SPFL Tier  3, The Rock, 26/4/25.

The last home game of the season and an entertaining one.

Annan had the best of the opening twenty or so minutes but really only created one opportunity. It was a golden one though but loanee keeper Shay Kelly pulled off an incredible point-blank save. I still don’t know how he did it.

Then we got a free-kick reasonably far out from which I wasn’t expecting much but Ryan Blair beat the keeper with a shot at a fairly savable height I thought but which squeezed in close to the post.

One-nil at half time and soon Annan’s task got more difficult when a second yellow card was shown to one of their defenders. from where I was it looked as if his slip had simply caused Michael Ruth to fall over him but the ref signalled it was a trip.

Annan then brought on sub Tommy Goss. At 6 feet 4 inches he towerd over everybody else on the park. Not good when we were playing with a makeshift centre back pairing neither of whom are centre backs. (Curiously the same was true of Annan’s line-up. No centre backs playing at centre back on either side is surely an extremely rare phenomenon.) Goss began winning balls in the air bringing out another superb save from Shay Kelly but their forward blazed the rebound over when it was surely easier to score. Goss then converted a corner and Annan looked more likely to win the game – which they had to if they had any hope sof avoding the relegaton play-off spot.

A few minutes we had a pitch invasion. No, not really, but the crowd did end up on the pitch. A fire alarm had gone off in the stadium and the game had to be suspended.

That turned out to be the turning point. After the restart we scored twice in quick succession. Firstly Tony Wallace was played in by fellow sub Joel Mumbongo but he took what felt like an age in beating the same defender twice before finally planting the ball in the net. Also Mouhamed Niang was put on Goss at set pieces after which Annan seemed to stop trying to find him.

Two minutes later another quick break saw Finlay Gray play the ball across the box. Joel Mumbongo perhaps ought to have scored but seemed to miss the ball. However he mananged to confuse the keeper who then failed to stop the ball reaching another sub Jinky Hilton who put it away.

Things were not over. They were given a penalty and Shay Kelly took his good time getting into place going behind the goal line and seeming to aplly something to his gloves, time-wasting for which he was given a yellow card. His ….housery worked, though, as he got down well to save the shot from Goss. Man of the match for me.

The home season ended on a playing high, then. Only Stenhousemuir away next week before a season unforgettable for all the wrong reasons is over.

Will we still be around for the next one though? An owner whose only interest in the club is as a site for housebuilding might well pull the plug. Fans are powerless in this regard.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 1/3/25.

Another dispiriting result, Carlo Pignatiello’s goal after half-time possibly the only bright spot. Then again Stenny have had the upper hand against us for the past two seasons.

Next up, a home game versus the present league leaders, Arbroath, at home – and on the telly (BBC Alba) – on Tuesday night.

SPFL Tier 3, Recreation Park,* 3/12/24.

Not a bad result away against a team in the top four.

Still, after losing an early goal, we managed to turn it round to a 2-1 advantage. Disappointing then to lose the equaliser.

Tony Wallace got our two, the second a penalty.

The worry though was Michael Ruth going off after 39 minutes. I hope it’s not too serious.

Another difficult game coming up on Saturday, at league leaders Stenhousemuir, who seem to have had our number the last four times we played them.

*Indodrill Stadium

SPFL Tier 3, Palmerston Park, 28/9/24.

Reality biting hard?

That’s two games lost in a row now. AndMark Durnan got himself sent off.

Plus we’re bottom of the table.

It’s getting hard to see where the win is going to come from.

I’m not convinced it’ll be next week at home to Stenhousemuir. They owned us last season.

SPFL Tier 4, the Rock, 23/12/23.

I was at this but haven’t got round to writing about it since I had a big birthday at the weekend and there was of course Christmas.

Clyde must have won the toss as they chose to change ends – no doubt to utilise the wind. It and the driving rain were atrocious throughout.

We started OK but soon fell out of it as Clyde were aided by the conditions. Harry Broun, in goal due to Brett Long’s long-term injury, had to face a one-on-one early on and manged to put the attacker off enough for the shot to go past the post.  Then we were awarded a penalty though no-one near where I was sitting had a clue what for. Handball most likely. Tony Wallace converted.

Harry Broun stood up to another one-on-one, blocking the shot. Our goal was leading a charmed life through a series of corners where the ball was being driven towards the goal by the wind but the equaliser came from an attacked cutting inside and hitting a shot from outside the box. Maybe Broun was unsighted but it looked potentially savable; but the shot shild never have been allowed.

We took the lead again when an Aron Lynas cross was deflected and looped over the keeper. But it didn’t last. Once again an attacker was allowed to cut towards goal and the despairing lunge caught his leg. Penalty to Clyde. 2-2.

I was having kittens every time they went up the park and especially at corners. The ball was somehow scrambled away several times. I was glad to get to half-time still level.

The second half was different. We basically controlled it without ever threatening their goal much. Sub Ryan Wallace livened things up a bit though and scored with a header from a cross.

A stramash from a corner led to Aron Lynas hitting the bar and then heading in our fourth.

That ought to have been it. 4-2 up and with the wind in our favour there ought to have been no way back for Clyde. But one of our party’s number then fatally said, “I wonder when was the last time we won 4-2 two games in  a row.” I pointed out there was still time, but that was because I was hoping for a fifth.

That didn’t happen. Their subs up front made a difference. Had we not had a scratch defence (a regular centre half plus a right back out and our usual left back shuffled to centre back for the game meant we missed our normal drive from the full back positions) then we might have coped. As it was their lad got free and fairly blasted the ball through Harry Broun. The strike was so ferocious and the conditions so poor but it was still a surprise he could have scored from the angle he had.

Clyde then sensed the draw and threw everything forward. Again our normal defence might have stopped their third equaliser. By that time it seemed almost inevitable they would score but it was still a poor one to lose.

That was a chance to catch Peterhead, who lost at home, and keep pace with Stenhousemuir spurned. The league is most likely gone now, even with just over half the season to go.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 1/4/23.

April Fool?

Sadly not.

Yes, the injuries and the pitch have certainly taken their toll.

What a difference a week makes. We looked okay against Stirling (apart from losing the same goal twice) and I was quite optimistic.

Not now. We apparently deserved nothing from the game. Aaron Lynas’s goal just before half-time was, it seems, the only bright point.

At least we have a whole week now before our next game, a tough trip to Annan.

But who knows how many players will be fit for it.

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 28/2/23.

I must confess that after the last two results I hadn’t expected this.

But it was a much needed win – and achieved with a few players out. Thank you Finlay Gray for the goal.

That’s us five points ahead of Stirling Albion now.

Off to Stranraer now on Saturday where, doubtless, our poor record means the points difference will be back to two again.

But we can hope.

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 25/2/23.

We have gone seriously off the boil. That’s eleven points dropped in our last six games. So, not a good time to lose at home for the first time this season.

As last week we went behind pretty early. At least this time we got an equaliser through Ryan Blair but we gave away a penalty early in the second half.

It seems from Pie and Bovril that we were truly bad today too.

Plus we’ve got a game on Tuesday against Stenhousemuir at home and they’ve come onto a game recently.

Then it’s away to Stranraer next Saturday and our record there is awful.

By the time we play Stirling Albion on Tuesday week we could well be behind them.

SPFL Tier 4, Ochilview, 4/2/23.

It was annoying to drop two points in added time, but at least we didn’t lose. And no damage was done to our lead since Stirling Albion also drew – but a win would have made the margin between us more comfortable.

I suppose Ally Love’s goal for us just before half-time meant we didn’t go looking for another too forcefully so this was an ending that was probably coming.
We haven’t scored two in a game for over a month now. We’ll need to start doing that again if we’re to stay top.

Unsurprisingly given the temperatures we’ve been having today’s game at the Rock against Stenhousemuir was postponed.

That means our next game – versus East Fife on the 24^th – is the one where the club is marking its 150^th anniversary.

Celebrations are planned at the Rock.

We must hope that the result will also be one to celebrate.

But we know how these things go.