Scottish Reprise- Return to East Stirling

[Faramir]

15.6.11

We have a heavy spate of friendlies coming up after the players return from Holiday in July. The first will be where we host Lyon. After that, with the Firs Park renovation going on, we will be travelling in Europe with friendlies scheduled against Maccabi Petach-Tikva, Olympiakos, Steaua and Rapid Wien. Our last two home friendlies could well get washed out by European committments as we are scheduled to host Queen of the South and Ross County.

In good news, we soared up 23 places in European rating and are now the 156th rated club.

***

16.6.11

Another purchase for us as we paid 140K to Falkirk to bring 26 year old versatile [/b]Sebastian Larsson[/b] to Firs Park. Larsson can play virtually any place on the left side of the pitch up to midfield and should help us with his defensive approach and leadership. I am not sure what the best use will be for him, but we are bound to get plenty of playing time for him. Our fans are a bit worried that Sebastian might disrupt things on the club and I will be monitoring that aspect closely.

[Faramir]

17.6.11

We also completed the transfer purchase of 23 year old Czech defender Martin Kolar. Kolar cost 140K to bring him from Slavia Prague, but I am hopeful that he will become our starting rightback- as that was the position we were weakest at last season. This doesn't mean I have given up on Jamie Ford- just that I want to buy him some development time. Kolar has the pace and stamina to patrol the right wing and give us a nice bookend with Adam Andrzej. Adam is much more an offensive player, so they should partner up fine.

***

19.6.11

We sold unhappy defender Nathan Goris to Falkirk for 250K. Goris has a world of talent, but never fit in well to our backline scheme and never came close to demonstrating the potential I felt he had when we originally purchased him. I expect him to flourish in Falkirk.

***

19.6.11

Arriving is another youngster, 22 year old English midfielder Charlie Barnett. Barnett cost 60K to Liverpool to complete the purchase. Barnett will help provide cover for any midfield role, but especially on the wings. He is a bit better on the right side but can play either side. He may well be a gameday sub because of his versatility.

[BlackStrider]

That is the Birmingham City Sebastian Larsson right? what on earth is he doing at Falkirk? =P

[Faramir]

Blackstrider- considering this is with FM2006 as starting point and in 2011 currently- why not?

***

20.6.11

Not surprisingly, Paul Hopkins was also voted our Supporters' Player of the Year on top of the BSP Player of the Year honours he received.

***

20.6.11

The Board continues to be very low-key in their expectations. This season they would just like us to avoid the relegation battle at the bottom of the BSP. The television money of 1.3 Million leaves us with a current bottom line balance of just over 4 Million.

***

21.6.11

As it turned out, we wound up swapping defenders with Falkirk- but we also got more money in the bargain. We completed the 40K tranfer purchase of 25 year old center defender Gabriel Zakuani from them. Zakuani was pleased to come to us with a chance to play in Europe. Essentially, we swapped the younger Nathan Goris for the experienced Zakuani and received 210K in the bargain- a deal I can live with. Zakuani will help provide more experienced cover in the middle.

[Faramir]

22.6.11

We received a nice little present- 750K- due to the sell-on clause that we had packaged with Rincon. He was sold to PSV for 3.7 Million and that was our portion of the proceeds.

***

26.6.11

We added what should be another important piece of the puzzle as it cost us 200k to liberate transfer listed 24 year old Scot forward James Graham from Rangers. Graham adds a quality forward to our depth and was excited to come to another club that has a chance to play in Europe.

***

1.7.11

Two more salaries came off the books as Brian Kerr went to Leeds on free transfer and we sold David Gray to Lincoln for 30K. We currently are 4.2 Million in the black and our weekly wages are 69K a week, well below the budget of now 90K (the Board boosted the budget up 10K from their initial estimate.

****

2.7.11

It was an interesting friendly to open the season with as we hosted Lyon. Only our new transfer signings and our youth players were back in training- most of the remainder of our squad was still on Holidays, but we gave a good account of ourselves in the first half, trailing only 1-0 and we had several good chances. Once I brought our 2nd line youth players in- well they played like awe-struck schoolboys and Lyon easily finished out the 4-0 win.

[Faramir]

13.7.11

The first friendly of our European excursion started out fine as Jamie Scott scored early on, but we gave Maccabi Petach-Tikva two goals back and they beat us 2-1. The rust showed in our play as we have our regulars had only returned 5 days ago to begin training.

***

14.7.11

Bad news from Copa Americana as word filtered back that Pedro Esterilla had scored in Ecuador's 2-0 win over Venezuela, but had pulled his hamstring. I am waiting confirmation from Mark Leather, but the initial word is they thought he wouldn't be able to play for about a month.

***

16.7.11

Our next trip was to Greece to face Olympiakos. We played a conservative first half that wound up scoreless, but broke out with two superb shots from Steve Lewis for a brace. Unfortunately, Sebastian Larsson played very poorly and gave away a goal and didn't challenge on the equalizer- both very disappointing to me. The 2-2 draw was a decent result and Lewis may be staking his claim for a full-time first team spot (finally).

[Faramir]

20.7.11

We didn't play a good first half against Steaua and Anthony Hallam understandably struggled in his first match back from injury. Hallam's own-goal gave them the lead and his poor marking directly led to their 2nd goal as they beat us 3-1. James Graham showed a flash of his potential with a terrific goal for our only marker, which is good because Paul Hopkins tore a calf muscle in the match and will likely miss 4 months- a serious blow to our side.

***

23.7.11

We finally managed a win on our Euro junket as we beat Rapid Wien 3-1 in a performance that showed we are beginning to round into shape to start the season. Peter Merkestijn, Filippo Savi and Sebastian Larsson all scored in the win and we showed improvement in every facet of our play.

***

26.7.11

A trip to Palmerston Park found us playing well as we handily defeated Queen of the South 3-0 in our last friendly. Marc McCusker had a brace in the second half and Anthony Hallam had the only goal in the first half.

[Faramir]

27.7.11

Our starting lineup for our first BSP match hosting ICT will be:

GK- Ibrahim Arslan

DR- Martin Kolar

DL- Adam Andrzej

DC- Anthony Hallam

DC- Mark Staunton

MR- Sergio Zijler

ML- Gonzalo Higuain

MC- Peter Merkestijn

MC- Gregor Balazic

SC- Marc McCusker

SC- James Graham

Sub- Jamie Scott

Sub- Filippo Savi

Sub- Sebastian Larsson

Sub- Steven van der Deyl

Sub- Danny Black

Sub- Jamie Ford

Sub- Charlie Barnett

[Faramir]

30.7.11

East Stirling (5) ICT (0)

I couldn't have asked for a better start to the season as we blitzed ICT 5-0 at Firs Park, mainly due to a strong second half effort. We took the lead early on in the first half when Marc McCusker was parked on the doorstep and rapped home the rebound after Rich Parkin parried James Graham's hard shot. We moved ahead 2-0 when Graham made a beautiful lay off pass that found Peter Merkestijn cruising up the middle and Merkestijn whistled a shot past Parkin into the left side of the net. ICT had some excellent chances of their own in the first half, but Ibrahim Arslan was very sharp in net and his clean sheet was well earned with several key saves. We settled down in the second half and then took advantage of their aggressiveness as they tried to rally. Jamie Scott, on for tiring McCusker, scored a pretty goal as he stopped quickly and let Jamie Bruinier overrun him before moving back and smashing a shot Parkin. Our last two goals came courtesy of free kicks from MOM Adam Andrzej as he proved how dangerous he has become. Both were about 25 yards and left Parkin with no chance as they were both in the dangerous center of the pitch. I was pleased that we got out of the gate this way to start the season.

***

1.8.11

Totalbet.Com BSP Odds

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Celtic Evens

Rangers Evens

Livingston 20-1

Hearts 20-1

ICT 33-1

East Stirling 33-1

</pre>

[Faramir]

6.8.11

East Stirling (0) Hearts (0)

We put our best effort forward, but MOM Christopher Kallqvist had all the answers today as he kept a tidy clean sheet in earning Hearts a point from a match we dominated. I was very pleased with our ball movement, but we just could not find a way to get one into the goal today. We outshot the visitors by a 12-5 margin and really they only had one good chance all match. Ibrahim Arslan did a nice job of commanding the area today as he continually swept up the long balls that Hearts was tossing into our end. James Graham continues to demonstrate that he will be a valuable addition- particularly with Paul Hopkins gone for so long. Now we must prepare for our Euro Cup 2nd round Qualifier, where the 1st Leg will take us to Georgia to take on Torpedo Kutaisi.

***

8.8.11

We won't be seeing Charlie Barnett anytime soon as he tore a groin muscle in drills and will miss at least two months in recovery.

***

9.8.11

In a deal that changes the complexion of the BSP, Livingston sold star striker Alessandro Simonetta to Rangers for 825K. Despite the money, that seems like a fool's sale- to sell your best player to one of your toughest opponents. It won't happen at East Stirling, at least not while I am here.

[Faramir]

11.8.11

Torpedo Kutaisi (1) East Stirling (5) Euro Cup Qualifying Round 2- 1st Leg

We exploited our advantage in pace from the opening whistle and Torpedo Kutaisi was left dealing with the wreckage of their game plan as we continually pressured the ball througout the match on our way to a 5-1 rout that leaves us in a good way to advance to the 3rd Round. James Graham scored in the 2nd minute when he made a magnificent individual effort by bursting up the left side and rocketing a shot past David Shengelia. We allowed them to equalize when Davit Todua flicked a header past Ibrahim Arslan after Mark Staunton lost coverage on him as the cross from David Narsia came in. We quickly moved back into the lead when Marc McCusker took a Graham pass and blasted it past Shengelia. McCusker quickly made it a brace when he put a strong header in on a long cross from Adam Andrzej to put us ahead 3-1 at halftime. We kept up the pressure in the second half, despite switching to a more conservative tactic, and Filippo Savi made his first goal for us a memorable one as he launched a scorching 35 yard curving blast past Shengelia. Andrzej capped off the scoring and his MOM honours by converting a late penalty kick after Gonzalo Higuain was pulled down in the area. There was no hint of the nervousness we had last season in our first exposure to Europe.

[Faramir]

11.8.11

The Livingston sell-off continued as we will face them in a televised match on the weekend. This time they really angered their faithful with the sale of Giancarlo Pepe to Celtic for 550K. That makes two of their most popular players sold to their biggest rivals- I wonder what dire financial straits they are in to prompt these sales. Our situation- 3.8 Million in the black, and gaining more revenue than ever from Firs Park- leaves us much less vulnerable to these winds of sale that are afflicting Livingston.

***

14.8.11

Livingston (0) East Stirling (1)

The telly audience had an excellent match to watch as we edged Livingston 1-0 in front of a raucous crowd at Almondvale. Though clearly behind their club, the fans also let the front office know what they thought of the recent player sales. I was pleased to see several players step up in this match, as it was our first test of improved depth on the club. Filippo Savi had an excellent match and earned MOM honours for his work in the midfield. The lone goal of the match came on one of the many counterattacks we had in the first half as Jamie Scott whipped in a pass and James Graham deflected it past Simone Villanova. We had other chances too- Villanova stopped Scott on a point-blank opportunity midway through the half and also tipped a curving blast from Sebastian Larsson over the bar. Ibrahim Arslan was doing the same in our net as he earned his clean sheet with several difficult saves, including a blast from Youssef Haider on a nicely laid off ball. The final whistle found me very relieved to have earned a road win over a difficult club. Already short of forwards, we lost both Graham and Steve Lewis to twisted knees that will keep them out about 3 weeks.

[Faramir]

20.8.11

Dundee United (1) East Stirling (1)

This was a match we should have won. It took a lot of hard work and one excellent passing sequence to gain the lead in the first half as Dundee U was doing a good job of tackling everywhere in their end. Mark Staunton set up the play with a long pass down the center of the pitch. Gonzalo Higuain headed the ball down to unmarked Peter Merkestijn and Merkestijn put his shot away past Mark Brown. We missed several chances to add to the lead in the second half and would rue every one of them when Staunton wandered out of position on a throw-in in our end. That allowed Lorenzo Lai to collect the pass in the six yard box unmarked and he whipped his shot past Ibrahim Arslan to leave us with a frustrating 1-1 draw in a match that we should have won.

[Faramir]

25.8.11

East Stirling (3) Torpedo Kutaisi (0) Euro Cup 2nd Round Qualifier- 2nd Leg (East Stirling advances on 8-1 aggregate)

With a full telly audience cheering us on, we dashed Torpedo Kutaisi's faint comeback hopes early on our way to a solid 3-0 win over them at Firs Park. Pedro Esterilla made his first appearance of the season a successful one as he whipped a volley of a pass from Preben Vatle Hammersland past David Shengelia. Less than five minutes later Marc McCusker powered a header home on a nice cross from Niels Ringoot. Those goals clearly took the heart out of the visitors and they were content to go quietly- playing defensively. McCusker skinned David Arveladze and made it a brace and his 5th of the season as he capped the scoring in the 3-0 win. Jamie Ford, playing leftback for the first time here, earned MOM honours for his spirited play. The win puts us through to the 1st Round of Euro Cup play.

***

27.8.11

The Euro Cup draw wasn't particularly kind to us as we will open up with German powerhouse Dortmund. The first leg is at Firs Park on 15.9.11.

[Faramir]

28.8.11

East Stirling (0) Celtic (1)

We find the stupidest ways to lose to Celtic and today was another case in point. We played an excellent match overall, but Mark Staunton got called for a trip in the area. Ibrahim Arslan saved the penalty kick of Jefferson Farfan, but we failed to clear quickly enough and Maciej Zurawski- who seems to kill us every time- scored the loan goal of the match when he drove the rebound into the goal. Zurawski had some excellent chances to add to their lead, but Arslan had his number the rest of the way. We came close to equalizing in the closing moments as Jamie Scott deflected a long cross from Martin Kolar, but David Marshall made the fingertip save to keep us off the scoreboard. Arslan earned MOM honours for his play in the loss.

[Faramir]

30.8.11

As the transfer deadline approaches, Celtic continues to splash out lavishly. They purchased Sasha Meier from Dundee for 550K and then gave Southampton a whopping 10.5 Million for winger Theo Walcott. I debated adding players, but with Mark Staunton finally happy (and under a new contract) I prefer to develop the players already here and won't buy any more players- at least for the moment.

***

10.9.11

Hibernian (2) East Stirling (1)

The match of two keepers. Bruno Costa was brilliant for Hibernian, Ibrahim Arslan was less than brilliant- giving up two weak goals. That was the difference in the match as we had the better of play for much of the match. Costa came up with several fantastic saves, Arslan gave up a 30 yard strike to Derek Riordan and then missed an interception that allowed Blagoy Georgiev to score their 2nd goal. Our play was a bit on the ragged side, but the chances were there for us to take. I will be very happy when we can get back to our normal rotation of forwards, as this piece and match is causing us some offensive cohesion. On the plus side, Jamie Scott scored another terrific goal on the break today and really looks like an outstanding young forward. We also added to the injuries with Gonzalo Higuain fracturing his arm- he will miss a month of play.

[Faramir]

15.9.11

East Stirling (0) Dortmund (1)

Seems like old times. One bad mistake cost us a draw as we played very hard against a much quicker and more talented side. The only goal of the match came when Jose Paolo Guerrero flicked a header past Ibrahim Arslan after getting free on a throw-in late in the second half. Arslan had been brilliant to that point and had kept us in the match with his fine work in net. We didn't have any offense until the second half, but started pressuring them about midway through. Roman Weidenfeller earned MOM honours as he made a pair of superb saves on Filippo Savi after Savi had come on for Gregor Balazic. True to course, the injuries keep mounting as Savi pulled a hamstring and will miss a month.

[Faramir]

18.9.11

East Stirling (2) Motherwell (0)

Despite playing few of our regular 1st line players we were able to hand Motherwell a defeat on the telly, as we scored twice in the second half to win a closely played match. It was a good match to see players step up in, because I really want to lean more heavily on our depth this season as we try to keep the injuries from killing us. Marc McCusker showed again why he is one of the better young forwards in Scotland. McCusker gave us the lead early in the second half as Anthony Hallam sent a long pass up the middle. Danny O'Donnell, already sporting a yellow card, hesitated to challenge McCusker as Marc got there first and Marc took advantage by driving a shot past Jason Fisher into the right side of the net. Less than five minutes later Marc made it a brace as he capped a fine passing sequence started by Martin Fribrock who sent a ball to Jamie Scott. Scott flicked the header to McCusker and he lofted a delicately placed shot over Fisher into the right side of the net. With the lead we settled down to play some defense and our backline did a nice job of supporting Nicholas Sharro to a clean sheet. Hallam earned MOM honours for his good work in the match.

[Faramir]

21.9.11

East Stirling (3) Alloa (0) League Cup 3rd Round

We gave Alloa no chance at all in this match, and I was really pleased with the effort and the focus today. It took us awhile to get rolling, but Jamie Scott delivered a pretty pass that found Marc McCusker moving down the middle. McCusker moved past David Wood and slipped a shot inside the far left post past Peter Radcliffe to give us the lead midway through the first half. Just before halftime we struck again as Niels Ringoot slipped in past Paul O'Brien on a free kick. Radcliffe saved the initial shot, but Ringoot whacked home the rebound for his 1st goal of the season as we went to the dressing room ahead 2-0. We kept control of the flow of play through the second half and finally added another goal when Andreas Dahl helped ensure he would earn MOM honours with a 30 yard free kick for his 1st goal at East Stirling. The 3-0 win over a derby rival advances us to the League Cup Quarterfinals as we will host Celtic.

[Faramir]

24.9.11

Dunfermline (1) East Stirling (1)

We have to learn how to maintain our focus through the final whistle of every half of football. We didn't today and it cost us dearly when they took the lead in first half injury time as Shaun Maloney ghosted in to flick a header past Ibrahim Arslan on a long cross from MOM Siebe Blondelle. This was after we had dominated the first half, but hadn't found a way to score on David Whitehead. Blondelle made the play of the match in the first half as Whitehead was caught out of position on a cross, but Blondelle protected the wide open goal by kicking out and getting a leg on the hard low shot from Sergio Zijler. We tried to rally in the second half, but they were doing a better job defensively. We finally equalized when Michael Lea shoved James Graham in the area. Martin Kolar stepped up and converted the penalty kick for his 1st goal at East Stirling and the equalizer. Both sides came close to taking the match, but Dunfermline had two superb chances in the last minutes and Arslan came up with big saves to help us split the points.

[Faramir]

29.9.11

Dortmund (3) East Stirling (2) Euro Cup 1st Round Leg 2- Dortmund advances on 4-2 aggregate

Our second trip to Europe lasted only one round longer than our first as Dortmund broomed us out of the Euro Cup with a 3-2 win over us. We were just a goal away from putting them in trouble the entire match. James Graham stunned the sold out crowd of over 60000 when he swooped in off a nice pass from Gregor Balazic and hammered a shot past Roman Weidenfeller in the 3rd minute. They evened the match when Florian Kringe made a wonder strike from 30 yards out that Ibrahim Arslan had no chance of saving. They took the lead late in the first half when Thomas Schroer overpowered Peter Merkestijn and deflected a free kick from Adriano past Arslan. We weren't done though and Pedro Esterilla sent a pretty curving pass that Graham drove past Weidenfeller to make it a brace and even the match at 2-2. If we could have gotten the next goal, things would really have been interesting. Unfortunately, 18 year old wunderkid Patrick Auer put the sword to Anthony Hallam and Mark Staunton as they could not contain or tackle him. Auer missed close twice, but the third time was the charm as he slipped past Hallam at the edge of the area and then scorched a shot past Arslan to cement Dortmund's advantage. We were out of miracles at that point and they played better defense in finishing out the win and celebrating their move onward.

***

1.10.11

I was pleased that Marc McCusker earned September Young Player of the Month honours, barely edging out Anthony Hallam. McCusker really has demonstrated that he should be a fixture up front for us for years to come.

[Amaroq]

Oh! Unlucky. Loving the story, as always, Faramir. KUTGW!

[Faramir]

Thanks Amaroq Dortmund was better than us...

***

2.10.11

Partick (1) East Stirling (1)

Another draw that should have been a better result for us. The first half was scoreless thanks to fine work from Ibrahim Arslan and Ole-Jorgen Abelsen. Both sides had good chances and bad luck as each of the clubs hit a crossbar in the first half. We had pressure on them to start the second half, but were once again burnt by bad defensive choices. Arslan's goal kick up the middle turned into a counterattack when Marko Balazic headed it right back up the pitch. The header caught Anthony Hallam and Mark Staunton moving forward and Albert Yague zoomed past them. It still would have been fine, but Arslan started to come out and then hesitated and Yague struck a well-placed 40 yard shot past the stranded Arslan to give them the lead. We kept battling and a nice passing play from Martin Fribrock to Marc McCusker set up McCusker to cross to unmarked Pedro Esterilla for an easy tap-in equalizer. We tried to gain the win, but our shots were off the mark and we had to settle for another 1-1 draw.

[Faramir]

22.10.11

Rangers (0) East Stirling (1)

After a long break due to International play and rescheduling, we came back to play with a trip to Ibrox. Rangers were in 1st place and on a 23 match unbeaten streak, but we ended that with a gritty, determined defensive effort as we edged them 1-0 in a match where they outplayed us. The lone goal of the match came early on in the first half when Sergio Zijler spun a pass over to Pedro Esterilla and he split two defenders before driving a shot past Lars Rungo. Our backline played superbly today, led by MOM Davide Ferrante. Ferrante showed the ability that made us bring him over from Juventus as he was in the right place anytime we needed a key tackle or header. Ibrahim Arslan was in fine fettle as well, making several excellent saves to keep 'Gers frustrated. The second half was a repeat of the first, but we started getting counterattacks as 'Gers surged forward- desperately trying to equalize. Rungo made two sensational saves on James Graham as we sprung him on counterattacks twice in the last few minutes. The final whistle found me very relieved to have won a terrific 1-0 match.

[Faramir]

26.10.11

East Stirling (2) Dundee (3)

We came off the jubilant effort against Rangers and played a good game against Dundee. Despite playing well, we were undone by our ineffective keeping and poor backline play, as well as an excellent effort from Dundee keeper Karl Dryden. We took the early lead in the match when Steve Lewis cruised in and put the rebound home after Dryden got a piece of Pedro Esterilla's shot but couldn't hold it. They answered when Juanma Pena slipped the coverage of Anthony Hallam and rifled his 10th goal of the season past Nicholas Sharro. Esterilla moved us back in front with a terrific 20 yard strike from just inside the edge of the area, but they pegged us back immediately when a loose ball bounced to Paul Anderson and he rocketed his shot past Sharro from just beyond the edge of the area. With the match in the balance in the second half, it was sloppy backline play that killed us as John Jairo Mosquera drove a rebound in for the match winner after we failed to head away the first chance and then failed to clear after Sharro's save. We pounded away at Dryden, but to no avail and we were left with a stinging 3-2 loss in a match that we had played very well in.

[Faramir]

29.10.11

Hearts (3) East Stirling (1)

The bloom is definitely off the rose as our backline again played poorly and we lost to Hearts 3-1 at Tyncastle. Their first goal was just a failure to cover by our backline as Luigi Stillo came in free on the backside of the play as Martin Kolar lost track of him and rapped the cross past Ibrahim Arslan. We fought back and James Graham scored his 5th goal of the season moments after passing up a shot at a wide open goal to pass the ball. We fell behind again when Nazad Asaad blistered a 25 yard shot past a flat-footed Arslan. They clinched the win as Scott McDonald spun away from his marker and fired a low shot past Arslan on a loose ball in our six yard box. Christopher Kallqvist played well in their net to earn the win.

[Faramir]

6.11.11

East Stirling (2) Livingston (0)

We righted the ship again with a strong effort against Livingston as we beat them 2-0 at Firs Park. We struck for the lead early on in the match when Marc McCusker made a superb header to the far left corner of the net as he flicked on a centering pass from Alan Lowing. There were other chances to add to the lead, but Gareth Williams settled down and kept Livingston close. Ibrahim Arslan also had to make several saves to preserve the lead, but it was still 1-0 at halftime. We had the jump on the visitors to start the second half and were buzzing around their area. In one of the more unusual sequences I have seen, Yousef Haider pushed Marc McCusker in the area to give us a penalty kick. Williams made a diving parry of James Graham's penalty kick, but in the ensuing scramble Sheku Kamara tripped McCusker- giving us our 2nd penalty kick in a one minute span. Graham didn't miss on the 2nd chance of converting the penalty kick and moved us ahead 2-0. We played more conservatively after that, but held the majority of control in the midfield area as we helped Arslan finish off a clean sheet in the win that delighted our faithful fans.

[Faramir]

9.11.11

East Stirling (2) Celtic (1) League Cup Quarterfinal

The road to the League Cup for us went through Celtic and we gave them all they could handle as we edged them 2-1 in front of a frenzied crowd at Firs Park. It was a brilliant up and down match for us, as we pressured them with our pace the entire match- while they pressured us with their technical superiority. We struck for the lead early in the first half when James Graham sailed a long cross and Niels Ringoot put the goal away with a strong header past David Marshall. They answered when Emrah Ekin slipped the marking of Anthony Hallam and smashed a header past Ibrahim Arslan on a cross from Theo Walcott. As the match entered first half injury time, Martin Fribrock slipped a pass through to James Graham. Jack Wilson was forced to pull Graham down for a yellow card and a penalty kick. Martin Kolar stroked the penalty kick past Marshall to give us the lead again. The second half was a whirl up and down the pitch as both clubs played flowing attacks. The backlines had steadied as Marshall and Arslan proved they were top keepers with fine saves. The final whistle found us still holding a 2-1 margin as we broomed Celtic out of the League Cup. Kolar earned MOM honours in the match. Our road to the final is through Hearts as ICT and Rangers will square off in the other Semifinal.

[Faramir]

11.11.11

Two pieces of excellent news today. First the Firs Park renovation is now complete and we have seating for over 16000. This will be a huge boon to ticket sales and revenue for the club. The other piece of welcome news is that last season's Player of the Year Paul Hopkins has finally returned to regular training. James Graham has done a wonderful job filling in for Hopkins and with him soon ready to play again- we have a good forward rotation of Hopkins, Pedro Esterilla, our leading scorer Marc McCusker, Graham, Jamie Scott and Steve Lewis.

***

12.11.11

Anthony Hallam earned his 1st Scottisch Cap as he substituted on in their 2-2 draw hosting Switzerland. I spoke with him later and the glow was definitely still in his voice.

***

15.11.11

Steve Lewis fractured his ribs while playing for the Scotland Under-21 side. He will miss at least a month and possibly two recovering from the injury.

[Faramir]

26.11.11

East Stirling (2) Dundee (0)

This match was a perfect example of how we need to play every match. Dundee was much sharper than us in the first half and held a lot of possession time, but they went in trailing 1-0 because we received steady work from Nicholas Sharro in net and our defensive coverage was superb. The lone goal in the half came when Marc McCusker made a beautiful flick of a long cross from Martin Fribrock and it went past Mark Brown into the upper right corner of the net. We missed a golden opportunity in the opening moments of the second half as Paul Hopkins, making his return from injury, was tripped in the area by Jonathan Bottinelli. Martin Kolar's penalty kick went right to Brown as Kolar shook his head in frustration. We kept working defensively and continually frustrated their attempts to rally. We put the match away in second half injury time when Jamie Scott took a quick pass just inside of midfield and blazed his way down the pitch. When Bottinelli missed the tackle on him, Scott moved to the right and then shot back across the net just inside the left post for a fantastic goal. Sharro earned his clean sheet with the solid work in net and Anthony Hallam was rewarded with a well earned MOM as he was instrumental in making Frank Jung- a nemesis of ours- a non-factor in the match.

[Faramir]

30.11.11

ICT (0) East Stirling (3)

This was a strange match. In the first half ICT controlled a lot of the play, especially after Sergio Zijler was sent off with his 2nd yellow card at 26 minutes, but failed to score thanks to excellent work in net from Nicholas Sharro. Sharro, who is now starting to live up to my expectations for him, really left Trond Sveen muttering to himself as he stopped him three different times on superb chances. We also benefitted from Ruben Hernandez rattling the crossbar from close in. The complexion of the match changed again when Leonardo Pereira was sent off in first half injury time with his 2nd yellow card. With both sides down to 10 men- I chose to bring on Paul Hopkins as leftwing- to help give us more offensive options in the open space. The move paid off marvelously in the opening moments when Hopkins and James Graham drew defenders to the left wing and Hopkins slotted the ball back to Gregor Balazic in space. Balazic blasted a curving 30 yard shot past Niki Maenpaa for his 1st goal of the season. ICT tried to rally, but found Sharro still working hard for a clean sheet and they couldn't score. Hopkins and Graham then worked another pretty passing sequence down the left side before Graham picked out Andreas Dahl lurking free at the far edge of the six yard box. Dahl never stopped Graham's pass and smashed it inside the far left post to put us ahead 2-0 and to help earn himself MOM honours. Balazic then capped the scoring as he made it a brace with another 25 yard rocket past Maenpaa. We came close to adding more goals, but settled for the 3-0 win at Tulloch Calendonian Stadium.

[Faramir]

3.12.11

Celtic (0) East Stirling (2)

The Celtic fans were doubly stunned as the Champions of the BSP for the last six seasons lost their 2nd home match in a row, as they also lost to Hibernian in a midweek tilt. This was as composed as I have seen our club play and we were trading attacks with Celtic from the opening whistle. Nicholas Sharro did well to tip a Paul Sutton header over the crossbar in early going. It was easy to see what a difference it makes for us to have Paul Hopkins in the lineup. Hopkins picked up a ball that was headed clear by Anthony Hallam and sent a perfectly placed pass to Marc McCusker down the right side. McCusker took the ball into the area and then lofted a superb chip past onrushing Radek Kolenderski to give us the lead midway through the first half. McCusker then earned his MOM honours with a hard working effort that paid off in our second goal. Adam Andrzej lofted a ball that went down in to the right corner. McCusker outhustled Scott Golborne and lofted a pass back into the middle. Peter Merkestijn showed exquisite timing as he flicked his header past Kolenderski to give us a 2-0 lead. Moments later Celtic realized they were in deep trouble as team leader Frederik Holster drew his 2nd yellow card for tripping Hopkins and was off to the showers. Without Holster, Celtic didn't show the same elan in attacking and it helped our backline keep Nicholas Bendtner and Sutton very quiet for the match. The second half was a workmanlike defensive effort as we provided Sharro with plenty of support in keeping a clean sheet.

***

6.12.11

With both Paul Hopkins and Marc McCusker suffering leg strains in practice this week, we are woefully short of forwards. Our only healthy ones on the Senior side are James Graham and John Bruce, so we may have to dip into the Reserves for David Webster to give us more cover until we get some of the regulars back healthy.

[Faramir]

10.12.11

Motherwell (0) East Stirling (0)

It was a match that we played well enough to earn a better result, but had to settle for a draw. Motherwell, struggling in the relegation muddle, took the play to us for much of the first half and it was only thanks to good work from Nicholas Sharro that we were able to stay locked in a scoreless duel. They were much crisper in their passing and moving the ball. We revived our fortunes at halftime and began asserting ourselves offensively. Jason Fisher was called on for a couple good stops on Jamie Scott and Filippo Savi. Their backline was making saving tackles galore, including two on Scott with open nets on rebounds by Ryan Serrant. Serrant's luck ran out at 78 minutes when he earned his 2nd yellow card, but we never were able to use the additional space effectively and squandered our last couple good chance in finishing out by splitting the points.

[Faramir]

17.12.11

East Stirling (3) Hibernian (1)

Today's match featured the James Graham show, as his hat-trick and overall play up front dominated the Hibernian backline and led us to a comfortable 3-1 win at Firs Park. Graham, after missing close twice in the early going, drove home a rebound after Bruno Costa made a terrific parry on Anthony Hallam's deflection of Adam Andrzej's corner. Graham made it a brace in first half injury time when he took a good pass from Andrzej and struck an absolute rocket shot from a sharp angle past Costa. Graham finished off the hat-trick early in the second half when Filippo Savi deftly laid the ball off for him. Graham surprised Costa by triggering a curling 30 yard shot that beat the retreating keeper cleanly and set off a wild celebration of Shire fans. Hibernian managed to ruin Nicholas Sharro's clean sheet when David Novotny managed to get enough space to hit a half-volley past Sharro in second half injury time.

[Faramir]

26.12.11

East Stirling (3) Dunfermline (1)

James Graham provided an encore presentation and now looks like one of the best additions ever for East Stirling. It was another hat-trick for Graham as we managed to outlast a determined Dunfermline side in a match that was much closer than a 3-1 score might indicate. Graham's first goal was a testament to his vision, as Filippo Savi sent him a short pass and Graham never stopped the ball, as he noticed that David Whitehead was out on a walkabout and he skipped a 25 yard shot inside the far left post for his 10th goal of the season. Anthony Hallam's strong tackling keyed the second goal for Graham as Hallam took the ball away from Shaun Maloney and zipped it ahead so Graham could drill a shot inside the left post moments before the whistle to end the first half. Dunfermline rallied in the second half and showed much more composure and ball movement. That finally paid off for them when James Vaughan ripped a rising shot past Ibrahim Arslan, just back from injury, to draw a goal back. We ended their rally hopes when Niels Ringoot sent a sizzling cross that Graham reached before Linus Johansson and deflected past Whitehead to complete the scoring in our win.

It is clear at midseason who the top 4 clubs are in BSP and despite Celtic's short tumble they beat 'Gers 4-3 at Ibrox today to move into a commanding 1st place lead again. It should be a very interesting second half of the season.

BSP Mid-Season Table

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

1- Celtic 44 pts (+23)

2- Rangers 39 pts (+20)

3- Livingston 35 pts (+18)

4- East Stirling 35 pts (+17)

5- Dundee 28 pts (-1)

6- ICT 27 pts (-6)

7- Hibernian 26 pts (-1)

</pre>

[Faramir]

1.1.12

The December honours were again swept by our players as James Graham was picked for Player of the Month honours and Anthony Hallam earned the Young Player of the Month honours.

It was also the reopening of the transfer window and our sale of John Bruce (Nottingham Forest, 40K initially with future fees), Gabriel Zakuani (Hull, 35K) and Steven Dorris (Grays, free transfer) went through. We had one small addition as promising young 19 year old leftback John McGowan joined us from Rangers youth program. I don't see McGowan supplanting Adam Andrzej soon- unless for some reason we are forced to sell him- but with Clark Kay unhappy and clamoring for a move, I thought adding the youngster would be a good development.

***

3.1.12

It appears to be the season of discontent, despite our our good play of late. The interest in our players seems to be getting to them. Martin Kolar is upset that I turned down Crystal Palace and Hertha BSC offers for him, when neither was remotely close to what he is worth. Likewise, Davide Ferrante is serious about wanting to move to another club. Filippo Savi isn't happy, though his is more related to playing time than the offer I turned down on him. I also turned down offers on Anthony Hallam (no way he is leaving, if I have a say in it- and right now I do), Niels Ringoot and Gregor Balazic. I am hopeful that all of this commotion won't distract from our play.

[Faramir]

4.1.12

East Stirling (3) Partick (1)

Well, it was nice to actually play a match and get away from the transfer muddle. We played a controlled match and it was our composure that won out in the end as we beat Partick 3-1 at Firs Park. Partick had the jump on us in the early going, but Ibrahim Arslan performed brilliantly in keeping them from gaining the lead on us- as he had three terrific saves in the first half. The only goal in the first half was credited to Xavi Robles as he was awarded an own-goal, but Sergio Zijler was the reason for the goal as he came in on the backside of a good passing sequence and Robles was forced to try and deflect his blast past the post and instead put it inside the post. Gonzalo Higuain, who had come on for a tiring Paul Hopkins, found space and drilled a 25 yard blast past Ole-Jorgen Abelsen for his 1st goal of the season. Just as quickly we gave that goal back when Mark Staunton completely lost Robles on a free kick and Robles had an easy flick header past Arslan to get them back in the match. We finally dashed their hopes when Petr Ciganek was yellow carded for tripping Martin Fribrock in the area and Martin Kolar converted the penalty kick to finish off our 3-1 win.

[Faramir]

6.1.12

I have no idea if this will help quiet the talk or the other club's interest, but against the advice of my assistant mananger- I signed Davide Ferrante to a new, much larger contract. In my eyes Ferrante has earned the higher wages and appears to be on the cusp of becoming a superb defender. I have been scouting heavily, thinking I might have to let him go, but I haven't seen anyone comparable to him that is willing to consider coming here. So, it made sense to get him under a new contract and try and keep the pairing of him and Anthony Hallam- which has worked wonders at stabilizing our backline this season- together as long as possible. Additionally, it hopefully buys time for Mark Staunton to full develop and allows me to use him as the 3rd defender in the center rotation, which means enough playing time to develop, but not so much that it is overwhelming for him. For the moment Danny Black is the 4th defender in the center rotation.

***

7.1.12

Raith (0) East Stirling (2) Scottish Cup 3rd Round

It was a really pleasing effort from our boys today as we beat Raith 2-0 in a match that could have been much higher scoring on our part, given that we outshot the home side 17-4 for the match. We managed a goal in each half, the first one coming from James Graham as he made a well-timed deflection of a cross from MOM Jamie Scott. Though we had many chances, we weren't able to build on that lead and with how well we were playing in the midfield, I chose to rest Graham in the second half and bring on Gonzalo Higuain for a 4411 approach. That helped throttle the home side's efforts to rally and we finally put the match out of reach when Higuain crossed to Scott and he slammed the shot past Peter Shaw at 87 minutes to cap the 2-0 win.

[Faramir]

9.1.12

Unhappy Clark Kay was sold to Hull today for 50K. The addition of John McGowan would have meant no playing time for Kay, so it was best in our mutual interests to find him a new home.

***

14.1.12

Dundee (0) East Stirling (1)

Another match that took a lot of work, but where we came away with a nice well-earned win. We had a bit more control of the flow of play than the home side in the first half, but thanks to Karl Dryden in net, we weren't able to convert our chances into goals. Our best chance saw Paul Hopkins miss just wide and Marc McCusker's header was parried over the bar. They also had some nice opportunities and Ibrahim Arslan had to be sharp to tip Ala'a Hubail's booming low shot around the post. Erik Salkic had a difficult match and his trip of MOM Sergio Zijler in the area in the opening moments of the second half appeared to give us a great shot at taking the lead. Due to a miscommunication, young John McGowan went up to take the penalty and his nerves got the best of him as Dryden blocked his low blast. Zijler pounced on the rebound, but Dryden's dive got his hand on the ball. McGowan had remained alert after his penalty was saved and now was in the right place to drill the rebound into the open goal for his 1st ever Senior goal. We played conservatively the rest of the second half, but that worked out fine as our counter-attacks were causing problems. We couldn't seem to find the clinching goal, but were playing excellent defense in our half of the pitch as Dundee never really had a good opportunity to equalize and we finished out another close win.

[Faramir]

21.1.12

East Stirling (2) Rangers (0)

Rangers are quickly realizing that we are becoming a real threat to them as our 2-0 win at a packed Firs Park draws us up on their heels for 2nd place in BSP. Ibrahim Arslan was brilliant early on in the match and we certainly needed that as we gave Danny Howard and Danny Segers a wee bit too much space around the net. Howard went off with an injury midway through the half and that seemed to slow them down a bit and they started taking longer shots. We struck for the lead when James Graham made a tremendous volley on a long centering pass from Martin Kolar. Graham's volley tucked into the far upper left corner past Clas Bergwall and was one of the best goals I have seen this season. Graham made it a brace with another sensational goal less than 5 minutes later. Sebastian Larsson cleared away an attempted 'Gers cross with a long header that Graham ran down just inside 'Gers side of the pitch. Graham blazed down the pitch and though Jemel Henry tried desperately to close him down, he couldn't before Graham blasted a shot past Bergwall. With the lead, we again began playing more conservatively and we did a nice job of frustrating 'Gers passing lanes in the second half with great work from the backline in cutting out passes. Though we didn't score any more, we did earn some nice chances and forced Bergwall to make a couple nice saves to keep 'Gers in the match. Our crowd, easily the largest in Firs Park history, gave the boys a standing ovation when the final whistle sounded. Peter Merkestijn's tireless efforts in the midfield earned him MOM honours over Graham.

BSP Table- 22 played 16 remaining

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

1- Celtic 53 pts (+31)

2- Rangers 45 pts (+22)

3- East Stirling 44 pts (+22)

4- Livingston 35 pts (+10)

5- Dundee United 35 pts (+1)

6- ICT 31 pts (-9)

</pre>

[Faramir]

21.1.12

It was a difficult decision. Celtic offered 4.8 Million (and a future friendly) for Filippo Savi. I was loathe to hand over the talented Savi- especially to them- but the 4.8 Million would help wipe out some of the huge debt the club is carrying and would certainly help both our solvency and our future. Despite my high regard for Savi, I think we can win without him and we have been proving that as he has been out with injury for the last month. I am certain they will work out a contract with him, and it would be impossible to deny him the move- given his clear ambitions to play for a big club. I expect he will move in the next week before the transfer deadline.

Also moving is Alan Lowing as we accepted an 150K offer from Hibernian. I would rather keep Alan- especially with the spectre of losing Martin Kolar at some point, but he is pretty unhappy and I prefer to allow him to move to a club where he might get more regular playing time.

***

23.1.12

Letting Lowing go turned into a huge mistake when Martin Kolar tore his calf muscle and will now miss 3-4 months- likely the remainder of the season. Danny Black and Jamie Ford will have to handle the spot, unless I can find one quickly before the transfer deadline.

***

24.1.12

The sale of Filippo Savi was completed with Celtic. Though we are much better off financially, we have handed another weapon over to a club that is seemingly on their way to their 7th consecutive BSP title.

[Faramir]

27.1.12

With no real prospects available to fill our hole at rightback, I wound up offering on ICT reserve player Gary Irvine. Though the 26 year old is not well thought of by either my scouts or my Assistant Manager, it was worth the 140K to bring him on board for two seasons. Ross has blazing speed and that will help us up and down the right side- similar to what Kolar has done for us. Irvine isn't as polished as Kolar, but hopefully can help plug to gap for the remainder of the season. Also joining us is 18 year old center defender Andrew McCarthy who we purchased from Dundee United for 95K. McCarthy was sought after by both Rangers and Celtic as well, so I was very pleased when he signed a contract to come to Firs Park.

***

27.1.12

I don't know whether to be pleased or not as news came that Celtic had also raided Livingston and gotten their top scorer Aarran Butcher. Butcher is someone who really gives our backline fits, it will hurt Livingston a lot to lose him. With us chasing 'Gers for 2nd before anything else- I guess I can't afford to worry much about it.

[Faramir]

28.1.12

Livingston (4) East Stirling (3)

I guess I needn't have worried- Livingston aptly demonstrated they didn't need Butcher. Their new addition, Jan Machacek- who they just got from Raith, showed why they wanted him so badly as he scored a hat-trick while putting our backline to the sword. Ex-mate Erton Fejzullahu also added a terrific goal as Ibrahim Arslan wasn't nearly as sharp as we needed him to be. With our backline lacking both fullback starters, we had a difficult time keeping Livingston under check. The only highlight in the first half for us was when Paul Hopkins scored his 1st goal of the season with a well placed shot after a good pass from James Graham. We went to halftime trailing 3-1, but I was convinced we could still get back into the match. Instead Martin Fribrock handed Machacek his hattrick with a terrible backpass directly to him that left Arslan at his mercy. We still kept working- and we caused problems as John Burns tripped Graham in the area. Gregor Balazic stepped up and drew a goal back as he converted the penalty. Our pressure kept them scrambling and Viktor Kalnysh, who they had received from Celtic as part of the Butcher deal, didn't debut as well as he gave us our 2nd penalty kick by tripping Hopkins. Hopkins made it a brace when he converted the penalty kick and things were very quiet at Almondvale. We came oh so close to equalizing- three times- in the last minutes. Gareth Williams rebounded to make two tremendous saves on Hopkins and Balazic and Michael Krause made a saving tackle when it looked like Graham would be able to put a rebound into the open goal. We just didn't play well enough early enough in this one and lost because of it. 'Gers swamped Dundee at Ibrox to put us 4 points back again.

[Faramir]

31.1.12

Hearts (2) East Stirling (1) League Cup Semifinal

We weren't good enough, that is the fact we must face after losing to Hearts 2-1 in a match that we could have won. We had several good scoring chances early in the first half, but misfired on our opportunities and didn't really test Christopher Kallqvist. They began applying pressure and we survived their first couple chances, but Ibrahim Arslan made a poor punch and Luigi Stillo was right there to drive the loose ball into the open goal to give them the lead. Less than five minutes later, we were in deeper trouble as Stefan Meyer made a fantastic 25 yard strike past Arslan inside the far right post to send them ahead 2-0. We opened the second half by pressuring them in their end, only to see Peter Merkestijn miss the net by a wide margin when we put him in free. Merkestijn made up for that miss by getting us back into the match as he knocked home a loose ball in a wild scramble after Kallqvist made a good parry on a blast from Marc McCusker. We just couldn't get the equalizer past Kallqvist, despite a couple more really good chances and were left out of the League Cup again as Hearts moves on to the Finals.

***

1.2.12

Sergio Zijler was selected as January's BSP Player of the Month, another award well earned by his efforts. Anthony Hallam finished 2nd to Danny Howard for Young Player of the Month. In a nice twist, our players had the top two goals in the Goal of the Month selection as Gonzalo Higuain was picked for the award for a strike against Partick, while James Graham's goal against 'Gers finished 2nd.

[Faramir]

11.2.12

East Stirling (1) Hearts (0)

Due to the rescheduling of another match, we jumped back into BSP hosting Hearts with a chance for revenge. Both sides wanted this match dearly, but we showed very poor execution in the first half of the match as they had an easy time cutting out our passes. We didn't trouble Swen Konig too much with any of our shots, but Nicholas Sharro came up with big saves on Alvedin Nezirovac and Nazad Asaad to keep things scoreless for the half. We started to show more organization on the attack in the second half and forced Konig to come up with a nice save on James Graham. We lost two goals to offsides calls early in the second half, which was very frustrating as both were very close calls. Steve Lewis made his return from a lengthy injury and it turned out to be a celebratory return as moments after he came on for Graham, he slipped a shot past Konig after Paul Hopkins gave him a deft pass in the area. We staunchly protected that lead with a more conservative approach, but Sharro still had to come up with a brilliant parry against Scott McDonald late in the second half to preserve his clean sheet and earn us the three points.

[Faramir]

15.2.12

East Stirling (4) ICT (1) Scottish Cup 4th Round

A well earned win was what our Firs Park faithful celebrated after we broomed ICT out of the Scottish Cup on the strength of our 4-1 win. If not for Ibrahim Arslan, we might not have won this match at all, as he had a dazzling match and made several key saves in the first half. Andrew McCarthy made his debut for us and was a little lost in the first half as they were buzzing. Arslan came up with key saves against Trond Sveen, Dennis Berendsen and Romone Rose to keep things spotless before we struck for the lead. Pedro Esterilla, seemingly enjoying his switch from the right to left forward spot, ghosted in and blasted a shot past Paul Hughes from just beyond the six yard box to get us on the board. Marc McCusker made it 2-0 when he took a nice pass from MOM Gonzalo Higuain and rifled a shot past Hughes into the right side of the goal. When McCarthy missed the tackle, Rose made us pay as he blistered a shot past Arslan to draw them back to a 2-1 halftime deficit. The first few moments of the second half were taut, but we started moving the match beyond reach when Higuain drove home a rebound after Hughes initially stopped McCusker. A pretty pass from Preben Vatle Hammersland, on for Esterilla, to McCusker allowed him to make it a brace with a well placed shot off the inside of the right upright to complete the scoring in the 4-1 win.

[Faramir]

19.2.12

Dundee United (0) East Stirling (2)

This was a difficult match, especially when James Graham was forced to leave early in the first half. Ibrahim Arslan again did yeoman work in keeping them from gaining the lead with a series of very good saves. Davide Ferrante was also doing a nice job, continually clearing away loose balls and heading away the most dangerous crosses as the home side held control of the play for most of the first half. We really hadn't had any good chances when we struck for the lead against the flow of play. It was a quick counterattack started by Ferrante late in the first half that was the turning point. Martin Fribrock was given space down the left sideline and he made it pay off for us with a superb cross that picked out Sergio Zijler ghosting in from the right sideline. Zijler deflected the cross inside the right post for his 1st goal of the season and we held a lead at halftime that we didn't really deserve. When Jamie Scott, who had come on for Graham, was slightly injured in the opening moments of the second half, Gonzalo Higuain came on and we reverted to a more defensive approach. That paid off in a big way when Higuain made a perfect pass to find Paul Hopkins racing down the pitch on a counterattack. Hopkins took the ball around Mark Brown for the goal that gave us breathing room. As it was, we didn't need the extra goal because Arslan was dominant in our goal today and his clean sheet was well earned. Ferrante's MOM was also deserved as he continued to play excellent positional defense in the second half in helping close out the 2-0 win in the televised match.

[Faramir]

22.2.12

East Stirling (2) ICT (3)

ICT had their revenge against us as they handed us a stinging 3-2 loss at Firs Park. Our backline played a bad match today and that was really the difference in the two sides as we actually had better scoring chances in looking over the entire match. We took the lead when Pedro Esterilla made a terrific shot past Paul Hughes from a sharp angle. We handed that goal back when Davide Ferrante drew a yellow card for tripping Romone Rose in the area and Ricardo Tavares converted the penalty kick past Ibrahim Arslan. We fell behind as Rose came in free as our backline failed to get back and Andreas Dahl's horrible backpass sent Rose away to score. We hit back immediately as Chris Hamilton deflected in a Martin Fribrock corner for his 1st goal of the season. Trond Sveen scored the match winner on a another bad play by the backline. Gary Irvine gave the ball away and then a good pass put Sven in a one-on-one with Mark Staunton. Sveen made mincemeat of Staunton, on for Ferrante, before driving a shot past Arslan. Hughes pushed a last gasp shot from Steve Lewis over the bar to preserve the win.

[Faramir]

25.2.12

Dundee (1) East Stirling (0) Scottish Cup Quarterfinal

One very good play by Dundee and a lot of missed shots on our part was enough to see them through to the Semifinal as we head home with another disappointing loss. They scored early in the match when John Jairo Mosquera made an excellent flick on of a cross and Juanma Pena drove the ball into the open right side of the goal. We had plenty of chances in both the rest of the first half and much of the second half to equalize, but we kept missing the net with our shots. Karl Dryden made the few saves he had to, but we were our own worst enemy in failing to convert our chances. With the loss we are out of both Cups, so can now concentrate fully on our BSP schedule.

***

1.3.12

None of our players got mention in Player of the Month awards, not surprising given our play for the month. We did manage to capture the Goal of the Month for the second straight time as Pedro Esterilla's strike against ICT was highlighted for the honour.

[Faramir]

3.3.12

Hibernian (1) East Stirling (1)

The story of our run of fortune of late continued as we played a very good match and created a lot of excellent scoring chances. We just haven't been able to capitalize on them of late and today that was the case as we fought back to a 1-1 draw in a match we dominated in the second half. We fell behind on a fluke goal by Gary Kenneth late in the first half after playing very solid defense. Paul Hopkins got the equalizer early in the second half when he hammered home a shot after a nice chip pass from Martin Fribrock. Hopkins had three more one-on-one chances with keeper Bruno Costa, but Costa made acrobatic saves on all three of them to help earn the home side a split of the points with us. We welcomed Adam Andrzej back after missing two months, but it was clear he wasn't fully game fit. With 'Gers road win, it appears likely we will have to work for a 3rd place finish again this season. 'Gers is within a point of Celtic for the top spot, but Celtic has a match in hand. Livingston is in 4th and trails us by 7 points with 11 matches remaining on the schedule.