Management thoughts on the events at Saughton yesterday.

Posted on Sunday, February 19th, 2012

Mike says –

“First if all I’d like to express my admiration to Raymond Carr and his players for not only putting up with the surface at Saughton Enclosure by also for trying and being able to play a passing game on it. I know Raymie at his own expense is trying to get an old roller at the Enclosure fixed and I hope he succeeds because his talented players deserve it.

The last three times we have played at Saughton the surface has been terrible and that dictated the team picked and the tactics employed yesterday. We wanted to play from back to front so Scott Fusco came in to the team and along with Dean Hoskins we had the best two long ball exponents in the EOS game at fullback. We pushed Donal Henretty up beside Keith McLeod and tried to win the ball and play our football as far up the park as possible. The wind and a very good home side didn’t help but after 43 minutes the excellent Kevin Swain had been much the busier keeper. The sun, wind and a swerving ball didn’t help Chris Flockhart who should have done better but so should his defenders as any of at least three Lothian players could have put the home side ahead.

Sam and I have given the players a hard ride at half-time a few times this season because of sub standard displays but yesterday was not one of them. “Keep the Faith” was the theme as we’d played well in the first half against a good side. Having said that Sam and I have been in the game a long time and know that sometimes it’s just not your day. When Craig Stewart (who always does well against us) crossed from the left and it turned into a looping shot to make it 2-0 to the home side the groans behind me from the travelling fans made me think quite a few were thinking along those lines.

If our lot have anything it’s resilience. Despite the sending off and some “strange” decisions the last half hour was fairytale stuff. Donal Henretty went for the spectacular striker, Robbie Manson the pacey winger, Keith McLeod the powerful front man and Jordan Finnie the talented, nonchalant, precocious teenager as we turned the game on it’s head. It was a valuable 3 points in our quest to retain our title for the 4th time in a row.

Stirling University and Gretna 2008 have been great additions to East of Scotland football. They were both going to progress to the Premier Division and the were both going to eventually be challenging for the title. It could be next season for Gretna although they may have something to say about that. Stirling are the real deal. They have now scored 39 goals in 10 league games and I’m sure they can’t wait for us to head through to Robert the Bruce country. Despite what you hear, think or take from looking at the table this season’s title race is very much in the balance. Another reason the 3 points were so valuable for us yesterday.”

Mike