Dunfermline -V- ICT : matchday thread

[The Mantis]

Looked pretty much a 4-5-1 today. I was interested to see how good Duff was, as people said he was good last week. First five mins I thought we had ourselves a player, after that I thought he was poor and reminded me of Brian Kerr. No lack of effort though, but you can get that from Russeldinho anyway. MoM for me was Dani and Cox not far behind.

I thought the Pars had better movement than us - great passing from midfield and ability to spring people down the wings, one or two cocky backheels and one-twos, but I can't remember Ryan having a save to make, apart from one that was going wide anyway.

In comparison we had loads of possession in their half but we just ended up passing it sideways, nobody wanting to take a risk and run at them. Wee Johnny was beaten for pace and physique by the left back and never contributed anything - probably could have come off at HT. Anything we did create came through Dani. Pitch was very slippy, with signs that the Pars all had the right studs as our lot slipped more often.

We were a bit more direct overall though and made more chances. There's just never any belief that Rooney can take one of these through balls and finish it. It's so predictable. Wee Stewarty would probably never hack it at this level, but he could show Rooney how to finish - he is so knackered by the time he gets the shot away he never lifts it, just aims to hit the target. Low and straight at the keeper every time. To be fair to Rooney he never got any runners supporting him today. Foran was busy looking for scraps in midfield or helping out at the back.

Did anybody mention it was cold? It was cold.

[jim]

so hughes is sacked... butcher and his backroom mob can go with him along with the team he put on the park...

[+Wanderer]

We edged it in terms of shots on target and dealing with the underfoot conditions. I thought both teams did a fairly reasonable job of keeping it on the deck.

MOM: Foran - creative, brought others into the game, spotted the gaps, accurate, tenacious. I think he got booked by Mantis a couple of times mind.

[The Mantis]

You can see in your photae he's just about to cement that poor guy from behind.

[Johnboy]

Looks like a huge crowd there.

[The Mantis]

so hughes is sacked... butcher and his backroom mob can go with him along with the team he put on the park...

Including that wee sub that came on for Hayes. What's he called again, Inman or something :D

[TopSix]

The bridies were excellent though! Only ?2 a pop too. I had a couple but by half time they had sold out and I had to settle for a pie.

Nevermind.

The Pars were woeful today - the game was awful BUT we should have won it. They were there for the taking. Imrie was much improved on last week - he actually passed the ball! IWho would have thought. Hayes was also good today - I hope we can hang on to him. Good day out though. I enjoyed it.

Where was Caley Stan though?

Edited December 19, 2009 by Top Six Next Year

[The Mantis]

Caley Stan's a part timer.

Interesting that a guy on the Pars forum started a thread about Duff wondering if they should move for him. Thought he was impressive compared to their two in the middle. I'm not saying much but wait till Naelifts gets here.

[Pele_Is_God]

Sanchez was the best player on the park by miles I thought, worked his arse off. Bully has improved a lot. Cox and duff are too similiar I feel, but we have no other option at present. Only pars player who impressed was Neil McGregor, rest were average. We are not far off from being a very good time, I hope TB and MM stay to build becuase I would hate to think of the alternative.

Oh the pies were ace!

[gordyfromsneck]

Sounds the usual - lots of chances and not enough goals. Hoping for more decisiveness next week. Very good one to wiin.

Yeah, btw can we cut out the reporting of English matches on the ICT matchday thread, please.

[tm4tj]

Hayes had his worst game for weeks. He got little change out of the two defenders constantly tracking him. Sanchez looked the most likely to break the deadlock. Foran was again very industrious and had a good game as well, but Cox was my runner up along with.......wait for it ........once again Lionel. Great going forward again and only one superbloop. He took a throw in and threw it 20 yards infield......straight to a Pars striker who made a beeline for our box. Bully also had one shocker of a pass but he was quick enough to get back and make a tackle. He actually had a good game otherwise. Agree about the 'good' save Esson made, it was low down to his right, but looked as though it was creeping just the wrong side of the post. Pars wer pretty punchless at times, Gibson is a handful but we coped pretty well and never really looked like conceding. He had one snapshot in the first half that Esson was well positioned to deal with and one in the second half which Esson left to sail a foot over. Rooney was a sinner today, four opportunities and zero goals. A game we controlled pretty well and should have won going by clear opportunities, but like the Raith game we failed to make the most of them.

Operation curtain carried out perfectly.

Cheers to all who helped.

[tm4tj]

Just to add, the mercury had plumetted to minus seven coming over the hils and someone had spun off the road at the overtaking lane at Carr-Bridge, hope everyone was OK. Roads not great coming through Drumochter, slushy frozen rutted tracks, but no depth of snow lying. It all disappears halfway down Drumossie brae. Massive snow showers an hour before kick off must have put the game in danger of being called off.

[Naelifts]

Hope Mrs for the job likes the drapes!

Sanchez a cut above

Duff utter s*it

Very cold

Great pie

Well done to the singers/chanters

Over and out

[Scarlet Pimple]

Looks as if there is support for getting rid of comments and reports about English matches on this thread the.

Good! We can stick to ICT now , hopefully.

A pleased Pimple. :D

[DAM]

Sounds the usual - lots of chances and not enough goals. Hoping for more decisiveness next week. Very good one to wiin.

Yeah, btw can we cut out the reporting of English matches on the ICT matchday thread, please.

My sentiments exactly, it's most annoying.

[tm4tj]

There would be half as few of these foreign posts if you guys stopped complaining about them, and me writing this.

I meant to add that Duff must have been wearing Russells boots yesterday, quite a number of woeful passes in the middle, the very ones that Russell gets slagged for. Lionel was one of our better distributors of the ball. Unfortunately for him, and us, he made one particularly good overlapping run where he made up thirty yards only to hook the ball round the back of the goals....ah well, maybe next time.

[Yngwie]

Ahem.

How did Duff play today?

I think he borrowed Russell Duncan's passing boots :11doh:

Great minds.....

[jaggie1994]

It was a bit of a wasted trip. We had the better chances and Rooney should have scored at least 1 of the 4 times he was through on goal. I thought Bulvitis was brilliant. He seemed to get a lot of pace from somewhere and made some very good tackles. I though Duff was ok. He passing was poor but he is a very good tackler he doesnt mess about when he tries to win the ball.

Hayes was poor but I reckon that was more down to him getting marked by 2 Dunfermline players every time he got the ball. Imrie was crap when he came on so I would not be sorry to see him go in January. Sanchez and Cox were up there as our best players. The only thing we were missing today was somebody who can finish as I thought we were better than Dunfermline everywhere else on the park.

It was freezing as well I think it was about -2. Bring on Dundee next week. We need to win but I still dont think it will make much difference

[caleymore]

Think overall we did ok , solid at the back, midfield had control and created good scoring chances for our lone striker who really should have finished more than one. The heavy icy conditions didn't help Johnny and he was done when he got hooked. No bookings on either side as Ref had a Good game. It was a cold horrible day for football and couldn't fault anyone for lack of effort.

[alimci]

Surprisingly enjoyable game for a 0-0 draw. Dani MoM, Lionel on one of his good days, didn't think much of Duff, or at least he didn't seem to offer anything different.

[ictchris]

We played better but didn't create enough chances. If Rooney had a bit more pace he wouldn't have been caught by McGregor on a couple of ccasions.

Defence played well - Lionel was good I thought.

[Johnboy]

Sounds the usual - lots of chances and not enough goals. Hoping for more decisiveness next week. Very good one to wiin.

Yeah, btw can we cut out the reporting of English matches on the ICT matchday thread, please.

I agree...

BTW, anyone else notice that Ballymena beat Linfield 2-0 yesterday?

That was a shock...

:11doh:

[Snow]

Very slippy and snowy pitch which had a big effect on the game. You'd think that Danni Snowshoes might struggle having never seen the cold white stuff before, but he was really good today. Foran also had a good game with some great through balls for Rooney.

Agree on both points. Sanchez is proving to be alot stronger than his physical appearance would suggest. In tricky conditions yesterday he held onto the ball extremely well. Impressively tenacious.

Apart from his incredible work-rate Foran, for me, has the best vision. He's an intelligent player and frequently creates openings for others. The team is far poorer without him.

Imrie did well and caused problems when he came on. More effective than Hayes on this occasion.

We had plenty of chances and should've won. Hmmm.

Never been so cold in my entire life.

(Took me 4 hours to get from Perth to home this afternoon. The A9 was like a 'B' road. Shocking.)

[Harry Chibber]

Lionel = 2 clean sheets :021:

Can't complain about a draw away to the pars, good result.. 4 points in 2 games.. keep it up :)