8-1-05 Cowdenbeath(A) 3-2

[Ramz]

I was a little surprised some people did`nt know that this game had been switched from 3rd Jan to 8th Jan - in fact 2 of them went to Cowdenbeath yesterday. This switch was arranged before Xmas and was to take advantage of the fact that both teams were out of the Scottish Cup so why crush the festive fixtures when they had the chance to spread them out.

Difficult to know what to expect on Sat - our record at Central Park is terrible (although it is by no means the only ground we have a poor record at) and it depends on what `Shire team turn up. If its the Albion Rovers / Elgin away team that is prepared to knuckle down and scrap for something we have a chance. If its the Peterhead away team that rolls over and goes through the motions then we might end up envying the old men who stay in the Goth all afternoon. Well, its the uncertainty that keeps you going, is`nt it?

[dingotookmybaby]

i may not be able to turn up... however the marvel of espn soccernet will enable me to feel all the joys of live football.... nothing happening with the score being updated every thirty seconds ;D

[Gull]

Well lads and lassies there must be some doubt that the game will be on due to the recent traditional Scottish winter torrential rain and gale force winds. I hope it does go ahead - our players certainly could do with a run out and if we must play crap and look sluggish I would rather we do it here than in the re-arranged derby game with Stenny on Tuesday night. Stay near to your phones - hopefully those in the know will tell us any news as quickly as possible.

[Ramz]

I, like most `Shire fans, did`nt think this would be a good game for us - we`d only played twice since the end of November, Cowden had played at least double that, were 3rd top and were the form team outside the top 2 in our division. Everybody likes a nice surprise and the performance and gutsy drive of the players made this trip a far better one than anybody expected.

First, despite a freezing monsoon both teams served up one of the better footballing games of the season.

Second, there were some great goals (depending on who you support obviously) - Cowdens 1st (Dene Shields) and our 2nd (Joe Robertson) being the pick of the bunch, both superb curling shots from just outside the box.

Third, unfortunately we lost the game but at least the team gave it a good go - many expected Cowden to run rings round leaden footed `Shire players and that just did`nt happen. Where we lost out was at not making more of several chances we carved out for ourselves up front and at the other end where we were found wanting in defence - without condoning hacking I think somebody should have just brought down Shields when he set off on his run up the park for their 3rd goal - and taken a yellow card if they had to (easy said I suppose but this is a results business as any manager will tell you).

Overall though well played `Shire, that level of performance might just have brought us 3 points against some of the other sides in this division and I don`t feel quite so nervous going into the Tuesday night derby with the Warriors now!

[Punto]

So then Ramz, what about the rumours on Big Joe's future plans?

[Ramz]

Punto said:

So then Ramz, what about the rumours on Big Joe's future plans?

Explain?

[Trevor The Terrorist]

(Nimmo's Notes replying as TTT, as I can't get logged on somehow) If I was Shire boss I'd be absolutely furious at losing this game, and Denis Newall WAS furious. This was a throwing teacups and kicking boots at David Beckham result. Supporters and players should stop meekly accepting performances where we play well and lose. We DID play well, we WERE unlucky, but we ended up with ZERO. Ramz is spot on when says someone should have taken out Shields before he could make his run for the 3rd goal. We have to dig deeper, give 110%, bully the opposition. We have been playing well over the past half dozen games or so but we only have EIGHT points. We should have TWENTY EIGHT by this stage. P.S. You'll never convince me that Ross Donaldson was offside when he put us 3-2 up 30 seconds before Cowden got their third.

[Punto]

Rumour being that Big Joe was planning on departure.

[Ramz]

Aaah... wellibobs theory! I certainly have not heard anything that would lead me to the conclusion that Joe was leaving - that does`nt mean its impossible however! He has been the most `stand out` performer in our mini revival of recent months and I suppose that might attract the attention of other teams. Last season it was physically impossible to imagine that ANYBODY would be remotely interested in ANY of our players - things have changed a bit since then and I suppose its a sign of progress that one of our players actually MIGHT interest somebody else. Obviously I hope not, it would be a blow to lose Joe but at the moment there is no evidence one way or another.