Stewarty Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 It wasn't pretty but we got there in the end. Just. The lads put in battling performance and defended well. It was a scrappy game with the ball spending plenty of time in the air. ICT's strategy was clear: sit back and hit us on the break. This created problems for us, as we're not great at breaking down teams who arrive with a defensive mentality. I thought Conrad and Frans were solid, with the former deserving his motm award. Bannigan had a decent first half but the midfield was increasingly bypassed by both teams, who were playing a fairly direct brand of football. No one had a particularly bad game. I still think that Osman slows the play too much and Stevenson's tendency to drift inside meant that we lacked width at times, but the main thing is that we secured three points against a team whose league position is considerably better than ours. Well done, lads; I enjoyed the 'two in a row' chant at full-time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindau Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 (edited) It wasn't pretty but we got there in the end. Just. The lads put in battling performance and defended well. It was a scrappy game with the ball spending plenty of time in the air. ICT's strategy was clear: sit back and hit us on the break. This created problems for us, as we're not great at breaking down teams who arrive with a defensive mentality. I thought Conrad and Frans were solid, with the former deserving his motm award. Bannigan had a decent first half but the midfield was increasingly bypassed by both teams, who were playing a fairly direct brand of football. No one had a particularly bad game. I still think that Osman slows the play too much and Stevenson's tendency to drift inside meant that we lacked width at times, but the main thing is that we secured three points against a team whose league position is considerably better than ours. Well done, lads; I enjoyed the 'two in a row' chant at full-time. Can't agree with Frans. With them attacking the North in the 2nd half it became evident that he was over committing himself and getting pulled out of position regularly. Didn't think he had a good game. Balatoni, other than a slip near the end, was as solid as a rock and it will be very disappointing if he is axed once Dangerous Dan gets fit, though going by the proggie today it looks like he might need surgery. Edited March 21, 2015 by Lindau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert's Ghost Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 It was looking more and more like 0-0, then we popped up with an unexpected goal near the end. I immediately remembered the last time that happened at Firhill, but fortunately we had the class/luck to see it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angry gaz Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 We seemed to have won that game with sheer grit, hard work and effort and when you can't do the free flowing stuff that's what to do. The team spirit was excellent , you could see at the end of the game what it meant to the players. Frans and Ballatoni were solid in the middle and Banzo and Osman put in a power in the middle. When Banzo pushes that bit further forward it really drives the team on. He seems to have his mojo back. No real failures again for the second week. Would have taken a point but how sweet is a late winner after all the points we've chucked away late on. Stevie's strike..............ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssss 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metz Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 We have played a lot better and lost so in many ways the type of victory that is vital if you are going to have a good season. Glad to get the back to back monkey off!! Three wins out of four and three clean sheets to boot is very pleasing. Even more so as it has come on the end of a very poor run of form and more importantly at a time when the contenders for the play offs have found a bit of form. Well done Jags let's build on it and shock the Dons with three in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Nixon Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Alan Archibald, in his post match comments - "I think the pitch, albeit it might look okay from eye-level, it's horrible, it's really bobbly and it doesn't make for great football." Surely to god something must be done in the Summer to improve this situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindau Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 (edited) Alan Archibald, in his post match comments - "I think the pitch, albeit it might look okay from eye-level, it's horrible, it's really bobbly and it doesn't make for great football." Surely to god something must be done in the Summer to improve this situation. The pitch looked a lot better today, but you could see the ball bobbling about. To be honest, the problem is not exclusive to Firhill. There are plenty of pitches all over the UK that are looking in awful condition! Edited March 21, 2015 by Lindau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglemon Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 The pitch looked a lot better today, but you could see the ball bobbling about. To be honest, the problem is not exclusive to Firhill. There are plenty of pitches all over the UK that are looking in awful condition! Summer football please 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Imagine what the pitch would be like if Glasgow Warriors still played at Firhill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindau Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Summer football please Was a crackin day to watch football today. Jacket came off, sun specs on.....very unusual for March!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanieD Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Just read what John Hughes made of the match - in fairness to the big man he always gives credit where it is due and doesn't descend into selective myopia when talking about his team and their opponents. (Hope they win the cup - they did knock us out after all! - and they have an obnoxious semi-final opponent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Earl of Hathaway Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 My take on the last two games would be thus - we played our own game and the other team did that tippy-tippy bullsh*t that we used to do. Onward and very much upward.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Col Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 I thought we were the only team looking to get 3 points today, and deserved to get them. ICT set up very negative and s lot of hoofs up the park. Goodness knows where this "John Hughes team always plays positive attacking football" nonsense that the media Troy out comes from. But back to us. Balatoni a stand out, and just as well because Frans once again looked ropey, Bannigan looking to get ball forward instead of sideways. A good finish from Lawless topping off another good performance. I'm not going to detail any specific disappointments, because we won and that's what counts. But suffice to say that some players did not perform as well as they can, and have done in previous matches. happy Saturday night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustic Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 I thought fake thistle had the best of the first half and made about five or six decent chances where we made none. Second half a different story. Fake came out defensive, looking set for a draw and hoping to score on the break. Decent tactics, given the goals we've conceded by pushing forward against defensive teams this season. Credit to Archie, Scott and the team, we kept attacking and defended successfully when they broke. I thought bringing Taylor on for Doolan made a difference. Conrad was excellent and my MOTM too, although he made two mistakes in close succession just after I'd picked him. Steevo a close runner-up. What a shift he put in and to think we all thought he was lazy early in the season! Stevie Lawless was great today - I think he's come on a lot. Last season he'd have looked too lightweight in a game like that but he ran rings around their defenders at times today. More of that please, Stevie. After the goal we saw it out well. Taylor is superb at holding the ball up in their half and Archie went to five at the back, using valuable seconds with that substitution. What an improvement on last season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
read'n'yell Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Excellent all round, couldn't of complained if it ended 0-0 so to win it was great. Caley too much punting up the park and we did well to play our style. Thought both teams were pedestrian at times and it felt a bit pre-seasonish but we worked hard and I'm sure that's the type of game we would of lost last season or a couple of months ago. Stevenson really deserves more credit for the amount of ground he covers as well as being able to pass and control the game. Bannigan on top form as well and thought Balatoni after having a mixed season has really played well recently, to the point where now Frans/Balatoni will keep out our 'captain' Seaborne. Funnily enough Lawless was our poorest player but popped up with the goal - he's got a good scoring rate for a winger. Anyway, a big win for us with Well and County also getting 3 points, all we have to do is match their results and we're safe. p.s. also winning consecutive games is a huge monkey of our backs (with the same starting 11 as well!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Murray Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 That was a very good win against a good Inverness side. Most teams would have been beaten today in this league but we managed to grind out a result – something we have done very little of all season. Glad Balatoni got the man of the match today, he was a rock at the back. He was unlucky last week as his performance went a little unnoticed because the quality of Bannagin’s performance. Frans played well also but he did get caught out a few times but overall he did well. We have conceded one goal in the last 4 games for anybody who doubts the above. Both Banzo and Abdul both worked very hard during the game. Stuart has hit form at the very right time. Stevenson was also a standout, the way he played today is what I hoped for when we signed him. We have struggled all season to grind the results but we did that today. Lawless for me did not have the best of games, struggled with it being such a physical game. I did think he would be taken off but he came good with his goal. Thought we did the right thing defending so deep after we scored. Too many times we have been caught with that late goal this season. Defending deep does have its problems but it denies space in the vital areas. Think we are capable of getting a result next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jags on tour Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 how did BRE look when he came on? I can imagine we would have been under the cosh the last 5 mins or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 The main thing about the last two weeks has been the effort every player has put in, in closing down, tracking back - making it really hard for the opposition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
read'n'yell Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 how did BRE look when he came on? I can imagine we would have been under the cosh the last 5 mins or so. Looked taller than Frans, big lad. Only touched the ball once I think. Never like unsettling a back line that is holding out when everyone knows who they are marking already etc. Worked fine though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Looked taller than Frans, big lad. Only touched the ball once I think. Never like unsettling a back line that is holding out when everyone knows who they are marking already etc. Worked fine though. But if Archie hadn't made a change like that and ICT had scored, just think of the abuse that would have been directed at the manager. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunnylaw Jag Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Think we are capable of getting a result next week. Bloody hope so, we're playing Gibraltar! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brent Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Balatoni and Frans have got a really good partnership going. Both cover each other very well. They each made a couple of mistakes today but the other was there to cover it. One goal conceded in the last four games is very good going considering the teams we have played! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingerjag Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Glad to see Balatoni playing well. I remember thinking at the Morton title clincher game he was solid as a rock won every header, might just have been the occasion getting to me that night but after being dissapointed with him the last year or so hopefully he like a few others like Bannigan are getting a second wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennymac29 Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) Agree with all of the comments above re big Conrad, I thought that was the best game I've seen him and every centre half will make a couple of minor mistakes. I thought if ICT had of started dorran they could have scored a couple, similar to last week when lee croft was a sub and they made some decent opportunities when he came on however fox didn't really have a save to make so maybe the stats don't back up my point. One thing again I noticed regarding the ref this is the second week in a row when we broke through bannigan and he was clearly and blatantly pulled back maybe 40 yards out by that big haddy draper and yet no booking, yet mclean decided it was fine to book Taylor for what exactly? Using his body which may have been a minor foul. The reffing in the last two games, albeit not affecting the result, has been very poor. Mclean yesterday was overly officious and pulled things back for things that involved very little contact but when there was a blatant booking he ignored it. Edited March 22, 2015 by kennymac29 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Gekantawa Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Taylor's booking aside, I thought the ref was decent today and had been consistent in keeping his cards in his pocket. As for one of the fouls you refer to, I thought credit was due for playing the advantage, and then pulling play back when no advantage developed (refs don't do this enough). And while I might agree that the cynical foul on Bannigan deserved a booking, Bannigan should also have been booked for his very reckless lunge at the stroke of halftime (ok he missed everything, but it was high and uncontrolled). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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