SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 7/3/26.

An odd thing happened at this game.

We looked like an actual football team.

Unlike last week where we started as if we hadn’t seen each other before, this was cohesive right from the kick-off. We peppered their box with crosses and though balls.

Mind you with every wasted promising situation I was beginning to think that this had them scoring from their first opportunity written all over it. Thankfully that wasn’t to be.

Diminutive midfield loanee Alexander Smith (known as Smudge or Smudger apparently) was putting himself about to good effect with some great footwork. He also carried out defensive duties, tracking back well and harrying opponents.

It was frustrating not to be ahead at half time.

That frustration ended on 51 minutes. A great cross from the overlapping Ali Omar – we seemed to be playing three at the back with him on the left – found Gordon Walker free towards the back post. His bullet header was diverted by the keeper onto the bar but it came down and bounced off his back into the net.

Spartans then began to play with a bit more urgency but didn’t trouble loanee keeper Aidan Rice much except for a good save he made with his feet.

Then Scott Tomlinson got the better of a defender whose feet got in a muddle and his cross was converted under the keeper with a great back heel flick by Leighton McIntosh.

The third came because Spartans were overcommitted.  A swift counterattack saw Scott Tomlinson cross again this time for Scott Honeyman to deliver the coup de grace.

Players and fans were enjoying themselves now even if there was time for Aidan Rice to make a good save from the only threatening shot he faced from outside the box.

We need this kind of performance to carry on to Tuesday night against Stranraer. Especially since Edinburgh City also won yesterday to keep within touching distance of us.

SPFL Tier 4, Forthbank Stadium, 28/2/26.

Given recent results – we haven’t won this year – I was in two minds about going to this. But Forthbank is about the nearest ground in the Division to my home so if I wasn’t going to this where would I go?

Another baffling selection choice from manager Frank McKeown. No width picked at all. It looked as if he’d sent the team out to play for a draw; an utterly daft exercise as it’s wins we need and we’ve only now got ten games left to secure any.

Still, we had more of the possession first half but lacked confidence in shooting. Leighton McIntosh came on to a good cut back from Scott Honeyman but miscontrolled the ball into the air which gave the keeper time to narrow the angle for his subsequent volley. All the other cutbacks went to a defender’s foot.

We were ragged in the middle of the park and let their players advance considerably before making any sort of challenge.

Then Stirling got a mysterious penalty, Brett Long penalised for a challenge which appeared relatively inoccuous, with Brett, Mark Durnan and the attacker getting there at the same time. Long was booked though and despite taking an age to get back into his goal was easily sent the wrong way from the spot. It was about the only shot he had to face all day apart from a longish range effort in the second half. Stirling were poor which makes our approach all the more frustrating.

We came out more strongly in the second half and made their keeper make a few saves from long range but Stirling didn’t appear to be bothered about trying to score a second.

Triple substitution time came a bit earlier than usual, the ineffectual Ryan Blair and Jack Duncan being replaced by new loanee signing (and diminutive) Alexander Smith and Scott Tomlinson respectively _ potential width at last – and, more surprisingly, Adam Livingstone off for Ally Roy.

Scott Honeyman seemed to have been fouled in the box but was booked for diving – it certainly hadn’t looked like a dive.

Smith began to grow into the game and had a great low cross begging to be buried but Gordon Walker blasted the ball wide when it looked easier to score. (Walker’s crossing was poor all game, rarely getting past the first man.)

In the end we got a deserved equaliser when Smith popped up on the right, came back on his left foot and delivered a beautiful cross for Mark Durnan to head home. Cue delight on the pitch and the away stand. It was noticeable that Durnan immediately ran towards the fans to celebrate.

Stirling woke up for a bit, then, but their efforts came to nothing.

This was a game where we needed three points and they were there for the taking. The players are, I’m sure, up for it. The manager seems to have other ideas.

SPFL Tir 4, The Rock, 18/10/25.

Another home game, another loss. Three attempts at goal from open play in the whole game – only one of them on target; and that a sclaffed effort easy for the keeper. Plus Spartans were waltzing through our midfield almost at will. Things aren’t good.

Quite why Scott Tomlinson was playing up front alongside Leighton McIntosh I have no idea. He’s more effective cutting in from the wing. And McIntsoh and Ally Roy (who came on late as a sub) had been reasonably effective as a front pairing earlier on the season.

Their first came from a feigned short corner where we put two men out to defend it. It was swung in and they scored from the resulting ping-pong.

We did put a bit of pressure on late in the first half (without of course testing the keeper,) getting a series of corners. Finally McIntosh’s leap forthe ball gave us the equaliser.

Thrown away a few minutes later when they got down our right too easily, Shay Kelly’s parry – away from goal though it was – went straight to the shooter, whose header across goal wasn’t contested and was deflected in well by their scorer.

I  now “have the fear” – as fans say – about the Cup game against Tayport next Saturday.

Edited to add (late 20/10/25.) We weren’t helped by the number of misplaced or short passes we played. Nearly everyone a culprit. Those need to be eliminated. As does the penalty give away. At least the taker this week clattered it against the bar or we’d have been another one lower on the goal difference.

SPFL Tier 4, K Park Community Stadium, 20/9/25.

A game of two halves.

But first, the K Park Community Stadium is a seriously awful place to watch a football match if you’re an away fan. We were confined to one end of the pitch in a small enclosure which had at most three steps up from pitch level and there was a net strung along the back of the pitch – presumably to prevent injury to spectators. Not an ideal view by any means.

Sons were awful in the first half. The home team seemed to have loads of room to play, with two wide men on their left getting two on one with Kristian Webster at right back far too often and also able to get down their right too easily.

Still, they didn’t force Shay Kelly into any kind of serious save. Then, on the stroke of half time they were given a penalty. This was up the other end from us Sons fans so whether it was justified or not I couldn’t say. Shay Kelly nearly got down to it but it had been struck too firmly.

The second half started much as the first had progressed then suddenly we came into it. This may have been because we had showed more urgency but seemed to coincide with Scott Tomlinson and Kai Kirkpatrick switching wings. Tomlinson began to interpret this as a licence to roam and was soon popping up all over the place in the attacking third. He missed a glorious chance to score, though by not hitting his shot early enough, then Kirkpatrick set up Dom Docherty beautifully but he opted for power rather than placement and blazed it over.

Then a fine move saw Tomlinson moving down the inside right channel before his shot beat the keeper.

It was nip and tuck from then on but East Kilbride ought to have scored at the death but somehow their attacker with only a touch required to put it in the net somehow managed to hit the ball backwards.

It was a much relieved set of Sons fans who greeted the final whistle as for all of the first half  a draw had seemed utterly unlikely.

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock,* 30/8/25.

Like a fortnight ago against Elgin this was a display of the footballing black arts. They were diving and falling over at the slightest hint of contact and the referee was conned by it nearly every time. It’s the sort of thing we need to get wise to and maybe develop ourselves.

Nevertheless this was a result we deserved. We didn’t create anything like enough and I can barely remember an effort on goal barring Ally Roy’s header (straight at the keeper) from a Scott Tomlinson cross. Our goal came from a corner and seems to have been put into his own net by ex-Son Edin Lynch.

Their goals were too easily won, though given the ref’s performance I suppose our players were thinking any sort of tackle would be given as a foul, which indeed their penalty was given as. It didn’t look like much to me but in the box perhaps best avoided.

Despite some signs of Ally Roy and Leighton McIntosh forming a partnership up front, they were living off scraps. We need a creative midfield fast.

*Marbill Coaches Stadium

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock,* 16/08/25.

This was a brutal watch. From the start we were more or less on the back foot. Elgin hit the bar with almost their first foray upfield.

They took the lead half an hour in, the scorer given too much space and rifling it past Shay Kelly. I think their keeper only had to field one ball the whole half, a cross cum shot from Scott Tomlinson.

They were much more streetwise, falling over at any contact – and the ref didn’t see through them. Indeed he gave some baffling decisions all through the game, not least only a yellow card for what was in effect an assault on Dom Docherty who had to leave the pitch after lengthy treatment, nursing his shoulder. They were also time wasting from when they scored until we got the equaliser.

That came after about the only decent move we had all game, Leighton McIntosh getting down the right and crossing for Scott Honeyman to bundle it in. He fell over in the effort, I think it went in off his chest.

They had a succession of corners towards the end and I feared the worst. We also gave away a couple of silly free-kicks (well one of them was the ref being conned again.) The last was just outside the box. Their stepping over routine opened up the wall but Shay Kelly got down magnificently to touch it round the post.

Whatever else this game showed how difficult this season is going to be.

Edited to add: I meant to say it was the first time I’ve seen a goalkeeper penalised under the new eight second rule. Not Shay, the Elgin keeper.

*Marbill Coaches Stadium