Berry

Maannn….I love this team. First half went as expected, Dundee United with a lot of the ball and looked threatening on the attack but didn’t really materialise to anything. A couple of nervous moments at the back but nothing like the Airdrie game, a solid first half and 0-0 was a fair score at the time. Second half I was expecting Dundee to come out fast so was surprised when that wasn’t the case, we more than held our own and before our goal Wighton had a really good chance. We deserved to go 1-0 up, beautiful ball in from Edwards and a solid finish. What was nice was that goal happened when we had the two youngsters on in Tod and Summers. The rest of the game it was pretty much all United but we just never looked like conceding, our defence was excellent. I was impressed by the way we managed the game and the clock afterwards and the goal, well what a sucker punch, last 10secs or so, cruel. If Dundee were going to get anything it was from Cudjoe and whilst we deserved the W couldn’t begrudge the guy a goal if they were to score. Would’ve taken a point before the game so trying not to be too disappointed. With a little more squad depth, we could have a positive season.

I’m as pleased as everyone else at that victory yesterday. I thought Chalmers & Otoo were excellent and McCann put so much effort in chasing down defenders. However, on another day we would’ve dropped points, we continued from preseason giving some really good goal scoring opportunities away and we need to tighten up quick, we certainly rode our luck at points in the game and won’t get away with it in future games. All that being said, where we are as a team at the moment a lot of us expected this kind of match and dropped points but the team stuck in and grinded out a W just like the majority of games last season. Win, Lose or Draw this team is together man and it’s great to see, I do hope they get the support they need with further players coming in that don’t disrupt the vibes we’ve currently got going on in that dressing room.

From the NW, looked like Jim Goodwin was at the game today?

Really proud of the lads today, such a shift. Came out the blocks really fast which hasn’t been like us and we were playing with a lot of confidence. Airdrie gradually got a grasp of the game and grew into it and scored when on top, it was deserved at the time but we kept going and was a decent equaliser from Otoo. Going in HT 1-1 was a fair result. Our second goal was a peach, was crying out for people to take some shots from further out and make sure to hit the target as their keeper looked very suspect and really happy for Allan, I’m not his biggest fan but he did really well today when he came on. I have no real complaints about the Breen sending off, I’ve seen both incidents being yellows and on another day I’ve seen them not given cards, just unfortunate and disappointing to lose him for next week. We moved seats to the front row of the NW at the request of my 7yo which made it a little difficult seeing some of the key bits of the game as I thought there were a few ‘sitters’ that didn’t go in. Wighton looking clean through, Frizzel? for Airdrie who blasted over first half and don’t have a clue what happened at 2-1 when Airdrie didn’t score in that scramble. It wasn’t pretty at times but with our squad as thin as it is, was great just to get that W and the three points. Hopefully we get some players in this week coming. P.S. for those that stayed a little after it was a nice touch for Meggle to get a photo organised with the team in front of the NW corner, something really small but went down well and possibly a small part of what they were discussing in that meeting earlier in the week.

I think it was Ange in one of his first interviews at Spurs that talked about the want to win. You need more than that because there is no team out there that will go out on the pitch wanting to lose, so we need a differentiator and it looks like this is what the board have decided to pursue that could set us apart. I do get the sceptics, there does have to be a balance about presence within the community and living those values versus just making sure we get the three points on a Saturday because let’s face it, a long period of poor performance on the pitch is going to adversely impact what they are trying to do off it. You don’t have to look far in our past for examples of that. We have no choice but to trust the process, let’s hope for a win today and buy us another week to get reinforcements in.

It was an excellent result in the end, puts us in a nice position going into Tuesday the way other results went…how better it would’ve been had we held on against Peterhead. I thought the game itself was a painful watch. First half I thought we were poor, failed to create any real chances other than the one off the bar and it was just so slow going forward. Thought Edwards had a poor half as well, caught out a few times against their forward, and his long throws just straight at the keeper. Second half was frustrating, there was only one team in it and it’s difficult breaking down the opposition who have eleven men behind the ball most of the time, but the patience paid off and got our rewards. I wasn’t as sold on the performance as McPake, think we need to work more on the training ground in those scenarios as many teams will come and do that. I did find it amusing at the goal, shortly before McPake was getting pelters from a guy in the main stand because we had all eleven players in the box at an Edin corner and he was roaring for him to get players up the field among other things. Soon as we scored McPake turned around and gave him what for. I’m surprised Edinburgh didn’t go for it more, as in the small glimpses they did attack, they looked pretty competent and could’ve been dangerous. My man of the match though was Fisher, I thought he was fantastic, had plenty of the ball and looked very assured.

Spain Scotland Norway Georgia Cyprus A difficult group but a good one in my view, some fresh teams to play against. Other than Cyprus would expect all the games to be competitive.

Are we reading too much into our defensive record to date? Yes to have not conceded so far this league campaign is really good going and we have certainly been more solid than in previous campaigns. If I were Airdrie though I’d be confident of scoring today. We had Alloa where we had to clear the ball off the line in the opening minutes, against Montrose Rory McCallister passed up an excellent opportunity to score, and even against Edinburgh City, we let one of their boys in one on one with the keeper. We’re not as solid at the back as on paper suggests, if you consider these teams came to frustrate rather than necessarily have a good go where we know Airdrie will come with a more attacking mentality, I think they’ll have more opportunities to score and hit the net. Offensively, don’t think we’ve been that great at all either, didn’t really deserve to beat Alloa, an absolute fluke saved us. Struggled to breakdown Montrose if it wasn’t for Todorov and we couldn’t beat Kelty Hearts…one assured performance against Edinburgh and even then there were disappointments we didn’t punt 6 or 7 in. I’m just happy that we’ve managed to grind out the results that we’ve had but it’s not sustainable until we bring reinforcements in. I think there will be a bit of a reality check today and predicting a 0-2 defeat but so hoping I’ll be proven wrong. On Byrne, I’d have him back in a heartbeat and I think the reasoning DA-go has posted up is a pretty sound way of looking at it.

All matches are important but this one in particular, for me, is massive as from next week we go into a tricky period of fixtures.

Would’ve thought we would’ve been preferred to Morton though no?

Don’t personally have any problem with it, these are the times we live in where every penny is a prisoner and if this makes us some extra cash whilst supporting a local company who have helped us in previous years then good stuff. It’s still East End Park. I’m more comfortable with this than sponsorship on football shirts, I don’t particularly like walking around personally promoting SRJ Windows but I know it helps with income, is what it is.

You can’t really compare Pybus to Todd, they do different roles. Thought Pybus gradually improved over time with us and was coming onto a game but we made the right decision if it meant bringing Hamilton in as he’s just a superior player and is gradually bringing a goal threat to his game. Breen I’ve been impressed with, I think having someone like Benedictus as a defensive partner really helps his game and gives him the confidence he needs, still definitely improvement required but I’m more sold on him than I originally was. Mehmet…still not convinced, he hasn’t really had much to do so far this season which is testament to the ten players in front of him. Comes across more confident but part of me is just waiting for that big clanger to arrive.

It explains why Wighton was ducking out of challenges during the game on Saturday when a couple of times I reckon he would’ve won the ball. It can’t be enjoyable for him playing football when he’s not 100% fit so to stick it out and get on the pitch for the club and manager is admirable. For me, I’ve always thought he’s our most clinical finisher.

Not that I’m aware of…but quite possibly that could be it. Not happened since ironically. On iPhone and use the FaceID feature to sign in.

Yeah sure it is a positive signing and the extra cover and competition we need in that position. Just watched his first interview and he came across enthusiastic and willing to work hard to get into the team, all good stuff. Tin hat on though, I’m not really a big fan of the interviewing technique, when the players answer always starts with ‘definitely’ it indicates somethings not quite right. Bit too much waffle during the questions which tend to come with a suggested answer as well. Sure it’s a difficult art to learn and I’m probably being harsh, it’s just gradually beginning to irritate me.