retired_destiny1124

10.12.05
East Stirling (1) Arbroath (1) Scottish Cup 2nd Round
We will be forced into a replay with Arbroath after a key defenisive mistake cost us a late equalizer. The early going saw us looking very sharp, despite the fact that I was again resting many regulars. Derek Ure drilled a shot past Scott Barnes into the left side of the net after Mark Gourlay made a good play to step in and pick off a clearing pass before firing his pass to Ure. With the lead, we were playing more conservatively in the second half and had done a good job blunting Arbroath's attempts to rally. Chris Robertson made a bad choice and a bad clearing pass that went right to Ian Dodds. Dodds quickly sent a looping pass over Robertson to dangerous Pat Clarke and he scored past Derek Jackson at 81 minutes to send our home faithful out of Firs Park disappointed with the 1-1 draw.

retired_destiny1124

14.12.05
Arbroath (2) East Stirling (0) Scottish Cup 2nd Round Replay
I made the conscious choice to go with our 2nd line in the replay against Arbroath. Our young club will be facing enough matches that keeping them fresh at the end of the season is more vital than overplaying them to move on in Cup competition is at this stage of our club's development. With the tendency of younger players to 'hit the wall' in the late season- I hope to keep them fresh enough to challenge late. We played a strong first half, but managed only a couple good chances that Scott Barnes was able to parry away. Arbroath came out more ready in the second half and took advantage of a pair of costly mistakes by Mark Gourlay. Gourlay was caught out of position twice in five minutes, and Arbroath turned both into goals. The first saw Pat Clarke slip free on the far post and hammer a shot past Steven van der Deyl (who had to come on for an injured Derek Jackson). Shortly after it was Alan Brazil racing down Gourlay's wing after he got caught up and firing a low shot past van der Deyl. We couldn't come up with any offense to rally and went quietly in finishing out the 2-0 loss at Gayfield Park.

retired_destiny1124

17.12.05
East Stirling (4) Elgin (3)
For awhile it seemed like we were painting a masterpiece against visiting Elgin, but in the end it was a matter of surviving and we somehow managed to hold on for an exciting (too exciting to be sure) 4-3 win. We struck early with a double hammer blow of a goal from James Flood and less than two minutes later a goal from Steve McDonald. Both times we caught them with good through balls on counter-attacks. It was 3-0 when McDonald forced a play by splitting their defense. Matt Dickins made the save on the shot, but Kenny McLean picked up the rebound and crossed to McDonald for his 2nd goal of the match. We seemingly let down from there when their promising young winger Henry Brown found space to rap home a goal just before halftime to give them a glimmer of hope. They were right back in the match at 58 minutes when Carl Laurie was redcarded for pulling Anton Lennox in our area and Kevin Gilligan converted the penalty kick past Steven van der Deyl. We managed to stay calm depite being down a man and Flood looked to have clinched the match for us when he again found space and Mick O'Brien gave him a pretty pass that he half-volleyed past Dickins. Nothing is ever easy though and we quickly gave that goal back when Johnny Walker's awful choice on a clearing pass went right to Jamie McKenzie and he slipped it past van der Deyl. We managed to close out the match on a quieter note and I breathed a sigh of relief at the final whistle.

retired_destiny1124

23.12.05
The pending opening of the transfer window caused me to canvas other clubs about their interest in our transer listed players. The one who drew the most interest was Andy Ross and he has agreed to a contract with Alloa and will join them on January 1st. Also leaving is Jamie Mackay, who has already packed up and left to Blyth on free transfer. We are adding a couple players on free transfer as well on January 1st. 20 year old DM John Adam is joining us from Morton and he was the main reason that Andy Ross was transfer listed. 18 year old SC Simon Jahn will be joining us on free transfer from the Albion Rovers. Adam and Jahn both have potential, but Adam is clearly the superior addition at this point.

retired_destiny1124

26.12.05
Arbroath (1) East Stirling (0)
Pat Clarke is turning into a first-class nemesis of ours as he made a brilliant run and shot past Steven van der Deyl for the only goal in a close 1-0 win for the home side. The goal came on a uncharacteristically bad play from James Flood- as his backpass to Danny Black was taken on the run by Clarke. We had plenty of good chances ourselves, but weren't able to capitalize as Flood was close to scoring several times and Gareth Bough made a diving stop on Mark Batty midway through the second half. Clarke lost a second goal on an offside call, but was clearly MOM for his dominating performance up front for them.

***

1.1.06
Scottish 3rd Division Table- 18 matches midway through season
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">1- Stenhousemuir 32 pts (+3)2- East Stirling 31 pts (+8) 3- Arbroath 30 pts (+10)4- Cowdenbeath 26 pts (+3)5- Queen's Park 26 pts (+2)6- Montrose 24 pts (-2)</pre>

retired_destiny1124

4.1.06
East Stirling (1) Montrose (1)
On one hand, I suppose we should be happy with the draw, as we were outplayed by visiting Montrose. On the other hand, we had worked hard defensively all match and then just failed to make the plays that allowed them a late equalizer- and that is hard to take when we could have had a win from the match. We took the lead in the first half when Iain Diack picked up his own rebound and snapped it past Matt Hodgson. Things looked rosy when Elliott Smith pushed Derek Ure in the area and we had a penalty kick midway through the half, but Hodgson saved Graham McWilliam's blast and it was for naught. We dodged the bullet many times throughout the first and second halves as Derek Jackson gave up several dicey rebounds, but our backline did a good job clearing them away. Moments after it looked like we had the clinching goal on a Derek Ure cross that Ally Graham headed home- only to see it waved off on Ure's offside- they finally managed to score when Stewart Bertram slipped one inside the left post past Jackson and the visitors escaped with a 1-1 draw.

retired_destiny1124

7.1.06
East Fife (0) East Stirling (1)
It was a stunning last moment win for us, after a match that appeared headed for a frustrating scoreless draw. Their keeper- John Dodds- had played a stellar match and made some terrific saves to keep us off the board. That was why it was so amazing when he mis-hit a goal kick directly to James Flood, and Flood quickly took the ball in and sent it into the right side of the net for the match winner deep into second half injury time. We had dominated the match, but a combination of Dodd's play, timely tackling by their backline and a few 'just-missed' shots had left us bereft of goals. It was a fortunate win, but one we really did deserve for our play.

lifeissoccer

good work faramir

is there a guy in your reserves or under 19s called grant findlay, a striker? he's my mate at uni and he's on loan at cumbernauld in the game - how is he getting on?

retired_destiny1124

ibrox- Grant had a decent season on loan at Cumbernauld, but to give you where he is right now (skipping ahead, because posting lags behind how far along I am)- he went on free transfer and is now playing at Gateshead. Remind me every now and then and I will give you updates

***

8.1.06
I was relieved to see Pat Clarke leave Arbroath and go back to Raith Rovers after his loan expired. I actually put a bid in on him, but he wasn't going to come to East Stirling and instead is heading to English side Oxford- after they won a bidding war with 6 other clubs for his services.

***

14.1.06
East Stirling (1) Berwick (0)
We edged visiting Berwick in a close 1-0 win to continue their struggles as the last place club. The lone goal came early on when Steve McDonald slipped a pass through to James Flood and he scooted past the defense and took the ball around Stephen Mason for a fantastic goal. After that the match turned into a tactical defensive match, especially after we lost Steven van der Deyl to injury at halftime. Derek Jackson filled in well and made two timely saves to preserve the clean sheet and win late in the second half. Paul O'Brien led a strong effort by the backline and earned MOM honours.

retired_destiny1124

21.1.06
Cowdenbeath (2) East Stirling (1)
The loss of Steven van der Deyl was clearly felt in this match as we outplayed Cowdenbeath by a large margin, but lost to them 2-1 due to an inferior performance in net by Derek Jackson. Their keeper- Alex Hards- had a brilliant match and the MOM honours he received was justly earned. He made several excellent saves in the first half, but we finally managed to get one by him in injury time as John Adam deflected a Kenny McLean corner past him for his 1st goal here. Cowdenbeath evened the match when Markus Paatelainen drilled a 25 yard free kick past Jackson. Paatelainen then made it a brace when his 30 yard shot sailed past a stranded Jackson five minutes later. We had several good chances to equalize, but Hards just kept our players shaking their heads with his fine work and they edged us 2-1.

***

26.1.06
With the transfer deadline looming, I had been looking to gain more depth. Albion Rovers accepted my free transfer bid on Lee Wilson and he quickly agreed on a contract. Wilson is a 24 yr old SC who has good physical abilities, but lacks development in his skills. The thing that was attractive to me- despite my Assistant Manager believing his signing wasn't worthwhile- is that he is left footed and will give decent cover for Steve McDonald.