lady-isobel-barnett

All true. Also for the integrity of our league there has to be significant advantage given to the team finishing second over the teams in the third and fourth places. Clearly there's not enough prize money in the kitty to do it on a purely monetary basis hence the additional games. Besides coming fourth in a tiny league of ten means that team is often likely to be only marginally above being classed as mid table. It shouldn't then be made any easier for that club to "get lucky". Anyway I'd much prefer it if we had larger normal sized leagues. Two up, two down automatically and play offs to decide if a third club could progress or not.

So sad to hear that Jags fan Willie Limond has passed away.https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/sport/national/24253546.former-british-commonwealth-boxing-champion-willie-limond-dies/ RIP, Willie

I reckon a more likely approach won't be to rest key players as such. More likely to prioritise those with niggling injuries etc. Players who would/could play if the outcome of the game was crucial but to the detriment of following matches. Last season's play offs were exceptional, but it's extremely difficult for a 3rd or 4th placed club to get promoted. Almost impossible without a workable squad. Put simply County or St Johnstone will most probably be able to call on all five subs, all of whom are regular 1st team players. Somehow to offer up a reasonable challenge we'd have to be able to come close to matching them.

Also got to mind that the players themselves are likely (almost certainly)to be incentivised to finish 3rd. So what may be preferable to our overall chances of promotion may not be necessarily preferable to the players. Gut feeling is we'll all be reading from the same hymn sheet against Airdrie. Not so sure after that.

Overhead conditions much the same as last week but far less football played today. Difference between playing on grass and plastic no doubt. Tho' we played better in the 2nd half think some of that down to shooting south to north looked preferable. A draw probably fair but under these conditions any team playing the better football could still easily lose the game. Fitzpatrick had two marking him all game but handled it well. On the other flank McMillan rarely pushed forward, presumably a tactical decision. Thought a goal likely to come from a set play, which were much harder to defend today. Raith had more of them so a wee bit of credit to our defending.

Again, and possibly less arithmetically, they could drop to 9th place. So maybe their next season status isn't quite so assured?

Jamie Mitchell

😀 Too true. Grand National Day and he was carrying top weight.

Does anyone here remember the last time we played at Starks Park on Grand National Day? Scenario.- Season 2004/05. Raith already relegated having previously accumulated only 13pts beat us 1-2, effectively relegating us as well. One person on here (let's call the poster, me) on leaving the ground spots three unselected regular team members sauntering back into Starks having forsaken our match for the lure of Aintree. This poster who lived a relatively short journey from Kirkcaldy and still irate at the result (and no doubt the world in general) too promptly posted observations on the then current Jags forum. Didn't foresee that some web lurcher from the Daily Record would pick up on this. By Monday said paper would deem such an incident worthy of headlining import. Looking forward to tomorrow's game in full knowledge that whatever the result I won't be on anything like the downer I was on 19 year ago.

A not unlikely possibility but it's still a case of playing someone out of position. My guess would be McInroy fills in for Stevie since he's also a leftie. Probably keep the current set up as the default start. Feel tho' we'll have to be adept at switching formations in game time. If O'Reilly is fit and on the bench then we could switch to a back three without too much upheaval.

Sad news. Gutted for the lad. Think we'd better change formation than play someone out of position. Our current set up is only really effective due to Stevie's ability.

Mentioned before that there's likely to be a player incentive based on finishing position. So I doubt we have to worry about taking the foot of the gas. Of course that also means the Club won't end up with the full £90K to go into the pot for next season.

I guess the reason for relatively fewer hat tricks these days could be down to increased substitutions. I'm sure I've seen a good few lads subbed when on two goals.

I agree and if we're still maintaining "McCall" style contracts the players will also be incentivised on a position ending scale of bonus. A downside to the play offs is there's bound to be different agendas and attitudes towards the final few games of the season. Do we go hell for leather for that £90K risking injury and fitness levels for the play offs? Whether a club finishes 3rd or 4th makes little difference to the chances of promotion. So there has to be a school of thought to rest key players, even if in doing so you're risking a sizable sum of money.

Just home. It wasn't till I was driving I realised just how strong the wind was. My only criticism is a much repeated one that we near always mismanage the game late on. Desperate clearances and no one further up the park controlling the ball. Instead giving it away cheaply resulting in more panicky clearances. Actually for much of the game we managed conditions better than the Pars and were worthy of our lead. Penalty looked soft but Dunfermline gradually took over the running of the game. We probably deserved a draw but I'm sure most of us welcomed the final whistle more so than the home fans.

If you think of us as a team heading for the play offs with an outside chance of promotion then a draw today shouldn't disappoint. It is however the type of game a team showing real promotion potential should be winning. I'm of the former opinion and will likely be happy enough with a point.

It is indeed quiet in here. So much so Albert's Ghost is talking to himself over on the "PTFC v The Loch Inverness Monster" thread. 😀

Hitting on partly why Doolan doesn't change things about that much. If any of the three came on as subs (especially the wide two) it would also entail a forced change of formation. I don't think there's necessarily no depth to the squad, relative to other clubs in the division. Where we are lacking is in like for like replacements down the flanks. Apart from having no one to cover (do a similar job) for Lawless and/or Fitzpatrick those two are weakened if Milne or McMillan don't play. Over the piece our strength has been in our width but that also exposes a weakness of having had to rely on those four players. Encouragingly tho' we're seeing signs improvement thru the middle mainly down to having plugged the defensive gap somewhat and thus allowing Robinson in particular to get further forward.

Just after 8 minutes here. https://eftv.info/highlights-2023-24/

Maybe more latitude for centrebacks but O'Reiily has only just resumed training. Besides the current centreback pairing has been very good over the last two games. Be good tho' to have a genuine centreback on the bench, so as not having to juggle the team round if McBeth or Muirhead have to go off. Kinda go along with Lenziejag re Fitzpatrick. He was rather isolated yesterday as Milne seemed reluctant to get forward. Assume Harry was given additional defensive duties. Also after the red card I didn't understand why we had ten outfield players defending free kicks and corners. Stick Aiden or Wee Stevie upfield to take two of ICT out their attack and we're defending 10 men to 7.

In a sort of perverse way making such heavy weather of the win highlighted just how well organised our back line was. No way the back four should've had so much work to do later on but at least there's one area where we've improved no end. I just can't understand why our more advanced players lose possession so regularly. We're constantly desperately hanging onto a lead when we should be seeing games out with much more ease.

Agree with much of jagfox's comments above. Perhaps if we had McBeth in from the start of the season one or two midfielder signings wouldn't have been made and James could've got more game time with us. That not being the case, the lack of overall physicality in midfield (pre Neilson/McBeth) was glaringly evident. Lyon will at least get some valuable game time out on loan. He may still not get a lot of game time as team physicality is part and parcel of League Two football but certainly more than what he'd have got with us. Assuming next season we have a better balance in midfield than we did till recently then James could provide a creative spark to the team. He's certainly shown the potential to do that.

What in the wide, wide world o' sports is a goin' on here? https://crescentcitysports.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Slim-Pickens.jpg

That's the most sensible thing to do. Maybe tho' an asterisk required for some of those league games up at Dingwall? 😀

Agree with Fawlty their 3rd goal was a real sickener. Rangers never let us back in the game after that. Still a great achievement getting to the final.