Way back in the dim mists of time the world was a simpler place and football did not dominate the calendar. World Cup finals were 16 teams large and the European Championship only had four qualifiers until it expanded to eight teams in 1980.

In Scotland the football season started on the second Saturday in August and finished on the last Saturday in April.

I thought it was pushing it when the season began edging into July to accommodate the Challenge Cup and altered League Cup format.

Today though is the 16^th of July. The schools have barely broken up for the summer. Yet the Sons have a first game of the official season at Station Park, Forfar, in yet another alteration to the League Cup. It barely seemed the old season had ended when pre-season games began.

The squad manager Stevie Aitken has collected seems a little thin. The League Cup looks on paper to be not too daunting but I have no idea how we will fare against the three lower division sides in our group. (I expect to be beaten by Dundee.)

The league is a different matter. Already it looks tough. We’ll be relying on another full-time side to be rubbish (as Livingston were last season) to avoid the relegation play-offs and even then we’d have to finish above Ayr United, by no means a given.

How long we can continue to defy gravity I don’t know. This may be the season we don’t.

SFL Div 2, Station Park, 14/2/12

I said we’d have to be sharper; but we weren’t.

Instead, we were more profligate.

Stephen Grindlay had a great save early on then four gilt-edged chances for us elapsed before Forfar scored. Over-elaboration, failing to shoot first time, too many touches, passing instead of taking responsibility for a shot, every possible failing in front of goal was in evidence. Their keeper did OK but should have been beaten: more than once.

Midway through the half play became rather scrappy.* (*Thank you Ian McMillan – those of a certain age will remember his summations of games for BBC TV in the long ago. Wiki says he is the grandfather of former son Iain Russell.)

In the end at half time I was grateful for the equaliser. Brian Prunty seemed to have taken the ball on too far but finally got a shot away into the corner of the net.

Our formation was puzzling for a time. I hadn’t really noticed among the mayhem on Saturday at Ochilview but we are playing three at the back. Onebrow was of the opinion that the two full backs aren’t pushed on enough to make it work, though, and our midfield can get overrun with this system.

The second half more or less followed the pattern of the first, both teams having chances – one shocking miss by a Forfar player who blazed wide when he should have placed it, a good save by Grindlay after a headed back pass fell short – our failure to shoot early enough enormously frustrating. Their keeper had a great save from the only one Scott Agnew really got hold of all night and scrambled a Mark Gilhaney effort away late on.

Gilhaney nearly always takes the wrong option. The system may be employed to free him up but too often he flatters to deceive. When wide he wanders infield instead of taking on the man on the outside and trying to get a cross in. Typically he ends up losing the ball. I can’t remember when I last saw him really play well. When Mark Lamont came on for James Creaney he became predictable very quickly.

We kept threatening to score up till the end but never convinced that we would.

Still; a point’s a point and we’re now third. How on Earth did that happen? Our goal difference is still to hit positive numbers.

When I got home I discovered the reason why our winning run had come to an end.

On Saturday I took some photos of Station Park.

It doesn’t look very prepossessing from Carseview Road.

I could hear a cattle auction going on nearby and you can get the faint whiff of cow’s urine on the road up.

It’s a lovely traditional football ground when you enter though and thankfully the air is fresher.

This is a stitch of three pictures taken from the North terracing, the nearest after you enter the ground.

And this is the view from the other end, with the covered terracing down the right hand side.

Here’s a closer look at the stand.

All photos including the ones the stitches were made from are on my flickr site.

SFL Div 2, Station Park, 24/9/11.

A welcome win. But… Something weird is going on.

We haven’t won (or even drawn) at home in the league. Yet away, we’ve won two, drawn one (and lost one.)

We had marginally the better of the early exchanges here though neither side looked likely to score until a run through led to a good save by the Forfar keeper and Brian Prunty just missed the rebound; in the stramash Mark Gilhaney’s blocked shot came back to him and he smashed it against the bar but Prunty was offside and his tap-in didn’t count.

We soon lost the hard running Pat Walker to injury but the sub David Winters scored when the Forfar defence stood still at a Scott Agnew free kick. In oceans of space and with his back to goal Winters fashioned a kind of horizontal bicycle bick to slot the opener.

All through the game Forfar played neat and tidy stuff and tried to pass the ball but generally looked curiously out of sorts. They had several half-chances but no clear cut opportunities.

Forfar’s keeper had at least three good saves though, one from Mark Gilhaney squirmed onto the post before bouncing out.

Our second came when a bit of dig from Scott Agnew in midfileld won him the ball and he despatched Gihaney whose cross was killed by Prunty to set up a volley which he thumped into the net.

Then came the most ridiculous sending off. A nothing situation gave us a throw in on the halfway line and a Forfar player pushed David Winters who fended him off with his hands. The ref scurried over flashing a red card. The Forfar guy escaped with only a yellow.

We managed to hold out without too much torment – though I was looking at my watch a lot – and we seemed quite well organised at the back. Paul Nugent was solid at right back. Loanee Ross McKinnon was okay at left mid but may not be quite match fit.

Apart from the win the most noteworthy occurence was Stephen Grindlay came for and held several cross balls!!!! That’s been missing from his game for too long. (He did miss one later on though.)