Jaggernaut Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Think the state of the pitch is interfering with us playing in the early season style, but the players are adapting pretty well. Thought Banzo was great today - when was the last time any Thistle fan mentioned Cairney in the pub after the match wistfully? The Elliot substitution was a bit of a headscratcher, but paid off - he might not be the striker we've been looking for but as a winger.... I'd echo your point about Bannigan. He's playing almost the same role as Cairney last season, though a bit further back. I think he's really become the engine room of the team. Another excellent central defensive performance from Balatoni and Muirhead, and Fox gave another assured display. Neither of the full backs had one of their better days, though O'Donnell's cross for the first goal was class. (Pity so many of his other crosses and passes were awful!) I though Welsh was off-form, and I'd do a straight replacement of him by Paton for Tuesday. Craigen: comfortable; looks like he's been part of the 1st team all season. Forbes: some good balls in again, but got caught dilly-dallying on several occasions. Lawless: Priceless! Craig: usual graft, but got little in return. Should have buried one golden chance in the 2nd half. Subs: Elliott looked great, hungry to get involved. Excellent work to set up Doolan, who scored a typical Doolan goal. McGuigan also harried and bustled, causing them problems. Dumbarton played some really nice stuff at times, and if our central defence wasn't so good they could have caused real problems. The first 20 mins or so of the second half was about the worst football we've played all season, but we got away with it. All looking good. Raith lost at home yesterday, so a good win there on Tuesday and we are TotL !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillresigned Posted March 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 After, having a sleep on this game, my initial comments I feel were fairly accurate. I would urge the Jags support to take into account the pressure the team are under to win games. As novel a concept as it may be , here we have a relatively young and inexperienced side attempting to shoulder the burden of responsibility shirked by many of their predecessors. In a word, cut the lads a wee bit of slack. apply a pinch of realism here and enjoy our success, even if it was bloody cold yesterday. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blutarsky Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 (edited) Given the subs available would you have made that choice? At the time my view was hook Forbes, move Craigen and put Dools down the left but mine's is a fans-eye view not a coaches. I think it adds to Archie/Shaggy's cache that they made the right substitutions at the right time, something their predecessors struggled with at times. Until Elliot came on we were toiling a bit. Sinclair came into the game a bit more after the subs were made, until then he was having a bit of a howler which I had put down to the elbow in the face he got early in the first. Edited March 10, 2013 by John Blutarsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Why was the ball Craig put in the net chalked off? I assume it was for an off the ball foul but I missed whatever it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowenBoys Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Why was the ball Craig put in the net chalked off? I assume it was for an off the ball foul but I missed whatever it was. Referee indicated a push. Didn't see it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert's Ghost Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Referee indicated a push. Didn't see it myself. Nobody seemed to complain much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Referee indicated a push. Didn't see it myself. Ta,BB. I guessed it would be something like that but didn't hear anyone say they saw what happened. Nobody seemed to complain much. True and if Craig of all players doesn't complain much I imagine the ref called it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThickAsThieves Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 I though Welsh was off-form, and I'd do a straight replacement of him by Paton for Tuesday. Craigen: comfortable; looks like he's been part of the 1st team all season. Forbes: some good balls in again, but got caught dilly-dallying on several occasions. I thought Welsh was alright, Forbes was pretty dire and Craigen anonymous until he dropped into a more central position, where he looked more comfortable. Bannigan was great again, very energetic performance. I'm a huge fan of him, you can tell he just loves playing in this team, whenever we score he's first over for the high fives and congratulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willjag Posted March 10, 2013 Members Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Don't think Grindlay knew either. I seen their centre half indicating to him it was for a push. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel G Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Don't think Grindlay knew either. I seen their centre half indicating to him it was for a push. I blame Neil Lennon, UEFA must have passed his letter onto the SFL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 John Lambie Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Don't think Grindlay knew either. I seen their centre half indicating to him it was for a push. Whatever it was it wasn't to do with Balatoni or Craig, Balatoni had loads of space & I had watched him as the ball came in, he headed it down & Craig tapped it in. Was given against someone in the middle who never got near the ball, most probably Muirhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Why was the ball Craig put in the net chalked off? I assume it was for an off the ball foul but I missed whatever it was. The ref blew well before Craig netted, so he clearly spotted something, but not involving Craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 You can't take away from another clean sheet, but I thought that Balatoni lost a lot of the high balls against their forwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fearchar Posted March 10, 2013 Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 You can't take away from another clean sheet, but I thought that Balatoni lost a lot of the high balls against their forwards The Dumbarton manager spotted our weakness and got his team to probe it constantly: instead of punting high balls into the middle of our defence (a thankless task against Balatoni in particular), they were punted short of there to the Sons' midfielders, dropping behind most of our midfielders. It's to the credit of our defence that a clean sheet was still the result. In fact, the number of goals against scored at Firhill is very impressive - just 9, whereas even the next-best home records for goals against in the league (Morton and Accies) are 5 higher. Archie is right to praise the defence. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpool Jags Posted March 11, 2013 Report Share Posted March 11, 2013 Just a wee note of caution re Tuesday night - I'm told via a source from Kircaldy that the surface at Starks is fairly icy / frosty and the game's not quite 100% certain to go ahead. Not trying to make anything of this but just what I've been told. Hopefully the place will defrost a bit over next day or so. I think we need this to go ahead for a number of different reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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