[img]
]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/US_ARSENAL/steffbanner.jpg[/img] Inconsistency could prove costly for the black and whites
Gretna have gone through some patchy form this season and it remains to be seen if they have left their bad form behind them and will continue on with the form that has now seen them go on an 11 game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Saturday 27th August 2005 : Gretna v Dumbarton : Bell’s League Division Two : 4-0 win
The black and white faithful didn’t have to wait too long here to see their heroes take the lead against a distinctly lacklustre Dumbarton side. David Bingham opened the scoring the 4th minute. Gretna could have been 3 up inside the first 15 minutes but found themselves unable to take advantage of the chances that came their way until the 21st minute when Bingham again found himself with acres of space in the box and doubled his and his sides tally with a shot from 15 yards out.
Now at this point you would expect most sides to rally and attempt to take something from the game, not so with Dumbarton they simply gave up and it was only their goalkeeper that stopped the score line getting embarrassing; however he was unable to keep out Kenny Kenny Deuchar’s effort a minute before the half time break.
In the second half Gretna took their foot off the pedal and it wasn’t until the 63rd minute that the game sparked back to life when David McNaught was given a straight red card for a cynical foul on Deuchar, the home side took immediate advantage of their numerical superiority when Kjartan Henry Finnbogason added a 4th a minute later. Gretna simply slipped back into cruise control here and seen out the match.
Tuesday 30th August : Forfar v Gretna : Bell’s Scottish Challenge Cup 2nd Rnd : 2-1 win after extra time
Paul Tosh gave Forfar and early lead in this one after he opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Gretna huffed and puffed but couldn’t breach a stubborn Forfar defence, and their cause was further hindered in the 62nd minute when David Graham was ordered off. It looked like Gretna were on their way out of the competition until the 78th minute when Kjartan Henry Finnbogason netted for the visitors.
Both teams were unable to take the chances they had to finish the game off within the regulation 90mins.
Both teams had chances that fell their way in the first period of extra time, but Gretna’s cause took a turn for the worst in the 99th minute when Jamie McQuilken was sent off, then amazingly against all odds nine man Gretna managed to get up the park and stay up there long enough to be awarded a penalty in the 112th minute which David Bingham converted to give nine man Gretna a surprise 2-1 lead. In the second half of extra time Forfar attempted to find a way back into the game but suffered a blow in the 119th minute when the 3rd red card of the game was issued to Alan Rattray, with their one man advantage they still felt they could take something from the game but couldn’t make their numerical advantage count as they crashed out of the cup.
Saturday 10th September 2005 : Forfar v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 5-4 win
Arrrgghhhh we had to visit Forfar again, for the third time this season, I’m starting to hate these bastards as we always struggle to beat them.
Kjartan Henry Finnbogason set Gretna on what should have been the road to an easy win with a goal in the 10th minute. My players seemed to switch off at this point assuming they had done enough to win the game, well I’m sorry morons but games aren’t won and lost over the first 10minutes. Forfar took advantage of the lax attitude of my players through Ally Mitchell in the 20th minute, Barry Donald piled on the agony in 23rd minute as Forfar took the lead. Forfar then completed a shock comeback with their 3rd goal in 9mins as John voigt shot them further into the lead in the 29thminute. This however only served to anger Gretna it seemed as they fired themselves back onto level terms before half time though goals from Mark Birch (39min pen) and James Grady (45mins). After the break Gretna grabbed 2 goals in a 6 minute period through Kjartan Henry Finnbogason (61mins) and Andy Smith (67 mins), Forfar bravely fought to find away back into the match and got their reward in the 90th minute with a goal from Aaron Conway but by this point it was too little too late.
Saturday 24th September 2005 : Gretna v Hamilton : Bell’s Scottish League Challenge Cup 3rd Rnd : 3-1 win
The black and whites found themselves up against higher league opposition in this Bells challenge match at Raydale Park.
And it was the second division side that started the stronger and got their reward for their good start in the 10th minute when David Bingham opened the scoring, Mark Gilhaney levelled for the first division side in the 24th minute. Bingham grabbed his and Gretna’s second of the game in the 34th minute.
After the second half Hamilton struggled to cope with their supposedly inferior opponents as Gretna sought to put the result beyond doubt and they were rewarded for their persistence in the 68th minute when Gavin Skelton wrapped the game up for Gretna.
Saturday 24th September 2005 : Gretna v Alloa : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-1 defeat
Gretna never really got doing here and their slack defending was punished by Graeme Brown in the 35th minute as he gave Alloa the lead. Ryan Baldacchino levelled for the home side 2min before the interval. Alloa stepped up a gear in second half and totally controlled the match from this point on and the only surprise was they only managed to score one more goal, through Ross Hamilton in the 57th minute.
Wednesday 21st September 2005 : Gretna v Hibernian : CIS Cup 3rd Rnd : 3-1 defeat
Lowly second division Gretna stunned their SPL opponents in the first minute as the Hibs defence failed to deal with a cross into the box and James Grady smashed the ball home from close range. This however only served to wake the Hibernian players up and Glenn Whelan grabbed the equaliser in the 17th minute after a sustained period of Pressure, Hibs kept the pressure up and got another goal 5minutes later though Garry O’Connor, despite creating a barrow load of chances the SPL side were unable to capitalise anymore before the break.
The second half started pretty much as the first had ended, as the Gretna players began to tire near the end they were punished once again when Derek Riordan put the result beyond doubt in the 71st minute.
A Deserved win for Hibs with the only shock being that they didn’t score more than three goals given the amount of chances they created.
Saturday 24th September 2005 : Morton v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-0 defeat
Not a lot to say about this one , Morton dominated the match from the first whistle to the last, Gretna only managed to trouble their goalkeeper 3 times during the entire game, 3 times!!! That’s once every half an hour
Andy McLaren gave Morton the lead in the 34th minute and despite their domination Morton were unable to put the game to bed until the 79th minute when Kevin Finlayson scored the second.
Crap :thdn:
Tuesday 27th September 2005 : Dundee v Gretna : Bell’s Scottish League Challenge Cup Semi Final : 3-1 defeat
Yet again after the disappointment of Hibernian Gretna succumbed to higher league opposition in the league challenge cup, and by the same score line as well!
Ex Celtic Diddy Simon Lynch fired Dundee into a 36th minute lead, Kenny Deuchar pulled Gretna level in the 62nd minute before Dundee stepped up a gear and simply blew Gretna away, with goals from Tam McManus in the 71st minute and Derek Carcary in the 83rd minute.
Out of the cup
Saturday 1st October 2005 : Peterhead v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-2 draw
Gretna stormed into an early two goal lead in the first 14mins with a double from Kenny Deuchar (1min and 14mins) but my group of highly paid second division Muppets thought the game was over at this point and Peterhead stung us with a goals from Mark Perry in 30mins and Martin Bavidge secured a point for Peterhead in the 85th minute.
Wednesday 5th October 2005 : Gretna v Partick : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-2 draw
Yet again we took a two goal lead against the league leaders and then threw it away
David Graham opened the scoring for the black and white in the 14th minute, Kjartan Henry Finnbogason then doubled the advantage in the 36th minute.
The second half was a different kettle of fish all together, it was constant pressure from Partick and Enoch Showunmi pulled one back for thistle in the 61st minute and Graeme Dorrans made sure that Gretna wouldn’t be making up any ground on the pace setters this time around with a goal in the final minute.
Saturday 15th October 2005 : Stirling v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 1-1 draw
A pretty dull match this one punctuated only twice when each team scored.
Richard Prokas opened the scoring for the visitors in the 51st minute.
Chris Hay levelled for the home side in the 86th minute.
Crap really :eek:
Saturday 22nd October 2005 : Gretna v Raith : Bell’s League Division Two : 1-0 win
The match that saw Gretna return to winning ways!
For long periods of the game it looked like the Raith defence was going to hold firm as they faced a constant onslaught from the Gretna strikers and Raith will have felt they done enough to secure at point, but someone should remind them that a game of football lasts for 90minutes and not 89!
The Raith defence switched off allowing Kjartan Henry Finnbogason to score in the 89th minute.
*Points and laughs at the Raith Rovers manager complaining to the press*
Saturday 29th October 2005 : Gretna v Ayr : Bell’s League Division Two : 3-0 win
It took just 12 minutes for Kenny Deuchar to open the scoring for Gretna but try as they might they couldn’t not find a way past the outstanding Ayr goalkeeper. They threw everything at Ayr including the kitchen sink and it was fortunate that while the goalkeeper was distracted by the kitchen sink lying in his six yard box that Kenny Deuchar effectively wrapped up the points in the 89th minute.
Kjartan Henry Finnbogason added the exclamation point right at the death.
*disclaimer* kitchen sink story may not be true *disclaimer*
[b[Wednesday 2nd November 2005 : Dumbarton v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-2 draw [/b]
Although this match looks like Gretna threw away a two goal lead the reality is that Dumbarton were unlucky not to score at LEAST six times in this match, while Gretna only had two shots at goal.
Two goals in the space of 4 mins from Kenny Deuchar (25th minute) and Davie Nicholls (29th minute) gave Gretna the upper hand.
Gretna continued to ride their luck and it was obvious to even the most casual observer that if things continued in same vain as they had done for the best part of the match then Dumbarton would at least take something from the match, and things did continue in the same vain and Dumbarton did indeed take something from the match through goals from Andy Rogers on the stroke of half time and Craig Campbell in the 57th minute.
Dumbarton were unlucky not to win this match, very unlucky.
Saturday 5th November 2005 : Gretna v Forfar : Bell’s League Division Two : 4-3 win
**** off Forfar , I’m sick of the sight of these clowns!
Ok so for the natural this was a great match, for me I was just glad to get away from the evilness that is Forfar Athletic with 3 points.
Forfar stormed into the lead with a 6th minute goal from Aaron Conway, they then doubled their advantage through Darren Barr in the 16th minute.
Richard Prokas pulled one back for the home side in the 40th minute.
Gretna pressured and pressured in the second half and completed a remarkable comeback in the space of two minutes as Kenny Deuchar (71mins) and David Bingham (73 mins) fired the Black and Whites into the lead.
Although those persistent bastard that are Forfar weren’t done as Paul Lunan levelled the game in the 75th minute. Thankfully the ref was a gullible fool and we managed to con a penalty out of him in the 84th minute which Mark Birch converted to give us the 4-3 victory.
Pause and stop for breath now , somewhere in the middle of all that chaos Brian Law was sent off for Forfar in the 52nd minute.
Wednesday 23rd November 2005 : Alloa v Gretna : Bell’s League Division Two : 5-3 win
Gretna proved here that they are now able to find that higher gear when it’s required as they consistently stepped up a gear to knock off Alloa.
Kenny Deuchar opened the scoring the 6th minute for Gretna.
Jose Quitongo levelled for Alloa 3mins later, then Gretna stepped up the pace scoring goals thorough Kenny Deuchar in the 29th minute and a Kjartan Henry Finnbogason double (51 and 68mins), Gavin Swankie then grabbed a double of his own for Alloa with strikes in the 76th and 82nd minute, before Finnbogason put the result beyond doubt in the 86th minute as he completed his hat trick.
Saturday 26th November 2005 : Gretna v Peterhead : Bell’s League Division Two : 3-0 win
Gretna enjoyed near total domination over a distinctly average Peterhead side and never really needed to get out of first gear in this one.
Kjartan Henry Finnbogason opened the scoring after just 2 minutes , David Graham added the 2nd and 3rd goals in 45mins and 85mins (penalty) and that was pretty much that.
No really………..feck all else happened.
Saturday 3rd December 2005 : Gretna v Morton : Bell’s League Division Two : 2-0 win
So yeah Morton had about 20 shots at goal and couldn’t score we had 3 and won the match :thup:
Both goals came via Kjartan Henry Finnbogason in the 45th minute and 74th minute.
After the match the Morton manger could be seen whining to the press about the result, I say this to the fool “it’s not about how many chances you but what you do with them, and to quote a good friend of mine, Reading manager Andrew Hepburn – get it right up ye!”
Saturday 10th December 2005 : Raith v Gretna : Tennant’s Scottish Cup 2nd Rnd : 4-0 win
Raith Rovers must have thought they were being attacked by a bear here as they simply rolled over and played dead.
Two goals came in the first 5 minutes courtesy of David Graham in the first minute and Kjartan Henry Finnbogason in the 5th minute.
David Graham added another to his tally after he converted a penalty in the 16th minute and Finnbogason completed the rout with his second goal of the match in the 88th minute.
Now for Hearts in the 3rd round!
There update done!
Andy you may now pack up your little cardboard box and get the hell off my doorstep
Thats like 2 updates in one
Linear Mode
