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[Buchanan 9]

Thought we could have won that today. Once again Erskine was flat footed and never anticipated and left us high and dry for yet another week. I haven't seen us for a few weeks but thought Hodge was the poorest I've seen for a while although he isn't helped much when we've got two one-footed fullbacks. Should have been a red card for the pullback on Rowson - he was clean through and the referee shat out of giving it. Defence was a bit shaky at times and the players looked a bit reluctant to close down. That said, Fox was absolute fantastic today, deserved his man of the match, very confident when coming out of his box and his ability to really kick well with both feet is a big boost for us.

 

On another note, it was encouraging to see that we have raised £50,000 of this £100k figure that Beattie was talking about the other week thanks to Billy Allan getting us a sponsorship deal. Hopefully this will be start of us moving onwards oin this front and we can get this 'bright future' on the go very soon.

[Pie Of The Month]

Erskine was much more of a threat than our proper strikers have been in recent weeks so feel the criticism is unfair. I think it's clear to see that McCall doesn't rate our strikers when we're playing Erskine and Donnelly up front.

 

For what it's worth I also don't think the Rowson challenge was a red as there was other defenders who would've been covering should he have broken free of the defender who fouled him.

[Buchanan 9]

Erskine was much more of a threat than our proper strikers have been in recent weeks so feel the criticism is unfair. I think it's clear to see that McCall doesn't rate our strikers when we're playing Erskine and Donnelly up front.

 

For what it's worth I also don't think the Rowson challenge was a red as there was other defenders who would've been covering should he have broken free of the defender who fouled him.

 

I was being a little vague in fairness, yes Erskine is exciting but I felt there were times his anticipation could have been a lot better. Buchanan was more lively today than I remember, then again I've not seen us for a wee while now.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Disappointed we persisted with three central defenders for the entire match. I felt as the game went on with an extra body in midfield we could've forced a win.

[King Kenny]

Interesting how different folk view the game.

 

I thought Hodge was decent enough today, he was always showing for the ball and got through a power of work.

 

Cairney was pretty hopeless and I though Rowson was shocking. I can't remember him finding a Jags player with any of his passes.

 

Liam looked sharper and was a little unlucky with his chance. Erskine is useless upfront, doesn't pose any threat and for a "professional" footballer he is so unfit. Usually always gubbed after 60 minutes.

 

As mentioned by others the game was there to be won at half time but as usual the team keeps the exact same shape for 90 minutes no matter what. Perhaps one day we might see a tactical switch that actually works.

 

We need to start scoring or else we ain't getting out of the relegation dog fight anytime soon.

[Jaggernaut]

Thought we could have won that today. Once again Erskine was flat footed and never anticipated and left us high and dry for yet another week. I haven't seen us for a few weeks but thought Hodge was the poorest I've seen for a while although he isn't helped much when we've got two one-footed fullbacks. Should have been a red card for the pullback on Rowson - he was clean through and the referee shat out of giving it. Defence was a bit shaky at times and the players looked a bit reluctant to close down. That said, Fox was absolute fantastic today, deserved his man of the match, very confident when coming out of his box and his ability to really kick well with both feet is a big boost for us.

 

On another note, it was encouraging to see that we have raised £50,000 of this £100k figure that Beattie was talking about the other week thanks to Billy Allan getting us a sponsorship deal. Hopefully this will be start of us moving onwards oin this front and we can get this 'bright future' on the go very soon.

Wow!

 

Looking forward to learning more about this.

[jaggybunnet]

Erskine was much more of a threat than our proper strikers have been in recent weeks so feel the criticism is unfair. I think it's clear to see that McCall doesn't rate our strikers when we're playing Erskine and Donnelly up front.

 

For what it's worth I also don't think the Rowson challenge was a red as there was other defenders who would've been covering should he have broken free of the defender who fouled him.

 

pretty much agree with all of that.

 

cairney was terrible apart from a couple of passes.

 

on the plus side another clean sheet, just need to score some bloody goals now and we are sorted

[Lindau]

Wow!

 

Looking forward to learning more about this.

 

 

Yeah well done to Billy Allan, now if the other directors start using their contacts maybe we will start moving in the right direction

[chunky jag]

Poor performance from an attacking point of view. Careless misplaced/overhit passes when we got into good positions cost us the chance of 3 points.

 

Fox was solid, need to get him until end of season at least.

 

Paton worked hard and supported well in attack and defended well too. Kinniburgh was poor I thought before he was subbed, Archie was ok, Jackie was his usual self, classy and read the game like a book, strolled through it. Boyle was anonymous.

 

Rowson worked hard and got into good positions from an attacking sense but his radar was a bit off with regards to finding a jags player with a pass from time to time. Cairney was poor and rightly substituted. Thought Hodge actually played ok, some of his first time passes he pings over the top for someone to run onto are class, just a pity we haven't got anyone to run onto them!

 

Erskine played ok I thought, was marked tightly so difficult for him, but I wasn't disappointed with him. Donnelly showed some classy touches but was as threatening as a new born baby.

 

Buchanan played well and showed real desire when he came on, worth a start next week on that showing. Balatoni and Flannigan had no real positive/negative effect on game.

 

We aren't creating enough, and when we do, we don't have the quality/ruthlessness to finish the chances. Defensively I'm not too concerned, although I do find the omission of Robbo in favour of Kinniburgh puzzling. And whilst McNamara gives us that extra security at the back, the extra player is missed further up the pitch.

 

Really struggle to see us beating many teams, 0-0 may become a regular scoreline this season.

Edited December 26, 2010 by chunky jag

[jaggybunnet]

was Kinniburgh injured?

[Willjag]

was Kinniburgh injured?

Didn't look like it. I thought he was being subbed, because a couple of times when his opponent got past him he tried to haul them down and I suspect the manager was trying to avoid him getting a card.

[angry gaz]

Didn't look like it. I thought he was being subbed, because a couple of times when his opponent got past him he tried to haul them down and I suspect the manager was trying to avoid him getting a card.

Yeah got subbed right after he took a swipe at Tade out on the wing and missed.I thought Kiniburgh was okay today.Lack of a decent passer let us down today and the combination of Sid and big bird is never going to get us a goal.Really don't know what the manager is thinking starting with that forward line, they were far to far apart for most of the game for Erskine to benefit from Sids flick ons.Really need someone in the middle who can pass ,the fact that Fox was our best user of the ball today says it all.The game fizzled out but at times we played some not bad stuff but if you cant score,you're going to be in trouble at the end of the season.

[jaggy]

For what it's worth I also don't think the Rowson challenge was a red as there was other defenders who would've been covering should he have broken free of the defender who fouled him.

If Rowson had got away from the defender he was clean through with a goalscoring chance. Other defenders only got back as the offender held on to him for so long. Should've been a red card but probably wouldn't have made any difference to the result

[jagsvayne]

Any word on what the attendance was? I haven't seen any figures for today.

[uberteeb]

It was a comfotable 0-0, I dont really know what that says about us, I think if the game had gone on it would have taken Raith a week to score...then again it would have taken us 6 days.

 

We were quite solid at the back but our midfield was utterly terrible in an attacking sense, Hodge is becoming a bit of a scapegoat but he was shit again today, if he is one of the ones that is to go in January then I don't think it's any big deal.

 

Buchanan looked lively when he came on but I don't think he deserves a start on the basis of that at all, he was sent through with long balls 3 times I think, one of them he was out paced by a defender who had been on the park all game, another he kind of muffed it and the other one, which was the most important, he stumbled his way past a couple of guys before making a balls up and the keeper gathered.

 

When mulling it over back in the pub and discussing the merits of a 0-0 draw with a Raith team that a lot of people talk up I struggled to get away from my point of view...there are no really good teams in this league, we should expect, and try to get, 3 points at home no matter who we play.

[Winter of '63]

My first game of the season and it was ok...maybe the novelty factor distracted a bit from the poor standard of play. A draw was a fair result - Raith improved a bit in the second half but they certainly didn't look any better than us.

 

My spirits sank when the team was read out - Archibald and Rowson are decent committed professionals but from what I knew about the rest, I wasn't exactly inspired...and they played as expected. Erskine might have some threat running at defenders but he and Donnelly as a strike force hardly frightens any opposition. Of the players I hadn't seen before, Fox looked a competent keeper but Boyle was woeful. At least Buchanan was lively when he came on.

 

The Raith defender deliberately pulled Rowson back after being dispossessed - that should always be a red card, far more so than a fractionally mistimed challenge.

 

Nothing much else to say about the game other than that I'd be more likely to go back to see some of the supposedly promising youngsters getting some first-team experience rather than watch a mixture of past-their-best old pros and guys who are barely good enough to be full-time professionals set up in a defensive formation against opposition of the same calibre.

[Steven H]

Disappointed we persisted with three central defenders for the entire match. I felt as the game went on with an extra body in midfield we could've forced a win.

 

Agreed, I felt the couble substitution should have seen Cairney and Sid off for Flannigan and Buchanan and put Jaggy into midfield. Raith were there for the taking today and Paton, for all that he is good defensively, is not a wing back...Im sick fed up seeing him swing his right leg and playing the ball to no-one or against the first defender. With the players we have we should be looking to play 4-4-2.

 

I know McCall changed it to a 3-5-2 earlier in the season to steady the ship, it's steadyish so maybe it's time to change back , at least it might provide us with a bit more entertainment.

[MerryHell]

If Dunfermline was an entertaining 0-0, that was just dull today. The players recently appeared to have stepped up the desire and fight, but today they lost that a bit. Paton and Boyle have been much improved this season but today they were poor. Erskine wasn't as effective today either. As i've said before, our keeper and defence are pretty solid just now - we really just have to get the midfield, and more importantly, the strikers performing and we'd be a good team. Trouble is, I don't think that McCall actually knows who/what his best team is.

 

As others have said earlier, there are no stand out teams in our league - i've not seen anyone who we have been outclassed or outplayed by. I guess thats how ICT managed to have a poor start to their season, but still got promoted after stringing together a run of good results.

 

On a postive note, thats RC, Dunfermline and Raith we've played recently and taken something from them all. Even though I would agree that we should be looking to BEAT teams at Firhill, it's a start. Next league games are against Morton, Stirling and Cowdenbeith - we've GOT to look to take at least 7 points from these games or we could really be in trouble.

[twinny]

Didn't look like it. I thought he was being subbed, because a couple of times when his opponent got past him he tried to haul them down and I suspect the manager was trying to avoid him getting a card.

 

As soon as he was subbed he was off to the dressing room with the Physio. I think he might have had a knock.

[GrantB]

Thought we did OK without being outstanding.

 

Top performer for me was Paton. Thought Rowson and Jaggy Mac did well also.

 

Cairney, however, was awful and if he went in January, I can't say I'd shed a tear on that type of performance.

 

Fox did well with what he had to do. His one save, he took well but I don't get the MoTM award. We should make it a priority to keep him though as you can see the difference it makes to the defence having someone behind them that they can trust.

 

Inbred Rovers looked poor in the first half but improved in the 2nd. I suppose that is to be expected after not having had a match for the last 6 weeks.

 

I was praising the ref until he bottled the one big decision he had to make in the game. Rowser did superbly well and was going clean through on goal - he'd have had a shot away before the nearest defender could have got near to him. The wall wasn't anywhere hear 10 yards back either.

 

I wish Santa would get us a goal threat for Xmas as that is all that separates us from the teams at the top.

[1876Jag]

 

For what it's worth I also don't think the Rowson challenge was a red as there was other defenders who would've been covering should he have broken free of the defender who fouled him.

 

It doesn't matter - it was a clear goalscoring opportunity and should have been a red card, like Archibald's against Ross County.

 

If anything I think the ref was equalling things up - I though Rovers should have had a stonewall penalty not long after half time.

[hamiltonjag]

Anyone who thinks Hodge is "ok" or "decent" must be attending games in an alternate universe.

[Pie Of The Month]

It doesn't matter - it was a clear goalscoring opportunity and should have been a red card, like Archibald's against Ross County.

 

If anything I think the ref was equalling things up - I though Rovers should have had a stonewall penalty not long after half time.

 

It wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity if the referee believes the other defenders were covering and there was enough space between Rowson and the goal to believe that to be the case.

 

Archibald's red was never a red either so I don't really see how that helps your point.

[Fawlty Towers]

was Kinniburgh injured?

 

He had being sick overnight (too many brussel sprouts).

 

http://www.kicktalk.co.uk/?tag=partick-thistle

[1 John Lambie]

It wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity if the referee believes the other defenders were covering and there was enough space between Rowson and the goal to believe that to be the case.

 

Archibald's red was never a red either so I don't really see how that helps your point.

 

I don't think the defenders were getting back, put it this way had the defender not touched Rowson at all, he would have been through on the keeper (& most probably missed), the defenders only had the chance to get back as he was fouled continually & they also kept running back after the whistle blew so it looked like they had it covered. (See this all the time from defenders).