The Mantis

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

DUFC v PTFC DRAW @4.00

We're all plummeting if you ask me. Load of lemmings.

I wonder what that cost in 1972. Had a quick search but no luck

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.

DUFC @1.55 please

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.

He never had it for long as it was heavy on fuel, 1500cc I think, and it was his car for getting to work as well. There was a local guy who had a huge yard full of old cars and my dad occasionally did jobs for him. He was said to be a millionaire and he wasn’t really bothered about making a living. If you wanted to try a car you had to get loads of other ones moved first. He was a bit of a legendary figure in Midlothian called Sonny Swinton. Actually now I remember, the driver’s door got damaged in Academy Street, Inverness. He left us kids in the back of the van for a few minutes but never shut the door properly. Each time a car went past the door swung open and closed. Then a lorry went past and it got damaged.

Thought I'd post this just to give IBM something to look at, it popped up as one of those facebook memories. My old man, old dear and wee sister at Nairn in 1968. I can still smell the waterproofing or whatever off that wee tent that I slept in with my brother.

DUFC v RRFC DRAW @3.60 please…

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.

QPFC v ICT DRAW @3.40 please

May as well report something positive I’ve had very few problems in the past couple of months. All the issues I’ve mentioned in the thread seem to have cleared up except occasionally on the iPad when I try to scroll back to the top of a page, it goes blank and I have to quit Safari before it’ll load anything else. The main thing is that posting works even with quotes and images. This was a major problem before on Mac and iPad although it didn’t seem to affect my iPhone.

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.

Think the first one is near the viewpoint at Drumbeg going by this photo of mine from about 4 years back

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