Just In: Pt V Raith Rovers

[Dark Passenger]

agreed, he came rushing out far too late & made it easy for the striker.

 

Made what easy? He forced Graham into a rushed cross that, as I've already said, unfortunately went in off Paton. Graham didn't get a strike on target due to Fox's quick thinking. If he hadn't come out then the whole of the right-hand side of his goal would have been exposed.

[Dark Passenger]

 

Ah, the Murray defence...

[lennythistle]

My view of it (and I was sitting down that end of the ground) was that he came out to narrow the angle as Graham was left one on one with him. I don't recall anyone down that end of the ground blaming Fox for rushing out too quick.

 

Still I respect fact others will see it differently.

[Dark Passenger]

Still I respect fact others will see it differently.

Late charge for the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Albert's Ghost]

Albert;s Ghost must be off his tits on PCP.

Takes one to know one Mr U!

It looks like I'm out on a limb re young Mark.

I'd love to be wrong!

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Once again the loss of a goal (stupid, unfortunate whatever) is the main talking point when not enough is said about our lack of a second goal.

Too often this season we've been very guilty of not pushing on when we've been on top of a game and so encouraging the opposition to counter. Yesterday could be described as another of those occasions but I feel with at least a decent excuse. The loss of Doolan meant that not only were we deprived of our most likely goalscorer but also the player that brings out the best in other attackers. Without Doolan's first touch, lay offs and movement our attacking options are severely curtailed.

I don't know if it's been mentioned but that's four substitutions in two games that have been enforced thru injuries. On no occasion has an opposition player been punished and once again the ref has failed to card persistent fouling. I don't know if McLean & Murray see themselves as the centre of attraction or just have a cavalier approach to officiating but that's two consecutive games now that's been spoiled by poor refereeing. It's hard to be objective when you're a fan but I feel we've had the worst of the decisions or more correctly the lack of decisions. Just got to be grateful these two games weren't exactly crucial.

Edited April 15, 2012 by lady-isobel-barnett

[northernsoul]

Bannigan put it another great performance. Looking forward to seeing him in the middle of midfield, could he offer a goal threat?

 

I thought McGuigan put in a good shift and gave a decent presence, he got himself about and held the ball up well. I'd like to see him start every game for the remainder of the season.

 

Other than that it was a pretty rubbish game. I was worried with our midfield in the last 20 minutes or so, which seemed to collapse. The only presence we had was when Bannigan went past his man on the wing, cut inside and made space in a more central position.

 

The service to the strikers was awful.

 

Cairney was in the Woody after the game and its pretty much a given that he's off to Hibs.

[Jaggernaut]

The pitch looked a bit better than it has of late!

 

No problem at all with Bannigan getting MotM; he looks a great prospect. I also though Archie was superb yesterday, playing with real swagger and even hitting some good passes! Jury clearly still out on McGuigan, but soon coming to a verdict on Elliott. For their goal, I thought that Fox should have been out a whole lot sooner. And I reckon that Paton merely put the ball in the back of the net when it was already going there anyway. Fox's save right at the end was fantastic.

 

Oh, and the goal they had disallowed for offside was never offside in a million years. The linesman got that totally wrong, imo.

 

So, yet another failure to beat that mob, and another pretty toothless home display. Not a great afternoon's entertainment, and I think the bunch of German guys sitting along from me felt the same way.

[Mr Bunny]

Jury clearly still out on McGuigan,

 

It annoys me how quick folk are to criticise this boy. This is his first time as a proper pro-footballer and he's only played one full game so far. Considering he's scored once and shown some decent control, movement and willingness to have go I'd say he looks promising - but won't make a final judgement on him until the end of the season (provided he continues to get games).

 

I can see things he needs to improve in but I think he's got the potential to be a very good player for us, provided he gets the right coaching and is willing to learn.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Mr Bunny

[lennythistle]

Once again the loss of a goal (stupid, unfortunate whatever) is the main talking point when not enough is said about our lack of a second goal.

Too often this season we've been very guilty of not pushing on when we've been on top of a game and so encouraging the opposition to counter. Yesterday could be described as another of those occasions but I feel with at least a decent excuse. The loss of Doolan meant that not only were we deprived of our most likely goalscorer but also the player that brings out the best in other attackers. Without Doolan's first touch, lay offs and movement our attacking options are severely curtailed.

I don't know if it's been mentioned but that's four substitutions in two games that have been enforced thru injuries. On no occasion has an opposition player been punished and once again the ref has failed to card persistent fouling. I don't know if McLean & Murray see themselves as the centre of attraction or just have a cavalier approach to officiating but that's two consecutive games now that's been spoiled by poor refereeing. It's hard to be objective when you're a fan but I feel we've had the worst of the decisions or more correctly the lack of decisions. Just got to be grateful these two games weren't exactly crucial.

 

I thought at the time the challenge on Dools merited a booking. It was high and very late.

[Armand2]

Another game where we could have been out-of-sight but drop points again. It's getting quite tedious now. Could go over the game in more detail but what's the point? It's the same issues as every other week; we're a 45 minute team. I can only hope that the inconsistency decreases with a year of experience but I feel we need two, possibly three older heads in the team; Mark McLaughlin and Hugh Murray would do for starters.

 

How anyone can suggest O'Donnell had a good game is beyond me. I'll refrain from commenting any further before it seems like I've got some sort of vendetta against him but he's not good enough and should be released at the end of the season.

 

Bannigan has played two games at wing-back and has put in better crosses than either O'Donnell or Sinclair have all season. He might "love a tackle" but it doesn't detract from the fact that he can't tackle; another instance on Saturday of him going in so high that he actually went over the player too. Deservedly the "Man of the Match", in my opinion, and looks like he'll be a regular feature in the team next season.

 

As it has been mentioned, McGuigan has ventured into professional football before with Forfar, playing against Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 2009. The interesting thing I've found out about him is that he was signed by Dick Campbell as a centre half and has done the rounds at a couple of Junior sides as a midfielder so clearly he is still learning how to play as a centre forward.

 

I thought he done okay on Saturday but is evidently still very raw; he held onto the ball too long on a few occasions when we could have broke away and he should have done better with his one-on-one chance. He's made a huge jump in competition but I feel people are being either overly complimentary to the point that they are concocting fabrications on his performances (like his "aerial dominance" against Morton...which never happened) or they are perhaps being too critical of a guy with little experience. I'm still not sure on him but, put it this way, I'd far rather give a guy like McGuigan an opportunity than some eternal waster like Stewart.

 

With regard to Raith's goal, I think it's fair to question whether Fox should have came out as far as he did; thought he did at the time but happy to wait until the highlights come up to confirm. I've been thinking this for a while and, although it is very unlikely to happen, if the opportunity arose to bring Jonny Tuffey back, we should grab it. I like Fox but I've never heard a quieter goalkeeper in my life. I've played with keepers who played Junior and Amateur level and they don't shut up but you know exactly what's going on around you because of them. This isn't some agenda to hound Fox out (excuse the pun) because I think he's a very capable player at this level but I think we could benefit hugely by having a goalkeeper who communicates more effectively with the defence.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

I like Fox but I've never heard a quieter goalkeeper in my life. I've played with keepers who played Junior and Amateur level and they don't shut up but you know exactly what's going on around you because of them. This isn't some agenda to hound Fox out (excuse the pun) because I think he's a very capable player at this level but I think we could benefit hugely by having a goalkeeper who communicates more effectively with the defence.

I reckon we must have one of the quieter teams. Off the field neither Jackie or Sid are the jumping up and down types. On the field Archie is often cited as being too quiet for a captain. Rowson just gets on with his own thing and as Armand says Fox is extremely hushed.

Not a criticism of any mentioned above more an observation.. My gut feeling is to offset the reserved approach of the management duo we really need someone shouting the odds on the pitch. Ideally a box to box fella (in style of a BMMMH) but we really could do as well with Hinchy's voicebox implanted in Mr Fox.