At the Crossroads

 

With our season gradually disintegrating, we head to Recreation Park Alloa to face The Wasps @ the Indodrill Stadium. It's a 3:00pm kick-off on Saturday with both sides lingering at the wrong end of the table, games in hand or not. 

Our games in hand are dwindling away and there's little improvement in our league position. Four wins from sixteen games is not the form of a team challenging for a play-off slot to the premiership.

This is now a crucial game in our season which is at the crossroads. Which way do we turn?

Crossroads

 

We have found Alloa difficult to beat recently with no wins in our last four meetings, such is the demise of our club. Financial constraints have seen us unable to attract the quality of player required at this level to sustain a challenge at the top end of the table and we are having to blood youngsters in the Championship. The latest jumping ship is James Keatings who has reportedly signed a pre-contract agreement with Raith Rovers. With little leadership on the park, it's difficult to get any consistency and Premiership football looks unlikely with the prospects of league 1 closer to the mark. It's a tough league to get out of at the right end and there's a fine line between challenging at the top to falling into a relegation battle and that is something we have to get used to pretty quick. We have eleven games left to save our season, which way will we turn?

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

2 - 2 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

0 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

2 - 0 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

3 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

3 - 2 (H)

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	18	12	3	3	44	20	24	39
2.	Raith Rovers	16	8	3	5	32	24	8	27
3.	Dunfermline	17	7	6	4	26	19	7	27
4.	Dundee	16	6	6	4	30	30	0	24
5.	Queen of the South	18	7	3	8	26	35	-9	24
6.	Arbroath	18	5	6	7	15	20	-5	21
7.	Inverness CT	16	4	7	5	24	21	3	19
8.	Morton	17	4	7	6	16	22	-6	19
9.	Ayr United	16	4	5	7	20	21	-1	17
10.	Alloa Athletic	18	3	4	11	20	41	-21	13

 

All Championship games this weekend

 

Raith v Dundee - Postponed - Covid

Alloa v Inverness CT

Arbroath v Queen of the South

Hearts v Dundee

Morton v Ayr United

Only eleven games left and we need to start picking up points starting with Alloa away at the weekend, so get behind the guys, for better or for worse.

 

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OFFICIAL PREVIEW

PPV STREAMING £12 FROM ALLOA TV

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Neil McCann pre-match with Alloa...

 

***Latest Team News***

Anthony McDonald has had an operation on his knee and with only a dozen games left in this season, it is unlikely we will see much, if anything at all from him this campaign. Roddy MacGregor is doubtful after the clattering he took against Hearts from Kingsley. The rest are back in training and will be needed as soon as they are ready for action before our season is beyond repair. It looks as though the best we can do this year is survive and get the youngsters some valuable game time ready for next season. This is not a drill!

Alloa will make it difficult and for the first time ever we will probably be regarded as underdogs in this fixture. Their mix of experience, young loanees and dogged journeymen have been good enough to hold the Indian sign over us recently and I see little evidence that will change this weekend. Loan signing Innes Cameron seems to be prospering with game time and Innes Murray likes a free kick, both scoring against us in the last couple of meetings. 

Here's a wee reminder that not all left feet are just for standing on....

 

 

 

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I don't think we will be relegated this season maybe a 6/7th place finish for us. What worries me is what happened next season and beyond. It's so painful to watch the club that I love turn out such rubbish week and and week out. When I started following caley I said I'd follow the club all the way down to league 2 if need be and I stand by that. Win, lose or draw SPL or league 2 it's ICT for me 

2 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Just end the season now, please.

We are a hundred times more likely to get relegated than promoted.

Don't exaggerate. Only about ten times as likely!

Despite everything that's occurred and been said beat Morton on Tuesday and we are only a point behind Dundee. Who said it was gonna be easy. Resilience is the key now and for the team to demonstrate that going into the next few home games. Couple of wins and the picture will change. 

4 minutes ago, jed5697 said:

Despite everything that's occurred and been said beat Morton on Tuesday and we are only a point behind Dundee. Who said it was gonna be easy. Resilience is the key now and for the team to demonstrate that going into the next few home games. Couple of wins and the picture will change. 

They don't have it in them to do that. Fallen so far from grace. If they gritted their teeth they'd probably get toothache and start crying for their mummy. 

No guts, no back bone, no skill. Depressing times. 

I have no faith in them. Everytime I go to check the score best I expect is a draw. 

Edited March 6, 20215 yr by aaroncoganshogun
Removed sweary words

49 minutes ago, aaroncoganshogun said:

They don't have it in them to do that. Fallen so far from grace. If they gritted their teeth they'd probably get toothache and start crying for their mummy. 

No guts, no back bone, no skill. Depressing times. 

I have no faith in them. Everytime I go to check the score best I expect is a draw. 

Understandable given recent events that faith is slipping however despite that it is still possible to change the narrative. It is bound to affect the players- different approaches and tactics. They have enough ability to adapt. But will require to adapt quickly as time and games are now shortening in which to action that. It would be great to see a good performance and result against Morton to set the tone for the remainder of the season. 

 

1 hour ago, aaroncoganshogun said:

They don't have it in them to do that. Fallen so far from grace. If they gritted their teeth they'd probably get toothache and start crying for their mummy. 

No guts, no back bone, no skill. Depressing times. 

I have no faith in them. Everytime I go to check the score best I expect is a draw. 

Funny that, because I was just thinking earlier that it would be a nice little earner if I put a fiver on a draw each week for the rest of the season.

10 minutes ago, jed5697 said:

Understandable given recent events that faith is slipping however despite that it is still possible to change the narrative. It is bound to affect the players- different approaches and tactics. They have enough ability to adapt. But will require to adapt quickly as time and games are now shortening in which to action that. It would be great to see a good performance and result against Morton to set the tone for the remainder of the season. 

 

Not disputing this but were things much better earlier in season? Hmmmm

26 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

Not disputing this but were things much better earlier in season? Hmmmm

No it's been the same since the start and not likely to get much better I think we will end up fifth or sixth.

35 minutes ago, IBM said:

No it's been the same since the start and not likely to get much better I think we will end up fifth or sixth.

It has not been what we would call a normal season; some have faired better than others in many different ways. Everyone has a different experience. No reason why the team cannot now push on...

As others have said, let’s focus on surviving and look forward to the season ending.

If we can go on a run, great, but it looks unlikely as things stand.

The players have had a lot to deal with off the pitch, so let’s cut them a bit of slack. 

57 minutes ago, jed5697 said:

It has not been what we would call a normal season; some have faired better than others in many different ways. Everyone has a different experience. No reason why the team cannot now push on...

I will be delighted if we can get a couple of home wins starting on Tuesday night!

 

Hopefully we will witness a hunger to succeed on Tuesday. If not, our play off could be against Cove Rangers and that would be very tricky. Buckie must be getting very excited about a Ross County game.

12 hours ago, jed5697 said:

They have enough ability to adapt. 

I'm not so sure they have Jed to be honest. We lack that ability to create good chances and break down stubborn defences. We can't keep the ball and are experts in sloppy passes and giving the ball away. The long ball doesn't work. Hopefully things will click on Tuesday, they have to. Lose that one and we are in serious trouble. Back to back games against Raith after this then it's Pars. I'm worried.

13 hours ago, old caley girl said:

Not disputing this but were things much better earlier in season? Hmmmm

10 points from our first 6 games.

10 points from our last 11 games.

We’ve got poorer.

Bearing in mind our injury position was worst at the start of the season, it is hard to pinpoint what has caused it.

Earlier in the run, we were dropping points from winning positions and in games we should have won. Now we just seem to be dropping points, and confidence seems low as a result.

Tuesday is a classic 6 pointer: win and it could kick start us, lose and we may not recover. 

Edited March 7, 20215 yr by Robert

Have we been poor since Kai Kennedy left? 

7 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Have we been poor since Kai Kennedy left? 

Yes! He was good and added a bit of a spark in the team. 

37 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Have we been poor since Kai Kennedy left? 

Without doubt, but he only had one really stand out game (at Dumfries) so I don’t think that is the whole story.

That said, looking at the time we had and have not had Kennedy, if (and its a big iff!) we win on Tuesday, the points totals will be similar.

I feel we have struggled since New Year and all the postponements, which is also when the off field issues started so I’m sure they are playing a part too.

Before New Year: 12 points from 9 games.

After New Year: 8 points from 8 games (will be 11 from 9 if we win on Tuesday). 

Edited March 7, 20215 yr by Robert

Think Kennedy was papering over the cracks...whether he had a standout game or not (and he did fade towards the end of his spell), the reality was he occupied two or three players - so we were bound to have space to exploit when he played.

We'd be a different team if Doran and MacDonald were fit. It is what it is though.

3 minutes ago, Satan said:

Think Kennedy was papering over the cracks...whether he had a standout game or not (and he did fade towards the end of his spell), the reality was he occupied two or three players - so we were bound to have space to exploit when he played.

Also we have not had the services of a properly fit Aaron Doran all season, who is someone that can make things happen, likewise even though he was injured a fair bit last season, Tom Walsh gave us a bit of width and a threat. Going back a bit further, within the midfield we have lost the sort of player who had creativity like Vigurs (even with the suspect temperament) or the much maligned Liam Polworth. I have high hopes for Allardice, Carson and MacGregor, they are all busy decent players, perhaps not in the Vigurs/Polwoth/Tansey mould and they need time to develop, or in Carson's case to get fully fit.

I would say that in the odd season that we are in, and in a league where money is tight, as much for Caley as for most others, and skill levels are pretty similar, a single player can make a significant difference, and I suspect Caley haven't quite got that player on the wing (or at least as an alternative to a wide-playing Storey having an off day) or in midfield.

Maybe the aspiration of a promotion run was a tad unrealistic, given the likely strength of Hearts, and lets remember promotion via the play-offs is a pretty difficult thing. Probably a more realistic aspiration is not to get relegated.

On positive notes, although we are drawing too many games, we are not losing that many, and that could be as important in the run in. Secondly our backline has the potential to be pretty decent, especially fast forward to next season with that experience. I note that Toshney was on the bench yesterday, if he can gain match fitness and keep it, that could be very important in the run in. Its encouraging to see Todorov get another goal yesterday, he seems to be a better player than I previously thought (or certainly he is have a decent season) given a proper run I think he'll continue to get goals. On their day both Storey and Keatings can deliver, it's the consistency that's the problem. We may not be prolific but we are scoring more goals than our 'relegation' rivals. Although our defensive record get critcism, actually the stats suggest we are pretty good, compare us to Dundee and Queen of the South for goals conceded.

The key to this season is to get enough performances together where we play well for both halves, it's about the percentages.....In Crystal Palace terms its 'Royball' where you grind out enough points to stay safe not pushing for higher and failing...It's not pretty (believe me!) but I think that is the name of the game this season. In the end finishing 8th will be good enough even if terribly disappointing, finishing 9th will be too interesting! If I were to put money on it, I think 6th or 7th place is more likely.

 

8 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

We'd be a different team if Doran and MacDonald were fit. It is what it is though.

Im not sure I believe that anymore tbh. 

Is there a problem in dressing room esp with more experienced players? Has this been going on for longer than at first glance? Is the rot too deep to turn round? Personally think Neil McCann has a much bigger job than he maybe imagined esp improving morale. 

Cant wait for this horrible season to end personally. There will be a big turnaround of players in summer and a rebuild needed. It brings me no pleasure to write a post like this either but closing our eyes to the obvious doesnt do anyone any good. 

1 hour ago, old caley girl said:

Im not sure I believe that anymore tbh. 

Is there a problem in dressing room esp with more experienced players? Has this been going on for longer than at first glance? Is the rot too deep to turn round? Personally think Neil McCann has a much bigger job than he maybe imagined esp improving morale. 

Cant wait for this horrible season to end personally. There will be a big turnaround of players in summer and a rebuild needed. It brings me no pleasure to write a post like this either but closing our eyes to the obvious doesnt do anyone any good. 

I appreciate Doran has been with us a long time and has had plenty ups and downs with us,  but I'm not sure he's got much left to offer at this level.

21 minutes ago, Satan said:

I appreciate Doran has been with us a long time and has had plenty ups and downs with us,  but I'm not sure he's got much left to offer at this level.

Yip, appreciate that. When I say a fit Doran, I don’t mean the player who has filled a jersey but has struggled through games when he’s obviously not fit. His whole career has been a bit tragic, although if it hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been with us. He’s still only 29, but I’m slowly coming round to the view that maybe we should cut our losses.

It is frustrating that we're walking a tightrope where a couple of bad results would put us in deep trouble but a couple of good ones would put us right in the play-off picture.

 

That said, who fancies us in Spiffle Premier play-offs?

 

I was actually quite possitive about the squad at the start of the season, thought there were some good signings in there but that's how much I know.