Central Park, 31/8/13.

Three points lost.

I didn’t see it coming at half time but we had this game won and were cruising midway through the second. Then it all fell apart.

The first half was formless, not helped by a blustery wind which got worse as the game went on.

Despite not threatening at all Cowdenbeath won two corners in the first quarter. In the conditions our passing game cried out for the shout, “Too much football, Dumbarton!” It’s obviously the way Ian Murray wants us to play though.

Their goal came after Andy Graham was pushed for pace as he chased a forward out right, failing to prevent the pass to the wing. When the ball came in a Cowden player was in space for the shot.

We eventually won three corners right at the end of the half but took no advantage.

Our two goals were belters, fine strikes from Chris Turner, one with each foot. The first the keeper seemed to have covered but it went through his hands. The second was even better; hit the net like a rocket.

Then came the fall. Last man Aaron Barry tried to be too clever and was robbed of the ball. The attacker was straight in on Jamie Ewings who had no chance with the shot.

We began to push for the win then and alarming gaps appeared at the back. This wasn’t helped by the substitution of Scott Agnew by Brian Prunty denuding the midfield.

I thought we’d dodged that bullet when Jamie Ewings saved a penalty late on but the lesson wasn’t learned, we were equally open in the next Cowden attack when they got the winner.

Three points lost but we hadn’t been creative enough. Apart from an early Scott Agnew free kick, which may have been creeping past, their keeper really only had the two goals to (fail to) save. And those were from long range strikes.

Had we actually won this we’d have been equal second on points.

As it is we’re only three points off bottom.

The game at Alloa on Sep 13^th now becomes a mustn’t lose.

Edited to add: This was my first look at both Colin Nish and Hugh Murray. The fact they’re not mentioned in the above post might tell you something.

Scottish League Cup,* Round 1, The Rock, 3/8/13

A win’s not to be sneezed at.

But…

We beat the same club 2-0 at the same stage last season and this season they’re a Division lower.

However, I thought this wee Rovers side was better than last year’s so make of that what you will.

This was played on a fiery pitch with a gusting wind in the first half so ball control appeared to be difficult.

Even so there were signs here of a new approach under Ian Murray, passing the ball even from the back. Here debutant Aaron Barry, on loan from Sheffield United, looked a good addition, composed on the ball and reading the game well. We did miss Jim Lister when the ball was played forward in the air though. It was my first sight of Scott Linton at left back and Mitch Megginson wide right. Both had solid games.

Rovers only had one legitimate effort on goal the whole game, ex-Son Scott Chaplain’s effort being parried on to the post by Jamie Ewings. Having said that, their keeper didn’t have all that much to do either, though he had a fine stop from a Chris Turner shot early on and a flap at a Mark Gilhaney shot in the second half. (Former Sons Mick Dunlop, Kevin Nicholl and Liam Cusack were also in Albion’s starting eleven.)

Scott Agnew misplaced a lot of passes but it was his exquisite ball inside the defender that led to the goal. Two of them got mixed up trying to combat Mark Gilhaney’s run and he nipped the ball. I thought he might hit it first time but this is Mark Gilhaney. He’d had an opportunity to do that earlier and tried to take on the full back and lost the ball. This time he seemed to take an age to round the keeper but he finished it off nicely.

We didn’t have to do too much after that and as a result let Rovers into the game a bit in the second half.

We need to be more clinical and carve out more chances. I doubt a First Division (sorry, I know there’s a new name for the Division, but it’s bollocks: I think I’ll go with Tier 2) side will be as accommodating to our midfield and defence as Albion were.

Falkirk next week will be a test of that.

*Scottish Communities League Cup, if you must.

SFL Div 1, Almondvale Stadium, 9/2/13

6-6 between these teams over two games in a week and honours even. At least a win each has garnered us more points than two draws would have done, which was important in a week when Cowdenbeath got back to winning ways again.

It does mean we’ve now beaten seven out of the other nine teams in the division and there should be no fears. The two we haven’t defeated are Dunfermline and Raith. We get the chance over the second of those on Saturday coming. I’ll be able to walk to that one.

Pity Mark Gilhaney got himself sent off but we held on with ten men to get the result. Not good news about Jamie Ewings breaking his jaw either.

I wasn’t there; I decided it would be too cold to sit around for an hour and a half (with intermission.)

I went to an Antiques Fair instead. We’d have gone to that before travelling to Livi anyway but it’s just as well I’d opted not to go to the game as we were there till after 3 o’clock even though I bought nothing and the good lady only a book and some buttons.

We lead an exciting life……

SFL Div 1, East End Park, 24/11/12

I was going to say no complaints, but…. see below.

I was going to say the better team won but… the faster, stronger, fitter team won. Does that make them better? I suppose it does. They were in the Premier last season after all and we were in Div 2.

We were okay for a while; even forcing their keeper to make more saves than Stephen Grindlay had up till their first goal. I was in line and thought Josh Falkingham was offside but he was also totally unmarked. The game was then effectively all over.

I shouldn’t have said to GordyBrow when the teams were announced that they hadn’t given Josh Falkingham’s full name. He replied, “I suppose that’s ‘diver’ followed by something rude.” I said, “Yes.”

The second goal was a joke. James Creaney failed to cut out a ball to the winger and then the cross wasn’t collected by Grindlay – he’s always been terrible for spilling low crosses – and came off Andy Graham’s leg to screw towards the line. He just failed to clear it before it crossed. Exactly the sort of thing that happens to you when you’re way adrift at the bottom of the league.

So here’s the complaint. In the second half I’d thought it was Falkingham who ran through one on one with Stephen Grindlay, pushed the ball past him and fell down. From where I was it certainly looked a dive. Falkingham is famous for it. It turns out it was Joe Cardle who couldn’t stay on his feet. Whoever, the ref gave the penalty and showed Grindlay a red card to boot. Down to ten men and a penalty to come…

I say again; when a penalty is given, in what sense has a goal scoring opportunity been prevented? A penalty and a red card and a goal is a triple punishment. Too many times does something like this spoil a game. It didn’t affect the outcome here, Dunfermline were always going to win, but often it can.

Jim Lister was withdrawn to allow Jamie Ewings to face the pen which he almost got to. 3-0 down with ten men against the joint league leaders was only going to end one way.

Curiously we played better after that. Onebrow opined Dunfermline had stopped playing. But we were left cruelly exposed whenever we sallied upfield.

Their fourth was a peach. Due to the man shortage Joe Cardle was one on one on Nicky Devlin with no extra cover, duly took it past him and curled a beauty behind Jamie Ewings into the corner.

It seems we don’t have the personnel to compete effectively against the better teams in this division. (And the not so good teams too?) There was a litany of weak challenges, hurried touches, misplaced passes and stretched interceptions. The players appear shorn of confidence, not wanting to take time on the ball. Chris Turner was an exception to this last, as was Steven McDougall when he came on (but like at Cowdenbeath he carried it too far and was crowded out.)

Ian Murray’s got a big job on.

SFL Div 1, Central Park, 10/11/12

Yes, you did read the post’s title correctly.

It’s a win in Div 1. And at Cowdenbeath, where we haven’t won in a long time. (In the cup in 2004, but the last league win there was in 2000.)

Plus the other novelty of a clean sheet.

Into the bargain we could afford to miss a penalty. (Their keeper was given their man of the match award presumably for the penalty save as he didn’t actually have that much to do. Neither did Jamie Ewings in our goal; apart from free-kicks – at least two of which he dealt with brilliantly.)

We were worth it too. The players worked for each other, pressed the ball and gave Cowden little opportunity to create.

Not that we made many chances ourselves even though we dominated the first half. We had something like five corners one after the other at one point and hadn’t scored so I was thinking it wasn’t going to be our day but then a great move down the left saw the ball crossed over. It had seemed to miss everybody but up popped Mark Gilhaney to hit it first time sweetly into the far corner.

The second half was nerve-wracking simply because of the situation but Cowden were not allowed a clear chance.

Maybe it was actually a good thing that the penalty was missed (as were the two follow-up efforts) since that meant the lads couldn’t relax even subliminally.

The ref was okay until midway through the second half when suddenly Cowden got the benefit of every decision going including a ridiculous dive from Cowden player-manager Colin Cameron.

I had joked to Onebrow on the way to the game that it wasn’t unknown for cobbled-together back fours to keep a clean sheet but I never seriously expected that to happen today.

I know Steven McDougall provided the cross for the goal but he had a strange one in general. He ought to be capable of more but too often dribbled his way up a blind alley. His replacement Mark Lamont seems too light for the position he plays. James Creaney had a solid game at left back (but shouldn’t have allowed himself to get booked for back-chat.) Jamie Ewings was commanding in his penalty area and Jim Lister made sure Cowden’s Joe Mbu knew he was in a game. All the players deserve credit for the performance though.

The win monkey is off our back now. I’m not surprised it was in an away game as the fans are very supportive away from home. Can we keep it up at home next week?

Pity Hamilton also won today.

SFL Div 1, Stark’s Park, 6/10/12.

Football. Bloody Hell!

I was at this one. (Stark’s Park is only a couple of hundred yards from my house.)

I really don’t know where to start.

My son and I approached the ground with some trepidation; after all we’d managed to secure only one point from seven games so far and the Rovers had drawn with the league leaders last week.

We were terribly open in the first half, leaving acres of space for Rovers to exploit a lot down the left hand side. Those critics of James Creaney – who sat this one out on the bench – should maybe think on. Mostly we seemed to be playing 4-5-1 with midfielders coming through to attempt to support Jim Lister when we punted it up to him. On this point it is almost useless to aim at his head; it needs to be his chest, folks. Our play betrayed an unsurprising lack of confidence; overplayed passes, poor first touches, tentative tackles abounded. Rovers seemed able to run through us at will. The transition from our possesion to theirs always seemed to lead to a backs to the wall challenge which we mainly survived. In fact their goal when it came was out of almost nothing but Jamie Ewings – presumably put in to give Stephen Grindlay a rest from picking the ball out of the net so often – might have made a better fist of saving it. Nevertheless he commanded his box well.

We had a couple of efforts on goal. I think it was Phil Johnston that made their keeper make a save and one Scott Agnew effort was almost diverted into goal by Garry Fleming.

Still at half time I had resigned myself to a defeat.

Early in the second half Jamie Ewings made two very good saves to keep us in it. Then a Raith player overstretched in midfield and a good challenge in midfield broke to Jim Lister for him to move in on goal. This is the sort of one-on-one Dumbarton strikers don’t usually convert but “Blister” did. Cue much rejoicing in the Val McDermid Stand.

What a difference a goal makes. Suddenly we were getting the break of the ball, or forcing the break, and starting to take the game to the Rovers.

We didn’t dominate completely as they had a few efforts but weren’t composed enough to punish us. Their second when it arrived was against the run of play. Our defending of the corner was poor, though. Two uncontested headers in the box is shocking.

Kudos to Alan Adamson, though. He brought on striker Brian Prunty and took off central defender Martin McNiff.

Raith then made the mistake of letting us have the ball and we started to use it. We had several half chances and one that looked great when Phil Johnston’s pace and trickery at last had an end product but Blister’s header went wide.

We also had more penetration when Mark Gilhaney came on for Mark Lamont who is too easily brushed off the ball at this level.

There were a few hairy moments at our end as we were pushing up and leaving lots of space but we persevered and a great ball in to Brian Prunty saw him poke it past the keeper. Ecstasy in the Val McDermid Stand.

Still Raith could have won it as they had a one-on-one but Jamie Ewings stood tall and deflected the ball past the post with his foot.

Great mutual acclamation from the fans and players at the final whistle. We’ve doubled our points tally! (Mind you at this rate we’ll end the season on a total of 9 points.)

It says something (I’m not quite sure what) that the match sponsors gave the Man of the Match to their goalkeeper.

The lads should take confidence from this. Twice we came from behind.

We also looked more threatening when we only had three at the back. Something for the manager to ponder there, perhaps. I suspect he’ll go with five in midfield and one up front again next time though.