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Cove v Table Toppers


CrimeWriterJag
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In what will be a hectic week, I thought we could turn our attention to the big game on Tuesday night early. Although not a Must Win, like the last 5, it would be good to try and get over the line as soon as possible. I don’t think a draw would be the worst result, so in that case it may be more of a Must Not Lose. Much may be down to the fitness of Banzo/Doc, but the defence has looked good and we have a number of potential scorers in the team now. Need to keep with Graham/Zak/Tiff front line. I think Murray may come in for Joe, who could make an impact off the bench. The midfield is the big question mark for me - Gordon? Penrice? Sena? Let’s hope for some early goals and give the nerves a rest from yesterday...

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I think Tiffoney has gone off the boil recently. He started well yesterday, but hardly had a decent touch in the 2nd half. Is he carrying an injury, maybe. Moray also has been ineffective recently and yesterday, it was 20 mins in before I noticed Cardle. 
The defence though has been terrific and although Airdrie had a lot of the ba ll, didn’t really have us in trouble

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3 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

I think Tiffoney has gone off the boil recently. He started well yesterday, but hardly had a decent touch in the 2nd half. Is he carrying an injury, maybe. Moray also has been ineffective recently and yesterday, it was 20 mins in before I noticed Cardle. 
The defence though has been terrific and although Airdrie had a lot of the ba ll, didn’t really have us in trouble

Moray ineffective? Poor people up there!

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I had intended to start a double thread for both midweek games but made the mistake of a too long opening post, by which time CWJ had jumped in. I am copying and pasting my post below. Please ignore the other thread!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last time we had 2 games in the same midweek, Auld Jag opened a single thread to cover both matches. The result was 2 clean sheets and 2 decisive victories. I cannot replicate Auld Jag's balaclava but hopefully the team can replicate the good results in this pair of vital, but hardly socially distanced, fixtures.

What are the prospects and thoughts for both games, or one at a time?

If I can kick off, although I would welcome the perspective of posters with more tactical knowledge, and especially Big Wull as the new X-Factor member of the managerial quadriumvirate, I wonder if team selection might bear in mind that (as against Airdrie) the last 20 minutes of the game may involve an aerial bombardment missing out the midfield in either direction, if Cove are scrapping for a win or a draw, or we are scrapping for a draw (we perhaps would not go gung-ho for the win in those circumstances). Tiredness may limit the possibility of craft being employed, whether in defence, midfield or attack, especially if Bannigan and/or Docherty cannot last the whole 90 minutes.

Could there be something to be said for starting with such as Williamson, Cardle and McIver for some pace and energy going forward in the early part of the game, and bringing on the likes of Graham, McKenna and Sena at 45 or 60 minutes fit and ready to give their utmost, jump their highest and head their hardest to supplement or defend the aerial bombardment? I would not advocate this for a one off game in which we are playing the best starting XI, but in these very specific circumstances it is unrealistic to expect the same  starting XI to carry us all the way through the week.

Edited by partickthedog
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Been sceptical about Gordon's all round midfield ability, but from what I could see from yesterday's stream he looked like he had a very good game indeed.  May influence McCall if fielding either Bannigan or Docherty is risky. The quick turnaround for the Falkirk game will obviously affect selection, especially with those carrying knocks and the elderly squad members. What I would like to see is that we have at least one player of pace on for the next 180 mins. That may require making the odd unpopular decision. 

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I think we need to start with the same team if possible to the one that battered Airdrie in the 1st half. We need to take the game to them again however this time take our chances when they come. Finishing is certainly something we need to be working on as the amount of sitters we've missed this season I've not seen since we had big Ade Azeez. 

I dont think we can play not to lose by taking a defensive approach. Cove have played as many games as us in the same period of time so tiredness cant be an excuse for us to make a lot of changes. If we start the game like we did at the weekend, be composed in front of goal, we should take the spoils back home to Maryhill

Edited by MonehJags
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Cove will need to come out swinging. Of course, a draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world for them, but realistically they need to win to keep their title hopes alive. 

Watched the highlights of their game against Falkirk at the weekend. The legs started to go in the last 20mins or so. So I would not be too bothered about starting the game at blistering pace. We can afford to dig-in and frustrate them a little. I'd argue they are one of, if not thee best, part-time team in the country. But if we want to get back to our best, we need to beat them. 

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1 hour ago, Yellow & Redneck said:

Cove will need to come out swinging. Of course, a draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world for them, but realistically they need to win to keep their title hopes alive. 

Watched the highlights of their game against Falkirk at the weekend. The legs started to go in the last 20mins or so. So I would not be too bothered about starting the game at blistering pace. We can afford to dig-in and frustrate them a little. I'd argue they are one of, if not thee best, part-time team in the country. But if we want to get back to our best, we need to beat them. 

If were a goal or two ahead then they might not have the legs to recover from that later on in the game. As you said though, it really is a must win game for them so I cant see them sitting in which will leave space for us to hopefully take them apart with the pace of Tiffoney and Rudden. 

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6 hours ago, Yellow & Redneck said:

Cove will need to come out swinging. Of course, a draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world for them, but realistically they need to win to keep their title hopes alive. 

Watched the highlights of their game against Falkirk at the weekend. The legs started to go in the last 20mins or so. So I would not be too bothered about starting the game at blistering pace. We can afford to dig-in and frustrate them a little. I'd argue they are one of, if not thee best, part-time team in the country. But if we want to get back to our best, we need to beat them. 

I was really concerned by the way we fell out of the game on Saturday in the last 30 minutes or so. This left me feeling very negative about the Cove game. 

I am however encouraged by the positive nature  of the comments on this thread and especial by Y&R's remark that the Cove legs went in the last 20 minutes! 

I am not sure we will have a choice but with the 'legs'  issue in mind I think Cove will come at us hard and try to do to us what we did to Airdrie. 

It might be an idea to let them do all the work (attack) , soak up the pressure and try to  hit them on the break for the first hour.

When their legs start to wilt go for broke in the final 20/30 minutes to win the game! 

However to do this we must not lose a goal and we must keep Megginson quiet. 

Any thoughts on actually man marking Megginskn - bound to result in a couple yellow cards or a red as I gather he might not respond well to man marking. 

 

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1 hour ago, exiledjag said:

I was really concerned by the way we fell out of the game on Saturday in the last 30 minutes or so. This left me feeling very negative about the Cove game. 

I am however encouraged by the positive nature  of the comments on this thread and especial by Y&R's remark that the Cove legs went in the last 20 minutes! 

I am not sure we will have a choice but with the 'legs'  issue in mind I think Cove will come at us hard and try to do to us what we did to Airdrie. 

It might be an idea to let them do all the work (attack) , soak up the pressure and try to  hit them on the break for the first hour.

When their legs start to wilt go for broke in the final 20/30 minutes to win the game! 

However to do this we must not lose a goal and we must keep Megginson quiet. 

Any thoughts on actually man marking Megginskn - bound to result in a couple yellow cards or a red as I gather he might not respond well to man marking. 

I would much prefer if Bannigan and Docherty were fit for this as I think Cove will be harder to get a result from than Falkirk. So if we have to choose which game they play I would play them tomorrow and go with 2 from Niang, Gordon and Penrice on Thursday.

In both games against Cove I wasn't overly impressed with their midfield with the exception of Fyvie. They clearly have a decent striker and an organised back 4 but I don't see anything that would suggest that a midfield of Niang, Gordon and Penrice shouldn't be able to cope.

From the Falkirk highlights Cove struggled with Morrison in wide areas and centrally because he is Falkirk's one player with pace. Rudden and Tiffoney are quicker and more of a threat than Morrison, Falkirk's second goal came straight through the middle of Cove with Sammon's akwardness causing them a problem and Graham is probably better at working centre backs than Sammon. So I think Cove have more to fear from our front 3 than we do have from Megginson.

One other wee note - if we do go up I think we should be trying to get Morrison from Falkirk. Looks like a decent young player with pace able to play both wide and central. He's is one of the few players not in our squad who have consistently caught the eye this season.

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6 hours ago, laukat said:

I would much prefer if Bannigan and Docherty were fit for this as I think Cove will be harder to get a result from than Falkirk. So if we have to choose which game they play I would play them tomorrow and go with 2 from Niang, Gordon and Penrice on Thursday.

In both games against Cove I wasn't overly impressed with their midfield with the exception of Fyvie. They clearly have a decent striker and an organised back 4 but I don't see anything that would suggest that a midfield of Niang, Gordon and Penrice shouldn't be able to cope.

From the Falkirk highlights Cove struggled with Morrison in wide areas and centrally because he is Falkirk's one player with pace. Rudden and Tiffoney are quicker and more of a threat than Morrison, Falkirk's second goal came straight through the middle of Cove with Sammon's akwardness causing them a problem and Graham is probably better at working centre backs than Sammon. So I think Cove have more to fear from our front 3 than we do have from Megginson.

One other wee note - if we do go up I think we should be trying to get Morrison from Falkirk. Looks like a decent young player with pace able to play both wide and central. He's is one of the few players not in our squad who have consistently caught the eye this season.

Agree with you about Morrison. A place in the squad could be available if Cardle is released! 

What about trying to sign Megganson as well! He is 28 years of age, a proven goalscorer and in his prime! 

With Graham & Rudden our two main strikers we need another proven striker good enough to fight for a spot in the team, provide cover etc and give us more tactical flexibility. 

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7 hours ago, elevenone said:

Morrison recently signed a contract extension taking him to summer 2022 and Mitch Megginson done likewise until summer 2024 so both would command a transfer fee.

I'm also pretty sure that Megginson has a good job outside of football and he's actually better off remaining part time. Think that's why he's at Cove in the first place, could be wrong though.

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33 minutes ago, redandyellowallover said:

I'm also pretty sure that Megginson has a good job outside of football and he's actually better off remaining part time. Think that's why he's at Cove in the first place, could be wrong though.

He is a Solutions Account Manager for Xeretec Office Systems in Aberdeen

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mitchel-megginson-b442a7b1

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11 hours ago, exiledjag said:

Agree with you about Morrison. A place in the squad could be available if Cardle is released! 

What about trying to sign Megganson as well! He is 28 years of age, a proven goalscorer and in his prime! 

With Graham & Rudden our two main strikers we need another proven striker good enough to fight for a spot in the team, provide cover etc and give us more tactical flexibility. 

Leaving aside that Megginson has a contract until 2024 and a decent job outside of football I'm not sure he fits what we are looking for.

One of the things I like about McCall is he does have to my mind a clear strategy when signing players. He will generally recruit players the bulk of his squad from players that are age 24 or under and supplement that with experienced leaders. If enough of the younger players are a success in general the team will do well as it has energy, pace and amibition.

The current squad and starting eleven generally fit that mould.  This season Sneddon, Wright, Tiffoney, McKenna, Murray and Rudden have all had a positive contribution. Graham, Foster and lately Bell have provided the leadership.

Megginson at 28 is clearly not a young player and he's not played at a higher level so he probably doesn't fit the experinced leader role in the same way that say Graham does.

One of the general problems with Archie's recruitment towards the end of the premier spell was the failure to recruit younger players and the reliance on jobbing senior pros'. When he got to the championship he went for almost an entire new squad of players who were mid to late 20's who didn't really have the fire and ambition of a player 3 or 4 years younger.

Caldwell went for extremly experienced pro's in MacDonald, Miller and Anderson which brought leadership but without youth no pace, agression or long term ambition. Losing Fitzpatrick caused more an issues to Caldwell's team than I think Caldwell understood.

Both Caldwell and Archie's signing policy where all about short term needs whereas McCall is very much adopting a long term signing policy. Megginson is a good player and could probably do a job at Championship level but I think he would be a step back towards short term

Should we get promoted we have to my mind a decent team. Assuming we can keep what we have we need to strengthen better alternative options in midfield and fullbacks. We need to replace Cardle and depending on what happen with Wright another goalkeeper. Up front MacIver need to prove he can be the backup striker or we will need to find an alternative so I don't think we are in the market for a senior striker.

Apart form Morrison the only other player I think we should be considering in this league is Turner at Airdrie. Some of his touches on Saturday suggested he might be worth a look.

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    Cove Rangers match programme is available for free in their online programme archive.  Hopefully the link below will take you there, but if it doesn't work key  "Cove Rangers FC matchday programme archive"                                           

I have to belatedly add, however, that this issue is a little light on PTFC.  Their previous online programme against us  had the excellent article on the Inchview Boys, IIRC.  Still, it's free, which is to their credit.

https://coverangersfc.com/programme/              

Edited by East Kent Jag II
Inchview Boys comment.
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