Falkirk .V. Accies - Saturday, Feb 17th

[Admin]

Your comments please...

[porcupine]

Don't even want to think about what score will be on Saturday.

[Billybamz]

Heres hoping Accies players turn up for this one .

[AccieDownUnder]

Do we have to?

I'll be there purely because I'm home for it but I can see it far enough. It'll be interesting to see how we line up after he pulled 3 boys off at HT on Saturday AND the fact we need to win to have any glimmer of hope. Without knowing if Rose can play it I think I would go for a formation Manxaccie suggested using more of a 10 behind the striker rather than 4-3-3. This will match up to what Falkirk play most weeks; however, ironically this is the game where a 4-3-3 and playing more conservative to get a draw / sneak a win would be acceptable had we not be in the position we are currently in.

I've got a feeling Rankin will go for something wild this weekend as he knows his time is spent and will roll the dice in the off chance to hit a double 6. It really feels like D-Day for our title hopes, a defeat and a Falkirk win on the following Tuesday would put us 14 points behind after the same amount of games played. At that point, surely even Rankin's biggest fan in Seref will see he has to go.

Falkirk have, in my opinion, a better team than us so here's hoping we can rely on the tactical genius to pull a rabbit out of the hat

[smc4761]

Do we have to?

I'll be there purely because I'm home for it but I can see it far enough. It'll be interesting to see how we line up after he pulled 3 boys off at HT on Saturday AND the fact we need to win to have any glimmer of hope. Without knowing if Rose can play it I think I would go for a formation Manxaccie suggested using more of a 10 behind the striker rather than 4-3-3. This will match up to what Falkirk play most weeks; however, ironically this is the game where a 4-3-3 and playing more conservative to get a draw / sneak a win would be acceptable had we not be in the position we are currently in.

I've got a feeling Rankin will go for something wild this weekend as he knows his time is spent and will roll the dice in the off chance to hit a double 6. It really feels like D-Day for our title hopes, a defeat and a Falkirk win on the following Tuesday would put us 14 points behind after the same amount of games played. At that point, surely even Rankin's biggest fan in Seref will see he has to go.

Falkirk have, in my opinion, a better team than us so here's hoping we can rely on the tactical genius to pull a rabbit out of the hat

BIB, well thats us fooked then. The words tactical genius and Rankin are never in the same sentence

[Billybamz]

Well if you have supported Accies for a long time you will no ,that we will probably win on saturday because its the Accies way,we never make things easy for ourselves.Annan deserved to win on saturday,they played as a team,we played as we had never met each other EVER,hopfully we can get it together ,because it wont be easy trying to win a playoff ,thats if we get to the final ,all we can do is turn up and support our wee Team.

[YeOldeHamiltonian]

Two goals I noticed for Joe McGlynn last night for Kelty.

[porcupine]

Awaiting a balanced match report on what seems to have been a complete re-shuffle of our squad today. Injuries to Hastie or Tumilty before the game as to why they did not start, or start very late?

[Stevie Clarke]

Wasn't there but it seems odd even for Rankin at 3-2, and clearly well in with a chance of getting something, to take off your on-a-hat-trick striker... and replaced by someone who has never been a prolific scorer.

[accies1874]

Awaiting a balanced match report on what seems to have been a complete re-shuffle of our squad today. Injuries to Hastie or Tumilty before the game as to why they did not start, or start very late?

Tumilty was presumably dropped after a spell of poor form. Owens moved to RB and largely did OK, though I think he could've been stronger defending the back post for the third goal. Longridge on the other side was an absolute car crash.

The game was lost in the first 30 minutes which was due to a poor tactical setup that exposed the midfield and had no intention of keeping the ball.

[Red and white hoops]

We are now eleven points behind Falkirk! They play Montrose on Tuesday night while we don’t play. I expect them to win again. So on Tuesday night I expect to be fourteen points behind Falkirk. For a team whose board said they wanted to win the league and that the playoffs were not good enough being fourteen points behind is surely unacceptable regardless of KPIs and regardless of how it compares to how Dunfermline performed last season in league one.

Gerry the berry appearing in the dugout for the second half. Wtf is that all about?! Has a member of the board at any club in world football ever appeared in the dugout?!

We done well for 10 minutes at the end of the first half and the first 10/15 minutes of the second half when we seemed to up the intensity but were well off it for the rest of the game.

Think that might be my last away game for a while. It’s getting hard to justify travelling all over the country spending the money. I don’t blame anyone choosing to spend their Saturday afternoon doing something else between now and the playoffs.

[Beckford]

Agree Strain appearing in the dug out was a joke and was obviously going to provoke the reaction it got from our more vocal support. It was such a ridiculous thing to happen that it took me a while to realise why our fans had started singing about him

Although it's utterly crazy to even think this, I would not be surprised that if we do let Rankin go (which I don't think we will unfortunately) Strain would appoint himself as interim manager. Something which would be beyond the realms of reality,at any other club, but could only happen at Accies

[PrideOfLanarkshire]

Well if you have supported Accies for a long time you will no ,that we will probably win on saturday because its the Accies way,we never make things easy for ourselves.Annan deserved to win on saturday,they played as a team,we played as we had never met each other EVER,hopfully we can get it together ,because it wont be easy trying to win a playoff ,thats if we get to the final ,all we can do is turn up and support our wee Team.

Billybamz, I never see you comment on the managers position. What your thoughts on that?

[Billybamz]

I liked Rankin ,thought he deserved his chance ,but iv seen enough now Saturday was the last straw for me ,the club can do better ,i thought at 3.0 yesterday ,this could end up 6,or 7 ,and maybe he would just walk ,but no ,we stage a wee comeback and everythings the same ,if we get to the play off final (and its a big IF) we will not beat Arbroath (looks like it might be them)..so not very confident in the team at the moment ,,

[YeOldeHamiltonian]

Saturday was summed up for me by 2 decisions:1)His suicidal starting selection,2)Bringing on Winter and leaving Henderson on the bench till the last few minutes.

Crowds will drop until the Play Offs unless they do the right thing and get a new Manager in place soon.

[AccieDownUnder]

On a side note, I was a bit embarrassed at some of our fans (mostly not of a young age) getting absolutely rattled by 12 year olds in the Falkirk stand. I just seen it got caught on camera and is on YouTube. Kicking barriers and giving it large. Mortifying for everyone involved.

With regards to the team and disconnect with the fans. My son had heard that Tait was incredibly liked within the squad and I don’t think they took the online rumours too well. It’s quickly looking more likely that he just fell out with JR. I actually thought Dylan done brilliant when he came on too. We were on the ascendency which abruptly ended when he came into play. He dictated the flow of the game as soon as he got onto the park. I suppose McGlynn got the best out of him previously so maybe knows how to use him.


ETA: Huge game on Saturday. A defeat to Alloa could see us go 17 behind Falkirk and only 7 in front of Alloa in 3rd. I still believe we have too much for the rest of the league but we need to find a system to get our best players in their proper positions playing regularly. Owens was ok at RB but in any other game we need someone who poses attacking threat.

[onlyagame]

That first half an hour on Saturday was such a mess, it's hard to defend the coaching staff to be honest. I've never been one for calling for a Managers head, but it concerns me that at this stage in the season he doesnt seem to know his best team or formation. I find it odd that the club brings in Kirk from Hearts and he plays next to no part. Henderson seems to be right out the picture too. I think he is a much better player than we have seen this season. Gerry in the dugout on Saturday for the whole game isnt a great look, it makes the manager looks a bit like a puppet and I think if you are going to keep The manager, you have to trust him to take care of the football side. I am confident that Accies could get up through the playoff. i certainly think the players are good enough, but it looks like a crisis of confidence in there, a fear of losing and a panic when they lose a goal, which in Saturday led to more goals lost. They need a couple of wins and fast and a strong end to the season. It is so frustrating.

[AccieDownUnder]

I know we really shouldn't care too much but Hearts must be furious with the lack of game time for Kirk. He's been dragged away from the B side where he was producing the goods to warm our bench and receive a ridiculous 5 minutes. Not only are we hindering the lads development but we are also hindering our own relationships with clubs from the top league for future loans.

I forgot to even mention Strain in the dugout - good grief. Actually hard to believe it actually happened. This club is an absolute circus from top to bottom. What I would do to have a football club ran professionally instead of pub league. We are a club that means everything to so many people, not a toy to feed peoples ego.

Moving forward; IF the board are set on giving Rankin the rest of the season to prove himself then I think a fans forum to discuss current runnings etc may ease some tension. It sounded like in Serefs piece that he is committed to Rankin for the season. A part of me thinks we have been slightly unlucky with a) being stuck in the league the season Falkirk finally get their act together. They've got a fantastic side who are unbeaten still in the league in February. b) we've lost two big players in Fulton and Martin. Could Falkirk have coped without Spencer and Lang for example? The inability to replace Martin with a bit of steel and experience is costing us imo.

[onlyagame]

I think the loss of Scott Martin and Ryan Fulton has been pivitol. We just dont have anyone else like Martin and didnt bring in anyone close to him. Fulton proved his worth last season and Jamie Smith has been fine but Fulton has been a huge miss too. That said we should have always have had enough with the players we have to take care of the likes of Annan, Montrose etc especially at home. Even going all the way back to the Stirling game early on. 2 up and coasting, back to 2-2 then missed a late penalty and I remember saying then I was a wee bit concerned we hadnt put them away. I was a bit worried about the mentality then and I still am. I would've loved them to have appointed someone with a bit of experience to assist the manager, particularly for times like these.