I did once win a playoff playing stall for 90 minutes, no shots created and won 1-0 as they opponent played a couple of aggressive players and gave up a penalty.

Just saying...

Falkirk did what was expected and ended up finishing third bottom and being relegated. We did have some bad luck with key players getting injured but in the end we just weren't good enough to stay up. The second from last game was away at Celtic. We deservingly lost three one to remain thirtieth, three points from safety. The final match was at home against third placed Clydebank. We needed to win to have any chance of staying up. We started badly going a goal behind on 16 minutes but did equalise on 33 minutes to go into the second half all square. We couldn't find the winning goal and the game finished one apiece to relegate us. A winner would have kept us up. The only positive is we have three youth players fully trained up for next season.

The final Saturday of the season has gone, but it was a successful one for East Fife, as we notched up two wins.

We had much the better of things in our first match, against Stranraer.  Scott Shepherd (pictured) opened the scoring for us in the third minute and by half time had extended our lead to 3-0, with a goal from Trevor Brooking and a second from Shepherd.  In the second half we continued to dominate and Shepherd completed his hat-trick to give us a comfortable 4-0 win.

Our last match of the season was an away game against champions Livingston.  I can’t say we deserved it, but somehow we managed to win this one 0-1, the only goal of the match coming in the 68th minutes, a fine strike from Seb Ross.

So, we finish the season in 8th place.  Not as high as we had hoped for, but compensated for by our great performances in both cups.  Next season, promotion perhaps?

On Saturday Stirling will face Kevin's Airdrieonians FC in one of the Div 2/3 playoffs.

All players are available but Airdrieonians are better rested. Unlike last season we went for it in the last 2 games sacrificing EL management to make sure we at least got a shot at the play-off. It's apity we can't apply an EL boost for the play-off teams after the league season games are over to level the playing field a little bit. But that is part of the game and I have been on the other side of the draw.

It's been a fun season so far, I've pushed the ball control tactic as much as possible, sometimes even when it would be more beneficial to play more conservatively, especially with an OTF of 10.

We won't be sitting back when we face the Airdrieonians on Saturday 

Courtesy of Mr Copilot, apart from my addition in Italics and crossings out.

Raith Rovers delivered a commanding performance to secure a 4-0 victory over Lanarkshire Accies, to leave Roves ecstatic in avoiding the relegation playoffs.  The match kicked off with both teams opting for a 4-2-4 formation, but it was Raith Rovers who dominated from the start. Rhys Healey was instrumental early on, creating several chances, including a near miss in the 5th minute that was brilliantly saved by Ryan Fulton.

The breakthrough came in the 14th minute when Aidan Connolly’s cross found Luther Blissett, who headed home to give Raith Rovers the lead. They doubled their advantage in the 24th minute with a stunning long-range effort from Brazil. Despite some resistance from the Accies, Raith Rovers’ defense, led by GK Robbie Thomson, held firm.

In the second half, Rhys Healey continued to torment the Accies’ defense, eventually scoring in the 59th minute with a close-range header. Ken Sema added a fourth in the 67th minute with a looping header that left Ryan Fulton helpless.

The Accies struggled to find a way past Thomson, who made several crucial saves to maintain the clean sheet. Raith Rovers’ comprehensive victory highlighted their attacking prowess and defensive solidity, leaving the Accies with much to ponder as they face the dreaded playoffs.

With SESL Season 57 now all but over, unless your team has a play-off game at the weekend  that is.  The players have probably gone off on their holidays and the manager is either down the job centre or maybe, just maybe sitting in his office considering where it all went well, or wrong, last season.

In the case of the EDI manager....he has been informed that his position is secure but that the board of directors will expect EDI to show significant signs of improvement starting in Season 58. The Club find themselves back in Division 3 next season but to be honest that is not altogether surprising considering all of the changes to the first team squad over the last few seasons. However, the squad is now looking far more settled and all the major pieces are in place and the other than some sensible training and coaching, its now a case of adding some depth to the squad.

The financial report was published this week and makes for interesting reading (If you are an Accountant that is). The board note that the current team bank balance is slightly below what was expected but allow for the manager being able to remedy that situation somewhat before the new pre-season. Looking forward to next season, the board feel that 'Income' will be somewhere near on par with the lastfew seasons but it is hoped that 'Expenditure' will be slightly lower over the next couple of seasons and the clubs finances will gradually return to a healthier condition.

With  all of the above in mind.....The manager will look to add a decent 'Bosman' player and will also look to promote two(maximum) youth players to the first team squad in the early part of next season. The manager has stated that he is open minded about which positions he intends to target to strengthen but it is likely to include a midfielder. 

So its goodbye S57 and roll-on S58 from all here at EDI.

Relegated bottom of the league but not surprised as I pressed the last 2 games to try and get the golden gloves award succeeded and the young gloves came 2nd.    If you asked me at the start of the season if you willing to get relegated but win a cup I would have took that so here we are.   Div 2 next season, but I fancy us to come straight back up.    Teams in reasonable shape.   I will have 2 top draw gk next season and a quality striker so should be good.

In a tense doubleheader, the Doonhamers faced Montrose and St. Mirren, both in crucial matches that would decide their promotion fate. Against Montrose, QoS started with a defensive 5-2-3 setup but quickly gained the upper hand with an early goal from Billy Nicholl. Montrose fought back with Danilo’s equalizer, yet QoS responded with goals from Peely Wally and Aaran Stramash, securing a 3-1 victory.

In their next clash, St. Mirren pushed hard in a 4-4-2 formation. Both teams saw chances, with Ollie Watkins and Che Adams keeping the pressure on QoS’s defense. Despite several close calls, strong defensive work by Pat Bonner and James Rimmer kept the scoreline goalless. A final surge from Peely Wally was saved, sealing a 0-0 draw.

With this hard-earned point, the Doonhamers clinched second place and secured their promotion to Division 2, showcasing a blend of resilience and skill across both matches.

The Real Truth About The Dark Blues (since 2024)

Match #50 at Aberdeen
Expectably ABE bought max HFA 40 - which gave them a sporting chance at 2.1-3.3 xG. Both teams however failed big at shot generation.
DEE scored just once, kept a clean sheet though - and took the deserved and crucial 3 points in a rather unexpected manner.

Match #51 vs Albion
With ALB's press tactics - to assure Gracie's Glove win - this should have been an easy DEE win. 
Yet, again, DEE's shooters scored only half their xGs and GK Gadzhalov allowed 2 ALB goals.
Thus way too much "entertainment" going into the final minutes at just 3-2 - but in the end 3 points were all that mattered.

The DEEs finished the season at a most mediocre 8th: worse than expected, but certainly better than expectable some weeks ago.

At least this leaves much room to improve next season.

Ross county were relegated back to division 3

We won 6 drew 5,lost 19,scoring 37 conceding 60 amassing 23 points-our T11 was 24.6 (joint 16th in division) and our T17 was 22.0(10th in division) but you try and play your T11 as often as you can and that's why I think we were relegated plus I thought we went up a season early and were not strong enough and I was right,a couple of seasons rebuild now ahead and filling those positions that we require is priority. 

In the cups we went out in the 1st round to Berwick, but had a good SESL cup run and went out in the semi final to Hamilton.

Not too busy in the transfer market but brought in 2 from Rangers WG Todd Cantwell and MF Stephen Kelly who will both be very important next season,rebuild will begin with an apprentice GK and a strong Defensive midfielder. 

The SRA lads finally did it!! A draw in the final match of the seaosn was enough to gain 4th place and a place back in the top division. Gaffer McCumiskey was absolutely delighted with the players and fans having spent far too long in Division Two. The Blues have now rebuilt and can look forward to fielding some strong players in their prime as they take on the best next season. Avoiding the playoffs was a priority as tiredness and suspensions can play a big role in such battles. With nothing planned until Xmas the Boss intends to hit the beach somewhere and bask in some well earned glory before getting back the grind of Division One survival! 

With a little more luck we could have stayed up: looking at some recent games where we drew but could have won (MOT if we got a penalty, RAN who NMRd and we deserved more, HEA scoring 3 goals from 3 SL 24 players with 3 shots) and probably more earlier in the season. Ten draws all season tells the story.  We only conceded 54 goals in the league (7th best) but our 36 goals scored was the lowest. Hopefully the acquisition of Donnelly will help put that right next season.

I've had a quick look at T11 for next season and Age of the teams and it doesn't look too bad.

The axe finally dropped this weekend and sent EDI into Division 3 despite a 3 point session.

It was no real surprise as all at the club had been expecting this outcome for a few weeks now.

So its now time to sit back an look at the season and try to take some positives from it and to be honest, EDI are in pretty good shape with a view for going forward, not too bad at all despite the back to back relegations. LOL

We started the weekend with a home game against Willy's Forfar, a tough outfit who dont give up goals easy with a strong set up ,both sides opting for a 4-2-4 longball, 1st half belonged to defences as both stood firm, 2nd half subs on and it was looking like a 0-0 as both defences stood firm ,73 minutes and Leak our sweeper left the field with concussion, but on 79 minutes a quick break and a deep cross saw Baldwin power home his header 1-0,Forfar pressed on and on 85 minutes levelled things up when Skelly fired home 1-1,we were outshot 4 to 3 and a point for us but not enough as it meant instant relegation, well played Willy.

Last match of the season for us in division 2 and we were home to Nairn County, no atmosphere in the dressing room as we knew division 3 awaits and it was hard to fire up the team,we opted for a 4-2-4 longball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences were on top but on 43 minutes Roberstan fired home 0-1,2nd half and subs on we pushed on and on 46 minutes Kelly drilled home 1-1,we were struggling to retain any possession for any length of time and on 64 minutes Young burst through the fired home 1-2 and on 76 minutes Rice drilled home from range 1-3 as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 2,well played Richard.

So with just a point we finish bottom of division 2.

and counting. Falkirk continued their bad run of results last weekend and dropped into the relegation zone for the first time this season. We kicked off last weekend's games with a home match against leaders Livingston. We didn't play too badly but we're no match for their forward firepower and lost three one. The second game was a relegation six pointer at home against Airdrieonians FC. We had the better of the game but couldn't convert any of our four chances and the game ended goalless. With two difficult games left and sitting fourth bottom we look certain to go down, especially given our recent run of results. There is always next season!

The Real Truth About The Dark Blues (since 2024)

Match #47 vs Raith
Winning turns surprisingly easy if you're facing junk squads, like Raith's 43% S.
3-0 goals for Dundee and some useful resting time for key players.

Match #48 at Hearts
was a different matter, though.
Not too surprisingly HEA fully rested at Aberdeen, graciously spending 3 points to keep them in the relegation race.
Not too surprisingly either, HEA played near T11 vs Dundee afterwards.
With DEE's SL35 Boateng suspended it turned out fairly balanced at 2.0-1.8 xG, BUT on the pitch it ended 3-2 in HEA's favour, of course.
Thus once more zero points from a near coin flip - thus still relegation trouble.
Let's get this season over with.

So, the Cup Final!

We weren’t overly optimistic, especially when we saw that Hamilton had taken the risk of playing with all-out aggression.  This meant that they started with a but of a shot chance advantage but the aggression backfired in the second minute when Ryan Fulton conceded a penalty and got himself a yellow card in the process.  But our star forward Scott Shepherd’s penalty was saved by Fulton.

It was quite a start, and then in the 16th minutes Fulton limped off the pitch, so Hamilton had to play the rest of the match with their reserve keeper.  Mind you, he’s a lot better than most reserve keepers.

Our game fell to pieces half way through the first half when Hamilton scored twice in three minutes and we doubted that we could recover from that.  Half time came and I got the chance to motivate the team with the power of my oration and a few kicks up the bum.

This had little effect and the clock ticked on until, on the hour, Hamilton switched to Counter-Attack and we immediately pulled a goal back with a lovely bender from Seb Ross.  And shortly after that, we managed to pull level when Scott Shepherd fired through a forest of legs. 

It was 2-2, Hamilton switched to Press but to no avail, and we almost grabbed a winner late on when Trevor Brooking hit the post.  So it finished 2-2, and we were treated to a penalty shoot-out.

What a performance by Reece Beveridge (pictured)!  Three saves from him, while Shepherd, Slattery and Comerford all converted their chances.  The Cup was ours!

Thanks to Les for a very enjoyable game, and commiserations, the luck was with the Fifers on the day.

The Fifers’ Saturday started with a home match against Forfar Athletic.  It was a frustrating match to watch as we had most of the play and a significant shot chance advantage but Forfar’s keeper, McCallum2, took the MOM award, after stopping all five shots he faced.  Meanwhile, Rory McLeod netted the only goal of the game and we were robbed, 0-1 to our visitors.

And so to our second match, when we visited Nairn County.  We had Wednesday’s Cup Final in mind and played Alan Fleming in goal – always a dicey decision.  And though we reached half time with the score 1-1, we were overwhelmed in the second half, losing the match 5-1.  And actually, Fleming didn’t have a bad game.

So, two losses mean that we will be playing Division 2 football again next season.

I don’t think I’ve yet welcomed Jonathan Bain (pictured) to the sqaud, but he came to us from Nairn County a couple of weeks ago, played against them, picked up a yellow and a suspension.  So he’ll be missing the Cup Final on Wednesday.  Can we overcome Hamilton?  It’s a possibility, one can never say no when the SESL RNG is at work…..

SRA need just a single point from the final two matches to secure an unlikely promotion back to the top division. A helpful six point session and errors from CEL gave the south-western team a healthy five point cushion. However, they face cup finalists EF in the first match and then the big six pointer against HIBs who are immediately below them. McCumiskey will go all out to avoid the dreaded playoffs where anything can happen. A full 180 minuntes of stalling is also an unlikely strategy from the attack minded Manager. The Fireworks will be on standby for Saturday afternoon! Up the Blues!!

Only two league games remaining and it is now looking odds-on that EDI will be relegated down to Division 3. EDI only managed a single point from the latest two games and that was patently not enough to maintain any hopes of Division 2 survival.

Some good news for EDI supporters is that ALL of the players on the roster that the manager had decided will be an integral part of NEXT seasons squad have Coached/Training up to the SL targets that the manager set during this current season. As a consequence, the manager has reported to the EDI board that he believes that the 'Rebuild' is now behind the club and the current squad can show significent improvement beginning next season and that with standard additions in the seasons to come that any improvement can be sustained for future seasons.

It will be no easy task to re-climb the league ladder but the target must be for a eventual return to Division 1 but this time the Club will hopefully be in a better position to do itself justice.

For some (namely Hamilton and East Fife), this means a Cup Final and the chance of some well-earned silverware. 

For us, it means th efinal 2 league games of a succesful league campaign. By Stenny's standards this has been as good as it gets, well almost. We are gauranteed a top 5 finish and could still get our best ever finish in SESL history if we have a big hitting final weekend. Probably not likely, but 4 point from the final tough 2 games would mean our highest ponts tally in the top flight. Already our lowest number of defeats in the top flight and a tight defence all season, so plenty for the fans to be happy about before the winter off-season. 

We are carrying a couple of suspensions and some very tired legs into the final week, but everyone is preparing to dig deep and push hard into the final games, before a sponsors payout and a well earned break with family. 

We've not given too much though to next season just yet, but you can see in the squad that there will need to be a huge number of changes to continue to push on next season. Thankfully i think we will take our highest ever end-of season bank total into that planning, so plenty to think about. 

Cameroon and Brazil will battle out for club top scorer in the final 2 games and at the other end, Norway and Holland are still fighting for the clubs honours as best keeper. One of the four, likely to take player of the season. 

With 3 matches to go, Motherwell found themselves sitting in 9th place, just 1 point clear of the relegation playoffs. A huge cluster of teams towards the bottom (just 3 points between 7th place and automatic relegation in 13th) meant that the last 3 will have a huge impact for so many sides.

First up came a visit from the league leaders (and already title winners) Clyde. Quite the season they've had - well done Raymond! MOT started the match with a fairly heavy shot % advantage, and they would soon capitalize, scoring in the 14th, 20th, 28th, and 30th minutes to make the score 4-0 at the half. Jimmie Dale Gilmore would complete his hat-trick in the 59th minute, and MOT could take their feet off the gas at that point. Some subsitutions weakened MOT enough for CLY to pull a couple back, but it was too little, too late and MOT were able to keep all 3 points and win 5-2. The big win was enough to pull MOT all the way up to 6th as other results went their way.

Looking at the table now, MOT are now mathematically safe from automatic relegation, as DEE and ABE face each other next to prevent both of them from being able to catch MOT. The relegation playoffs are still in play, however, as two losses in the final weekend for MOT could easily spell disaster. As for upside, 6th place is about as high as MOT can reasonably climb, given that it seems unlikely that STJ will fail to win one of their final two matches. That means for MOT's final two matches at ALO and home to DUM, getting as many points as possible will be a real priority. A win over DUM (or at the very least a draw) will be key to not falling behind that side in the table. Going to be hard to predict what we can expect from a tricky away trip to ALO, as well.

Motherwell will already be ending the season with the fewest league wins that manager Foss-Grant has ever secured. However, if they can end the season in 6th or 7th they will at least not have their stand-alone worst league finish ever under that management. Hopefully it will be a good finish and we can move onto aiming for a better season ahead.

With the SESL Cup Final on Wednesday and (hopefully) not looking likely to get sucked in to the relegation battle there was only one real objective for this weekend for the Accies... avoid any suspensions or injuries!

Therefore in that respect it was a very good weekend and picking up a point probably a bit of a bonus.

We're really looking forward to the Final with Paul's East Fife. The sides seem pretty evenly balanced although the Fifers do have the highest rated player by some way. Hopefully it'll be a cracking game worthy of a Final!

Well after the semi final defeat in the cup we had to pick ourselves up for the trip to Cameron's Arbroath, a classy looking side who were having a good season and it looked like they were scoring for fun,could we stop them,we opted for a 5-2-3 opportunistic as they went for a 4-3-3 normal with some heavy hitters up front,we started slowly and were punished on 8 minutes when Lewis fired home 1-0,20 minutes and it was 2-0 as McIntosh slotted home, we were struggling to retain any possession for any length of time and when we did it was deep in the defence, half time came and subs on ,we played better in the 2nd half but could not trouble their defence and Taarabt sealed the game on 72 minutes when he rifled home 3-0,we were outplayed and outshot 7 to 2 ,well played Cameron. 

Next we were at home to Daniel's fellow strugglers Dunfermline, who sat just above us ,feelings in the camp were good and we were looking forward to put on a good show for our loyal fans,we opted for a 4-2-4 longball with a bit of aggression thrown in as they went for a 3-4-3 normal, game on and we were quick out the starting blocks and opened the scoring on 3 minutes when Brophy fired home 1-0 ,14 minutes and Turner fired home 2-0,31 minutes and Brophy slotted home his 2nd 3-0 and he completed his hat trick on 42 minutes with a long range effort 4-0,half time came and subs on ,2nd half and both defences stood firm and closed down all attacks before they could develop, bad point for us on 83 minutes when goalkeeper Ross had to leave the field with concussion and will miss our last 2 games ,we outplayed and outshot them 10 to 3 for an emphatic win which lifts us off the bottom as Dunfermline take that place,well played Daniel.

2 to go and we will go down fighting. 

Cup win Cecil but going down is the message from Coach Cooper, after 2 frustrating draws in the league this weekend despite forking out 120k by paying for fans to attend and fill out our ground.    With 2 games left we still sit bottom, mathematically we could squeak into the last relegation playoffs spots but that would require too many scenarios I can't even be bothered to list!   Needless to say I think we should come straight back up as the team is good 

Okay, have to say today was a good one for us. Not so much our results but more ther results from other matches. We can't get automatic promotion, and are not even that fussed asbout a playoff game, BUT we did win sponsorship to be in the top 6 at then end of the season, and that looks good now (400k will guarantee we can buy in the 50CPs at the start of next season).

Today we went to Dunfermline and everything we hit went in. Never happened before and it wasn't that the Pars had a bad team out - we just enjoyed the sort of luck Steve never seems to get from Olmec for his beloved Alloa. The 6-1 helped our GD a lot, and then facing relegation threatened Forfar we were actually down to 9 men for the last 12 minutes (1 red card and 1 injury) and took the points with a late winner. Fortune favours the brave - we went from O to N for the last 9 minutes.

So, a good weekend for us, and unashamedly we at Easter Road wish East Fife all the best in the Cup Final on Wednesday v Hamilton. Nice for a 2nd division team to win the trophy especially as there is virtually no hope they can get into the top 6 for a playoff match for the 1st division.

Another bad weekend with Falkirk picking up just one point and falling further down towards the relegation zone. We started with a home game against Nairn County, two fairly even teams on paper. We got a good pasting four nil after being unable to beat man of the match Munro in the County goal. We followed this up with an away game at Stranraer. We played a ninety minute stall and came away with a point after the game finished goalless. We currently sit twelve going into the final four matches. Relegation beckons. 

We were up against Les's Hamilton ,a classy outfit from division 1who were having a good season, not like us who were sitting rock bottom of division 2 as our league form was poor,nothing like our cup run.

We opted for a 4-2-4 normal with a bit of aggression as we felt we had nothing to lose as we have accepted we will be relegated this season back to division 3,but we wanted to put on a show for our loyal fans,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and nothing to choose between the sides as both exchanged possession and had lots of the play,they got the breakthrough they wanted on 44 minutes when Harris slipped through and lobbed the onrushing keeper 0-1,half time came and subs on ,both sides pushed on and on 54 minutes Hale fired home to level it up 1-1,both sides then pushing on looking for the winner and on 68 minutes Harris fired home his 2nd from range 1-2,we had lots of the play during the game and outshot them 8 to 6 but came up against a classy side with a goalkeeper who was outstanding with 7 saves,well played Les and best of luck in the final.

Wednesday saw the Fifers contesting their second cup semi-final of the season.  The first, in the CECIL Cup, had resulted in a 0-7 aggregate thrashing by Saint Johnstone.  Now, in the SESL Cup, we faced (oh dear) Saint Johnstone once again.  But we were surprised to find the teams fairly evenly matched – less surprised to see our illustrious opponents take the lead after twelve minutes.  But we fought back, with two goals before half time – a header from Trevor Brooking and then an assist from him for Alan Trouten to half-volley home.

We were, to say the least, anxious as the clock ticked in the second half, but we held on and held on until, with ten minutes to go, Mikey Cunningham (pictured) sealed things for us with a very cool finish.

Go the Fifers!  We meet Hamilton in the final!

With just four league games remaining EDI face a serious uphill challenge to avoid automatic relegation.

First up this weekend is a home match versus mid-table PET and that is followed by an away trip to another mid-table team in GM.

If EDI can somehow manage a point from both games or even better...any win from the weekend games then escape will still be possible, a blank weekend would almost certinly condemn EDI to Division 3 for next season.

In team news...As to be expected at this time of the season, ELs are coming under severe pressure within the EDI squad but that is the same for most teams currently. Fingers crossed that the team avoid any serious injuries or suspensions.

Still all to play for but we are now drinking in the 'Last Chance Saloon'.

COYE

Another weekend, another loss, another win.

Saturday started with a visit to Arbroath and a sound thrashing.  Trevor Brooking actually gave us an early lead but after that Arbroath score five times without reply.  The shot count was pretty close but the difference was in the keepers’ abilities and Alan Fleming, SL12 and overdue retirement was simply not up to the job, saving only one of Arbroath’s six on-target shots.

Our home tie against Dunfermline was an exciting affair, with 20 on-target shots and the visitors defying the odds with eleven on target to our ten.  But Reece Beveridge (pictured) was on great form in goal for us, saving ten of their shots to win the MOM award.

So, we’ve shffled up one place to seventh, only two points behind Hibs.  We could make the playoffs from here, but we also have a semi-final to worry about – against Saint Johnstone, who beat us in the semi of the CECIL Cup earlier this season.  Not expecting, but hoping….

Getting close to the end now, and last Saturday we faced a side battling for survival and a side destined to return to the top tier. And we emerged with a 2-2 and 0-0 draws. We looked like hangibng on to a 2-1 lead against our derby opponents City, but a rash tackle in the box with 6 minutes left gave the referee 2 decisions - he sent off Cunningahm and City scored form the penalty.  But then we panicked about facing free scoring Arbroath, and ordered many more toilet rolls than usual. But the game fizzled out with neither team landing a shot against the respective keepers. Defences ruled (or it could be every forward had an off day. Either way we were pleased with that point. 4 matches left before the close season.......

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

On the road again, this time 35 miles to Stennymuir.
The reason for our trip was that prior to this match some rumours were spread that Declan McDaid would give his STARTING 11 debut!!!
So we instantly booked our tickets* and hit the road, to see the return of the legend - AND the goods were delivered, somehow.
McDaid showed up, near peak form, just the smallest hints of pot belly: a pillar of experience, a true defensive leader.

BUT then ...
McDaid did play full 90 mins - as sole FORWARD!?
Wasting McDaids sweeper talents as forward certainly marks a new level of stupidity!

HOW can anybody (calling himself football coach) be THIS dumb?
The result of this farce was never in doubt: 3-0 Stenny, neither shot nor save from the DEEs - and even McDaid looked like he wasn't even on the pitch!?

Please, finally, release us from this idiot, and ...
Sack this guy!

*After being sacked by the current management, we actually have to pay for them! Donations always welcome.

A good latest league session for EDI saw the team earn a point at home to HIB with a hard fought 2-2 draw versus our local rivals.

That result was bettered with a battling away victory over ROS which saw EDI win 1-2 somewhat against the run of play.

The 4 points that EDI managed to pick up this week still keeps hope alive for another week at least that EDI can still avoid relegation but to do that the club will have to continue to collect more points and attempt to scrape into one of the play-off positions at best. That may be a tall ask considering the other teams still battling to do the same as EDI.

So, just 4 games left and it is still uncertain whether EDI will start next season in Division 2 or Division 3 ?   Insiders at the club are still preparing for life in Division 3 at the start of next season but where there is hope....??

We started the weekend with an away game at Tapani's Greenock Morton, a real tough side to play against and a really useful goalkeeper who is hard to beat,they opted for a 4-4-2 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 opportunistic, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but and they opened the scoring on 33 minutes when a slick through ball to Litmanen saw him drill home his low shot 1-0,we pushed on and levelled things up on 39 minutes when some slick passing saw Hale free and fire home 1-1,half time came and subs on both sides pushing and on 59 minutes Brophy fired home 1-2,from then on we defended well and outshot them 7 to 3 for an invaluable 3 points,well played Tapani. 

Next we were at home to William's Edinburgh, a really good side with quality players all over the park,we opted for a 4-2-4 opportunistic as they went for a 4-4-2 normal ,game on and we started the quicker and an unmarked Brophy headed home on 12 minutes 1-0 and defended well till half time,subs on and back to it,76 minutes and a woeful backpass saw McAvennie race in and fire under the onrushing goalkeeper 1-1 and just when we thought a draw was the outcome right on 90 minutes McAvennie slipped through and drilled home 1-2,we edged the shot count 6 to 3 but failed to capitalise, well played William.

So a 3 point weekend still sees us propping up the table.

Looking forward we have the cup semi final in the week against Division 1 Hamilton, heres hoping we can play as well as we did in the quarters.

Falkirk won another league match with a three nil home victory over Dunfermline Athletic last weekend. With both teams on twenty one points and struggling it was a big win. Goals from Oliver 2 and Honeyman scoring for the Bairns. The second game was another relegation battle away to Forfar Athletic. This time the game didn't go our way and we lost three one, to remain eleventh but only four points separate five teams at the bottom. Six matches remaining. 

Hamilton squeezed into the semi's on penalties... which keeps their dreams alive of silverware this season. It was a fairly even match but the manager thought Accies deserved to progress.

Back to League action this weekend and, with one eye on the Cup, there is speculation that squad rotation could play a big part this weekend.

"We still want to finish as high as possible... and we don't want to be dragged in to the relegation battle so we certainly won't be easing up... but a cup final would be something special for the clubs fans to get excited about"

Well, it's been a groundhog day scenario at Hampden the last few weeks. Since taking on an understrength Elgin side three weeks ago the last three sessions have played out a very similar script. Each time our home game at the start of the weekend brings a healthy victory (4-0, 5-0, 4-0) that gets the home fans rocking and then each time we play too conservatively to get a result on the road (0-2, 1-3, 0-1). The end result is we are mid-table just as we were at the start of this stretch but didn't close the gap at all on the playoff places so that we are ruled out of that for the season. While that takes some of the impetus out of our remaining games we still have our sponsorship bonus to play for so we will push hard for that going forward. Three wins still needed out of 6 games so it's doable with the current pattern but it would be nice to wrap it up before the last weekend. This week the schedule mixes it up for us a bit and we have an away trip first to Annan before a home match against a Kilmarnock side that will desperately want a result at our place to make a push for the playoffs so I expect a tough game there.

We were up against Dave's almighty Hearts(a side and a manager we have always admired and taken his advice onboard),this season our league form has been abysmal but we have come to life in the cup,we look like we are doomed back to division 3 so a good cup run keeps us driving forwards.we opted for a 5-2-3 normal as they went for a 3-3-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we broke the deadlock on 18 minutes when after a set piece Burrington headed a ball back into the box and Brophy was there to smash the ball home 1-0 and things got better on 20 minutes when Cantwell after some slick passing raced in and slotted home 2-0,half time came and subs on ,they started the 2nd half quicker and pulled one back on 51 minutes when Cohen II fired home 2-1but on 60 minutes a deep cross into the box saw Hale at the back post power home his header 3-0 and sealed the game as we just edged the shot count 9 to 6,well played Dave ,still cant believe we have beaten the mighty Hearts.

The end of this season will also see the end of the EDI rebuild...

A rebuild that has seen wholesale changes, not only to the EDI squad but also to the overall approach to the management of the EDI club. Gone are the days of reckless spending and the buying of expensive players from the trade boards to fill gaps on the roster.

EDI adopted a youth programme that has seen an average of 3-4 apprentices per season promoted to the EDI squad and allowed to develop gradually. As a result, EDI have a very young squad and will continue to build in the same way but at a lower ratio for a season or two. The manager expects to add a 'Bosman' plus another 1-2 apprentices at the start of next season to continue  the current proccess but will try to allow the squad to mature somewhat over the course of the next few seasons.

As a consequence to all of the above, the manager and board, and of course the EDI supporters, will be hopeful af a considerable upturn in form and it is hoped that EDI will begin a new era for the club.

The decision to go into rebuild was always going to be a tough ride but hopefully the worst is almost over and EDI can look forward to better times ahead, starting next season.

The Fifers were delighted to notch up six points on Saturday.   Seems like a long time since that happened – it’s ten weeks, in fact.

Our first match was an away game against Greenock Morton, seven points above us, in the last playoff spot. Our hosts were somewhat below strength here, and we took full advantage.  We outshot them 17-0, scoring once in the first half and three times in the second, with a brace for Jacob Comerford (pictured).  With form like this we could yet make the playoffs.

Then came what looked like an easier game, at home to Edinburgh City.  They were looking for the draw, or maybe to steal a win with Opportunistic tactics.  We didn’t get many chances here, just four, and Edinburgh held us until the 83rd minute until Seb Ross knocked home a mis-kicked shot from Kieran Millar.

Six points means that we stay in 8th spot, but now only three points from a playoff spot.  It could just happen…

The Real Truth About The Dark Blues (since 2024)

Ho ho ho - The season of giving has come upon us. 
A bit early this year? Well, not when you look at the chocolate counters, and neither when ...

Match #41 vs ALO
Alloa made the surprising and unusual decision to play a serious squad vs HEA in the match before.
What was left at ALO allowed DEE to cruise to a relaxed 3-0 win. Thanks, Steve.
I almost pity HEA,though, that half of their matches end up this boring.

Match #42 at DUM
More of the usual: DUM's junk at HEA and T11 vs DEE, so only gifts to the Hearts, again. At least this time I can understand why.
The result were minor advantages for DUM at 1.7-1.3 xG, and a roughly correct 1-1 draw (in-match mainly due to DUM's supreme offside trap, catching 2 of 3).
As a note to Colin: yes, I clearly would have preferred Vaughan in goal. This would have turned DEE's 1.3 xG into much nicer 2.9

Four more points this weekend extends SRAs unbeaten run to ten games and pushes them further into the promotion spots. However, the lame nil-nil draw at home to Nairn County was frustrating to more supporters. Expecting an avalanche of chances the evils of the SESL match computer gave the Blues next to nothing. At the other end star Krawl Ruthtowner (GK 1/26) had to use all of his youthful skill to record a clean sheet. Better was the earlier 5-nil massacre of a second rate Airdrieonians. The last three matches have been clean sheets which means SRA get their much needed $400k sponsorship bonus. This may just be enough to push them over the $1500k minumum to buy next seasons resources. McCumiskey says that the away trip to Livingston will not be a stall and hope strategy. "We will take the game to them and prove that we have it within us to hold the promotion spot". Let see, but the home ficture against FAL is almost sold-out!

Another bad week for Falkirk. We started with a relegation six pointer at home against Edinburgh City. The game ended one apiece after we took an early lead only to concede halfway through the second half. We ha the better of it so maybe two points dropped. The second league match was away at Arbroath. We played stall expecting the worst but we gave a good performance but lost two one, to remain twelfth. Then our midweek SESL cup last 16 match with Ross County. Our chances had already been hampered with both defenders Hickey and Adams being unavailable for selection due to injury. We got off to an awful start conceding twice in the first eighteen minutes and that's the way it finished. No complaints we deserved to lose, so good luck to Ross in the quarterfinals. 

Another tough weekend  for Ross County. We started the weekend with an away game at Kevin's Airdrie (whose form has improved dramatically over the last few weeks) they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 5-4-1 normal (forced upon us with low e/l on lots of players after our cup game ),both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half,2nd half subs on and they upped their tempo and broke the deadlock on 53 minutes when Dunlop headed home 1-0,54 minutes and O'Connor drilled home 2-0,we were dumbfounded as we had no answers to this and O'Connor header home his 2nd on 71 minutes to seal the game 3-0 as they outplayed us for periods and outshot us 6 to 1,well played Kevin.

Next we were at home to Stephen's Peterhead, a really tough side to play against and even harder to get a result against, we opted for a 5-4-1 normal as they went for a 5-2-3 early ball, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 9 minutes when Gold hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and had some possession albeit in defence, half time came and subs on ,they slowly put the pressure on with constant attacks and Gold fired home his 2nd on 67 minutes 0-2 and Sneaky powered home his header on 80 minutes to seal the game 0-3 as we were outplayed and outshot 8 to 3 ,well played Stephen. 

So another pointless weekend and now we sit bottom, no surprise there,but we are in the last 8 of the cup this week up against Dave's mighty Hearts ,we are hoping for a miracle but will give it our best.

Two more league games and two more losses saw EDI drop back down to 15th position in the Division 2 table and with just 6 league games remaining in deep peril of relegation.

An injury to GK Peter Shilton turned out to be less serious than first thought but he will miss at least one game but hopefully no more than that. Otherwise the squad is on decent condition considering the late stage of the season and hopefully that will remain the case.

Coaching is now complete for this season and Training is almost done too.

That's the beauty of the game in that the random element means there is always a chance David will beat Goliath. All of us have had games we "should have won, or lost" and been surprised (or left fuming) at the result. 
Overall the better teams will win, but in your case Paul the sending off plus your subbing gave you an edge. (Guessing most other managers would have had you bowing out of the Cup last Wednesday, but here you are!! 👍😉)

Being done now as away in the morning for a week's holiday. Apologies if I am giving anything away.

Today we went to Peterhead and lost fair and square 2-0 - could have been more. We rested a couple but overall we wanted to be fit for the 2nd match. Home to Morton who were above us, we put out maybe our strongest team and I couldn't fault their play. We attacked and created 12 on targhet shots - shame Morton's keeper was on a bonus to keep a clean a sheet.

We eventually got through in the 71st minute to get a win that for 7 days puts us in 6th place. Not about the playoff spot, all to do with the sponsorship bonus I will miss if we don't end up in the top 6.

The way we are playing these days I am not sure we will make it (and certainly won't make it to the 1st division... :-(

That's the beauty of the game in that the random element means there is always a chance David will beat Goliath. All of us have had games we "should have won, or lost" and been surprised (or left fuming) at the result. 
Overall the better teams will win, but in your case Paul the sending off plus your subbing gave you an edge. (Guessing most other managers would have had you bowing out of the Cup last Wednesday, but here you are!! 👍😉)

The Fifers had a match against Arbroath in the  SESL Cup last 16 on Wedensday – a match which we didn’t approach with any great hopes of victory.  But the fickleness of SESL’s random number generator means that there is always hope.

Arbroath had the stronger lineup and duly took the lead in the 26th minute when Leighton McIntosh’s long range effort was too much for Reece Beveridge.  But one minute later, Alabama decided this was a boxing match and the Lichties were down to ten men.

Now we had a chance, and by half time it was all square after Alan Trouten had headed us level. 

At half time we brought on Trevor Brooking and hit a purple patch, hitting four goals without response.  Five goals, five different scorers, including Connor McManus (pictured).  A late consolation brought the score to 5-2 but this had been a remarkable win for us.  Now we face Dumbarton in the last eight….

Andy, I can appreciate the bad luck MOT has had with the 2 suspensions happening when they did.

But I reckon it only seems worse as it happened to your keeper prior to a cup tie - it could have been before a match against a lower placed opponent. 
I have a theory some players will upset the referee whatever condition they play and regardless how long they play for. In every season some of my lads have picked up cautions playing n when others get away with playing a, and I possibly play more lads on a than anybody.. That's the way I play - I accept the penalties (lower ELs and suspensions).

There has to be a random effect in the game as it is in real football - I'd hate to be able to work out the exact cautions etc I could expect, and when, and shots I could expect - that way surprises can always happen. And that's football. 
Pity it happened before your cup tie, Andy, but at least your keeper is now ready to face today's opponents.

1695 minutes, or just under 19 matches of playtime, is how long it took Motherwell's GK to accummulate 5 yellow cards, or 20 DP. A two match suspension that ended MOT's hope at a cup run, given that our SL34 GK turned into a SL13 GK for the key knockout match. What would we expect for a GK playing 19 matches at 'n'? Well, any given player can expect to get about 0.072 yellow cards per match. Or, in other words, they should expect to get a yellow card about once every 14 matches. So, after 19 matches an average player will be sitting around 4-8 DP, and not 20. Terrible luck!

Even more terrible? The same thing has happened to our second highest SL player, our SL33 WG! 22 DP for him in 1643 minutes. At least he has the excuse of getting a red card in the few minutes he has played aggressive (somewhere between 45-90 minutes in total at 'a'). Even so, the 3 additional yellows on top of that...has been really cruel to miss our top two players for a total of 6 matches worth of suspension.

With all this whining, MOT will admit that it hasn't mattered too, too much. This was always going to be an iffy season for Motherwell. However, it's pretty easy to imagine that we might have gotten one or two extra matches in the cups and a couple extra wins in the league without our disciplinary troubles. Those could end up making a big financial difference in the end!

Let's hope the boys have a good Saturday ahead. Can't afford another disappointing weekend without too many of them left.

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

WE ARE BAAAAACK !!!

You do remember us - you do LOVE us!
After being sacked, and denied the necessary club founding, we were desperately searching for other sources of income - SUCCESS-fully!
Our current donor prefers to stay anonymous for now. But believe us, would anyone who doesn't love our Dark Blues spend any cash on our zine!?

On to the news:
Two road games, two competent opponents, two losses for Dundee - nothing new.
Dundee is still in the relegation regions; div 2, we're coming - nothing new.
After the 0-4 visit at Clyde, the coach even spoke some gibberish about being "surprised at some numbers" in the HEA vs CLY match right before.
PLEEEEASE! 
Just get at least 100% of Dundee's skills on the pitch - any less is for losers.

We have also heard some very DISTURBING rumours from the club management, about "new roads" and "peer groups".
We can't say more at this point, but: be afraid, be very afraid!
More to come ...

Until then ...
Sack this guy!

Ross County's latest game was against Andy's Falkirk who were sitting well above us in the 2nd division (couldn't sit any lower than us as we were rock bottom),a quality looking side who on their day could give anyone a good game,they opted for a 5-2-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 normal but with lots of aggression (as league survival seems impossible so a decent cup run was all we could aim for),both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 14 minutes when Hale raced in and fired home 0-1 and Kelly drilled home on 18 minutes after some terrific dribbling 0-2 ,from then on we controlled the game and outplayed them for periods and outshot them 11 to 5,well played Andy.

If only we could perform like this in the league,next up in the cup the last 8 and we have drawn the mighty Hearts from division 1 a side we have always admired and now dread the thought of actually playing them ,they look awesome on paper.

The Fifers had a rather strange Saturday.

Our first match was a visit to Ross County, which David Blair described as “A rip snorter of a match”.  We had Alan Fleming in goal which always means we concede a bunch, and with Scott Shepherd resting, we weren’t optimistic about scoring many.  Things didn’t start too well, as Ross scored twice in the first four minutes and though we soon pulled one goal back Ross scored again to make it 3-1 with less than half an hour gone.  But then we suddenly clicked into gear with three further goals in the first half to lead 3-4 at the interval.   And the pattern continued in the second half, with Seb Ross (pictured) and Trevor Brooking completing hat-tricks to give us a convincing win, 3-6.  If I knew how that had happened, I’d do it again.

Our second match was a home tie against Peterhead where we again conceded early, a fin individual goal from Matt Sneaky in the 6th minute.  The prolific Scott Shepherd squared things up for us, but Peterhead were on fire and we soon found ourselves 1-3 down.  We pulled it back to 2-3 in the 32nd minute but that ended the scoring.  A disappointing result for us.

The end result is that we remain 8th in the table, 7 points off a play-off place.  It’s not impossible, but with only eight matches left, we have a lot to do….

Funny game SESL. Previous 2 weekends we have had 3 wins and a draw versus 4 pretty good teams.

Weekend past we olayed the 2 teams occupying 16th and 15th places. We didn't expect to santer through them but DID expect points in both games.

So, first punch in the gut came when we were played off the park by Airdrieonians by 3-1. We could and should have got at least a point but Olmec didn't like us on this occasion, and we had pretty much a full team.

Then we played hosts to Ross County, and were we pleased to see regular keeper Bursik between the pots. We scored from about our only 2 shots and he kept us in the game while we scored them. Losing a goal in the last couple of minutes was a due reward for County. So, 3 points from 6 aqnd that was fater tamely going ouit the SESL Cup last 32 to Motherwell by 4-1. Not surprisingly really as we intended to rectify a few ELs - even bringing in an old timer Stevie May from St Johnstone, to allow Youan to rest a bit.

So, an average weekend but we are still in the mix for a playoff place IF we can stop shipping points away...

SRA continued their improvement with another six point weekend. The introduction of expensive new signings Crewe Jickee (MA 5/28) and Queed Juntry (FW 5/24) have made the difference upfront. At home they made hardworking of what should have been a striaghtforward victory against DFA. Having gone 2-up, conceeding late on gave the crowd something to worry about. At FOR a much cleaner performance with MOT Ruthtowner saving 8 times following his return from suspension. At the other end Mondo, Dunerly and Carbon kept the goals flowing. Two home games next weekend and now that SRA are in the auto promotion spot expectations are high of good crowds and good performances.  

Let's start off with the bad news and last weekend's results for Falkirk. We started with an away game at Peterhead. Not our best performance, ended in a three nil defeat. It could have been a lot worse. Then we had a home match against Greenock Morton. A much better performance but we still lost three one and dropped down to twelve. We saved our week when we played our SESL last 32 cup tie with Stenhousemuir. We deservingly won one nil to make it into the last 16 and more importantly won our sponsorship deal. We will now play Ross County. 

A few thoughts and updates from the Press Office:

We might have a challenging end to the season, but if we perform well then this could stil be Stenny's best ever season. Players and staff have enjoyed this campaign for sure but theres a lot left to. 

The title is Clyde;'s right? Perhaps to early to offer congratulations, but its been a great season from Raymond. With strong results against Hearts and Stenny in the last couple of weeks really fending off any chance of a tight run in. 

We've never finished above 4th in the top flight and its certainly not guaranteed - its tight from 2nd with only a point or so splitting each team all the way down. But we can concentrate on the league now, having tumbled out of the cup, when really we should have done better. 

We havent played a 'Stall' season, but its not been goal scoring that has got us to 3rd so far, so its a good job we have 2 storng GKs on rotation. I think manay would suggest two strong GKs is a waste of resource, but it got us to Division 1 in the first place and its responsible for keeping un in division one this season (Strangely neither have good stats in the Golden Gloves table). 

I will be happy when we have enough points to be safe in Division 1 and attention will quickly need to turn to next season as the squad we have today will not be enough by a distance. If anyone has any players for sale, we are in the market for sure. 

We have secured Sponsorship payout, but our income has never felt enough :-)

A 1-1 draw away at FAL was as much as EDI could realistically hope for in the first match of the latest league session. That was followed by a 2-1 defeat away at CEL in a tight match.

Good signs overall for the future with all of the younger players doing their bit but simply not enough points to show for our endeavours as far as the relegation battle this season  is concerned.

Still eight games remaining but it is looking increasingly likely that EDI will have to start the road to recovery from the basement next season. 

Oh well...the only way is UP.

Two more tough matches this weekend.

We started with a home game against Paul's East Fife ,a classy side who are always hard to play against, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they opted for a 4-2-4 normal. 

We started the quicker and opened the scoring on 2 minutes when Cantwell raced in and rifled home 1-0 and on 4 minutes Law drilled home from the edge of the box 2-0 and a dream start,East Fife slowly played themselves back into the game and pulled one back on 13 minutes when Brooking hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 2-1 and on 28 minutes Turner picked up a loose ball and fired home 3-1,31 minutes and Brooking fired home his 2nd 3-2 ,39 minutes and all square as Ross slipped through and slotted home 3-3 and he fired home his 2nd on 40 minutes 3-4,we were glad to hear the half time whistle, how did we let them back into the game ??,subs on and back to it but they seemed to up their tempo and were winning every challenge and Brooking fired home for his hat trick on 49 minutes 3-5 and Ross sealed the deal with his hat trick completed on 68 minutes 3-6 as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 12 to 9,well played Paul,cracking game.

Next we travelled to David's Hibernian, always a tough play to play at and even harder to get a result,they opted for a 4-3-3 opportunistic as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession and they opened the scoring on 26 minutes when Bagan hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 1-0,half time soon came and subs on ,nothing to choose between the sides but on 72 minutes a quick break saw Fraser fire home 2-0,they changed tact to normal ,but on 80 minutes they changed tact back to opportunistic, we took advantage of this and on 80 minutes Loturi stuck out a leg and deflected the ball home 2-1, but all in vain as we could not find another way through the stubborn defence, even though we edged the shot count 5 to 4 ,Bursik in their goal was in outstanding form with 4 saves,well played David.

So another pointless weekend sees us drop to bottom of the table.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how well you plan a game and you have roughly equal shot chances (Raith "deserved" about half a shot more) you can't fight bad luck that gives them 8 chances and you only 2.

The Fifers had a last 32 SESL Cup match against Airdrieonians on Wednesday.  Just three hours earlier, my SFLSL club had lost a cup match on a penalty shootout…would history repeat itself?

On paper, this should have been a reasonably comfortable win for us, but Kevin Hull’s team had different ideas and they went into the lead after 17 minutes, a screamer from Bright Price.   Alan Trouten soon found an equaliser for us but before half tim, Airdrie were ahead again.  There were no half-time changes, and the second half was a quiet one, producing just one goal, an equaliser for us from the inevitable Scott Shepherd.

And so to the penalty shootout.  Would history repeat itself?  It looked like it when Jacob Comerford’s effort was saved but a couple of good saves from Reece Beveridge (pictured) gave Alan Trouten the chance to win it.  And he did!

Onwards!  Next up, Arbroath in the last 16….

Just ten  league games remaining in the current Division 2 league campaign but which division EDI will  play in next season is still far from being decided. Despite that uncertainty,  EDI insiders are now starting to suggest that the clubs complete rebuild is very much in its final stages. 

The manager has already decided on where the squad needs additions prior to the start of next season and what positions will be strengthened. The clubs finances have now been projected and the required funds will be available to the manager when the time comes.

In the last week, the club received two seperate trade offers that were both very appealing in different ways, however, the manager finally decided to resist the temptation and declined both deals and stick with the teams long-term plans.

Motherwell supporters have been through a lot this season. No wins for the first six matches. Early knockout from the CECIL Cup. Only 4 wins from the first 14 matches in the league. Not good! Supporters were wondering if MOT had turned the corner with two wins in the last two league fixtures before the break and 3 wins and 2 draws in the group stage for the SESL Cup. The timing worked out perfectly, even, with the ordering of the 8 good results leaving them one win away from 3 MVP awards on the bounce. Would the string of good results translate as the league resumed?

First up was an away trip to Stenhousemuir to secure that 3rd straight MVP. The early stages of this one were pretty wild. STE lined up with a couple aggressive players and a HB25, while MOT put out their T-11. Both sides had a strong SL34 GK in net, so the large number of chances would mean that whomever could convert better would likely win. MOT took the early lead, but by the 33rd minute it was STE who had stormed back with two goals of their own. MOT were able to blitz back into the lead early in the second half, with Ohannigain and Ray Wylie Hubbard both scoring by the 60th minute. MOT's stall would have to hold off STE's press from here, but it took only 7 minutes for STE to equalize. This is how it would stay until STE decided to go back to the press in the 70th minute. This time, with MOT playing E instead of S, MOT could quickly convert into the game winner, with Ohannigain scoring his second and the game ending 3-4. MOT will feel like they had some luck in this one, as it really could have ended up at any score. The win took MOT into 5th place and just two points back of 3rd.

However, from here it has unraveled. MOT lost the next match at home to RR by a score of 1-3, despite having 18 shots (16 on target), and 7 offsides on top of that. Even if it were a SL99 GK you might expect to score 2 off that (with the maximum of 90% save chance). But, alas, MOT couldn't get anything through in this one and lose rather painfully. The less said about that one the better.

Next up was a stall loss to Hearts at home. Disappointing for the supporters, but key for setting MOT up for the next matches and their cup tie to secure their sponsorship.

Finally in the league came an away trip to DEE. MOT put out a strong side and had a very slight shot % advantage in this one. Despite that, it was the home side who got all the shots in the first half, but Merle Haggard was up to the task of stopping all of them. In the second half, MOT finally got their first chance and were able to score - a nicely taken goal from DM Joe Ely. At the 60th minute MOT moved into a stall. But, alas, as DEE moved into a press they were immediately rewarded with two shots and a goal to even things up with only 10 minutes remaining. MOT would have to live with only being given one shot in total in this one as the score ended 1-1. Disappointing to throw away another lead!

Hamilton beat Dundee United to go through to the next round of the SESL Cup... but at what cost?

Young Oli Shaw had a fine game and lead the front line well in the absence of Accies two first choice strikers Moukoko and Harris. But his season is possibly over after being stretchered off late in the game.

Torn ligaments is the diagnosis with the medical team saying he'll likely be out for at least 8 games. Shaw was more upbeat and is insisting he'll be back and is looking forward to playing another game in the SESL Cup, hoping that Accies can go all the way and get winners medals in the competition.

Another good weekend for us after taking 6 points last weekend.

First game up was at home to Clydebank - a team above us and we were looking to keep in touch with the top 6.

We shared 4 goals first half and a tight game meant fewer shots on target but Yoyan hit through in the last minute to head in the winner. 
We then went away to East Fife - difficult opponents and we were getting short of ELs, and hoped for a backs to the wall draw.  In the end we deserved the point and although stay 7th we are hopeful of a top 6 finish. 
 

Today we played our SESL Cup tie against Motherwell. Playing lesser players including a new lad just arrived by taxi yesterday from St Johnstone, which allowed another forward to have a day off, we lost 4-1 but didn't receive a yellow card or injury, so consider the game worthwhile if not successful.

Now we have Wednesdays off and our next target is to make over 3,000k to be able to afford 50 CPs.

In a day of contrasting fortunes, Queen of the South faced off against both Ayr United and Cove Rangers in two intense battles. The first match at Palmerston Park saw a 0-0 stalemate between QOS and Ayr United, as both teams struggled to break through solid defensive lines. QOS deployed a 5-2-3 formation, matched by Ayr’s 5-3-2, leading to a tactical deadlock. Ayr’s Marco Rus and George Oakley came closest to scoring in the first half, but solid defensive work by Wee Clipe and a sharp save by QOS’s Adam Fearthainn kept the score level. VAR intervened late in the game when Oakley’s effort was ruled not to have crossed the line. Despite some second-half chances, neither side could find the breakthrough, leaving fans wondering what could have been.

Later, QOS took on Cove Rangers in a high-energy clash. QOS struck first in the 14th minute when Aaran Stramash capitalized on a loose ball from Peely Wally’s cross, giving them a 1-0 lead. Cove responded vigorously, and just after halftime, Distinctly Minty leveled the score by tapping in a fumble from QOS keeper Pat Bonner. A few minutes later, David Templeton’s header from a perfect cross by Humza Yousaf put Cove in front, 2-1. Tensions flared in the 80th minute when a rough challenge from Stramash sparked a melee, resulting in a red card for Templeton. Despite a last-ditch effort from QOS, Cove’s defense held strong to claim a 2-1 victory.

Both matches highlighted QOS’s defensive resolve but revealed a need for more attacking precision, as Ayr and Cove each took away their own results in two very different games.

Another Saturday came, with East Fife badly needing a good day to put them nearer to a  playoff spot.

We first played bottom club Airdrieonians at Excelsior Stadium, and were pleased to see them fielding a very weak lineup against,  Even an SL1 player in the starting lineup.  With six men in defence, they stalled, and were successful in so much as they restricted us to three shots in the match.  However, two of them snuck past their reserve keeper and we notched up a very comfortable, if dull, victory.  Goals from Jacob Comerford and Jack Healy (pictured).

Next we were at home to Hibernian in what was another pretty quiet match.  The visitors outshot us 3-4 but Reece Beveridge was in good form in our goal and the result was a 0-0 draw.

After that, we sit 8th in the table, six points off a playoff place.  With ten matches still to play, we have time, but it’s starting to get a little short.

Although I wasn't expecting much of this season I'm still disappointed with how things turned out and based on stats we are once again underperforming. 

Of course, I knew training up a goalkeeper for a higher placed team plays a part in all this, but the impact was greater than I thought it would be. 

MSA was always supposed to be the turning point as we have one of the youngest squads in div.3, but by the looks of it that extra TP slot delayed the progression of the team too much as we see older teams passing us by in the T11 stats. 

Oh well, there's always next season ;) 

The Real Truth About The Dark Blues (since 2024)

Match 35:
Visiting STJ is about as difficult as it gets. Thus, Dundee's 0-2 loss might come as no surprise.
However, the xGs 1.9-2.4 in DEE's favor make this just another annoying unnecessary loss.
At least Johnstone scored about correctly, Dundee did not (at all) - and the random minute 2 injury to star striker Caniggia certainly did not help.

Match 36:
Speaking of annoying ...
Our next opponent Motherwell played the Hearts in #35 just before (again) - and played them in the established manner: all out stall at 39%, at home.
Next MOT played fully rested 63% at Dundee.
The result was a completely balanced 0.9-0.8 xG and 1-1 draw. The DEEs were even lucky that MOT did get just 1 single shot (of 4 expected), since, of course, MOT's SSL 22 DF scored "just like Messi" (report quote).

I'm starting to understand, though, why everybody loves the Hearts. It's probably just the name and the logo: EVERYBODY loves a Heart.
Here at Dundee we do plan to adjust, more infos to follow.

Chief McCumiskey raised the promotion bar a notch by signing two experienced attacking players for the promotion run-in. Crewe Jickee (MA 5/28) has future club Captain written all over him. Signed for vitually nothing in the final auction of the season he will go straight into the matches against DFA and FOR. He will play in midfield but can shoot like Kane. Additionally, Queed Juntry (FW 5/24) out open to paper to replace the aging Ghertry. It now gives SRA much more attacking teeth where they have lacked goals this season. They can now head into the final 10 matches looking for that automatic promotion spot.

We started the weekend with a home game against Bill's Celtic, a formidable side who are always hard to play against, we opted for a 5-2-3 normal as they went for a 5-2-3 opportunistic, game on and nothing to choose between the sides in the 1st half as both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top, half time came and subs on ,both sides pushing on looking for that opening and on 56 minutes a deep cross saw Idah power home his header 0-1,try as we did we could not find a way through the stubborn defence and 2 shots each in a very close and even game,well played Bill.

Next we travelled to Lee's Clydebank, another really strong side, who are always hard to play against and even harder to take points off,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal and we matched that,game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession, alas but ours was more in defence, half time soon came and subs on,but we had kept their attack at bay for the 1st 45 minutes, 59 minutes and a rare attack from us and a loose ball was smashed home by Todd Cantwell, his 1st for the club 0-1,after this Clydebank seemed to up their tempo and on 75 minutes Millar fired home 1-1,from then on our defence was under constant pressure and Ross in our goal was in outstanding form with 4 saves keeping us in the game as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 7 to 2 but pick up a very valuable point, well played Lee.

With this point we remain in 15th place.

Last weekend Falkirk managed to pick up just one point from their two matches but it was expected due to having a very low squad energy levels. We lost two nil away against Hibernian after playing stall and conceding twice from only two shots on target. Then we played out an one all draw at home with Ross County foa a much needed point. At the moment we look like being relegated without even going though the playoffs. 

The latest league session for EDI bagan with a hard fought 0-0 draw awat at SRA. That was followed by disappointing but somewhat expected 3-0 home defeat to league leaders LIV. Those results leave EDI in 13th position in the Division Two table with 19 points. 

In all honsty, it is starting to look increasingly likely that EDI will suffer back-to-back relegations and find ourselves in Division 3 for the start of next season. There is still hope but sadly the inevitable is looming large now unless EDI can hit a prime run of form.

While another relegation would be a disappointment, it may also be a blessing in disguise as the manager still feels that another season of 'Rebuild would be no bad thing looking forward. However, the current feeling within the club is that EDI are now very close to  being able to show some serious improvement.

Whether that improvement begins in Division 2 or Division 3 remains to be seen.

Despite the manager having the full backing of the board, he has once again been reminded to keep a tight control of the clubs finances with a view to next and future seasons.

The manager reports that the Squad and players are all on schedule to reach hoped for levels that were set out at the beginning of the season and that age and player positions are where he wants them to be at this point.

It’s been a while since our last update here but it’s probably for the best since it’s all been sour news. After reaching a high of 8th with a 4-0 victory over Deveronvale after 12 matches we haven’t been able to find a winning goal in the league. We followed up that emphatic victory with 4 straight draws. Away draws are always a creditable result in this league but it brought our total number of home draws this season to 4 which is a lot of lost points for a team that was still in striking distance of a playoff place before the SESL group break. Since the league resumed we had our dreaded 2 away game week which ended up with two losses, the latter a tight 1-0 loss to PT which could have gone either way. That leaves us down in 11th looking up at a gaping 9 points to the playoffs. We’ll try to right the ship this weekend but we’ll have to overcome the league leaders Elgin City first which will be tough but they are facing an EL crisis at the moment and hopefully we can take advantage.

A good weekend for us, surprisingly so after we have been shipping points faster than Celtic losing goals v Borussia Dortmund..

WE faced a defensive Falkirk side and although they gave us the space on the park we only created 2 on target shots - fortunately both went in so 3 welcome points.

Faving Celtic at Parkhead we thought daunting so played our weaker keeper for 45 minutes and stalled. Half time we swopped keepers and he immediately stopped 4 shots. After the hour mark a tactics change and we scored 5 minutes later through O'Rourke. We ended the match still leading over (I guess) a shell shocked home side.

The wins put us outside the top 6, but even so am starting to think we are NOT good enough to get promotion (or wanting it if we face a playoff match). We enjoy the 2nd division and will likely drop below 7th once we face Clydebank at home and East Fife away on Saturday. There are some very well SL'd teams in this division.. :-(

After the SESL Cup group games, East Fife returned to league action on Saturday, starting with the visit of Celtic.  We played identical lineups - 4-2-4 with two wingers.  Celtic were rather stronger than us in defence, but we had the pull in midfield.  We struck first, midway through the first half, Seb Ross crossing for Scott Shepherd to head home.  But then Shepherd (pictured) disgraced himself, throwing a punch at Aaron Mooy and rightly receiving a red card.  So we played the second half with ten men.  We held our lead until 64 minutes had gone, but then the roof fell in and Celtic netted three times.  No points for us here, in a game we really needed to win to pull us into promotion contention.

Our second match was tougher, and away fixture with high-flying Clydebank.  They have a really solid looking team, outgunning us in all departments, but nevertheless we took the lead through yet another Scott Shepherd goal.  Happily, he is more prolific with his feet than with his fists.  Most of the time.  A great start but Clydebank scored twice late in the first half, and that concluded the scoring for the day.

So, two losses that see us sink to 9th in the table, closer to relegation than to promotion.  We seem to be yo-yoing between divisions 2 and 3.  Not at all what I was hoping for this season.

The Real Truth About The Dark Blues (since 2024)

NOW more truer truth, NOW more factual facts, NOW more boring ... *

Match #33 at Hamilton was a solid Dundee performance. 
The Accies showed up with clear deficits at keeper and shooters, thus the DEEs could easily grab 3 deserved points.
Gadzhalov did his job at a couple of SSL 20 attempts, our FW line scored 2 of 3 - the numbers worked.

Before match #34 home vs Rangers, we were actually slightly nervous.
In their match #33 they played a junk lineup vs Hearts - as seen all too often this season.
So far this always meant that the match following, vs DEE, was played at near T11 strength.
Imagine our surprise, when Glasgow rested again - so the result was a relaxed 4-0 win.

Just out of curiosity: Is Dave heading for a big birthday? Or what's the hidden reason for "Make Hearts great again"?
For now, I suggest to you all to just follow Dave's advice at "clever management": save your ELs and players when playing skilled teams, and pile up against weaker squads.
BTW: DEE's T11 and T17 after OTF are both higher than HEA's.
 

* You left me no choice. Apparently too many actually took DnD's crap seriously.

We started the weekend with a home game against John's Livingston, who were riding high up the table,we opted for a 5-2-3 normal as they went for a 3-4-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but they broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when Bishop fired home 0-1,half time soon came and subs on ,we started the 2nd half slowly and were punished on 52 minutes when some slick passing saw Nouble fired home 0-2,we managed to pull one back on 54 minutes when Hale drilled home 1-2 ,but could not find another way through as there defence stood firm in an even game of 5 shots each, well played John ,tidy side you have there.

Next we travelled to Andy's Falkirk, another really tough place to get a result against, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 longball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, they opened the scoring on 27 minutes when Johnstone fired home 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 39 minutes when Loturi fired home 1-1,2nd half and both defences stood firm and closed down all the attacks before they could develop, we were edged out in the shot count 4 to 3 but held out for the draw,well played Andy.

So a 1 point weekend and we sit 14th ,we need to start winning quickly before the gap widens too much for the safety we require. 

Falkirk still needed at least one more win from their last two group games to qualify for the knockout stages. We didn't start too well. We played Livingston in our fourth group game and got well beaten three nil to put pressure on our last match against Aberdeen. We needed to win to confirm our qualification. We made no mistake winning five nil, thanks to Aberdeen resting a few of their better players. Our reward a last thirty two game against Stenhousemuir. We are definitely up against it. 

A 2-2 away draw at FOR was followed by a 0-2 home defeat at the hands of NAI and just a single point from this weekends session. Those results leave EDI in 13th position and desperately hanging on the the teams above us in the table.

With two difficult games coming up next weekend, EDI will do well to come away with anything from either game.

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

FINAL Edition*

We were preparing our Cup edition of DEEs and Dat, when we received the note below ...

The management of Dundee FC thanks you for your service publishing DEEs and Dat as official Dundee FC football programme.
While the topics were sometimes controversial, we know your heart was in it. You really did try your best.
However, we have regretfully chosen to take a different approach with a more positive and constructive attitude.
Thus, you are released from your editorial duties with immediate effect.
All the best - and enjoy your early retirement.

So that is where DEEs and Dat should end. NO WAY!!!
We are actively checking out other sources of financing our journal.
And keep the faith, true believers: you have NOT heard the last of us.

Until then ... 
Sack this guy!

* as official Dundee FC publication

That was a cracking set of midweek games to finish the group sections.

We knew whatever we did we could still lose v Cowdenbeath as long as Celtic and Montrose didn't end in a draw. On checking that Montrose won relatively easy I went to see my game.

Got hit by a Blue Brazil blast that saw us 4-0 down by 32 minutes. Don't mind losing but the thought of losing a blowout fine is worse. We pulled one back but were 5-1 down at the half. Thankfully Beath subbed a couple of lads off realising the points were safe. Then we hit back and were at 4-5 down with a few minutes left. A goal each and we had lost 6-5. Great game for the spectators, both teams progress, and we scored 5 goals for the 1st time this season (and lost 6 for the 1st time too). 
Think we have Motherwell in the KOs - and the training us near complete now - 5 more games should do it.. 

Final two games and we needed points to qualify for the knockout stages. 

1st up and Daniel's Annan Athletic, a classy side with a good cup pedigree and very hard to beat,we opted for a 5-2-3 longball as they went for a 5-4-1 stall, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 21 minutes when Brophy came flying in with a diving header 1-0,27 minutes and Hale drilled home from range 2-0 and he fired home his 2nd on 33 minutes to seal the game 3-0 as we outplayed and outshot them 5 to 0,well played Daniel.

So last game and we were up against Tyron's East Stirling, another really good side with some quality players, we opted for a 4-2-4 longball as they went for a 5-2-3 normal, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 9 minutes when Brophy fired home 1-0,then defences stood firm till half time, 2nd half subs on and on 47 minutes our goalie could only parry a fierce shot onto the bar and Nurkovic was there to smash home the rebound 1-1,both sides pushed on looking for the winner and on 82 minutes Hale drilled home 2-1 in an even game of 5 shots each,well played Tyron.

So we won 3,lost 2 scored 7 conceded 6 amassed 9 points and finished 3rd in group and progress to the knockout stages. 

I was nervous about Wednesday's match against Nairn County.  We really needed a win to qualify for the knock-out stages of the SESL Cup.

Nairn had already qualified, and as expected, used the oppotunity to rest their key players.  So we faced a weakened lineup and stalling opponents.  Our cause wasn't helped when our sweeper, Scott Mercer (pictured), limped off after only 8 minutes and was replaced by our reserve keeper, Alan Fleming.  Did I really make that decision?  

Half time was approaching when we managed to find the net - a Trevor Brooking header - and when Connor MacManus doubled our lead in the second half, we were finally able to relax.

As it turned our, we finished second in the group which will mean a last-32 meeting with Airdie.  They are struggling in the league, so may make an extra effort in the cup.  We shall see...

That was a cracking set of midweek games to finish the group sections.

We knew whatever we did we could still lose v Cowdenbeath as long as Celtic and Montrose didn't end in a draw. On checking that Montrose won relatively easy I went to see my game.

Got hit by a Blue Brazil blast that saw us 4-0 down by 32 minutes. Don't mind losing but the thought of losing a blowout fine is worse. We pulled one back but were 5-1 down at the half. Thankfully Beath subbed a couple of lads off realising the points were safe. Then we hit back and were at 4-5 down with a few minutes left. A goal each and we had lost 6-5. Great game for the spectators, both teams progress, and we scored 5 goals for the 1st time this season (and lost 6 for the 1st time too). 
Think we have Motherwell in the KOs - and the training us near complete now - 5 more games should do it.. 

As expected, EDI were uncompetitive in a very tough Group A of the SESL Cup and duly finished bottom of the group. The manager was neither surprised or disappointed but is now focused on the remainder of the league campaign.

EDI currently sit in 13th position and in the relegation zone but the four teams just above EDI are only 2-3 points ahead and with 14 league games remaining ..all is still possible.

This weekends two games begin with an away visit to FOR and is then followed by a home game versus NAI. Both games could have a significent bearing on the rest of the season for EDI.

East Fife's yo-yo season has contiued in the SESL Cup where we have managed to record results of loss-win-loss-win.

On Saturday we played Hearts - always formidable opposition, though on this occasion we more than matched them in the outfield - but had our reserve keeper Alan Fleming, now well past his best, between the posts.  That proved to be our undoing.  Hearts banged in two first half goals and added a third with 25 minutes left to play.  We did fight back, with goals from Kieran Millar and Alan Trouten, but it was too little, too late, 3-2 to Hearts.

On Monday, Greenock Morton were the opposition, and again we looked the better team on paper, and were much more confident with Reece Beveridge in goal.  We took the lead shortly before half time - a superb finish from Scott Shepherd but Greenock levelled things up early in the second half.  There were nervous moments before Shepherd put us back in front and then settled things, completing his hat-trick in the 76th minute.  But our celebrations were muted by the sight of our star defender Jacob Comerford (pictured) being stretchered off just before the end.  He'll be out for a while, despite the attentions of our physios.

Will we qualify for the final stages?  We face Nairn County in the final group match.  A win will see us through for sure.  A loss may not be disastrous.  But it's a funny situation - Hearts and Nairn are qualified, Inverness are out.  Those three play the three teams contesting the last two qualification spots.  So they may all decide to rest their best players - or they may not.  Our fate is in their hands....

Motherwell went into today's match with PET knowing that a win would likely mean qualification while a draw or loss might put them needing something from their last match. The Motherwell manager considered throwing out a weak lineup and perhaps a 90 minute stall, but it seemed to make more sense to at least try for this match. Once some research on the opposition was done, it really made sense to try to target PET's youth GK for some early goals and then stall out the match from there. Since PET had consistently played their 0/x GK in the first half of each cup match and then subbed in their stronger GK for the second half, MOT decided on an aggressive 'n' lineup for the first half followed by a full 's' with the backup goalkeeper in the second half.

The plan worked out quite well today. After 32 minutes and 5 shots taken, MOT were up 4-0 and able to make their halftime subs comfortably. Their backup GK would only need to face one shot in the second half, and MOT were able to move on to the next round of the cup while giving themselves a match to rest up some of their starters before the league restarts. 4-0 gave MOT a chance to get OHannigain out for a captain's bonus. 3 bonuses over halfway through the season is far behind the usualy pace we would want for training up our captain, but not much we can do at this point. Motherwell through to the last 32 of the cup, and now they can look forward to pushing in what is certainly going to be a tough second half of the league schedule.

Andy just beat me to the Blog with his take - he must move fast...

SESL CUP REVIEW (after 4 games)

Thought I would just give my 2p worth on how the groups are looking to me..

Group A  Stennie and Dumbarton certainly through, along with Rangers whatever they do  v Edinburgh City. Queens Park play Alloa Athletic and the Wasps MUST win to qualify – anything else and the Spiders go through, with City already out..     

Group B Hearts and Nairn County qualify now, but Morton in 5th place could also go through if they win v Inverness (no goals and no points) and  East Fife (v Nairn) and Albion Rovers (v Hearts) fail to take a point from their last matches. My bet would be on Hearts, Nairn County, East Fife and Morton to pip Albion Rovers.

Group C St Johnstone, Arbroath, Brechin City and Hamilton Accies look good for the last 32 – only if Stranraer put goals in v Dundee (who are eliminated) in their last match can they realistically hope to send Accies out. The smart money is on the first 4 I named.

Group D – my group – Cowdenbeath and Elgin City through now, intriguing game is Celtic v Montrose – a draw could put both through and Hibs out if the latter doesn’t at least draw v Beath, but a win for either team saves Hibs and drops the loser out. Optimistically I am going for the first 2 named plus Celtic and Hibs.. Berwick are already out

Group E Motherwell, Annan Athletic are through and the game to watch is Ross County v East Stirlingshire. As Killie and Peterhead (5th and 6th) are playing each other, a win for either will put them through at the expense of EST if they lose or draw. My money is on the first 2 named plus County and Kilmarnock.

Group F Clyde and Fraserburgh can play reserves as they are through well. With Dundee United playing Stirling and Forfar playing Queen of the South, any winners from these 2 games will qualify, draws favour DUU and either Forfar or Stirling.  I go for the first 2 named plus Forfar and Stirling.

Group G Dunfermline Athletic and Deveronvale are through. But Clydebank in last place can qualify if they beat St Mirren by 2 goals and either Partick don’t get a point v Deveronvale or Airdrieonians don’t draw or beat the Pars. Very watchable section for the goals here on Wednesday My money is on the initial 2 clubs plus St Mirren and Airdrieonians.

Group H Cove Rangers and Livingston are already through, and Aberdeen are definitely out. It is Falkirk v Aberdeen (3 home points?) and Raith Rovers v Ayr United. If the former happens then the loser of the Rovers game goes out – and if it is a draw it will be Ayr who goes home. BUT if Falkirk only draw v the Dons then they will go out.

Only my initial take, and certainly none of this is personal – please don’t shoot the messenger.

Wednesday will decide all!! 😊                                        

Falkirk started the group games with a match against Cove Rangers. Two evenly balanced teams but the game didn't pan out that way. We created more chances but their keeper saved all five at their goal, whilst Gunn let in all three at his and we got underway with a three nil defeat. The second game was with Raith Rovers. We dominated the match but had to wait until the second half before scoring twice. A two nil win but it should have been more. The third game was against Ayr United. Again we had the better of it, had load of chances. Conceded from their only shot on target and came out with a point after the match ended one apiece. The worst news was an injury to Gemmell -30 who will be a big miss. 

Cup game no 3 and we were up against David's Kilmarnock, a quality looking side with some classy players ,we opted for a 4-3-3 longball as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, although most of ours was in defence, 42 minutes and they broke the deadlock when Armstrong fired home 0-1,half time came and subs on ,they started the 2nd half the quicker and Smith slotted home on 52 minutes 0-2 and they sealed the game on 74 minutes when Reilly raced onto a through ball and fired home 0-3 as they outplayed and outshot us 8 to 3,well played David.

So with 2 games left we face an uphill struggle to qualify as we need points from both.

It has been a long few seasons since EDI went into rebuild but finally today...EDI signed a statement player in FW Clyde Best in the latest auction.

FW Clybe Best is a Burmudianby birth but due to the vageries of SESL was required to be registered from Trinidad and Tobago as per international laws(FIFA).

FW Clyde Best is welcomed aboard and his future will be avidly watched by both the manager and all supporters.

Not a great weekend for Falkirk losing both games. We started with an away match at leaders Clydebank. We expected the worst so played stall hoping for the best. It didn't work and we conceded four times from all four shots on target. We then had a home game against East Fife. We played a decent lineup and created more chances but not on target. East Fife converted twice to win two nil. We dropped down to twelve position. 

A mixed bag iof results in the SESL Cup group matches.

We had a fotunate 2-2 draw with Montrose and could have lost even that point. The opponents were certainly up for it. Then we faced Celtic and drew 2-2 again, but if I hadn't messed up (again) the rule that says an age 0 player can't play out of position, who know if we might have won - as it was we had a defender between the post for a part of the 2nd half.  Strewth!!

Saturday there we gained a little daylight between us and 3 teams in the group. All we want is to qualify (and get an extra training slot) and leave likely leave the competition. Us winning the SESL Cup? Bit like looking for Blackpool to repeat their 1953 Cup Final win....

We started the cup campaign with a game against Stephen's Peterhead, a side from our own division division who we met earlier in the season and managed to take points off,we hoped for the same,they opted for a 5-2-3 opportunistic as we went for a 4-2-4 longball, game on and nothing to choose between the sides as both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top right up until 44 minutes when Hale rifled home from range 0-1,half time came and subs on ,defences again on top,Peterhead changed tact to early ball on 75 minutes to try and get back in the game but the defence stood firm in an even game of 5 shots each,well played Stephen. 

Next we met Andrew's division 1 powerhouse of a side Motherwell, a quality side with some real class players ,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 longball, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 9 minutes when Ross in our goal could only parry a shot and Gilmore was there to fire home the loose ball 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 26 minutes when Brophy fired home 1-1,constant pressure and us lacking any possession for long periods saw them go ahead on 35 minutes when Hubbard slotted home 2-1,half time soon came and subs on ,2nd half and both defences stood firm as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 6 to 3 ,well played Andrew.

Catching up here after a week in Canada.  It was hot!

Last Saturday was mixed.  We lost to Livingston at home, but magabed to beat Falkirk away, to complete a double over them.  Losing to Livingston was disappointing, especially losing 1-4, and that after we'd taken the lead after nine minutes.  On the other handm things rather went our way against Falkirk, where a goal in each half bagged us all the points.  We are now lying 8th in the table, still with a chance of promotion (or relegation) depending on how we fare in the second half of the season.

The SESL Cup games on Wednesday were also mixed.  We lost to Albion Rovers but then beat Inverness.  Both scorelines were 1-0, both results might have been different.  WIth no team managing two wins this is a very tight group.  We could qualify, we could fail, depending on how we fare in the last three matches.

It feels like the season is hanging in the balance.....  

The first two SESL Cup group games for EDI produced two straight forward losses, firstly a 1-3 defeat against QP and shortly afterwards a 0-2 loss to ALO. With the remaining 3 group matches all versus Division One teams it is safe to say that there will be no Cup run again this season.

That may turn out to be a blessing in disguise if EDI are to avoid relegation to Division three. The manager has stated that his priority will now be focused on coaching and getting the squad in the best shape possible for the remaining league games. 

In general, the club are now close to being in a position to show some significent improvement hopefully beginning next season and it is more a question of which Division EDI will find themselves at the start of that season.

After a good start to the season the rebuilding of the squad is starting to have an effect on the team and the results. This was expected as the team rebuilding is not a easy thing to do. The younger players need to be given playing time to improve and this means playing a weaker team.

This weekend saw the team playing away in both there league games and at the press conference held before the games the manager said it was going to be a difficult weekend. He was right as the team lost both matches and never really looked in either of the games. First up was a trip to queen of the Soyth were the team were soundly beaten 3-0. This was followed by a trip to Stirling which ended in a 2-0 defeat. This means the team have only taken 1 point from the last 4 matches. The fans will hope for some improvement after the mid season break.

The team now move on to the mid season SESL Cup and the first two matches saw an improvementb in results as all teams look to bloody there younger players without the cost to there league position. St Mirren took on Patrick Thistle and Dumfermilne Athletic in there first two games and managed to get 4 points with a draw and a win. The manager was happy but again warned against the fans getting to hopeful as he will be using these games to bloody the younger players in hope for a better second half of the league campaign.

Motherwell have much to look forward to in the second half of season 57 after a fairly disappoiting first half.

1. Motherwell finished strong after their worst start to a season during manager Foss-Grant's reign. A MVP in the last 3 league matches (DWW) and a 4-1-2 record in the last 7 is a pretty reasonable return that has propelled the Well into 6th place. Very respectable league position after a truly horrid start. A close win away to DUM and a convincing home win vs INV were just what the doctor ordered for MOT.
2. MOT have picked up max points to kick off the SESL cup group. Tight wins over KIL and ROS mean that MOT are now 6 points ahead of 5th place in their group after 2 matches. The win over a resting KIL with their backup backup GK in after 10 minutes perhaps could have been bigger, but we'll take any points there. Beating ROS in what could have easily been a draw also feels nice. Decisions will have to be made about resting vs EST or going all out and trying to secure the next round as early as possible.
3. Youth - MOT are well set up to add one more youth player and keep themselves in good shape for a strong lineup going into next season. This season has been a rebuilding year, and hopefully we can make it just be one rebuilding year in total.
4. Resources - 19 CP left at this point feels pretty good! We'll see how many we sell and whether or not we want to spend them quickly or just slowly add to our team as the season progresses to save up cash for next season.

We do have some issues at the moment, but here's hoping that we can sign a youth DF or GK to round out the squad and get ourselves a good cup run + decent league finish in the second half.

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

Extra Edition: 
DEEs and Dats saves Dundee FC

The legends are fleeing the sinking ship.
No less than FIVE Dundee greats (NOT rats!) share our view on the current state of DEE - and voted with their feet, retiring immediately.
We feel you, BUT we also do care deeply for our team.

So we have moved heaven and earth to give our squad a small, but fighting chance.
AND we SUCCEEDED!!!

Declan McDaid, DEE's most experienced AND best sweeper, has been convinced NOT to retire - thanks to DEEs and Dats!!!
We all know, how important the sweeper spot is, especially for a bottom dweller like DEE.
And thanks to US, we STILL have just the right guy: McDaid.

Now if only we knew how we could get McDaid some minutes on the pitch.
It would surely help to get a COMPETENT coach and ...

Sack this guy!

Falkirk had a good week for a change picking up a valuable four points. We started with a goalless draw away to Airdrieonians FC, maybe if we had went for it a bit more we could have pinched all three points. We then played Celtic at home and won a very close game, converting our only shot at goal to win one nil. We moved up to tenth position, about as good as we can expect. 

We started the weekend with an away game at Richard's Nairn County,a really tough side to play against,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 5-2-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, albeit ours was in defence, 21 minutes and the game changing moment when Salah saw red as fisticuffs broke out in the centre circle ,so a quick reshuffle  and back to the game in hand ,half time soon came and subs on ,2nd half and we were under constant pressure as attack after attack was reigning in,our defence was standing firm but right on 90 minutes Robertson fired home 1-0 as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 0,well played Richard. 

Next we travelled to Andrew's Stranraer, a quality side,who had class players throughout the side,they opted for a 5-2-3 normal as we went for a 5-2-3 normal, we got off to the worst possible start as Ghench fired home in the 1st minute 1-0,23 minutes and Verity headed home 2-0 and Ghench fired home his 2nd on 38 minutes 3-0 as we had no answer to their attacks,half time came and subs on ,we pushed on but could not retain any possession for any length of time, 65 minutes and frustration boiled over as Salah with a bad tackle saw red for the 2nd game running and will be on the sidelines for a few weeks,we defended better in the 2nd half but were outplayed and outshot 10 to 1,well played Andrew.

So a pointless weekend sees us drop to 14th.

Another mixed bag in the latest league session saw EDI suffer a heavy 0-4 drfeat away at ARB followed by a much needed 4-0 home win versus DFA. Those thre points saw EDI claw themselves up to 13th position but still very firmly in the relegation battle.

Later today we shall see the dreaded MSA  and then it is a break from league competition for a while as the SESL Cup group games take precedent. EDI find themselves in Group A that includes 4x Division 1 teams namely ALO, DUM, RAN and STE plus QP from Division 3, not exactly the Cup draw that EDI were hoping for lol.

The manager would not be drawn on his approach to those 5 games, saying only 'Tough draw, oh well.'

With the second then first placed teams to play at the weekend, and a lot of players below EL 6 it was a difficult decision on how to go about things. In the end I decided to go all out against Fraserburgh as they usually play early cross (though not against us) with their big front four. Taylor made for marking. We were all over them with 12 shots but Stegen was in excellent form. We were fortunate enough to score one goal (Ihoped for more with all those shots) and managed to keep both their shots out. A much needed three points.

Against Clyde I couldn't even put out a team that wouldn't have one player going below 0 EL but I was able to put out a 50% line-up. The 5-0 loss keeps us in 11th place (up one on the day) and we're only 3 points off 8th.

Next up the dreaded ag(e)ing and the SESL Cup where I expect we'll be getting CP back into the players in the first couple of games.

Another drab weekend for us - some players needing a wee rest and the manager going off on holiday didn't help last weekend. Thought it might get better today but nope - we got as much as we could get.

The 2nd division has some really good teams in it, so already we have given up on a top 4 spot - our best bet is a playoff place which won't happen until we start getting 3 points in a match (3 draws in 4 games plus a loss is not good).

Today we scored in the last minute to get a 2-2 home draw v Stranraer and then we rested a couple of lads as we faced Livingston, who actually WANT to go back to the 1st division. We weren't looking to stop them and the 3-0 loss was about right.

Now we have the SESL Cup to contend with - we expect enough points to qualify, but likely it will be in 4th place and not higher, although we will try to get higher.

MSA will hit us, like everybody else, but we have been getting a 2nd keeper trained up and tomorrow he will be transferred to us, with our 2nd keeper going the other way.

The goal is now NOT to drop to a relegation spot although 3rd division football is actually more preferable to 1st division  :-)

A cup won.    First time for everything, a 5-1 win over St Johnstone and the boss in the final got lucky going all dirty except the goalie.    Apart from occasionally winning lower division titals this was big for us.   So much that we recommence the league season sat in last place.   League will definitely take prescendence this second part of the season over another cup run.   Can't end up back in Div 3 with that other team!

East Fife's league season has not got off to a particularly good start but Saturday was one of our better days.

Our first match was a home fixture against Nairn County when, having rested some key players in midweek, we were able to field a very strong eleven.  Nairn defended well and didn't concede many chances, but they had their reserve keeper in goal and that meant that we were able to convert three of our five shots into goals, Seb Ross scoring two and Pat Slattery one.  It was a comfortable enough win, and a captain's bonus for Iain Vigurs.

Our second match was against Stranraer at Stair Park, with the Blues hosts hoping for three points to close the gap on the leaders.  But there was really nothing to choose between the teams we started the stronger, taking a two-goal lead as half time approached.  But this lead rather flattered us and a lovely Burton Verity volley brought it back to 1-2 at the interval.  The second half continued to be an even contest, and it was fitting that Stranraer scored again before the end to bring this one to a 2-2 draw, Scott Shepherd and Iain Vigurs our scorers.

These results pull us up a little, to 9th in the table and we are hoping to improve on that in the second half of the season.

Well the weekend that the St Mirren manager has warned the fans would happen came at the weekend when they only took 1 point out of the six they could have gained. A big 3-0 lose away to Cove Rangers was followed with a 1-1 draw at home to east Stirlingshire.

The manger had said it would get tougher for the team as they blooded the new younger players as it was to be for rookie keeper Nigel Spink in the first half of this match. He let in 2 goals but it is what we need to do said White after the match. We are a squad which consists of 7 young players and they need to play to get better and the results may suffer whilst we do this. But in the long term we will end up with a better team for doing it.

The home draw was a bit more disappointing for the manager as he played more of his higher rated players but for some reason they just had a off day. They need to reset and be ready to go again at the weekend. The club hjave said they would hope to end the season mid table this year before making a push next year.

Just back and catching up on the team's "average season". Thinking I'd better prepare for another season of 2nd division football - a pleasure actually as the lot I have at the moment can not get a momentum going, so little chance of staying up, if we were to go up.

Played 2 away matches last weekend and despite scoring in 2 minutes at Forfar, we got creamed 3-1. So it didn't look good for the away game at higher up Nairm County. But we surprised ourselves and held on for a slim 2-1 win.

This weekend is the last before the SESL Cup matches - a break from the run of the mill league fare - and we would hope to gain enough points to qualify for the last 32 and pick the round we wish to just turn up, eat the pies, train a little, and look forward to the next league match.(Really thought we were top 4 material, but results indicate otherwise...).

The last two league games before MSA look very difficult on paper and will almost certainly be so in reality. First up is an away game v. ARB who currently sit in 4th place in the league table. The second match is a home game v. 8th placed DFA. With EDI currently sitting in 14th position in the table i would be delighted if the team can take anything more than a single point from the two games combined.

To make matters even more difficult, FW Frank McAvennie is suspended for the first of the two games.

Wednesday sees the draw for the SESL Cup groupings and if EDI are to have any chance of progressing into the knockout stages then the draw will most certainly need to be a kind one for EDI.

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

DEE's trophy hopes CRUSHED

It's not the championship - and certainly no cup either, it's Dundee under the current management, you know.

BUT just one week ago Dundee FC had a great triple lead in div 1's SHOOTING SQUID table.
Our MFers were just unbeatable at getting shots AND missing shots.
Even our team captain Robertson was a solid top 10 contender.

NOW:
They surely continue missing the goal consistently, but Adam, McGowan AND Robertson have suddenly scored ONCE, each.
One goal, however, is one goal too much for this important trophy.
Our only hopes now lie on Mulligan - may you continue your great shooting form. We expect him to score his only goal at match day #30, though.

So, most likely NO trophy this season - again,
so just ...

Sack this guy!

A bad start to the season keeps getting worse for MOT. The Well are still yet to put together two wins in a row, and each weekend seems to bring a fresh disappointment. After a deserved 1-0 loss away to leaders CLY, where MOT tried to stall out a draw, it was a home match against ALO up next. After losing to them twice last season, it was fairly clear that our front line, especially the wingers, were going to be marked quite tightly in this one. Finding the right balance of aggression to fight that tactic and not getting too risky was going to be key. With the heavy marking, our shot % was still fairly reasonable in the first half, but neither side could find a breakthrough. So, for the second half MOT sent out both WGs and both FWs as 'a' to fight the marking. This worked quite well, leading to a quick goal. From there, however, we had some options. Stall out the match with the lead? Keep pressing for a second? Take the players back to 'n'? We didn't have enough rows on the order page to do any combination of tactics, so we aimed for our more typical stall and hoped that we would be able to make it by without going back to 'n'. Unfortunately, the ref had another idea and gave us a red and PK to defend in the 85th minute, so the final ended up 1-1. On to the next week, and we'll hope to do better in the second half of the season.

Last weekend Falkirk started with a home game against Stranraer, who were going well in fifth position. We put out a strong side knowing winning our home matches is key to staying up. A very close game was decided by a single Johnstone on 57 minutes, to give Falkirk all three points. Gunn in our goal was awarded the man of the match award. The second game was away at second placed Livingston. It didn't go too well. Lang got himself sent off on 20 minutes and then Miller on 47 minutes who also gave away a penalty, which was converted. With nine men on the pitch we then conceded two more to lose three nil. We dropped down to eleventh. Winger Morrison was signed to give our squad more depth. 

In the latest league session...

EDI started with a 0-2 home loss to a very good GM side. In the second game, EDI managed to take all 3 points with a good 2-0 home win against fellow strugglers AI.

EDI still sit firmly in the relegation zone but there are signs of life and some small improvement from the team now.

Another two league games upcoming and then it will be MSA and that will determine the remainder of the season in terms of whether EDI can possibly survive in division two.

So with the aim to not finish last this year, we find ourselves 2nd in the league after another good weekend for QoS

In the first match of the session, we achieved a win over Dundee United by two goals. 
Aaran Stramash started the scoring early for QOS in the 5th minute, but Dundee United’s Declan Glass equalized with a calm finish in the 15th minute. Peely Wally brought QOS ahead again at 26 minutes, yet Glass, with a fine header, drew the match level just before halftime.

After the pause, Queen of the South took better control. Stramash scored his second in the 50th minute, and No Salad extended the lead to 4-2 shortly after. Dundee United tried to come back, but they found it difficult to create clear chances, even having a goal disallowed for offside.

Paolo Maldini's strong defending played a big role in keeping Dundee at bay. Queen of the South showed more strength in the second half and took deserved victory. 

Final score: Dundee Utd 2-4 QOS.

The 2nd match of the session was against Montrose. 

We took a narrow 2-1 victory over Montrose in a lively match. Paolo Maldini opened the score with a beautiful half-volley in the 19th minute, giving QOS an early lead. Montrose responded quickly, with Danilo equalizing at 26 minutes after a sliced shot from Cooper found him free in the box.

After the break, Aaran Stramash put QOS back in front in the 47th minute with a calm finish past S. Klos. Montrose pushed hard for a second equalizer, but Pat Bonner was in fine form, making crucial saves, including a deflection from Sven Goran's attempt. Late in the game, Bosman Again came close to scoring, but after rounding Bonner, he somehow missed the target.

Despite Montrose’s efforts, QOS held firm, switching to a more defensive style and seeing out the match for the win.

Final score: QOS 2 - Montrose 1.

We started the weekend with an away game at Daniel's Dunfermline, always a tough place to get a result,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 5-3-2 stall hoping to pinch a cheeky point, game on and our defence stood firm and closed down all attacks in the 1st half,2nd half subs on and more of the same ,not exciting for the fans but in this league every point counts,our defence stood firm again and were not going to be broken as we held out and even managed a shot on target as it ended goalless 0-0,points shared, well played Daniel.

Next we were at home to Willy's Forfar who like us were struggling at the bottom end  of the table,we opted for a 4-2-4 longball as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball,both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 25 minutes when Loturi slipped through and slotted home 1-0,37 minutes and Hale fired home 2-0 and he drilled home his 2nd on 39 minutes 3-0 in a very enjoyable 1st half,2nd half subs on ,Forfar started the quicker and pulled one back on 52 minutes when Skelly fired home ,62 minutes and Hale powered home his header for his hat trick 4-1 and Law sealed the game on 85 minutes as he raced in and fired home 5-1,90 minutes and Hutchinson was red carded as Forfar ended with 10 men,we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 9 to 4,well played Willy.

So a 4 point weekend sees us climb up to 13th.

The Fifers' CECIL Cup semi-final encounter with Saint Johnstone can only be described as a fiasco as we went down 0-7 on aggregate.

The damage was done on Monday, when we found ourselves 0-2 down at half time, and this the home leg.  We made things worse by bringing on our start forward, Scott Shepherd, in defence rather than up front, though at least this limited the second half damage to one goal.  

Down 0-3, we decided to give this one up and rest key players for the league matches on Saturday.  Saint Johnstone duly strolled to a 4-0 win.  Good luck to them in the final, against Albion Rovers on Wednesday.

With four games remaining before MSA, EDI sit in 13th position in the Division 2 table and very much in a relegation battle. Recent form has been encouraging but more still needs to be seen.

Despite 3 of those 4 games being at home, the quality of the opposition suggests that EDI will do well to take more than 3 points on current form and that will surely leave EDI with a mountain to climb in the second half of the season just to survive.

In other news....The manager is now satisfied that all business has been successfully concluded for EDI this term and the team will be in a strong position financially for the start of next season regardless of which Division that may be in.

Two wins, two losses, two wins, two losses.  That had been the pattern of East Fife's league form until, two weekends ago we lost a match we were due to win.

But normal servie was resumed on Saturday when we lost both our games.

We started with a visit to Dunfermline and a very evenly matched match.  We actually outscored our hosts, but they went ahead just before half time, and added a second after 63 minutes.  Alan Trouten managed a late consolation for us but we missed out here, 2-1.

Then we teleported to Forfar for a match where we were decidedly the better team.  The shot count was 11-7, on target 11-3, but Forfar's keeper starred to keep a clean sheet and Forfar snatched a winner with five minutes left after a defensive slip by Pat Slattery (pictured)

So, we find ourselves hovering just above the play-off places.  We had hopes that we'd be challenging for promotion.  Ha ha.....

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

Dundee stays LAST.

Dundee stays LAST.

Some of you might think that calling our coach "moderately" competent may be exaggerated.
Sorry guys, it's not!

Match 20 vs Stenhousemuir:
Good coaches just inspire confidence. STE just needed ONE shot by a mediocre MFer to claim 3 well deserved points.
Dundee's FOUR top MF combined had TWENTYFIVE shots all season without scoring ONCE. The top 3 in the Shooting Squid ranking were all Dundee.
Maybe some shooting practice might help!?

Match 21 at Raith:
Clever rotation management at Raith gave some reserves a shot vs Hearts - and it did show how far a little trust can go.
While their numbers might have seemed low, their spirits were high enough to get a draw - that's pure coaching skill.
Their top squad showed up at home - and once more the motivational power of a skilled coach was proven.
RR's first 5 shots found the net 4 times. THAT's efficiency, that's quality, ...
At Dundee some of our squad legends, like FW Billy Dodds, are completely ignored. There are even rumours that Dodds and others will be forced to retire soon.
No wonder the team spirits are near or below zero.

Just ...

Sack this guy!

St Mirren extended there unbeaten streak to 6 games with a draw and a win at the weekend. They gain a point in a very boring 0-0 draw at devondale were St Mirren did not even manage a single shot on goal before gaining a home win over Ayr. This means the team has gained 14 points out of the 18 available in these games.

The manager said at his press conference that the club maybe not playing the most attacking football but this season is all about rebuilding and result like these are showing that they are moving in the right direction. He also stated that fans must aware that the clubs form could just as easily go the other way as new players are brought  into the squad. He make this point even more the club sold there backup GK so they could bring in a youngest to train up. The manager said this policy will make it hard for the club to continue to get good results but was necessary to allow the team to improve.

Wow - after a terrible run of luck mixed in with thown games it was looking like we'd never win again and then this weekend happened.

Ball Control didn't seem to be working and Hamilton had played O and C and I thought they could stall as well with some low ELs. So I decided to try Early Cross despite not having any wingers. In the end Hamilton played a 3-5-2 N, perhaps expecting Ball Control and packing the midfield and had just an SL 20 keeper. We were the stronger side, created more chances though both teams could have expected more. We changed to counter-attack after 60 minutes as Hamilton had used Press as well and the "wingers" went back to midfield but I'm not sure that was a good or bad move - but we won comfortably.

Then it was Rangers and for some reason I thought we could compete. Back to Ball Control as they have some big players. I noticed the two FWs weren't at full health, but neither were my best DFs. So I instructed two DFs to mark both FWs and that worked beautifully as one came on as substitute for the other. Their WGs weren't fully fit either so one of my DFs marked both of them - and one of those came on for the other. And the same happened with a couple of their MFs. Talk about a plan coming together. We were still outclassed with Rangers playing a couple aggressive and a big home bonus - the shot chance being 3:1 in their favour to start and not much worse after half time. But by the end of the game we both had 5 chances: we were on target with all 5 but they had an offside and only 2 of the other 4 on target. A thoroughly undeserved 2-1 win though the marking did it's job as only 1 of their 5 chances went to a marked player.

A very welcome six points takes us out of the relegation zone though our weak T11/17 is proving challenging.

If Falkirk want to stay up we need to win our home matches and that's exactly what we did. A two one home victory over bottom side Forfar Athletic. We just about deserved all three points. We then traveled to Nairn County and lost five one after conceding three times in the last seven minutes after going to press. We have though boosted our squad for the future signing youth player Lewis Ferguson, a future star for the Bairns. 

A good latest session for EDI began with a 2-0 home win over ROS. That was followed by a terrific 0-0 draw away at PET. 4 points in a session was just what the Doctor ordered although EDI still remain in the automatic relegation places and remain  one of the favorites to go down.

The manager continues to juggle the books with one eye very much on next season and he is expected to clarify the situation shortly.

We started the weekend with an away game at Edinburgh, a tough looking side with plenty of quality players, they opted for a 4-4-2 normal as we went for a 5-3-2 stall hoping to pinch a cheeky point, game on and they started quickly and opened the scoring I the 1st minute when Cottee fired home 1-0,oh well so much for our defence, we then pulled ourselves together and defended well for the rest of the 1st half,2nd half and subs on ,they sealed the game on 53 minutes when McAvennie scored with an amazing diving header 2-0,we had no answers as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 3 to 1.

Next we were at home to Arbroath, another really good side ,we opted for a 4-2-4 longball as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and as usual we had a really slow start as they opened the scoring on 7 minutes when Robinson fired home 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 21 minutes when Brophy powered home his header 1-1,26 minutes and Loturi raced through and slotted home 2-1,34 minutes and Brophy powered home another header for his 2nd 3-1,half time came and subs on ,we pushed on and Loturi drilled home his 2nd on 60 minutes to seal the game 4-1 ,after a dodgy start we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 12 to 8,Ross in our goal was in outstanding form with 6 saves which helped us gain an invaluable 3 points,so with a 3 point weekend we sit 14th.

Having won the first leg 5-1 we would have been highly disappointed to go out of the CECIL Cup to Fraserburgh, but there was always a chance.

I don't rate stalling as a tactic so just stuck with the tried and proven Normal tactics, making sure I had a sweeper - Scott Mercer (pictured) in play to provide some extra defensive cloud against Fraserburgh's expected Early Cross tactics.

As it turned out, we actually had a shot chance advantage and took the lead just after the half hour, MIkey Cunningham for Connor McManus to half-volley home.  After the interval, Fraserburgh equalised, then went ahead but after McManus scored his second to make it 2-2, Alon Atie decided that enough was enough and switched to stall for the last half hour.

And that was that - except that Trevor Brooking snatched a late winner for us to put the icing on the cake.

So we're into the semi finals, to face Saint Johnstone.  Tough....

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

Dundee stays LAST.
No surprise here.

Even worse, mid week saw Dundee eliminated in the CECIL Cup against div 2 squad Livingston.
No surprise, since Dundee is actually a div 3 squad - with a div 4 coach, maybe!

More evidence needed?
Match 15 at home vs Dumbarton:
Many thanks to DUM for fielding a lineup that gave DEE some chance.
Even so, DUM stalled out a 0-0 at half time - and deserved 3 points by their dominant 2nd half.
However, they were clearly robbed when all of DEE's shots went to FORWARDS - and even were converted.
We feel for you.

Match 16 at Inverness was a different affair.
Total domination by Inverness, demolishing our squad 4-1 in the 2nd half (after a most unlucky 0-2 in half 1).
The only surprise was that they waited till min 90 to strike the killing blow.
That's simply motivational skill, unheard of here.

So let's be realistic.
By now, it would probably not even help if we ...
Sack this guy!

St Mirren end up getting 4 points from there two games this weekend which again see's them move up the table.

They gained a good point away to Queens Park before taking all 3 points in a 1-0 home win against Kilmarnock. The manager was happy with the haul as the team moved up to 12 in the table. He did state that the fans must not get carried away as this season is a rebuilding period and with mid-season aging the team may struggle in the second half of the season.

The club have also signed a new goalkeeper who will get most of the playing time in the up coming cup to allow him to get the graining he requires.

Yesterday we played our CECIL Cup Quarter Final, first leg, against Fraserburgh.

They are a team with a star keeper and three great forward players, all SL 30+.  But as a consequence of training these players, their defence is comparatively weak, and their midfield weaker still.  They have relied heavil on Early Cross tactics, also using Stall to cover themselves when some of their stars are resting.

It's been a successful approach, which sees them lying second in Division 1.  I wondered whether it would be best to Press for the entire home leg.  Good if they stalled, doubtful against Early Cross.

As it was, we decided to go for the reliable Normal tactics, while Fraserburgh did stall.  We broke through after 25 minutes - a shot from captain Iain Vigurs (pictured) which just crept over the line - and Fraserburgh switched to Early Cross - whether that was always planned or was a reaction to going behind I don't know.

Whatever the reason, it wasn't too successful.  Seb Ross made it 2-0 just before halh time, and we put in a great display in the second half, extending our lead to 5-0 before Fraserburgh grabbed a consolation goal.

A hopeful result, although that away goal is slightly worrying.  But at least the 5-1 scoreline means that, should we lose the second leg 11-7, we'll still go through on the away goals rule....

The latest league session began with a very poor 1-4 home loss to EF but in the second match, a terrific 0-1 away win at HIB gave EDI their first league win of the season. The relief was clear for all to see. Hopefully EDI can kick-on from here but its still going to be very tough to avoid relegation and the manager would not be drawn on the clubs chances.

EDI will not be tempted to buy their way out of trouble as the manager insists that the team must stick to the long term plan that was set in place a couple of seasons ago when EDI embarked on the 'Rebuild'. The manager would only say 'If another relegation is the price that EDI have to pay then so be it but we will stick to the plan and then bounce back.'

East Fife's sequence in the league this season was won 2, lost 2, won 2, lost 2 as we came to Saturday's matches, so we were confident of two wins.

We first faced Edinburgh City, a team rebuilding from the bottom up, so we were fairly confident of a good showing, despite being away and having Alan Fleming in goal.  It all looked straightforward enough when we took the lead after two minutes, Seb Ross the scorer for us.  But then, frstratingly, we weren't able to build on that start and at half time the score was still 0-1.  It wasn't until the 74th minute that we extended our lead, and then it was two in three minutes, from Mikey Cunningham and Jacob Comerford.  With a minute left, Edinburgh scored a goal that seemed to rob us of the captain's bonus, but we hit back straight from the kick-off through Brian Easton (pictured) to take the points, 1-4.

So to our home match against Arbroath, where the pattern of wins and losses was broken.  Arbroath took a first half lead which Scott Sheperd equalised on the hour.  It was a shot that Angus Gunn will have been disappointed not to stop but it was his only mistake of the game, as he saved the other eleven on-target shots we managed.  In contrast, Reece Beveridge did not shine and Arboath's high quality forwards scored once each to give them a 1-3 victory.

So we are sitting in mid-table, eight to be precise.  Not the start we'd hoped for, but now we turn our attention to the CECIL Cup and a quarter-final clash with Fraserburgh.  They've played a lot of stall this season.  Will they stall for the away leg and early cross for the second?  Should I gamble on that and play press for the first leg?   Hmm....

A bad week for the Edinburgh side who managed to notch up 2 losses. I away at Morton was okay as we had to rest a few lads for EL and morton are a decent side. The 3-1 was about right.

But at home to winless neighbours Edinburgh City was not expected. We did enough to win but City dug in and won with the single goal. We now have to evaluate where we are going - we can't harbour thoughts of promotion if we can't gain points from clubs below us (at present - if it continues we might not have any sides below us soon..)    :-)

Still looking for squad filers - Defender would be good.

We started with a tricky away game at Stephen's Peterhead, a real quality side who on their day can match any team, they opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as we went for a 5-3-2 stall hoping to pinch a cheeky point, game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but ours was in defence and the boys were holding up well from the constant attacks,half time came and subs on ,game changing moment on 65 minutes when on our 1st foray into their box saw McCabe bring down Loturi in the box,ref pointed to the spot and then produced a red card, Peterhead down to 10 men,Loturi picked himself up and drilled home his spot kick 0-1,from then on it was back to defence as we held on despite being outplayed for periods and outshot 5 to 1,well played Stephen  we got lucky there.

Next we were at home to Tapani's high flying Greenock Morton, we opted for a 5-2-3 normal as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, a really close exciting encounter with both sides enjoying lots of possession, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 19 minutes when Hale headed home 1-0 and we defended well till half time, 2nd half subs on and Greenock seemed to up their tempo as Larrivery headed home on 51 minutes to level it up 1-1,61 minutes and Knowles fired them ahead 1-2 and he drilled home his 2nd on 69 minutes 1-3 and Neon fired home on 72 minutes 1-4,we had no answers during this period as we could not retain any possession but Brophy pulled one back on 90 minutes 2-4 ,we were outplayed for periods and outshot 8 to 7 ,well played Tapani ,tidy side you have there.

So a 3 point weekend and we climb up to 14th.

Motherwell have thus far gotten off to their worst start to a Div 1 campaign since moving back up for season 50. One win, five draws, and three losses in their first nine had the supporters very nervous. In there, there was one unlucky loss to kick off the league, three unlucky draws (including two 0-0s where we outshot the opponents 18-1), and only one fortunate draw (away to DUM in the cup). Along with those results, we had some key players getting into DP trouble already (our main GK has already served a suspension despite starting the season on a suspension). But, as things often do in this game, our luck started to turn around the past few matches.

Away to HAM, our statistical dominance turned into a comfortable 3-1 away win to end last weekend. That led us into a match home to RAN where we had fairly low EL and a suspended GK. Motherwell opted for the all-hands stall, producing a DEF number over 200. This led to shot chances of 0% for the home side and 4.5% for the visitors. RAN would have hoped for at least a few shots in this one, however they were instead given 4 yellow cards by the strict ref. No shots for either side, so MOT can count themselves lucky to not have their backup GK tested by two SL34 FWs. One shot is probably all RAN would have needed, but MOT lucky to secure the 0-0 draw while resting key players.

Next came a tricky away match to STJ. Despite having two cup matches coming afterwards, STJ looked so well rested that they could afford to start some of their big names like SL38 FW Geddy Lee and SL36 FW Ally McCoist. However, MOT came to give this a real go, starting their T-11 and playing counterattack. Stats looked fairly similar early on, with both sides looking to have a lot of shot chances. However, it was MOT that took the early lead just 2 minutes in, and the shots just kept coming for the visitors. The first-half blitz reached a climax come minute 43, when Ray Wylie Hubbard swept in to put the visitors up 0-4. STJ would score one right before the break to give themselves hope, but a lapse in concentration meant that MOT would make it 1-5 right from the restart and send the home team into the locker room with their heads down. Boos could be heard around the stadium as STJ had to wonder what they had done to deserve a four goal deficit just 45 minutes in (the real answer is nothing - they just got on the side of bad luck here). Ray Wylie Hubbard would add MOT's 6th shortly after the break, and from there MOT were able to ease off the gas and not even a Geddy Lee goal could do anything to get things going again. MOT secure a vital three points on teh back of a strong first half and a good performance from SL34 GK Haggard. Both sides are in unfamiliar territory - after this match they sit in 8th and 9th in the league, despite neither having finished below 5th place in the past 5 seasons.

Unless we start getting the luck we deserve we're going to get relegated. We have the worst T11/T17 in the division but the tactics work as far as shot chance is concerned. But looking back on games against Raith, Dundee and Albion Rovers I see we've been screwed over in those games getting just one point. Any decent amount of luck would have given us many more shots and possibly three wins.

Falkirk had a couple of very strange results last weekend. We started with a home game against on form Arbroath. By the 80 minute mark we trailed three two so went to press. We got overrun and ended up losing seven three, which was harsh. The second match was away at Dunfermline Athletic who had an important Cecil cup game afterwards so played a weakened side. We made full use of the opportunity and won five goals to nil. We start today with a home game against bottom side Forfar Athletic a match we need to win.

Wednesday's fixture was against Queens Park in the CECIL Cup, last 16, second leg.  We had won the home leg 2-0 and hoped that would be enough to see us through.  It looked as if we had the stronger attack and indeed we outshot the Queens 12-5, 11-4 on target.  The first goal of the match came shortly before half time, a neat half volley from Alan Trouten (pictured) which gave us a three goal aggregate lead at the interval.  

We brought on our apprentic defender for the second half, and he had a comfortable introduction, as Scott Shepherd extended our lead just two minutes in.  Queens Park pulled one back, but we added two more before the end, from the influential Trevor Brooking, and a second for Alan Trouten.

So, we're into the last eight where we'll face Fraserburgh, victors in the epic tie against Clydebank.  Let's hope they repeat their second leg form, rather than their first.....

With our youngsters training up nicely, the manager is somewhat hopeful that the second half of the season will be slightly better in terms of results than EDI have been able to produce so far this season.

Rookies DF Paolo Maldini and MF Liam Brady have recently been joined by MFRonnie Boyce. It is also hoped that A1 GK Phil Parkes, SW Franco Baresi, DM Fraser Burns and MA Jamie Taggert will all be able to take a good step forward once MSA is out of the way. 

Regardless of whether EDI start next season in Division 2 or as seems quite possible, Division 3, The manager feels that the team is now well set to finally turn the corner. Obviously, there will be further additions to the squad next season but any new players are likely to be  more selective in terms of balancing up the squad rather than 'core' players as has been the case in the last few seasons.

Next season will likely be the final major step in the rebuild and if the manager succeeds in signing his targets it will also be a fascinating season for EDI fans. 

Saturday's first match saw East Fife visiting Peterhead, who had run them so close for the Division 3 title last season.  We expected a good contest here, and indeed there wasn't a great deal to choose between the teams, who played identical 4-2-4 lineups with two wingers.  The presence of our reserve keeper, Alan Fleming,  between the sticks was a cause for concern, however.  He was caught out after fifteen minutes when Dan Gentle's header looped over him, giving Peterhead a lead which they still held at half time.  The second half started brightly, when Kieron Millar (pictured) hit a thunderbolt into the Peterhead net, but the hosts were soon back in front, when Fleming dithered over a cross and the resultant header was too strong for him.  We again found an equaliser, when Seb Ross somehow bundled the ball over the line with his knee.  Once again, it took Peterhead only four minutes to regain the lead, Fleming watching helplessly as the ball was dribbled round him and into the net.  So we lost an exciting game 3-2, well done Peterhead.

For the second game we were at home, to Greenock Morton.  We had a considerably better lineup here, and duly took the lead thirteen minutes in, a simple enough goal with Pat Slattery crossing for Connor McManus to head in.  It looked as if this one was going to be plain sailing, but inexplicably Greenock scored four times in the first half and coasted home 1-4.  The shot count had been 21-7 in our favour, 19-6 on target, but our failure to convert chances into goals cost us dear.

There have been suggestions that there is too much randomness in SESL.  But look at East Fife's league record this season : 

July 27th : Won both games

Aug 3rd : Lost both games

Aug 10th : Won both games

Aug 17th : Lost both games

Not random at all!

A decent weekend for us with 4 points from 6. Yes, we could have tried harder away at bottom team Ross County, but we have EL issues so put a team out not to lose and just maybe snatch a goal. Not to be and the fans demanded their money back at the end. :-(

Then we came back to Edinburgh and entertained Dumbarton. Got to be honest I was worried about this one, but in theis game Olmec smiled at me and we were 3 goals up inside 25 minutes. By the time Dumbarton were reduced to 10 men it was already 5-0 and it ended 7-1. Can't remember scoring 7 and it comes after playing 7 league games and scoring 9 goals, to then get an 8th game with 7. (Just glad I didn't go for the sponsorship to score 60 goals in the season..

In the top 6 where we want and expect to be for most if not all of the season - we have a sponsorship to win. 

We welcome new signing Ollie Dennis, a 1/14 MF, and we won enough TPs to be able to get him to a 1/23 by the end of the season. Actuallyn tried for a back player but we are light on MF so he will see plenty of action.

St Mirren fans must still be picning themselves 1 point from there first 6 six games this weekend with two home games they managed to win both by 1-0 score line to take a full six points. This was enough to lift them of the bottom of the table. Fans can only hope this is the start of a good run of results for the team. The manger thought happy with the way the weekend had gone was in a more reflective mood and said having the fans behind the team was the difference and now the team need to dig deep to get the same results form there next two matches of which the first is away to Queens Park followed by a home game against Kilmarnock.

The manager stated he was happy with how the younger players he had brought in were shaping up and proveing the bad press from the start of the season to be wrong. 

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

Dundee stays LAST.

We made some points, though.
How could THIS happen?

Match 12 at home vs title contender Clyde: 
Dundee is hopelessly overpowered, but profits from injuries and red cards to stay in the match.
Still, DEE's "weird" marking tactics were only understood (maybe) by our clueless coach.
In the end, a boring score- and useless draw.

Match 13 at (currently slightly struggling) powerhouse Alloa:
ALO coach Turner felt clearly robbed - rightfully so. 
An expected shot count of 3.6:3.0 in ALO's favor SHOULD have ended in a 5-0 blowout - and not in DEE's very 1st victory.
Even our Bulgarian junior keeper made an actual save to save the win. That's clearly cheating.

In the end 4 most undeserved points assure that not all hope is lost, yet.
Or more exactly: Not all hope WOULD be lost if we immediately ...

Sack this guy!

The match against Annan Athletic was a tough outing for Queen of the South, and as the coach, I must acknowledge that our performance didn’t meet the standards we set for ourselves. Annan started aggressively, and we were caught off guard early on, conceding a goal in the 2nd minute. Mownt Taranaki was a constant threat, and his second goal in the 31st minute was a well-taken strike that put us further on the back foot.

Despite our efforts to adjust at halftime by adopting a more attacking approach, Annan capitalized again just after the break with Taranaki completing his hat-trick. It’s always disappointing to concede goals in the manner we did, but credit must go to Annan for their clinical finishing and disciplined defense. We had our moments, particularly with Peely Wally's 30-yard strike, but we couldn’t break through their backline. We’ll take this result as a learning experience and work hard to bounce back in our next fixtures.

On a more positive note, our match against Stirling Albion was a solid performance from the team. Playing with a 5-2-3 formation, we showed resilience and focus. Tommy Flannigan’s solo effort just before halftime was a piece of brilliance, and it was the spark we needed to take control of the game.

Stirling’s red card in the 28th minute certainly shifted the momentum in our favor, but even before that, we were starting to assert ourselves. Adam Fearthainn made some crucial saves to keep us ahead, and our defense held firm against their attacking attempts.

In the second half, we capitalized on our advantage. Jack Bell’s goal in the 79th minute was the result of a well-executed counter-attack, and it was pleasing to see the team’s hard work pay off. Stirling did try to push back, but our defense, led by Paolo Maldini, ensured they didn’t get back into the game.

This 2-0 victory was an important result for us, showing the character and quality of our squad. We’ll carry this momentum forward, but we know there’s still work to be done. The players have shown they’re up for the challenge, and I’m confident we’ll continue to improve as the season progresses.

We started the weekend with a home game against David's Hibernian, a classy looking side who were always hard to beat,we opted for a 5-2-3 opportunistic as they went for a 4-3-3 opportunistic, game on and we started ok albeit defending very deep,chances were very few and far between as they were controlling the midfield area, half time soon came and subs on ,both sides pushed on looking for that opening but none appeared as both defences stood firm and it ended goalless 0-0 ,points shared as they edged the shot count 3 to 1 but it's our 1st point of the season and we will take that,well played David.

Next we were at home to Kevin's Airdrie,another side on their day were hard to beat,we opted for a 4-2-4 normal as they went for a 5-4-1 stall,we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 3 minutes when Sims fired home our 1st goal of the season 1-0,10 minutes and an amazing diving header from Turner and it was 2-0,14 minutes and Turner drilled home his 2nd 3-0,steady play then ensued as we were struggling to break down a stubborn defence but on 37 minutes Sims slipped through and slotted home 4-0 and on 43 minutes Purrington left upfield from a set piece found the ball at his feet and fired home 5-0,half time and subs on ,2nd half and Loturi found space and fired home 6-0,from then on defences ruled as we outplayed and outshot them 8 to 0,well played Kevin,so our 1st win of the season and we climb off the bottom to 15th place with 4 points.

With a 1-1 home draw versus CEL, which included our first league goal of the season, and a 0-0 away draw at CB, EDI doubled their points tally to four after the latest session. It may not seem much at the moment but it is hoped that it is at least a step in the right direction and that our young squad can progress between now and the end of the season. Whether that is enough to avoid back-to-back relegation remains to be seen but at least there now appears to be some hope.

As stated in a previous issue, EDI are now very unlikely to add any more players to the squad during this season but are still in the market for 3 more CPS(maximum). Otherwise, we go with what we have for now.

When you are getting a beating it is often a puzzle as to why. Sometimes it is easy to see - you just played the second 11. You got what you deserved.

DUM just put out the T11 and recorded a shot chance of 24.5% for 45 minutes which rose to 29.7% in the second half. Total shots, 14 when expecting 25 ish. Only 8 on target and only 3 goals scored. I can accept all that. It's how it works.

However, the opposition recorded 7.3% shot chance which generated 9 shots. All on target. Only 3 were saved. So a shot chance of 7.3% produces 6 goals. WOW.

How's yer haw maws!?

I DEMAND to know Dave's Lotto numbers!

Falkirk started last weekend badly with a two nil away defeat at Greenock Morton. We got well beaten and we only kept the score down due to our keeper Gunn. We then traveled to fellow strugglers Edinburgh City. A much better performance finished in a two nil victory to move us up to eleventh. It's going to be a struggle still but hopefully we can bring in one or two new players to improve our squad. We start today with a home match against Arbroath who are the league's top scoring team. 

It was a disappointing weekend despite keeping two clean sheets.

In the first game Ricky changed his tactics (I think) to put 5 in midfield to counter my ball control, which worked in that we only had a 3.5% shot chance to their 7%. For our part the marking did it's job in that Brazil didn't get a shot in his 45 minutes and Cameroon didn't either in his 45 minutes. Stenny only got 3 of their fair 6 shots on target - again a plus for marking. Fortunately Roe had a decent game and stopped all three. I was disappointed that we only got one of our fair three shots.

However the Raith game was a different matter. 14.3% vs 3.9% to start witth and although they had an SL 32 GK, even a 20% scoring chance would give us 2 or 3 goals. But in the end we only got 4 shots and 1 offside. Luckily Raith didn't get anywhere near their deserved shots and the one they did went to a DF (thanks in part to marking their FWs).

The bad weekend was made worse when I accidentally retired a wrong player when I was commited to going down to 18 players. Thankfully Dave at Hearts offered me the same player for half the price he was asking for on the trade list.

On Wednesday the Fifers played Queens Park in the last 16 of the CECIL Cup.  We were at home, and hoped to notch up a decent win to put us in a comfortable position for the second leg next week.

Bryce Kalmbach also had his eye on the second leg, I think, as he ordered his men to stall, and all went well for the Queens until the 39th minute when the easiest of chances fell to Alan Trouten (pictured) who made no mistake.  And just two minutes later our main man, Scott Shepherd fired in a shot, partially saved, which just crept over the line.

So a healthy enough lead at half time.  In the second half, Kalmbach decided on a more attacking approach.  This led to a more open, more entertaining game, but not to more goals.  So 2-0 was the final score, and we'll have to hope that's going to be ebough to take us through to the last eight.

But when really, IS enough enough?

I have completely different mindset when playing in division 1. Probably i shouldnt, but i cant help it. 

When you're in the top flight and you dont think you're going to win it, then the only real way is down. One eye looking over your shoulder all the time. Its a tough division to be in. 6 form 16 (could) go down. I dont like those odds. thats 38%. 

So its inevitable that a number of teams are akways worrying about safety for the majority of the season. But what doe sthat mean? Recent history suggests that yo uneed >39 points to be safe. You might get away with a couple of points less depending on the other teams and yes you could survue through the play-offs, but who wants to take that chance?

So here we are only 6 games in (20% of the season) wondering if we are doing enough. Well in THEORY after 6 games you need to have 8 points* and we have 9, so panic over. We are safe. 

If only it were that simple. 

*Based on 1.333 points per game to get to 40 points. 

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

DEEs going down!

There might be some theoretical chances left, but ...

No, scrap it, this session gaves us planning security - for div 2!

NO win in round 3 - again, of course.

Match 9 at fellow (so far) winless Motherwell showed: one team is misplaced at the bottom, and it is NOT Dundee.
Clear domination by the home side, two beautiful goals - and our keepers almost robbed them of their deserved victory by making actual saves.

Match 10 at home vs top squad Fraserburg was a foregone conclusion. FRA even, quite unnecessarily, fully rested their team for this match.
Their junior squad would have been strong enough for 3 points.
Still, it showed. 5 goals from 7 attempts and 6 saves by their superstar goalie: a supreme 5-0 against a ridiculously overpowered home team.
Also, congrats to FRA on another superstar signing. We do know why no superstar would ever consider showing up at Dundee.

So, on the plus side, we at least have enough time to 
Sack this guy!

St Mirren cliamed there first point of the season with a 1-1 home draw against Berwick. They looked like they might gain a second point when they held Dundee United at 0-0 until the 69th minute when the home team scored they only goal of the game. 

The point gain was not enough to pull the team of the bottom of the table but show them team are at least making some progress. The rebuild continued with the team signing young striker Cameron Archer and 4 older players leaving the team.

the fans will hope he can help move the team up the league but at least the point has gained the manager some time.

We've only just started, but already it's been a funny old season for East Fife.

We oly just scraped through the first round of the CECIL Cup against Falkirk before thrashing Alloa in the second round.  We sailed through our first two league matches with six points before losing the next two.  And now, on the third league weekend, we managed two more wins.

First, we travelled to Hibernian to face their usual brand of football.  Hard.  They deserved to win this, ten shots to our three.  But the keepers were the deciding factor.  Reece Beveridge (pictured) saved all ten shots to wrap up the Man of the Match Award.  Josef Bursik saved nothing, so in addition to the undeserved victory we got an undeserved captain's bonus as well.  But nive to see new boy Trevor Brooking on the scoresheet, two goals for him.

Our second match was a home tie against Ross County which turned out to be great entertainment.  Pat Slattery put us ahead but County levelled things up to make it 1-1 at half time.  Then Scott Shepherd restored our lead, only for Ross to square things up again.  But now two goals in three minutes decided things.  The Staggies pulled it back to 4-3 but we took the points and find ourselves handily placed, fourth in the table.

But who can stop Clydebank?

Not a great 7 days for us - but am I disappointed? Darn right, I am.

Okay - we went to Cove for the 2nd leg of the CECIL Cup with a 3-2 lead from the 1st leg, but left a couple of good lads back at home. We knew a 1-0 loss would put us out, and besides the league is more important to us this season, we saw Cove had rested a few high SL lads in their previous league matches. We lost 3-0 but we trained players so not all bad news.

Then we hosted East Fife and Airdrieonians in the league. Creating 10 on target shots which the opposing keeper saved was bad enough but to lose 3 goals to their only 3 shots was worse - still getting over that. The sedcond match was heading the same way - only 5 on target shots this time but thankfully we scored with just one of them very near the referee's fibnal toot of the whistle. So at least 3 points from 6 but we have still lost 2 of the 6 matches we have played in the league - not exactly promotion stuff.

We have retired 3 lads - thanks to Donna, Stanton and Brownlie for their services and we now welcome new apprentice Cris Cadden, who will be trained up before MSA so we can push for a top 6 place - where we need to be to get the 400k sponsorship.

Second Division for the close matches!!!

After being knocked out of the Cecil Cup in midweek, it was back to league action at the weekend.

Another two defeats, which included conceding yet another very late goal that cost EDI a point plus a poor home performance leaves EDI firmly in the relegation zone. The defence continues to play well but our lack of threat up front continues to be a serious problem. 

The manager still feels that with a little better fortune, the overall results will slowly improve but whether that will be enough to lift EDI up the table remains to be seen. 

No further additions to the squad are expected this season and trading looks to be very nearly complete, although the manager has suggested that if the opportunity to acquire another 3 CPs arises then the club will certainly be interested.

We started the weekend with a home game against Lee's table topping Clydebank, an impressive side who have made an amazing start to the season, we opted for a 4-3-3 longball as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and they started quickly and opened the scoring on 2 minutes when Aguero fired home 0-1 and on 9 minutes Millar slotted home 0-2,36 minutes and Nevin slotted home 0-3 and on 43 minutes Bartley fired home 0-4,half time came and they changed tact to stall and closed the game out, they outplayed us and outshot us 5 to 0,well played Lee.

Next we travelled to Paul's East Fife, another side who had started well this season, they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 opportunistic, really close exciting 1st half as both defences on top up until 44 minutes when Slattery headed home 1-0,but straight from the restart we went upfield and Turner headed home from a deep cross 1-1,half time came and subs on ,they pushed on and Shepherd fired home on 55 minutes 2-1,66 minutes and we levelled things up when Salah chipped one over the onrushing keeper 2-2,69 minutes and they were back in front as Millar fired home 3-2 and McManus deflected home a shot on 72 minutes 4-2,84 minutes and Hale headed home his 1st goal for the club 4-3 ,but we could find no more as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 7 to 4,well played Paul.

So another pointless weekend and we still sit bottom. 

The oldies retirement opportunity saw East Fife bid goodbye to two valued players and hello to a promising youngster

Ann Struther (left) joined the club in season 51.  She made 159 appearances for the Fifers, scoring 37 goals with an average rating of 6.1.  She had a very cool head, picking up just 32 DPs in her career.  The fans will miss seeing her flying down the wings at Bayview, albeit, in her latter seasons, in a motorised wheelchair.

Nathan Austin (centre) was a recent auction signing, completing just two seasons with the club before his retirement.  He made 22 appearances in that time, scoring 12 goals.  He was a quiet man, often seen knitting in a corner of the dressing room or sometimes humming tunelessly as he and Ann Struther practiced the cha-cha in the showers after a match.

Finally we are joined by a new apprentice, Sean Docherty (right) from our youth team.  In real life Sean made his East Fife debut in 2023, aged 19.  In the world of SESL, Sean is a keen beekeeper and honey maker who also enjoys unicycling and live action role play in his spare time.

Last weekend Hamilton proudly sat at the summit of the top flight after a draw with Abion and a terrific away victory at Cowdenbeath. We didn't crow but felt a warm inwardly glow in the belief that our season had possibly peaked too soon.

Midweek was the 2nd Leg of the Cecil Cup and it saw the top two teams in Division 1 square up... it was hardly a fair fight! Accies had held a slender lead from the first leg but the squad looked jaded following their league exploits. The Accies rearguard action with an understrength side was soon put to the sword by a very strong Fraserbugh who fully deserved their 4-0 victory. So, out of the Cup but at least it had given many of the first team a chance to rest up ready for the weekend league action...

A trip to Aberdeen didn't provide the tonic we hoped for. Aberdeen raced out of the blocks and took a very early lead, adding another just after the half hour. Going in 2-0 down at half-time gave us a chance to regroup but we never really looked like we were going to take anything from this match. We did grab one back just after the hour through Moukoko, but that was the final score. Our table topping expoits were over as champions St Johnstone moved into top spot.

The next game wasn't going to be easy with 4th placed Rangers the vistors. Both teams were up for this and created early chances. Brodkin put the Accies ahead but Gers equalised five minutes later. A cracking first half ended 1-1 and the game was there for the taking for both sides.

The second hald saw Accies grab a second just before the hour. A couple of minutes later saw the Rangers keeper sent off with a straight red... this was the turning point that swung the game Accies way as they took advantage of their extra man advantage with poor Barisic taking over between the sticks. The game ended 6-2 with six different scorers for Hamilton. A win which sees the Accies regain top spot... rather surprisingly!

Time to make the most of it and enjoy thejourney with Saint Johnstone and Motherwell up next weekend, who knows when the bubble will burst?

Falkirk got last weekend's games off to a flyer winning their first league match of the season with a two nil victory away to bottom side Ross County. A bit lucky yes, with our keeper Gunn being man of the match. Our luck though didn't last and we lost three nil at home to Peterhead after conceding all three in the first twenty one minutes and then just being unable to score. This time man of the match was Richardson in goal for The Pet. We then played the Cecil cup 2nd round 2nd leg away at Annan Athletic. We didn't play too badly but ended up losing two one, going out on aggregate three two. It's early days but the writing seems on the wall, it reads Relegation!

It's been a middle of the road start for QP this season. We started out this season just like last season suprisingly with 3 straight games against the other Queens, Queen of the South. We drew at home 0-0 which made us nervous for the away game second leg but had some luck in that our only two shots went in for a 2-0 first round victory. 

QOS had some measure of revenge however opening the league season with 3-0 victory over us at Palmerston. We turned that around on Stirling with a 3-0 victory of our own to come out of the first weekend of the league season right in the middle of the pack.

Once again we played Stirling in the round of 32 in the CECIL Cup with the first leg a 2-2 draw at home. A very even contest where shots, shots on target and goals were all equal. In the away leg shots and shots on target were once again equal but we managed to get one past the Stirling keeper to move on to the round of 16. It was definitely a tie that could have gone either way at the end but we had the luck in the cup.

Not so much in the league as we had another 3-0 loss to Elgin when preparing for the away leg at Stirling so that was expected. What wasn't expected was losing to PT on their only shot of the game from SL 17 FW Fu Ji against our top goalie but so it goes.

Anyway, we're getting some luck and having some turn against us and asking for anything more is just getting greedy so we're happy with this start. A tough game against division leaders Brechin at home isn't the easiest way to start the next week. After an away to Berwick we have our round of 16 away match who only went and put 9 past Alloa in the two games of the Round of 32 so our cup run might be ending soon but we'll give it our best shot.

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

DEEs going down!

There might be some theoretical chances left, BUT ...

NO win in round 2 - again.
After the small hopes last round vs COW and HAM, our hopes were even  smaller this week playing the established teams of RAN and STJ.
Rightfully so.

Clearly outplayed twice, again.
A lucky draw at least vs STJ, when somehow 2 balls found the net against their supreme play and goalie.
We DO still miss future GK sensation Barrett.

The table does not lie, Dundee is dead last. 
Our only hope is that the squad will be improved with some dearly needed quality players.

But, seriously, how could this be enough to avoid relegation, UNLESS we ...
Sack this guy!

After a period of intense negotiation, East Fife and Edinburgh completed a major deal this week.  Trevor Brooking (left) has now joined the Fifers in exchange for Ryan Schiavone (right) together with some CPs and quite a lot of cash.

Brooking will be a power to be reckoned with in the Eaast Fife midfield and, we hope, will drive us on towards a promotion challenge this season.  

After a dismal 1-4 defeat in the first leg it seemed the obvious tactic to play a 50% stall for the second and concentrate on the league. EL was too low in many areas to compete and win 4-0 if East Fife tried.

In the end I played 30% and decided it would be 120k well spent. As we went 4-0 down I just shut my eyes and hoped. Luckily we only conceded one more but it seemed ages for the whistle when they still had a 6% shot chance.

The team is now in decent shape for the upcoming league matches though no game is going to be easy sitting bottom of the T11 and T17 tables. 

After a great 1-4 victory in the first leg against Alloa, the Fifers needed to finish the job in the second leg on Wednesday.

Steve Turner had suggested in his pre-match comments that Alloa would not be contesting this tie, but we weren't sure whether he might be playing mind games.  Fielding a reserve team could lead to a very embarrassing defeat, so we played it straight,  Just another match.

Just another very easy match, as it turned out.  Honest Steve fielded the worst side he could muster, and his only interest, it seemed, was in avoiding the blowout.

We were 4-0 up after 18 minutes and after that the game rather died.  A solitary second half goal made it 5-0, with a goal, a captain's bous and a man of the match award for Iain Vigurs (pictured) 

After a great 1-4 victory in the first leg against Alloa, the Fifers needed to finish the job in the second leg on Wednesday.

Steve Turner had suggested in his pre-match comments that Alloa would not be contesting this tie, but we weren't sure whether he might be playing mind games.  Fielding a reserve team could lead to a very embarrassing defeat, so we played it straight,  Just another match.

Just another very easy match, as it turned out.  Honest Steve fielded the worst side he could muster, and his only interest, it seemed, was in avoiding the blowout.

We were 4-0 up after 18 minutes and after that the game rather died.  A solitary second half goal made it 5-0, with a goal, a captain's bous and a man of the match award for Iain Vigurs (pictured) 

Which just goes to prove how little i actually know LOL.

EDI have been in serious negiations with another manager, who was clearly serious about making a deal for one of EDI's better players.

Both clubs came very close to accepting the terms of the transfer but ultimately it was not meant to be.

The final offer made to EDI was so very close but the deciding factor was whether EDI survived in Division 2 or were odds-on to be relegated again into Division 3.

The manager decided to stick rather than twist and it remains to be seen as to if he chose the correct course of action.

Moving on to a very important 2nd leg of our Cecil Cup match versus COW at home, a very tough assignment indeed.

I laughed.

East Fife had a sorrowful Saturday, suffering two defeats in home matches.

We first faced Clydebank, fellow leaders with maximum points so far.  We hoped to get at least a point from this one, but Clydebank were the better team in all departments and they took the lead just before half time after we had needlessly given the ball away in midfield.  We made a promising start to the second half and just before the hour, new boys Connor McManus and Seb Ross combined nicely to level the scores at 1-1.  The same two men nearly put us ahead a few minutes later but a fine save from Emiliano Martinez kept the scores level.  But not for long.  Clydebank moved up a gear and goals in the 66th and 68th minutes decided things, we were beaten 1-3.

We had high hopes of a victory in our second match, against Airdrieonians.  They suffered an unkind injury in the 4th minute when Lewis McGregor limped off and we were well in control when Scott Shepherd gave us the lead after 23 minutes.  Shortly after that a harsh red card saw Airdrie reduced to ten men and the match was ours for the taking.  But we didn't take it,  Our visitors fought well in the second half and our reserve keeper, Alan Fleming (pictured) wasn't up to the task.  Perhaps a haircut would help.  There were only three shots on his goal but two of them got past him and we suffered a humiliating loss, 1-2.

So, we look ahead to Wednesday and our cup tie against Alloa.  Having won the away leg 1-4, we are hoping to make it to the last 16.  Will Steve Turner field his reserves, or will he throw everying at us?

With no game in mid week St Mirren players are playing a friendly against a local team to try and get some extra practice in. After a poor satrt to the season the management  team are useing the time off to try new things out on the field. The game will be played behind closed doors with no fans or press invited. This follows some sepulation that even thought the chairman has backed his manager this may only be a short term rest bite and he is looking for a vast improvement in results.

Another poor weekend for Ross County, we started with a home game against Andy's Falkirk, a really tough looking side, we opted for a 4-2-4 normal as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and we had the worst start we could have imagined as Efete saw red for a wild challenge and we were down to 10 men ,a quick reshuffle and back to the job in hand,we held out until 40 minutes when Macari slotted home 0-1,2nd half and Nevin fired home on 61 minutes to seal the game 0-2,an even game of 4 shots each but no points for us,well played Andy.

Next we travelled to Bill's Celtic, a classy looking side who can beat anyone on their day,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a more defensive 5-2-3 normal, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 3 minutes when Hyeongyu fired home 1-0,27 minutes and Giakoumakis  slotted home 2-0,2nd half and we had more possession but in defence and they sealed the game on 82 minutes when Idah fired home 3-0,as we were outplayed and outshot  11 to 4,well played Bill.

So another pointless weekend and things not looking any better.

The good run had to stop sometime...

We hosted Celtic and shaded the shots and the result to give us a 6th win on the bounce, but we had to admit defeat to championship chasers Clydebank by 2-1 after taking the lead before half time. Not too disappointed as we had a couple of lads out with low ELs and an injury - watch out for the return game later in the season.... 

Today we thought about it and decided to sell Blackley to Hearts - a 4/19 DF that looks like he will fit straight into the Tynecastle side. We will be retiring around 3-4 lads at game 10 and a new DF will be coming in for training up. The SESL Cup will be his training ground and he will be a 0/17 halfway through the 2nd half of the season. 

I went on last night but the brown envelope didn't arrive in time so we lost out in the Superdraw for an apprentice. Boo!!

The home game against Deverondale turned out to become quite a one-sided event, though it didn't look that way at the start.
Although Deverondale were denied a goal in the opening minutes, it was Stramash to open the score in the 9th minute.
DEV were pushing forward and got a few opportunities to level, but Stramash scored the 2nd after a great cross of Hungary in minute 22.
DEV collapsed. Only 4 minutes later, Wally made it three and Wally himself had an assist on the 4th scored by Maldini in the 45th minute.
In the 2nd half, QOS controlled the game, but did concede a late goal, to set the final score to 4-1.
A good victory after a strong first half.

The away game against Ayr United turned out to be an eventfull match. Gemmill cleared the ball from the line in the 1st minute, and Bonner denied the home team a goal with a spectacular save in the 3rd minute. QOS were struggling, but scored the first time they got near the Ayr goal. Wally headed the ball over keeper Albinson. A surprising lead. Maldini should have doubled the lead, but now it was Albinson with an amazing save to deny the goal.

John Sludden (Ayr) must have been frustrated for not scoring a goal in the first half. Did Bonner have an incredible save in minute 3, he also denied him a goal in the 23rd minute, saw Maldini block a shot in the 24th minute and again Bonner in the 25th minute.

After half-time, QOS were looking for the break opportunities, but did not score.  John Sludden did, however, he finally beat Bonner in the 66th minute and the equalizer was well deserved.
Manager IJzermans substituted Stramash for Bell right after this goal, and it paid off.
Stramash played a clever pass to Maldini who score the winner in the 67th minute.
Albinson denied a 3rd Doonhamer goal only a few minutes later, QOS decided to defend the lead and did well.
A very welcome 1-2 win.

This session sees QOS on spot 3 in the table with 10 points. Very good start indeed!

It's a common occurrence, for us at STE to be moaning about the lack of depth in our squad. Sometimes we have decent top 11, sometimes we have a few superstars, but I cannot remember the last time we had a squad strong in depth. T17 has often been our downfall. 

I don't like seeing teams come up from the Championship IRL to the Premier League and go straight back down having spent very little money.

So, we have spent the cash to give us the depth we need in SESL division one. 2 auction buys, not bargains, but probably fair prices in the current market. Weve Brough in 47SL points, in a 5/25 and a 4/22 across MF and DF. Just what we needed to allow squad rotation to compete. 

After a good start in week 1, we've struggled in the cup and week 2 to have the killer instinct. Hopefully this may get us back on track.

Another week that saw EDI play 3 games resulted in 2 Away draws and a Home loss to a very late goal. Defensively, EDI are starting to look a little bit stronger but Offensively we are looking very poor at this stage. The manager has been heard to say that he will be taking steps to try and improve in the forward areas but that at the moment his options are somewhat limited. The transfer market and/Auctions seem the best option for EDI but no official comment has been forthcoming.

Upcoming games include the return leg of the Cecil Cup game on Wednesday at home to COW, followed by a trip to face LIV and a home game versus FAL on Saturday.

EDI will hope to get some small improvement out of at least one of those matches.

After a great start we've had three poor results and are all but out the Cecil Cup and slipping down the league table. We were a little unlucky in both the last league games but again, not overly so. The loss to Inverness was disappointing especially as I brought Roe on specifically to keep the game goalless. His save rate is pathetic for an SL 29 GK - not even in the top 15 Golden Gloves.

I can't see it getting much better as I've decided to save cash as much as possible so not using extra CP slots and we are now equal bottom in both T11 and T17.

Can we stay up?

St Mirren's poor start to the season continues with two losses this week end. What will worry the management team more is the sizes of the defeats as they only managed 2 goals whilst lrtting in 9. The team now sit rock bottom of the pile with no points from 4 games. The fans will hope that the team can start improving soon or there season will be over before it has started.

No one from the. Management team turned up to the post match press conference and instead a short statement was read out. Stating that the team is in a transition period and that the performances which have been poor area reflection of where the club are ata present. The fans will see improvements in the displays as the team settle down. The question is how long will the fans back the manager if results do not start to improve soon.

Falkirk kicked off their league campaign with a visit to East Fife. A fairly even match was heading for a goalless draw but we managed to concede in the very last minute to lose one nil. We followed this up with a home game against Hibernian. We we're one nil behind at halftime and then Miller got his marching orders just after. We conceded again and lost two nil. Not that we deserved anything more. In midweek we played the 2nd round 1st leg match at home against Annan Athletic. We played really well and went ahead on 64 minutes though man of the match Macari. Three minutes later we conceded from their only shot on target and try as we did we couldn't find another. The game finished one apiece giving us a very difficult task. 

Last Midweek we shaded a cracking home leg in the Cecil Cup 2nd round against Cove Rangers by 3-2.

Good for the fans - murder for the manager. We scored the winner with a minute or so to go, so next mideeek will be tough for us for sure.. 🤔🤔 Having said that, the league this season is more important for us, but if we can see a way through.....😉😉

In the transfer market we sent keeper George Farm (and a wad of cash) to Brechin City in exchange for their 2nd keeper, Lennie Wilson. Lennie should keep us going till MSA when we take charge of a lad currently being trained up for us at Deveronvale. My thanks to both clubs for their help here. 👍👍

Hamilton started off the new season in the top flight in style, caarying on their fantastic winning streak of form from last season.

An opening game against Hearts had the fans feeling slightly nervous as the new season kicked off. But those nerves were banished as the Accies stormed out of the blocks and were 3-0 up after just 12 minutes! The game finished 4-1 with man of the match opening his account with two goals.

A trip to Dundee was a much tighter affair and two very strong defences were always going to be difficult to breach. Fortunately it was the Lanarkshire side that grabbed a winner through Latona. Goalkeeper Fulton picked up the man of the match award for his clean sheet, which included a string of fine saves... but he was quick to acknowledge that this was a fantastic team performance with the whole team sticking to their defensive duties throughout.

Unbeaten and sitting in second spot, level on points with Alloa is not where we expected to be after the opening weekend. But this poses some questions for the management team to ponder regarding their aims for the coming season.

The Cecil Cup draw wasn't kind and Fraserburgh provided the opposition in the last 32. Rather surprisingly it was a very cagey match with the defence on top for both sides. But Stepenson grabbed what proved to be the winner in this 1st Leg match which leaves it all to play for in the 2nd Leg.

It's Albion Rovers and Cowdenbeath this weekend. Can the dream start continue? There is also a lot of attention on the managers plans for any transfer activity. The manager has kept his intentions close to his chest but the lack of youth in the squad has been noted as a concern - it's also thought he is looking for a wide sided attacking option but there hasn't been any signs that a target has been identified yet. Perhaps after this weekend we'll know more? 

The hard truths about our beloved football squad (since 2024)

DEEs going down!

There might be some theoretical chances left, BUT ...

NO win in round 1, even against fellow promoted teams.
Clearly outplayed twice, lucky to score once with a long range shot.