Well this has come around reasonably quickly.

Sons face Airdrie away on November 24^th in the third round.

The way things have been going, though, I don’t know that we’ll be in the fourth round draw.

Hoiwever, in other Sons news, we have a manager again. The club has appointed Jim Duffy to the post.

On the face of it his should be a safe pair of hands. I hope he brings a bit of defensive solidity with him.

His appointment sees the departure of former assistant manager Ian Durrant. Former stalwart between the sticks Jamie Ewings stays on as goalkeeping coach.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 7/4/18

Whatever happened to Dumbarton nil?

This was a very welcome, if somewhat unexpected, three points.

We hadn’t scored against anyone bar Brechin in the league since Boxing Day and only eight at home all season (including against Brechin.) And again apart from Brechin – and Peterhead in the Scottish Cup – it’s the first time we’ve scored more than two for over a year. (The victims then were Raith Rovers on Mar 11^th 2017.)

Dundee United must be pretty poor.

Seriously though, I hope the lads take encouragement into Tuesday night’s game at Cappielow. Getting at teams must be the way to go.

Scottish Cup, Round Five, Cappielow Park, 10/2/18.

So that’s us out of the cup then. Doesn’t look like it was a good day for us at all. We seem to be really toiling.

Six points behind 8^th place in the league now too almost certainly means we’ll be in the relegation play-offs. I can’t see us making up the gap especially with all the postponed games we need to catch up on.

Next up is the Challenge Cup sem-final against The New Saints in Oswestry on Saturday 17^th. Catch it live on S4C if you can’t get to the game. Kick-off is 7.35 I think.

It’ll be a change and new experience for the fans. A bit of pressure off for the players too, though arguably today was too. And they’ve got to go again in the league the Tuesday after.

I had some optimism about this game when the draw was made but that’s just about evaporated now what with recent results.

Still, you never know.

Scottish Cup, Round Four, Balmoor Stadium, 23/1/18

Well I went to Peterhead, but I didn’t go to the game.

I’d booked a hotel for the Friday night of the original date, before the postponement, and we took the opportunity to wander around the Northeast but I didn’t feel up to repeating the trip three days later.

At least it was a win and notable for Iain Russell once again opening his account for Sons. The first of many I hope.

It means a trip to Greenock for the next Round but unfortunately also another postponement as one or other of the clubs will be involved in the Sixth Round of the Cup on the scheduled date for our league game at Cappielow.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 6/1/18.

I was hoping for at least a point from this game but it wasn’t to be.

I certainly didn’t expect Falkirk to go rampant against the team in second place. It seems they have finally got their act together; as was always likely.

So it looks like 9^th place is probably the best we can hope for.

I’ve also now got the fear for our Scottish Cup game up at Peterhead in a fortnight. They’re on a great run and seemingly scoring for fun.

Nervous times.

Our reward for beating Elgin City in the Cup at the weekend is a trip up north to Peterhead on 20/1/2018.

They’re going quite well in the fourth tier. This could be a tricky one.

Scottish Cup, Round Three, The Rock, 18/11/17.

Well, it’s not the debacle of last year’s Cup effort….

But a win’s a win and we’re in the hat for the next round.

Can’t ask for more really.

And we still weren’t at full strength. Three clean sheets in a row ought to be good for confidence but next up is Dunfermline away in the league. They were scoring for fun earlier in the season.

Sons have drawn Elgin City at home in the Scotish Cup third round. The game is to be played on the third weekend in November.

Scottish Cup Third Round Replay, The Rock, 6/12/16.

This season I wasn’t going to blog about games I hadn’t been to but this result cannot pass without comment. It’s appalling.

It may not have been a surprise after the first game in Bonnyrigg but it is still quite simply the worst result in the club’s history. Period.

Stevie Aitken as manager has to take a serious look at himself.

Scottish Cup** Third Round, New Saunders Park, 26/11/16.

It was great to be at an old-fashioned football ground, crowd tight to the pitch, free standing, ability to walk round the ground, no segregation – and never a hint of trouble despite that. A great occasion for Bonnyrigg; as the size of the crowd testified.

But for us this was dreadful. Against a team not even in the same football system as us and therefore technically at least five levels below ours we looked as if all we intended was to avoid defeat.

Too many passes went astray, too many players were off it. Okay we were missing a few but we should still be able to go to a Junior ground and look to attack.

They had the better of the play apart from a minor flurry at the beginning of the second half. They might only have had one threatening attempt in the first half – well saved by Alan Martin but routine enough – to our three (Garry Fleming’s effort from their mistake followed by Donald McCallum’s shot on the rebound, both well saved by their keeper, then Don’s attempt to dig out the ball after the keeper spilled a cross) but they had most of the play.

We looked comfortable enough defending – except for corners and free-kicks and a wonderful Alan Martin reflex save from one of those – but we ourselves only had a looping header on target in the second half.

Quite why Don was on from the start when they had two big central defenders who could head the ball all day is beyond me. Robert Thomson at least won a few when he came on, we might have made something of that if he had started and Don could have come on to run at them towards the end. Not that they looked lacking in fitness. The game could have gone on till next Tuesday and no goals would have been scored.

A replay is the last thing we needed; especially in the week running up to our encounter with Hibs at Easter Road. On this evidence we could go into that game out of the Cup.

*According to their website the home club’s full name is Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic.
**William Hill Scottish Cup