PS Cup Group match v Dunfermline

Tuesday nights surprise results should be a wake up call because it will surely fire up the Fifers to have a go at us. We should certainly be glad we weren’t on the receiving end of those results but they prove we can’t take anything for granted.

Once again we should be capable of getting the points but we need to go out there and earn them.

Aye it makes this game an all or nothing one for the Pars, lose and that's them out the cup, even if they won their final game, 6pts wont be enough to get through as one of the best runners up.

For us it's a great opportunity to put ourselves in an almost guaranteed position of getting through to the knock out stages, with 2 games to go, and one of them against the group whipping boys, we'd be pretty much assured of being on at least 9pts, which should be enough, and i'd also expect us to get something against Spartans.

The group is there for the taking.Hopefully he puts out our strongest 11 from the start albeit he may not know that yet.Still waiting for big Yengi to get his arse into gear.Muirhead seems to be getting up to speed and with others,Winters etc the signs are progressing.Really looking forward to this.Usually bump into big Leishman when they come to town,and Bingo will be here as well.Look forward to seeing them both.Bring it on..

Dunno if we're persisting with 3 at the back or changing to a back 4 this season, would prefer the latter so Montano gets played in his strongest position at LWB, or even on the left wing/left mid. With us having wingers though and looking to use them, he'd be ideal getting overlaps with the left winger and making his surging runs up the pitch. Think he's wasted as a CB.

It was a flat 4 that started last week.
Finlayson on the right, McGowan and Montańo at CB and Clarke on the left, when Finlayson was subbed off Brandon seemed to drop back to RB but I didn’t notice what happened when Brandon was subbed.

OK,I'll go first.On the game thought we thoughrally deserved the 3 points against a lackluster Pars.Should have been more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.Many have suggested Stephen Kelly getting mom was primarily down to the sponsors,fair play to him.But for me Olly Green was outstanding. For a player of his height back just in front of our backline unbelievable.He falls into the category of a gem unearthed.Yengi frustrates the hell out of me.Hes our no 9 for this season.Thankfully weve strikers waiting in the wings if hes not cutting it. Big Muirhead put a shift in and took his fortuitously goal well,and helped coming back to help the defence out at times,good to see.All in all a good day was had.Apart from the fact we were punted round to the Almondvale Suite pre match.Couldnt celebrate post match due due staff shortages.21st party apparently.Simon needs to address this.Ridicoulos.Bet it wouldn't happen at Bathgate Golf club or Hopetown House.He needs to remember, we've put him and Food Creations where they are today.Guess the great Livi pound counts for zilch now.Rant over and well done the .

Absolutely spot on with your Olly Green comments. Outstanding today. MotM by the proverbial country mile & a thoroughly deserved standing ovation when he was subbed but unless he was struggling for match fitness that was far too early to sub him. I thought we started poorly but once we got control we were on top for most of the first half. Great bit of opportunism by Muirhead to poke home what would prove to be the winner. Some nice moves that came to nothing. Second half Muirhead almost scored a wonder goal but it hit the bar. Dunfermline had some chances throughout the game but their finishing was poor.

Our subs left a little to be desired this week. Smith tried but nothing really worked for him, Winter shows better awareness than Yengi but again didn’t get much joy when he came on. Korboa didn’t really get a chance to do anything. McAlear was a pointless sub that simply added another 30 seconds to added time. Nottingham didn’t do anything of note.

Had some Falkirk fans sitting beside us that didn’t fancy the long trip to Buckie for their match and they left relatively pleased having seen nothing from either team to cause them concern but they also recognised we were the better of the two sides.

Things which frustrated me today…
1. we seemed to set up in the way we did last season with Yengi ploughing a lone furrow. Why? We should be more aggressive at home and our best moments came when we pressed and won the ball high up and when we got forward to support Yengi.
2. We persist with no outball when defending corners. Again why?
3. Goal kicks… what is the point of the defender tapping it to the keeper only for him to then kick it long? Yengi was caught offside from this but if George at simply taken the goal kick long he’d have been onside.

2 & 3 in particular annoyed me today, totally senseless things to do.

However, another win and another clean sheet. Get 3 points at Cove and we will pretty well have qualified.

And finally let’s all laugh at Hibs

Aye i mentioned on P&B wee Olly was impressive today, gets stuck in and has good composure on the ball. Shame for Lawal because i think Green is playing the same position as him, and Lawal is a good player too, but will be kept out by Green. Good to have 2 good midfielders both competing for a place though, competition for places keeps them sharp.

Also think Montano had a good game, looks comfortable playing CB, would prefer him as a LB/LWB, but can see us playing him at CB all season.

Muirhead gets himself in good positions around the box, and as has been mentioned, took advantage of Kelly's ball played through and their keeper hesitating going for it, and prodding it home, also hitting the bar with a good effort.

Still gelling the team, but we've 2 games to go before the league starts and are in a great position getting through the group stages, so things are coming along nicely.

Heard DM saying Lawal will probably go out on loan in one of his videos.

Different thing but why do some of our fans wet themselves when someone shows a wee bit of skill? Yesterday Sole did a step over and a wee group reacted like they’d never seen it done before. Same thing when Yengi had his best moment, cutting inside from the wing with a nutmeg… you’d think it was the first time it had ever happened anywhere in the world. It was similar last season when Noobs or Montano did something that involved a modicum of skill. 95% of the time all you get is the brief moment of skill as we rarely score from such things, so they really should calm down. Same thing when we get a pen and people cheer like it’s a goal… then we take the pen and miss, so why get over excited at just being given the pen? It’s like the old joke about a team being so bad the fans celebrated when they got a corner.

It's called encouragement Nick.

Sometimes we cheer for just getting a foul, sarcastically right enough.

Don't get why Lawal isn't in his plans for this season, looked just like Green when i saw him in a pre season game, buzzing about, always looking for the ball, and had good composure making forward passes. He was a stand out. Though Muirhead looked rank rotten in that game and has now scored 2 in 2 games for us in the group games, so go figure.

Seriously though, i'd move Carson on, keep Lawal, and maybe even keep Welch-Hayes, as he has experience playing at this level in his loan last season, doing well at the Pars.

Take it Donnellan is still injured, hopefully he's not far away for the league starting, if he was fit then maybe he'd come in as a CB, allowing Montano to play at LB.

Also, how good is it to watch a game without VAR, knowing immediately our goal will stand, and not having to wait 5 mins to see if they've found a reason to not give it, for something in a phase of play leading up to us scoring. Think i'm going to really enjoy watching football without VAR.

No VAR means we party, no VAR means we party. 🥳

Yeah, VAR is an absolute disaster up here. Said it would be and so it proved. Didn’t work that well at the Euros either though. The semi auto offside was ok but anything else was pretty poor.

Not sure if there will be financial gain with the omission of VAR this season to the club.But I like many others will be glad to see the back of it.At least wel have a chance without the diabolical interference it poses against us..

Enjoyed reading all the comments. I'd forgotten all about this forum with it being the close season. Still not sure what to think about the new team. Some good performances from one or two, Olly Green, Kelly, Sole here and there. Still got Montana and Brandon who know their way about the pitch too. I thought Muirhead was a bit of a waste of space in the early friendlies but you can't argue with goals scored. So he can amble about the pitch for eighty minutes I suppose as long as he pops up with a goal a game. Early days though.
Read on the Dunfermline message board some of their fans saying there wasn't much in the game (really?) and we were two poor teams. Hope that's just the usual girnin' from Pars fans.
We'll know soon enough once the league starts I guess.
I'm going up to Aberdeen on Tuesday for the Cove game. Fingers crossed we ensure our passage to the knock out round.

Suggesting he ambled about for 80 minutes is a wee bit harsh Orco but if he finds the net regularly I’d take that at this level.

I didn’t think there was too much between the teams but we were better than them. I can’t imagine they will play as poorly in a couple of weeks time though so we will need to up our game accordingly.

Welcome back to the bandwagon Orco.Where ye been wummin .Catch up soon.Lol.Troy..

Auld Nick wrote:Suggesting he ambled about for 80 minutes is a wee bit harsh Orco but if he finds the net regularly I’d take that at this level.

I didn’t think there was too much between the teams but we were better than them. I can’t imagine they will play as poorly in a couple of weeks time though so we will need to up our game accordingly.

They didn't have much of a goal threat for sure, and had 3 decent chances if they had. They'll also prob have Chris Kane fit for the league opener, which will give them that threat they were missing, he's always been a thorn in our side when playing against us.

Would imagine we'll be a lot better by then too right enough, and have several goal threats in our team, Muirhead, Kelly, and Sole, being the most prominent ones, but a few others that are capable of popping up and scoring.

The good thing about beating the Pars on Sat, was they were playing for their cup survival, and had something to prove after losing to Forfar, yet we still handled them well, and comfortably beat them. They were also playing their 3rd competitive game to our 2nd, so i think we're coming along nicely, and will be much improved for the league opener.

Hopefully we go up to Cove tonight and get the job done.Suspect some of the fringe players/Subs will get a run out tonight.Wee Hartley would love to get one over us,fortunately i don't see that happening. Stamp our authority and make Saturday against Spartans a formality. Bring it on..

Martindale mentioned the likes of Green and McGowan are behind with their fitness, and playing 3 games a week is a lot to ask, particularly Olly Green who was knackered after 60 mins against the Pars. McGowan can prob get away with it more, don't think CB's run about as much as midfielders. Wish he'd give Lawal a chance if he's resting Green, think they're similar players.

Aye this should be our easiest game, a win would ensure we topped the group with a game to spare*.

*just checked and Spartans could top the group on GD if they win tonight against Forfar and beat us on Saturday. Still a win putting us 9pts pretty much guarantees going through, even as a best 2nd placed team, would expect us to take at least a point against Spartans though. Think we'll finish on 12pts with 4 wins out of 4.