SPFL Tier Three Play-off Final, Second Leg, Ainslie Park, 17/5/24.

I’m still processing this.

For so long this season promotion looked a long way off, but seven wins out of the last eight games in the last quarter gave us momentum and in the play-offs themselves the team handled the situation perfectly.

Mind you after three minutes of this one I had that familiar sinking feeling. I knew as soon as the cross was hit a goal was coming. And so it was.

Thank goodness we got back into it quickly so that there was no possibility of nerves getting the better of us. Jinky Hilton’s corner was well met by Sean Crighton and – not for the first time at Ainslie Park this season – their keeper spilled it. I didn’t see who scored. I was on the grass banking behind the goal near the corner flag and Ainslie Park is tight and does not have good sight lines when there’s a big crowd. Only when I got home did I find out it was Michael Ruth.

From them on the first half was quite dour with Jay Hogarth having only one save to make and their keeper not much troubled either. The most worrying thing was Sean Crighton having to go off injured. Aron Lynas has played at centre half for us before though he’s really a right back but up against the foot taller Blair Henderson I feared for him. Yet despite losing their first mutual challenge easily he pretty much handled him relatively easily. 1-1 at half time and a nervous 45 minutes (plus) beckoned.

We came out better than Spartans in the second half. First Finlay Gray hit the post after good work by Kalvin Orsi and Michael Ruth. I wondered if we’d rue that not going in. But then Michael Ruth stood up to be counted. A brilliant first touch near the halfway line saw him set off on a run at their defence. He cut inside and then placed a shot back across the goal, leaving the keeper stranded. Superb stuff.

Only once did Spartans threaten our goal but a combination of a defender (Cian Newbery?) and Jay Hogarth forced their player wide and it went out for a goal kick. Then they were given a penalty in stoppage time. I was too far away to see what had happened for it to be given. As it turned out there was too little time for Spartans to capitalise on their equaliser.

The final whistle nevertheless still came as a relief .

So now 2024 joins 1972, 1984, 1992, 1995, 2002, 2009 and 2012 as promotion seasons I have witnessed.

Even if Mark Durnan has been a defensive rock since he came back from injury it was fitting that Michael Ruth secured promotion for us. Throughout the season he has been our best player.

SPFL Tier Three 3 Play-off, Semi-Final, second leg, Forthbank Stadium, 11/5/24.

Like water torture. This was indeed a long 90+ minutes.

Albion looked a side lacking in confidence, not surprising when you slide into a relegation play-off spot.

In the first half they only threatened our goal once, after a bit of ping-pong in the box following a corner. Jay Hogarth saved the first effort but when the rebound was played across goal their attacker air-kicked a sitter.

We ought to have scored when a great move culminated with Div Wilson going for the near post but just shaving it into the side net. (Just for a moment it seemed he had scored.)

In the second half Albion came out to throw everything at it even going to three at the back. As a result our midfield was overrun at times but Jay Hogarth never really had a save to make. One shot did hit the post but that was it.

We had a few counter-attacking forays but tended to overcarry the ball when a pass was on (Kalvin Orsi and Finlay Gray I’m looking at you) or else players strayed offside so we never put the tie to bed. (Curiously, the linesmen flagged at the earliest opportunity, something which is very rare these days.) Michael Ruth was again superb up front but never got the clear chance his hold-up and general play deserved.

The final whistle was more of a relief than anything else even though Stirling never looked like scoring.

So it’s on to the Rock on Tuesday evening for the first leg of the Play-off Final against The Spartans then to Ainslie Park (of ill memory but also great memory) on Friday.

SPFL Tier 3 Play-off, Semi-final, First leg, The Rock, 07/04/24.

A pretty nerve-racking 90+ minutes all in all.

Unlike in the past two seasons’ play-offs we came out of the blocks quickly. Kalvin Orsi and Carlo Pignatiello were all over their left hand side and it was from their combination that Orsi put over a cross for Jinky Hilton to bury. We really ought to have gone on from there.

However, an attempted clearance by their left back bounced up onto his hand and fell for him to pass it up the wing. When their forward cut in I just knew he was going to score and he did indeed put it past Jay Hogarth’s right hand at the near post. Hogarth went down like the proverbial sack of potatoes. Were we too busy waiting on the handball call? (As I undertood the rules any touching of the ball by an attacker’s hand in the lead-up to a goal counted as handball. But who knows the handball laws these days?) Whatever, Manager Stevie Farrell was booked for his protest.

The first half from then on was a slog, noticeable only for Finlay Gray twice being chopped down – once off the ball which the ref and both linos completely missed, though the other was punished by a yellow card – and Kalvin Orsi suffering a set of studs high on his leg – an incident also somehow missed by the officials.

The second was also a slog. Towards the end James Graham came on and injected a bit of pace which resulted in a penalty being awarded to us. I was too far away to tell if it was justified. Comments on Pie & Bovril suggest it was. Whatever, the ref perhaps owed us one.

Tony Wallace kept his cool through the Stirling keeper’s almost Emiliano Martinez levels of sh**housery and out it away.

So, a slender lead to take into Saturday’s second leg at Forthbank.

Another nervy 90 (or even 120) minutes no doubt.

Spfl Tier 4, The Rock, 27/4/24.

We started this quite well with Kalvin Orsi and Carlo Pignatiello tearing up their left hand side. One such foray saw a great cross onto Michael Ruth’s head but he somehow managed to skew it over the bar.

Then Elgin began to come into it and some comic defending, a missed header and poor marking, left their player alone  ust outside the six-yard box and he squeezed it in.

Jay Hogarth didn’t look comfortable at all, he fails to command his box. Their second came from a free header from a corner. 0-2. At this point it was all Elgin. A long-range shot clattered our bar. If it had gone in the game would have been over.

As it was a carbon copy Orsi, Pignatiello combination again saw the ball home in on Michael Ruth’s head. No mistake this time. 1-2 half-time.

The second half was not uneventful but not inspiring. Twice Jay Hogarth was exposed in a one-on-one and both times made the save. Good at these and shot-stopping it’s a pity about his box-commanding.

Flurries of substitutions didn’t much affect the game but James Graham got himself some space in the area to use his feet to get a shot past their keeper. 2-2. As it finished.

So one game to go before the normal season ends and on to our now traditional humping in the play-off semi-final.

SPFL Tier 4, Ainslie Park, 16/3/24.

I had noted from the league table that we could go above Spartans if we beat them by four but I never expected it to happen. This was just one of those odd games that occur from time to time.

The early minutes were a bit of a non-event with neither team really threatening but then Craig Durnan surged forward and passed to Michael Ruth who seemd to me to run into a blind alley but he drew the foul and Ryan Blair stroked it round the wall and in off the post for our first.

They hadn’t laid a glove on us till they were awarded a free-kick. It was a well-hit strike but Jay Hogarth maybe wasn’t as well positioned as he might have been.

We kind of took control for a while and started peppering their goal. A Jinky Hilton strke was well saved by the goalie’s feet but from the resultant corner we got another on the other side and Aron Lynas made sure he got on the end of it. Our third came not long after. Another corner saw a bit of ping-pong in their box before the clearance was placed on the volley into the goal by Gallagher Lennon. The flight of ball forward for their second was misjudged by two of our defenders and the header on fell kindly for their scorer.

In  the second half Jay Hogarth stood up well to a chance at the near post to stop them equalising and then Ryan Blair all but copied their first from much the same position. Again their keeper was probably too far left in the goal. Our fifth was all about Michael Ruth. From inside our half he chased a pass back and pounced on the keeper’s poor nudge forward before rounding him and scoring.

Our sixth was a peach, Finlay Gray driving forward from the halfway line. I thought he would shoot but instead he slipped the ball to loanee James Graham who’d got himself into space in the box and dinked it very neatly past the keeper.

It’s not often we win 6-2, never mind away; still less to a team above us, so well done to the lads

But.

What price Spartans beating us if we get them in the play-offs? It’s a funny old game.

SPFL Tier 4, New Bayview*, 9/3/24.

Well; I wouldn’t have given you odds that the game would be this close after the first five minutes. Nathan Austin had scored from a loose ball after their player had waltzed through our left hand side and Jay Hogarth only partially blocked the shot. Austin then somehow managed to hit the post when another goal looked certain and then they hit the bar with a long range effort. Another 5-0 or 6-0 shellacking as on Tuesday night loooked very much on the cards.

Our main tactic seemed to be to lump it up to the small man. Michael Ruth is a decent hold-up player but he’s not the tallest guy on a pitch.

Towards the end of the half we settled down and began to create. A great Michael Ruth turn allowed him to get a shot away from among a few bodies but it was straight at the keeper. Then Finlay Gray worked himself into a one-on-one but his shot went past the post.

The first ten minutes of the second half were a total turn round. We were all over them. A nice interchange between Ryan Blair (on as a sub for a harshly booked but not very effective at left back Blair Malcolm) and Tony Wallace got the ball to Finlay Gray just outside the box. He killed the pass then blasted the ball into the het in almost the same movement.

Our next goal was entirely down to Michael Ruth’s selfless running. He chased down a ball he had no right to get, made the defender play it and then nicked the ball before sending it across the edge of the area.  Finlay Gray gave it a nice dummy (he probably got a call)  and Jinky Hilton stroked it past the keeper. Delirium in the away end.

It didn’t last; we conceded poorly from a corner. (Why we didn’t leave at least one man up on opposition corners I have no idea. If we had, the penalty area would have been less crowded with more chance to clear a ball and someone to play it to.)

East Fife were more into it late on and I got increasingly annoyed that our assistant manager, Frank McKeown, kept telling our players to slow the game down. We might have won the game if we’d gone for it. (We might not have but I’ll never know now.)

Late on Jay Hogarth pushed a swerving shot somewhat uncomfortably onto the bar. A stronger hand would have pushed it out for a corner and subsequent events might have taken a different turn. East Fife reworked the situation and the ball got crossed to Nathan Austin whose header looked savable but was only deflected into the net by Jay Hogarth’s hand, not pushed away. Another late goal lost. I don’t suppose any Dumbarton fan was surprised. We make a habit of it. As we do of no-one moving to create space at our throw-ins (but on that one we always have.)

It was my first look at Hogarth, Gallagher Lennon, Cian Newbury and Aaron Healy. They all seem to be a bit raw yet for the hurly-burly of our division. Marc Kelly and James Graham came on for the last few minutes. On that evidence Kelly is no Michael Ruth.

*Apparently now the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium. Please yourselves.