DoofersDad

HT. 0-2 FT. 1-3 ICT. Samuels Opp. Jack Hamilton Crowd. 4811 Yellow. Little

As RiG says in his excellent summary, Arbroath's pressing in the first half was relentless. They did it well but rarely made much of the opportunity when they won the ball. But it is not something they can keep up for 90 minutes hence all the time wasting and other antics. Arbroath's tactics suggest to me that they know we have the beating of them, but we do need to exploit our strengths better than we did last night. We need to press them as hard as they pressed us last night. We need to move the ball a bit quicker, use the width of the pitch better to make them work even harder and generally make our pace and fitness count. It won't be easy though. and an enthusiastic home crowd will be helping them find their reserves of energy. It's a game I believe we should win but we need everyone to be on their game.

HT. 2-0 FT. 3-1 ICT. Samuels Opp. Jack Hamilton Crowd 2877 1st yellow. McKenna

Looked about right to me from the TV pictures. I was expecting more away fans, but also it was pretty patchy in the Main and North stands. Remember too that the league attendances are always boosted by counting ST holders whether they attend or not because they are deemed to have bought a ticket for the game. Hopefully over the 3000 tonight.

Yes he did, but to be fair to him, they actually improved under his tenure but not enough to avoid the drop. I won't get involved in the debate either, but suffice it to say that one would assume Dunfermline will part company with Yogi now and that he will find it difficult to get a job other than in a cycle shop.

HT. 2-1 FT. 2-2 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Graham Crowd 3021 Yellow -Carson

Excellent result with a superb 2nd goal. It was a great pass from Hardy for Sutherland to run onto in space and his cross was inch perfect. Samuels then did really well to get on the end of it. Hope we don't carry too many injuries into Friday's game. For a while in the first half I thought Dougal Sim might end up as MOTM.

HT. 1-2 FT. 2-2 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Graham Crowd. 3301 Yellow. Crawford

The point I was making was that as this was not a dead rubber from Hamilton's perspective, we had a responsibility to field a competitive side. Earlier in this thread you disagreed with me stating "Our only obligation is to field a team and fulfil the fixture." I'm glad to say the manager selected a highly competitive team and ignored your advice and that of others who would have had us fielding a team of youth and squad players. Funnily enough, on the other thread you congratulate the manager on getting his team selection spot on! Also contrary to your post, Hamilton were clearly very concerned to try and get something out of the game and maintain the gap over Morton. They fielded a strong side and were out to win it. Unfortunately for them, we also took the game very seriously, were clinical and blew them away in the first half hour. To give Hamilton their due, they never gave up and in the second half worked very hard right to the end to get something out of the game. They won several corners, had a goal disallowed and we needed some pretty last ditch defending to keep them out.

I hope the failure to use a capital "C" when referring to the leagues sponsors does not result in a points deduction Also, amused by the wording of seats in the away end being "currently available". It makes it sound that if you don't get your quickly, they will have sold out.

HT. 2-0. FT. 3-1 ICT. Samuels Opp. L. Smith Crowd 1711 Joker

Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten all about it! I've now purchased a couple of tickets but somewhat shocked to see that only 100 tickets have been sold so far. One only has to see the heartbreaking images on TV everyday to understand what a worthy cause this is and what a great gesture it is from Paul to offer up his medal to support this cause. It closes on Saturday so, buy your tickets NOW before it is too late.

It's not a totally dead rubber. If we beat Hamilton and Morton win at Arbroath, then Morton will overtake Hamilton. We therefore have a responsibility to field a competitive side. We shouldn't be risking players carrying knocks though, but any players coning into the side should be told they are playing for a place in the side. We should be looking to win this.

Could even be a play-off against Aberdeen

HT. 0-2 FT 1-3 ICT. Sutherland Opp Ugwu Crowd. 1651

The pressure is all on Kilmarnock. Many would have expected them to have clinched the title by now and for Arbroath to have dropped off the pace. But Arbroath have continued to surprise displaying astonishing fitness levels for a part time team and a team spirit that few can match. On paper Kilmarnock have the better players, but Arbroath will not allow them time on the ball and have demonstrated time and again that they have good attacking options too. I think Kilmarnock will need to show patience and composure tonight if their quality is to win through, and I'm not sure they will manage that. I've a feeling Arbroath are going to edge this and take it to the final day. As for the play offs, similar arguments apply. Were we to play Kilmarnock, the pressure would be on them whereas we would maybe feel we ought to beat Arbroath. However, anything can happen on the night so I'm really not bothered which of the 2 we play as long as we get to play one of them. Having said that, I will certainly be rooting for Arbroath tonight because they deserve to win. Their story this season is a quite extraordinary one and it would be a real shame if they were unable to see it through to a happy end.

CaleyTennis, if you start a thread you can expect people to pass comment or ask you to clarify what you are saying. If you carefully read what you have written, you might understand why people are responding as they are. You start by saying that the issue is "with a small number of players who just aren't good enough to play for us", but later say that part of the solution "means selling our best players". Presumably players who are not good enough to play for us need to be off-loaded, so that would leave us with a middling group of players who, in your opinion are good enough to play for us but are not the best players. In that context, it is perfectly reasonable to expect you to clarify who you feel we should keep and who you think we should off-load. Personally, I think it is a good idea to try to keep our best players. I also don't think there is an "issue". Given where we were financially pre-Covid, the management team and the players have done a great job to get us where we are. Of course there have been games where we have underperformed, but on balance, we've done pretty well to sit 3rd in the table with just a couple of games to go. We may not be where we want to be, but we are heading in the right direction. If some people started supporting the club rather than constantly criticising it, we might be a little closer to where we want to be.

That's what happens when we don't play in pink.

2 for Duku today. Helps when 3 of the opps players have been sent off first!

They're not out of reach. If they lose their remaining 5 games and we win ours, we will end the season 5 points ahead of them. It's not likely to happen I grant you, but they are not out of reach - yet. They could win one and draw two and we could still pip them on goal difference. I am very interested in watching them lose tonight!

Sounds like a fantastic vision. It is one of those things that needs a lot of things to come together before it can be achieved, so understandable that those involved with the idea don't want to say too much at this stage. The danger is always that too, much publicity raises expectations and if the complete vision can't be delivered, people feel let down when in reality what is delivered represents a real achievement. It does sound really promising though. Even a scaled down version would be a huge boost for the wider football community in the city and the women's game in particular.

HT. 0-2 FT. 1-3 ICT. McAlear Opp. Adeloye Crowd 1794

HT. 1-0. FT. 2-2 ICT. Sutherland Opp. Lafferty Crowd. 2119

He was very sharp to get onto that and a very cool finish too.

Sam scored Wales' goal in a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria today. Well done Sam!