retired_brianrt

Scottish Cup 2nd Round
Gretna 4-0 Elgin
Scorers: Bingham, Grady (2), McGinty

With a starting line-up containing only 4 regular starters (Bingham, Baldacchino, Lilley and Hannah) Gretna were still strong enough to overcome an Elgin City side who battled away for half an hour, but once Bingham opened the scoring their heads went down and it as a stroll in the park for Gretna's makeshift side

retired_brianrt

Scottish 2nd Division
Gretna 4-1 Alloa
Scorers: Bingham, Deuchar, Graham, Hannah

Another free-flowing performance going forward, and solid at the back. We are really starting to click as a team now, and if we can carry this through the season then there should be no reason why we can't win promotion. David Hannah was superb today, stopping everything Alloa tried and was at the heart of everything we did, thouroughly deserving his MoM award.

retired_brianrt

"So, were halfway through the league season Si, and we are lying in a nice position"

"I know, but if we had turned 2 of our 3 defeats into a win and a draw we would look even better"

"Ifs and buts mean nothing mate. Lets just concentrate on winning football matches"

retired_brianrt

Halfway through the season, the league table looked like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">1 Partick 18 14 3 1 +34 45 2 Gretna 18 13 2 3 +25 41 3 Morton 18 12 3 3 +22 39 4 Raith 18 8 3 7 +4 27 5 Stirling 18 7 3 8 -1 24</pre>

retired_brianrt

"I know who McDowell is working for"

"Who, which club?"

"St. Johnstone"

"Interesting choice. Well, lets hope we meet him next season then eh?"

retired_brianrt

Nick is relaxing in his house, when...

Brrrrr, Brrrrr...

"what the...?

Brrrrr, Brrrrr...

"Hello"

heavy breathing on the other end of the phone

"Hello. Who is this, I haven't got time for silly pranks"

"Leave, get out of Gretna and Scotland now, take everyone you care for with you"

"Excuse me? who do you think you are..."

"You have already had one warning, now get out"

"Who are you? I dont think this is funny...."

phone goes dead

retired_brianrt

"...dont worry about it boss, it was probably just some silly kids"

"No, I think it was more than that Simon. Some silly kids wouldn't have said something that serious"

"What did he mean though, by telling you tha you have already had one warning?"

"I wish I knew Si, i really do"

"Get everyone you care about out of Gretna. It doesn't make sense"

Nick is deep in thought

"...hang on, I think I know what he means. I have already had one warning. Running Dale off the road"

"Yeah it could be. What you going to do about it?"

"Bide our time Simon"

retired_brianrt

Scottish 2nd Division
Gretna 2-0 Stirling
Scorers: Bingham (2)

This was another really satisfying performance, and another clean sheet. We are starting to look strong in defence and still looking as strong as ever up-front, with the front 2 and central midfield 2 linking well together. Clean sheets ae becoming necessary now, if we want to stay in contention with Partick.

retired_brianrt

NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW FACES

Nicholas Simpson has brought more new faces to Gretna. Young goalkeeper Tom Heaton has joined on a permanent transfer from Manchester Utd., for a club record fee of £75,000. Another young shot-stopper, Michael McGovern from Celtic was purchased for £1,000. Experienced midfielder Juanjo cam to Raydale from Inverness C.T, for £7,000 with Scott Walker, a Centre-back who has not been able to establish himself at Brechin has joined the Raydale Revolution for £12,000. Simpson had this to say:

"I am delighted with these signings, and i believe they are the stepping stone to the future of Gretna football club. I am looking to build a squad that can compete in the top level of the game, and I want to get this club into the SPL in 3 seasons.

retired_brianrt

"The board at Gretna have been happy to help Nick along the way, and we have provided the money he needed to purchase the players he wants. We have full faith in his ability and believe he is the man to get us into the SPL or the first time in our history"

"Mr. Mileson, does the club still have money in the bank to buy players in the summer?"

"Yes, Nicholas has enough money in the bank to build a top-level squad, and he has already attracted some quality players to this club in his tenure here"