SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 5/11/22.

Well. Another win. Another clean sheet. And, since Stirling Albion only drew, top of the league again.

The goals came at the end of each half – Gregor Buchanan and Michael Garrity on target – but we apparently hit the post twice and goalie Brett Long made a great contribution to the clean sheet. (What a contrast to Sam Ramsbottom.) The second half must have been a bit nervy, though.

Onwards we go to Elgin on Saturday.

Scottish Cup, Round Four, The Rock, 22/1/22.

What to make of this?

Against a top division side we looked reasonably comfortable and even with ten men for 46 minutes – I don’t know what Ross MacLean did to get sent off, the Pixellot camera had done its usual panning away thing when nothing’s happening at a free kick, but he’s an idiot for doing it – were in the game. And they only scored from a penalty. It struck Joe McKee’s arm but he couldn’t have got out of the way.

In fact our best chance came late on. Stuart Carswell blazed over after a couple of headers from a free kick opened up the chance for him but he rarely scores from open play. (He rarely scores at all.)

It was a pretty nondescript game all round. Dundee hardly threatened us, a couple of close range headers in the first half – one sent wide the other easily into Sam Ramsbottom’s arms – and a long range effort Sam tipped over. Second half I can only think of a Leigh Griffiths shot dragged wide and another straight at Sam.

First half Dundee did look sharper and quicker thinking, especially at loose/second balls, but as the game wore on the difference seemed to lessen.

We can’t be judged on this. Dundee were fairly toothless and we didn’t lay a glove on them either. (Ross MacLean possibly apart.) Big Josh up front did okay but wasn’t given enough service. Defenders know he’s there, though.

Cove Rangers next Saturday is a bigger test of our league chances.

I hope the display gives the team confidence, though.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 1/1/22.

The same old story. We didn’t play badly but….

What with injuries and Covid we were down to bare bones with only four bodies on the bench and even though it was a makeshift defence we actually played quite well defensively, by and large restricting Airdrie to shots from outside the box. (Except for Sam Ramsbottom’s flap at a cross just before half-time when we were lucky to get a free-kick for it.) But it only takes one of those long-range shots to succeed. As it was, when Sam Ramsbottom got his hand to ex-Son Dylan Easton’s effort I thought he’d pushed it round the post – until somehow it still hit the back of the net. The game was effectively over then.

We huffed and puffed throughout but had only a couple of half-chances to show for it, with a Sam Muir shot cleared near the line the closest we came.

We’ll need to hope manager Stevie Farrell can conjure something out of the bag during the January transfer window. Otherwise it’s only East Fife’s even poorer performance than us that will save us from automatic relegation.

And I wouldn’t be too sanguine about our prospects in the relegation play-offs either.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 18/12/21,

I’m seriously depressed now.

That’s us won 1, drawn 3 and lost 5 at home this season. Just dreadful. Compare that with won 4, lost 5 away from home, though.

But it’s individual errors that are costing us for the most part.

We started slowly but came into it and managed to score from our first ‘proper’ (ie floated as opposed to driven in at knee height) corner, Andy Geggan heading in at the back post. (Not that I actually saw it; the fog was so bad that the Pixellot camera on the stream coudn’t follow the ball.)

We couldn’t hold on to it, though. An inexplicable failure to make any challenges in midfield left Sam Muir exposed down our left and the guy ran on to put it under Sam Ramsbottom.

Amazingly we didn’t fall out of it at once. instead a great run by Sam Muir saw his cross missed by everybody except Conner Duthie at the back post (near post to the camera’s view.) Again I didn’t see it but it seems his finish was composed.

Could we hold on?

No.

Sam Ramsbottom’s mistake this time, failing to control a back pass and making a foul for the penalty or so the commentary said. Sam saved it but the rebound fell to the taker. 2-2.

Our best hope at half-time was probably for a postponement as the visibility was even worse in the second half due to the sun going down. The floodlight glare on the stream all but obliterated the view at either end of the pitch. But the ref played on. And the Pixellot camera trained itself more or less consistently on the middle of the pitch – except when the nearside ballboy was juggling with a spare ball.

Andy Geggan again had the ball in the net from a Joe McKee free-kick but the assistant’s flag had gone up. How he managed to make out it was offside in the gloom goodness only knows.

That might have made a difference but it was all over when Peterhead scored after a corner. Again I didn’t see the goal and had to rely on the stream’s commentary – apparently the tallest guy on the pitch had been left unmarked.

That was game over, we don’t come back from deficits.

We’re seriously in trouble now.

The annoying thing is we can score. But we can’t defend. Not a recipe for success.

Queen’s Park away on Boxing Day. We’ve lost 3-0 to them twice already.

Not a happy Christmas then.

Scottish Cup, Third Round, The Rock, 27/11/21.

It took us a while but we won it in the end.

We were pretty comfortable first half. Sauchie had a few corners but never really troubled Sam Ramsbottom in our goal. Their one clear opportuniyty was blazed over the bar. Not that we had many on target ourselves but we did score a very good goal, Carlo Pignatiello slotting it under the keeper after an exchange of passes between Conner Duthie and himself.

Second half Sauchie came into it a bit more. But their goal was a joke. Their forwards had been falling over easily all game and one finally did it in the box. It was never a penalty. But of course they put it in and that gave them impetus.

Neverthless we continued to create openings, frustrated by a few poor crosses from Edin Lynch and other balls just out of reach plus an away keeper in inspired form.

About five minutes to go and sub Ryan Schiavone poked a cross over the line but neither the ref nor lino gave it. A replay after that would have been sore to take but we worked another opnening and the ball broke to Joe McKee who buried it. In the final minute of added time we got another, a Conner Duthie shot apparently spilled by the keeepr with Schiavone on hand to net the rebound. I say apparently because the live stream had stayed focused on Duthie not the ball. I only had the commentary and subsequent kick-off to indicate we’d sealed it.

A potential banana skin avoided then.

On Monday we’ll find out who we’ve got in the next round.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 13/11/21.

From the moment Stuart Carswell, standing in at centre half for the injured Ryan McGeever, misjudged the bounce of the ball and handed Falkirk an easy chance I watched this with an air of resignation.

Nothing went right.

Our deliveries into the area were poor, we were never first to any loose balls, we created nothing. If not for Sam Ramsbottom in goal this could have been a cricket score.

Not that Falkirk were really good: they didn’t have to be. Competence was enough.

Sure, Ryan Schiavone up front made life a bit uncomfortable for their centre backs but to no avail, he was on his own for the most part.

We are now nine points worse off in the second quarter of the season than we were against the same teams in the first. It’s seven games since we last won.

Our next seven league games are against sides above us in the table. That’s not good reading.

SPFL Tier 3, Balmoor Stadium, 2/10/21.

Ouch!

I wouldn’t normally have watched this but my younger son invited myself and the good lady over for the afternoon and dinner. Not a good afternoon as it turned out but the dinner he cooked was lovely.

I kind of knew it wasn’t going to be our day when they scored flukily early on. Their player’s shot was mishit well wide but another stuck his foot out to deflect it in. Thereafter we dominated the first half but couldn’t find the net. The wind was playing havoc and our players couldn’t seem to judge it well. Still, 1-0 down at half-time was recoverable.

Two nil down three minutes later wasn’t, a cross swung into the box met at the back post. Then Ryan McGeever tied himself in knots at another cross and only succeded in letting it hit off him into the path of the attacker.

The wind was so bad that at one point a Sam Ramsbottom goal kick reached halfway to the halfway line and then blew out for a corner kick! It looked like our players suggested to the ref that the conditions were such that the game should be abandoned but at 3-0 I doubt he was going to do that.

Their fourth wouldn’t have happened at 1-0 or 2-0, their player just swung at the ball from a tight angle and it screamed in off the post.

The fifth was a penalty where I thought their player had just fallen down rather than being fouled but the Pixellot camera angle and distance from the action make it difficult to tell.

Bizarrely I thought we actually played quite well – even the Peterhead stream’s commentators admitted this was not a 5-0 game – and I was impressed by the players’ commitment even at 5-0 down. The wind took away our best weapon as our crosses into the box didn’t find their targets.

So, nine games in, we’ve played everyone else and we’re fifth – possibly sixth if Montrose beat Queen’s Park tomorrow.* And our goal difference is back down to 0.

We’re equal points on third but only three points above eighth. It’s a ludicrously tight league.

*Perhaps not likely since Queen’s haven’t lost yet.

SPFL tier 3, The Rock, 7/8/21.

We got away with this one.

After a brief early flurry where Edin Lynch ought perhaps to have hit the target on a rebound we mostly fell out of this, but when in possession we did look like we wanted to play football. (A blessed relief after the last two seasons.)

Nevertheless their first goal came a bit out of the blue when their forward looped a header back over Callum Erskine (deputising for an isolating Sam Ramsbottom.) For the rest of the first half we weren’t in it and Airdrie ought perhaps to have scored again, Connor Duthie cleared a shot off the line.

It seemed all over when the ref awarded them a penalty with the second half barely started. I’ve seen them given – and not given – but the guy slotted it.

The game changer came when Sam Wardrop was yellow-carded for the second time giving us a man advantage. Fron then on we had the majority of possession but didn’t really trouble their keeper till Ryan McGeever powered in a header from a corner to provide hope.

A few minutes after that Andy Geggan pounced on a loose ball at the edge of the box to drive it low into the corner and secure us a point.

There were some good signs here but if not for the sending-off we would most likely not have got back into this. Then again we didn’t quite have our full team out due to injuries.

Amazingly we’re still joint top of the table. Away to fellow four pointers Queen’s Park next week will be a tough one.

SPFL Tier 3, Play-off Final, Second Leg, The Rock, 20/5/21.

So we survived. Just.

But we were Dumbarton nil to the last.

That Edinburgh City goal made it nervy for the last forty minutes or so. Had it not been for their forward diving and so receiving a second yellow card it might have been worse. They had looked full of belief just after they scored – or rather we looked a bit unsure of ourselves at the back.

Speaking of the goal, as soon as it was lofted in I was screaming for Sam Ramsbottom to come for it. He didn’t, and the forward took advantage of the combined defensive uncertainty. It was a neat finish by him but Ramsbottom cost us there.

We hadn’t looked at all troubled first half but we had the wind behind us then. Not that we made anything of it.

Adam Frizell had a good (self-created) effort just tipped away by their keeper. Otherwise we threatened not at all.

This has been a dreadful season. I suppose we deserve to stay up – because we did – but the watching has been hard.

The way things are going next season will be just as tough. Unless things change at the club.

SPFL Tier 3 Playoff Final, First Leg, Ainslie Park, 17/5/21.

Well. Where did that come from?

I thought we had played quite well first half and had the better opportunities but we had fallen a wee bit out of it even if they hadn’t had a shot on goal. I must confess when they scored, out of the blue really, (Sam Ramsbottom could maybe have done better?) I thought the tie was over.

But we came out and started to get at them.

Unusually a short corner worked for us, Ross Forbes playing a wicked cross on to Ryan McGeever’s head. No doubt where that was going. Our first ever goal at Ainslie Park.

The second was due to Forbes driving at the defence. His shot wasn’t properly dealt with by the keeper and Tomas Brindley, even though he hit the rebound directly at him, still had enough on the ball to get it past him.

The third was Forbes again, putting in the free-kick sweetly for Morgyn Neill’s bullet header.

Three assists for Ross Forbes. His legs may have gone but he’s still capable of delivering a free kick.

It’s still only half time though. Second leg at the Rock on Thursday. If they score first things will doubtless get jittery.