TNS v Livi Irn Bru Cup

I think my list of players who have missed pens was more impressive... Which is what I was on about. Not blaming Pittman at all, trying to put some perspective on it, players often get down on themselves after such things.

Said all along cups are a bonus when we do well.

Mackin and Lithgow didn't miss their penalties though did they; their penalties were saved.

That being said I thought Lithgow's body language was all wrong when he stepped up; like he didn't believe he would score. Not sure about the Mackin one as S4C messed up the coverage of that entirely.

Liviforever wrote:Well they didn't score their pens which amounts to the same thing, if you hit a pen well the keeper isn't going to have a hope of saving it. But for all the pedantic feckers out there, all 3 failed to score their pens so it wasn't just down to Pittman.  

Yeah if you watched the game on the telly you wouldn't have seen Mackin's pen, bloody clowns were showing an ad break and cut to the keeper after he'd saved it, between that and them going to the crowd or dugout for 20 seconds during play it was annoying as feck.

I didn't say it was down to Scotty; In actually fact we should, and could, have won it well before that.

From the TV coverage it seemed that TNS played ten men in their own half for most of the time after having scored and we had trouble breaking them down. Mind you sticking with Danny Mullen up front as the sole attacking forward for the rest of the first half didn't exactly help.

Also I'm not sure that Alexander's hopping around on the line before each penalty made things any better; sometimes when the penalty taker saw him taking a leap to his right was an open invitation to slot the ball elsewhere; with his momentum already heading in the opposite direction it would have been more difficult to get back.

Disappointing way to lose a game in any competition, but I think we should be taking some heart from the positives on Sunday. I imagine their budget is significantly larger than ours, and given they have the experience of winning nigh on every week as well as European experience, it was always going to be a tough game. They were all over us first 30 minutes, and it was disappointing again to see us lose a goal from a set piece at the back post. After that, thought we had the better of the play and second half we looked a far more competent team than they did at any point in the match. Deservedly equalised through Mackin, who I slagged off just two minutes before hand. Liked De Vita in the free role between midfield and attack and whilst we did tire during extra time, I'm amazed we didn't put it to bed. Some chance for Todorov but on another day it's a few inches lower and we're celebrating a good win against a solid team.

The penalty shootout was a bit farcical, to be honest. I've no qualms with the fact that ultimately, we missed more than they did, but you'd have to have some brass neck to say that the delay between the first and second penalties, and then the confusion over the third, didn't have an effect on the teams. Our own fault to a degree that we didn't settle, but in this instance I have to apportion the majority of the blame on the officials. If you're a match official in a cup game, you absolutely have to know the procedure with regards to the match format, especially in a professional tournament. Their 'keeper done well to save a few and score his (best penalty on the day IMO), but it was very weak of the lino to not at least pull him up about coming off his line early. Poor form but they got away with it and I'm sure we'd have done anything to garner an advantage, too.

Overall, not the disappointment I've been reading from certain quarters, especially given the resources and experience TNS have behind them. However, and it's genuinely not sour grapes when I say this, but without the funding they get, there's not a chance in hell they'd be able to compete with Scottish Championship sides in this competition. Home crowd must have been no more than 250-300, which is comparable with the top end of the Highland League and the bottom end of League 2. Good luck to them, although like last year, it would be interesting to see them against a team from our league with a bit more bite and composure in attack.

Read yesterday that there is an SPFL enquiry into why the officials used the ab ba system for the pens as the SPFL do not recognise it as the format for shoot outs in their competitions... But the SPFL spokesman also said it wouldn't affect the result!!!

So clubs can make an administrative mistake and be forced to replay the game but when the officials make an administrative mistake the result stands. I think the ink is still damp in the SPFL rule book!

With the exception of maybe Dundee United the next round would simply be a money loser with the prospect of playing a team we're already playing four times this season or somewhere like Elgin City Cove Rangers mid week.

I honestly believe we're well out of it.

Please; no replays again.

Liviforever wrote:Just replay the pen shoot out then.

I'm reminded of a episode of Porridge where there's a boxing match in Slade prison involving a boxing match with Lennie Godber and his opponent both told to throw the fight or else...

It was down to who'd hit the canvas first.

I don't disagree but it bugs me that the high heid yins get away with their inconsistency

I forgot to say who was sitting just along from me on Sunday - Jordan White. He got a great welcome from the Livi fans when they saw him coming in.