The Mantis

🎣🎣🎣 more bait required…

🎶🎶🎶 Big team, big cup Wee team, wee cup 🎶🎶🎶 😂😂😂

I hope they’ve learned from the experience. All the women will be used to seeing the weekly coverage on BBC and would be aware of the standard of the Prem clubs, especially the big 3. I thought maybe 12-0 when I saw the draw but scores like this happen in the prem as well.

It’s a bit of a con, but it seems that we count tickets sold rather than bodies turning up, and we’re not the only club doing it. So all season tickets are counted. I’ve got one but it hardly gets used.

I doubt that as we haven't got the quality in the squad that Partick and Raith and United have got, although we're probably on a par with the rest. Given that Dodds got only 1 point in 6 games and Dunc has got 20 in 14, you would have to have won all 6 to be in the top 4 right now.

I'll take half the credit as I did likewise 😂 Kudos to @Jodie Carnie for having the belief...

Toxic presence at every club he’s worked at. Should have been sacked for the concert fiasco alone.

I wondered if he had a knock when he was subbed on Tuesday.

Could be wrong, but I think the company was set up before the football club existed. Season's greetings old chum 🥃

Your brother more than made up for your absence #angermeter

Tbf I would say this was the worst away performance of the season by a mile, but the writing was on the wall when we saw the lineup. Billy rested for Longstaff, and Shaw, who is hopeless in the air, but had many high punts to deal with, playing alongside him. No spoony, and starts for Davidson and Duffy who should not be near an ICT shirt. Welsh started but is obviously not ready. Billy and Carson came on at half time and it looked a bit brighter for about 10 minutes. Not something which is said every day but defensively we miss Danny Devine. I think the stats at half time showed no shots for either side, on or off target. We continued our policy of not risking a shot but shuttling it around until it gets back to Ridgers. The game could easily have petered out at 0-0 but slack marking at set pieces cost us with two free headers. Toddy enjoyed sticking it right up our very vocal support and it could have earned him a booking but hey, maybe you or I would have done the same… I said before that McCabe has Airdrie playing the right way, even with limited quality, and up until the first goal they took the game to us, mainly down our right, although they had little to show for it apart from a few low crosses across the face with nobody to finish. The wee no 10 Frizzell is decent. Cammy Harper found himself free in the box late on and looked sure to equalise but he blootered it right in the path of the blocking defender when anybody else could have placed it. He had a hard time all day trying to outpace the full back so not a great day for Cammy. Anderson was quiet and Charlie picked up his customary booking. These loan signings, if they materialise, will need to do some heavy lifting.

If we can keep it tight for the first 2 minutes we can get a result here.

Bliadhna mhath ùr dhut fhein a’bhalaich 🥃

Forgot to mention - fantastic support today 👏👏👏

That turned out to be a valuable point thanks to the Pars late equaliser. Both sets of players deserve nothing but praise considering the awful conditions. We totally dominated the opening 15 minutes and had a couple of half chances to double the lead which appeared to deflect off a defender and trundle in. Partick scored with their first attack of the game and it was a case of tragic failure to clear the ball. Never would have happened with Robbie Deas in there. We’re playing with 3 centre backs and nobody seems to know what their job is. We went to pieces after that and Partick murdered us for the rest of the half. Going by previous visits to Firhill we feared the worst for the second half but it never materialised. We really dominated the last half hour and had very few clear cut chances but it was like the Alamo with Partick defending scrambles in their six yard box and we must have had about 8 corners. However we’re still trying to walk it into the net with nobody trying to take a risk. Graham was substituted having had very little influence for once. So was Billy, for Longstaff, and he must have been frustrated trying to pull down long balls from Ridgers all day with big Muirhead breathing down his neck. Two shockers from Grainger the ref. He booked Ujdur for a clash of heads where the Partick player came off worst, and he missed a stonewall penalty when Cammy was hauled down late on. A draw away at Partick is not to be sniffed at against a team that has 29 points and a decent squad with Milne, Graham, Lawless and Alston.

Big hand to you guys for this bumper edition which kept my attention over 2 days and made the M8 and Edinburgh City Bypass almost tolerable. Especially keeping up a consistent standard regularly at probably the lowest point in the club’s entire history. The 4 guests were great and candid, and good to hear that there’s more to come from the final guest. See yous at Firhill.

Well, that was fun. Haven't seen us score 4 since Gayfield in January. Should have been much more - Billy's offside was extremely tight. Feared the worst when they scored after a comfortable 10 minutes for us. This is a team that absolutely schooled us last season - remember the 81% possession at Ochilview. The renowned Guinness drinker beside me was berating Devine at the goal but Cammy really shouldn't have allowed the cross to go in, and after that it was a bit like bagatelle. Cammy really adds value going forward but he's weak as a fullback. You could maybe say the opposite about Duffy on the other side, or you could just say punt him. We need Carson back pronto. I would probably pick Charlie Gilmour as MoM. Great how he's grown into it after a less than glittering career. Never even got booked this week. Hope Dundee aren't in a hurry to get Anderson back either. A great partnership. I've always been a big Sean Welsh fan but as everybody knows he's made of chocolate so he might struggle for game time (no change then). The back three is fairly settled now and Niko is a great signing. Expect Uncle Roy or similar to come sniffing to spoil it for us. The goals were quality especially the third. Spoony and Billy's legs may have a combined age of about 150 but they partner up well. Harry came on but looked like a supporter who had won a competition. Longstaff and Brooks could have a future though. Plus points: was staying a couple of nights at the Crowne Plaza near the SEC for the Hoolie at the Hydro. Got tipped off that ICT were stopping there for lunch so got a selfie with #bigdunc. He's big all right. Minus points: 1) Glasgow rain. My first trip to Hampden since the Georgia game but not quite as biblical. 2) Driving back to the hotel, got stuck at a red light at the Squinty Bridge for about 10 mins while literally dozens of Rangers buses were passing through from the Govan Road. 3) QPFC catering prices = same as Scotland matches. 4) The 'stone baked' pizzas at the SEC are howling.

Aye I think they fell out big time with the Maryhill committee…

This is the team that played out of Alloa as BSC Glasgow, before becoming Open Goal Broomhill (or “Podcast FC”) when they were taken over by Si Ferry, but that partnership was dissolved and they are now simply Broomhill FC. Broomhill Sports Club originally ran youth football teams back to 2004 and the senior team has been kicking around the LL in its various guises since 2014.

Rinse, repeat…

Called it, more or less 😂 Don’t like missing ICT in the cup but sounded like a good one to miss. Stayed local, a few pints in the Guildford then took in Dick Campbell’s final game as Spartans knocked out a woeful Arbroath. Demos by the fans at the end and Dick has fallen on his, ehhh, bunnet. Bring on the Rovers.

Think we need a bit of perspective here. This team are 13th out of 18 in the LL having won 4 games out of 16. The other week they struggled to a 4-2 win at home in the Challenge Cup over Whitehill Welfare, mid table tier 7. The last LL team we played was East Kilbride 4 years ago, and they ended up as champions but we beat them 4-0. Cowden had a decent result in the last round, winning at Kilwinning Rangers which was maybe a mild surprise. I think benching 4 or 5 from last week is a decent compromise as opposed to playing a team of youngsters as was suggested. Sean Welsh has to start and probably Duffy. If we’re not well ahead after an hour then get Billy and Spoony on but let a couple of the young players e.g. Longstaff or Brooks have a go. I know the Bonnyrigg game was almost an embarrassment but let’s start with a tempo and get this done.

Deek taking it well… https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/20474556

We’ll murder Cowden.

What a weird game. We looked comfortable for 20 minutes and then the Pars absolutely murdered us for 25 minutes which coincided with all the incidents which earned the goalposts the MoM. A back 3 of Boyes, Devine and Ujdur looks a good setup. Devine had some great challenges and if Ujdur wasn’t so overconfident of being a baller then he would be one. Second half was completely dominated by us but it was if the players had a bet on 0-1 and thought we could keep the ball for the full 45 minutes which nearly worked. We are incredibly shot-shy. The stats show we had 5 shots to their 12, but we had so many touches in their box, it was as if we were trying to emulate Spain from 10 years ago and score the perfect goal. On a wet day it would have been worth a go from 20 yards, but so many times Cammy, Nathan, Spoony or Gilmour decided to check back. Not sure why Ujdur was subbed for Duffy as I’m sure that lost us a bit of solidity and he was booked straight away. Billy was knackered but sub Longstaff never really offered an out ball, although he nearly won it with a late drive which would have given Mehmet no chance if it was a couple of feet lower. Great to see Sir Sean Welsh returning. The passing was sublime at times today and Max Anderson is a player. Great support today 👏👏👏