Management thoughts on a good day at the office and elsewhere

Posted on Sunday, January 8th, 2012

Mike says –

“Our first half performances over the last few competitive games have been poor so you’d imagine Sam and I were delighted at half-time yesterday. To be honest our delight was tempered because we thought we gave away easy possession too often and committed too many silly fouls. Over the first 45 minutes The Vale had as much of the ball as Spartans but the pleasing thing for Sam and myself was the number of openings we created. We’ve been guilty in the past of having plenty of the ball but not threatening the opposition goal but not in the first half yesterday.

The Vale are a good side. Correction, The Vale are a very good side who pass the ball and retain possession as well as any side in our league. They haven’t had a competitive game for over a month and I think that was the biggest deciding factor in the first half yesterday. It took them a while to really get going and that’s the second time this season they have won the second half against us. As they play more regular games I’ve no doubt they will climb the league and be challenging for one of the top spots come April.

Kerr Dodds is to see a specialist on Thursday about his knee and we all hope it is nothing serious. He’s been a big player for us since he came and his tackling in midfield has lessened the loss of Wee Eck. On the plus side John Grant had a great debut yesterday and Chris Anderson rightly picked up the MOM award. Jack Beesley got some more game time under his belt and Gavin Malin should be 100% by next week. Jordan Finnie hasn’t been well over the last couple of weeks and although on the bench like Gavin yesterday we were always only going to use either of them in an emergency. We weren’t happy at losing the second half but felt we were always in control of the game.

Anyone can beat anyone in East of Scotland football and our Home Dressing Room is well aware of that. The results may have gone for us yesterday but we’re well aware there is a long way to go before the league will be decided. We’ve lost to Gretna this season which wouldn’t surprise many but we’ve also lost to Easthouses. As soon as you think everything is rosy or get above your station you are in trouble and it’s up to Sam and myself to keep the players focussed and grounded.

We play Whitehill next Saturday without Kerr Dodds (we assume), Kevin Sivewright (he’s at a wedding) and Jonathan Seeley (who’s on the ward). Donal Henretty will be back and hopefully Jack, Gavin and Jordan will be fully fit. The results yesterday didn’t decide anything and with the hard away games Stirling have played and all the contenders still to travel through there the result between Whitehill and ourselves next Saturday will not decide anything either. It’s a great game to look forward to however and I’ll discuss it later in the week.”

Mike