by Afro Sun Sep 13, 2015 1:43 am
Went there on a damage limitation mission and we succeeded. Never got cuffed as much as Raith or Queens but we were dire to watch and offered nothing going forward. With all due respect to Liam Buchanan, if we're insisting on playing this pseudo-John McGlynn style of play most weeks, he is not the man to lead the line. Feel sorry for the guy because he's clearly a quality player for the lower end of this level but it's just not happening for him with this style of play. Would've preferred to have seen big Shagz or Sheerin start, and ideally have Hippolyte, and dare I say it, Mullen as the wide forwards offering support. Our squad itself isn't a million miles away from competing with every team in the division but a lot of it is down to how it's set out, and having no real outball today cost us IMO. Found the subs perplexing today to a point, I didn't see the point in replacing Buchanan with Mullen which for me was basically like for like style wise; would've liked to have seen Shagz and Sheerin come on for the last 15 minutes to give them some problems, rather than hanging off. The Gibbons sub was just utterly pointless, no offence to the guy.
As for the goals; meh. First one's a screamer, they happen. Second one I don't think Millen harried Waghorn too much and allowed him to get the shot away too easy for my liking. Third one - concentration beginning to go, legs beginning to feel heavy. Shite goal tbf, Nicky Law's a total imposter.
These kind of games won't define our season, because truthfully, dubious accounting practices aside Rangers are still a world apart from us. That said, there is no reason why we couldn't have had a go today with the correct tactics, mentality, and training. Team was already beaten before we kicked a ball, mentality that we were going there to keep the score down against the Rangers juggernaut was evident from the get-go. Disappointing stuff and I'd be looking for an improvement in that regard against Hibs next week. Moreover, a minor point which some will disagree with but this sort of stuff is really bugging me:
He's not alone in saying it was a good performance from ourselves; I wouldn't say it was. Disappointing, as I've said, because we could've done much more ourselves and I didn't actually think Rangers were too impressive tbh. The loan signings they've made will be the difference for them this season, it'll be interesting to see how they do coming up against a side like the Sheep or Celtic.
And last but not least, £20 for that with the bonus of the armed forces celebration. Maybe it's just me, but having field artillery outside a football stadium on matchday doesn't sit right with me.
