craig 5,199 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 craig ... we've been playing poor for months now - by our standards. No-one is debating this. The factsheet still tells you: 2 defeats in 28 games, 6 draws. Or, in other words, 2 "shocks" and "6 minor shocks" in nigh 7 months, cup exits apart. If you look at our squad, can you really state that you could not have envisaged this? Yes, I never for a moment that we would fail to win almost 29% of the league games we have played in this season. dB, that is almost a THIRD of the league games we have failed to win... against part-time opposition. And, looking at our squad, YES I did NOT envision this. Not in a month of Sundays could I have imagined we would have failed to win so many games. I wasnt one for prescribing to us having a "perfect season", not at all - but to fail to win 8 of 28 games is scandalous, even with this group of players. The odd blip will happen - Peterhead at the start of the season... not a big deal for me, I expected it to happen early - but results and performances have actually gotten WORSE since after the 1st round of games - so what are we putting that down to ? We cant put it down to the "unknown of SFL3". 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 SFL2 & SFL3 teams are quite regularly getting results against SPL clubs in the Cup competitions (occasionally junior sides too!). To me it just highlights that the standard of the SPL isn't as far ahead of the lower leagues as many people seem to think it is and I warned about this before the season even started because I said SFL3 teams wouldn't be as easy to play against as some people were making out. Anyone with expectations of us putting Rugby scores past teams every week and never losing a game was just completely naive. How regularly ? Give me some numbers because I dont see them. The junior sides are very few and far between in getting results against SPL sides. Who last did ? None that I know of (closest was Auchinleck Talbot but they still got beat by Hearts.... plus, Talbot would beat most, if not all, SFL 3 sides anyway as they are better than them). SFL2 sides dont count, we are in SFL3. Where did I say I expected rugby scores and to not lose any games ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 SFL2 & SFL3 teams are quite regularly getting results against SPL clubs in the Cup competitions (occasionally junior sides too!). To me it just highlights that the standard of the SPL isn't as far ahead of the lower leagues as many people seem to think it is and I warned about this before the season even started because I said SFL3 teams wouldn't be as easy to play against as some people were making out. Anyone with expectations of us putting Rugby scores past teams every week and never losing a game was just completely naive. Playing up the quality of the mechanics and butchers is just poor excuses to try and distract from our own club's own huge failings. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I agree, but think it goes further than expectation levels of our own team being too high. I also believe that many have underestimated the level of the opposition. Sure, they're part-timers and on paper at least we should be playing them off the park. To these teams however these games against us are massive to the extent that it would be an understatement to call it their equivilent of us playing in the CL. We do need to strengthen and when we do I'd expect an improvement, but I would also still expect to see us having to grind out results. If the current Ceptic side were dropped in div3 I for one don't believe they'd win 36 games. They might do better than we've done in a lot of the games. As much as I hate to say it they do have a far better team than we do currently. They wouldn't win them all though and some of those they did win would be a struggle. I think it's difficult for us all to get a proper sense of perspective here. There have been disappointments this season and Saturday was no exception, but we'll still win this league comfortably ...and the next one as well. To me at this point, that's alll that matters. Be careful of that though. Because ineptitude and complacency will see us bitten on the arse when we eventually have to step up a level. This was an opportunity to start afresh and create a "philosophy". All we have done is revert to type for our club, trying to muscle our way to wins. It isnt good enough. We are being out played, out thought, out passed, by farmers and butchers. What are they coaching them at Murray Park ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Yes, I never for a moment that we would fail to win almost 29% of the league games we have played in this season. dB, that is almost a THIRD of the league games we have failed to win... against part-time opposition. And, looking at our squad, YES I did NOT envision this. Not in a month of Sundays could I have imagined we would have failed to win so many games. I wasnt one for prescribing to us having a "perfect season", not at all - but to fail to win 8 of 28 games is scandalous, even with this group of players. The odd blip will happen - Peterhead at the start of the season... not a big deal for me, I expected it to happen early - but results and performances have actually gotten WORSE since after the 1st round of games - so what are we putting that down to ? We cant put it down to the "unknown of SFL3". I accepted from the start over 36 games we'd have the odd off day, law of averages more than anything. It's been far from the odd games, never mind the eight failures to win, a large chunk of the wins have been very poor. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF2008 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Be careful of that though. Because ineptitude and complacency will see us bitten on the arse when we eventually have to step up a level. As could rabble rousing amongst the support right now 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 As could rabble rousing amongst the support right now The support are being insulted, frankly i think they've gotten off lightly from us. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 The support are being insulted, frankly i think they've gotten off lightly from us. Can you imagine if it wasn't the Saintly Ally in charge, who gave up everything for the club in the summer, (this seems to be fact these days) we would be burning the manager in effigy from the lampposts on Edmiston Drive. Ally hasn't even seen the start of a disgruntled fanbase. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 How regularly ? Give me some numbers because I dont see them. The junior sides are very few and far between in getting results against SPL sides. Who last did ? None that I know of (closest was Auchinleck Talbot but they still got beat by Hearts.... plus, Talbot would beat most, if not all, SFL 3 sides anyway as they are better than them). SFL2 sides dont count, we are in SFL3. I can't give you numbers off the top of my head Craig, come on. If you want numbers go and look them up. I beg to differ on SFL2 sides not counting in respect of the point I was making because by in large, there is very little difference in quality between SF2 & SFL3 sides and I stand by the point that those standard of teams quite regularly get results against SPL opposition in cups. If you looked at it over a ten year period I'm confident that you'd find a lot of these "shocks", so perhaps they shouldn't really be regarded as a shock at all. Where did I say I expected rugby scores and to not lose any games ? I didn't say you said it yourself. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CammyF 6,885 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Prior to this season, me most recent exposure to the SFL3 was three years ago when after winning their Junior Super League, Bo'ness United progressed through the Scottish Cup qualifyinh rounds and were rewarded with a home tie against Queens Park (ironically our nearest title challangers). After a shakey start to the game where Queens capitalised and scored an opening goal, Bo'ness regrouped then for large periods of the game outplayed Queens and eventually won the tie 2-1. Their performance and domination wasn't reflected in the scoreline. I certainly didn't expect to win every game in SFL3 by cricket scores - I honestly thought that we would possibly lose a few games, but what I wasn't expecting was the constant poor performances. If our players applied themselves correctly we would overwhelm teams more often than not. On the flip side, I caught Neil Warnock and Alan Curbishly on Goals On Sunday and they were of the opinion that there is nothing harder in football than playing against teams of lesser ability on a weekly basis. Essentially, the better the opposition, the easier it is to adjust. We will win the league this year be it sooner or later and will have to await the outcome of reconstruction to see where we will be playing next season. One thing for sure, we will require to find a level of consistancy or the crowds will dwindle and the club will find it harder to move forward. Cammy F 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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