Scottish Reprise- Return to East Stirling

[Faramir]

16.4.13

Dundee United (2) East Stirling (2)

We stunned Dundee United and knocked them out of the Playoff Group when John Burns scored a dramatic equalizer in second half injury time. Not only that, but Mark Brown had to come up with a truly superb save on Steve Lewis to keep Lewis from scoring the match winner moments later. It was a great turnaround for us, as we handed them a 2-0 lead in the first half. Anthony Hallam had a truly terrible match and gave them both of their goals. The first came on a challenge in the area that Hallam had no business making. Mark Wilson converted the penalty kick past Kenneth Stenild to give them the lead. Minutes later Hallam lost the ball to Lorenzo Lai while dallying in the area and Lai took it around Stenild to put them up 2-0. We had chances, but Brown was denying us as we moved to the second half. We started pressuring them, but the complexion of the match changed when Steve Lewis came on for David Clarkson. Lewis played a nice ball out to Jan Urbanek. Urbanek forced Brown to make the save on a curling blast from the edge of the area and Lewis rapped home the rebound to give us a glimmer of hope. That hope came to fruition when Burns, on for injured Gonzalo Higuain, proved he could be in the right place as he drove another rebound from Brown past him to send the Tannadice crowd to sudden silence. Lewis appeared to have an open goal for the match winner after a good pass from Steven Watson, but Brown came from nowhere to get his fingertips on the shot and keep it out of the goal as we settled for the 2-2 draw.

BSP Table- 33 played, 5 remaining

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

1- Celtic 76 pts (+51)

2- Rangers 73 pts (+46)

3- East Stirling 59 pts (+29)

4- Livingston 48 pts (-5)

5- Dunfermline 43 pts (-8)

6- Motherwell 43 pts (-19)

</pre>

[Faramir]

19.4.13

East Stirling (4) Livingston (1)

We assured ourselves of finishing in 3rd place as we roared back from yielding a goal in the opening minute of play to demolish Livingston 4-1. Erton Fejzullahu made Anthony Hallam look foolish as he scored past Nicholas Sharro before most of the Firs Park crowd had settled into their seats. I could not help thinking 'Not again!'. Today's match would be different though and we were quickly back to even when Preben Vatle Hammersland crossed and Sergio Zijler deflected it past Ross Wilkinson. We made it a quickfire double when Steve Buchanan slid a pass through to Marc McCusker and he put it away into the right side of the goal. McCusker then made it a brace with his 20th goal of the season after he managed to run down another Buchanan pass and then whirled past Michael Krause before firing past Wilkinson. We maintained the pressure in the second half and when Buchanan was tripped in the area by Simon Salmon, Santos put the capper on the match by converting the penalty kick to finish off our 4-1 win. McCusker earned MOM honours for his efforts today.

[Faramir]

19.4.13

We have now become the x-factor in Celtic and Rangers title hopes. With our 3rd place spot locked up, we have no pressure and can go for it against both clubs. Celtic hosts us Monday and they better be ready for a tough match.

***

22.4.13

Celtic (1) East Stirling (0)

It was yet another match with Celtic that we failed to capitalize on our chances and gave away the winning goal on a defensive mistake. We outplayed them the first half and came close to taking the lead two times as James Graham and Giancarlo Pepe both scorched shots that Radek Kolenderski got his hands on. The second half saw a more determined effort from the home side and Nicholas Sharro was called on to make good saves on Marco Baroni and Craig Beattie. Beattie had his revenge late in the match when Davide Ferrante's poor clearance went right to him and he blasted the match winner past Sharro.

[Faramir]

27.4.13

East Stirling (1) Motherwell (1)

Another match that we should have won easily, instead we had to settle for another disappointing 1-1 draw. The defensive mistake was Danny Black's who made a terrible giveaway on a throw-in and then fell down. That allowed Tim Janssen to take the ball into the area and blast a shot inside the far right post. We struggled to get going offensively and it was James Graham's hard work that paid off in the equalizer. Graham ran down a ball into space on the left and crossed for Marc McCusker. McCusker easily deflected the ball into the open right side of the goal to get us even at 1-1 at halftime. The second half saw us really take the game to Motherwell as we didn't allow them a shot, but we could not get another goal past Michael Langer, who played very well. Langer stopped two sizzling Andreas Dahl free kicks and also made a great stop on Graham that allowed his side to split the points.

***

1.5.13

Rangers won their 'do or die' match at Celtic Park 3-2 to move within 2 points of Celtic with two matches remaining. Unfortunately for Rangers, they still have us to play while Celtic has two relatively easy matches left.

[Faramir]

4.5.13

Rangers (3) East Stirling (1)

Rangers deserved their win over us as they didn't panic when we equalized in the opening moments of the second half. They just went back to exploiting our backline and scored the two goals they needed to beat us 3-1. Salomon Kalou gave them the lead in the first half with a blistering 25 yard blast past Kenneth Stenild. We managed to stay close with better work from the midfield and evened the match as the second half started when Gregor Balazic passed to Brian Anderson and Anderson smashed a shot past Clas Bergwall for his 1st Senior goal. 'Gers exploited our backline with high balls as Danny Howard deflected a cross past Stenild when Jukka Santala couldn't handle him. Howard made it a brace when Kalou got up above Peter Merkestijn and flicked the header down for Howard to poke inside the right post. Bergwall made a series of saves to keep us from rallying.

[Faramir]

7.5.13

East Stirling (1) Dunfermline (1)

At this point, I am pretty sick of these fortuitous draws we have been allowing our opponents. We handed them a goal early, similar to other matches of late, when Jamie Ford's pass across the pitch was intercepted by Shaun Moloney and he slipped past the half-hearted tackle of Andrew McCarthy before scoring past Nicholas Sharro. We spent the entire match trying to fight back to equalize and finally did it in the 80th minute as David Clarkson deflected a long pass from Paul Campbell past Chris Blake. We came close, but couldn't find another goal as we closed out our season with the draw. Celtic won their match to capture the title and 'Gers finished 2 points adrift of them.

***

8.5.13

It is clear East Stirling needs a makeover. We are the 3rd best club in Scotland, which isn't bad, but we just don't seem to have what it takes to catch up to Celtic and Rangers. With that in mind there are going to be changes this summer. Our fullbacks need shoring up- though mostly at rightback- and more quality players needed all over the pitch. It should be a busy summer.

[Faramir]

8.5.13

Celtic lost 4-2 to Dortmund in the Finals of the Euro Cup competition.

***

11.5.13

East Stirling (3) Airdrie (1) Scottish Cup Final

All our efforts to reach the Scottish Cup Final made it seem almost anti-climactic when we arrived. We put our stamp on the match early as Imad Khalili crossed and MOM Martin Fribrock volleyed it past Rich Parkin at 6 minutes. It was 2-0 at 18 minutes thanks to Marc McCusker slotting a ball and James Graham burying it in the goal past Parkin. We received help on our 3rd goals as Gary Griffiths got very unlucky when Parkins' parry of a scorching kick bounced off his back and into their goal to make it 3-0 at halftime. We yielded a late, consolation goal to Milan Cerny as we celebrated when the final whistle sounded and we had won our 1st ever Scottish Cup in East Stirling's 1st ever appearance in the Final.

***

15.5.13

Inter beat Sporting 3-0 to capture the Champions Cup.

[Faramir]

16.5.13

There will be some familiar faces leaving this summer and in many ways that is a bit sad for me. These are players that have grown up with the squad, but it is time for a change- for them and for us. The 'core' players I am looking at for next season are:

GK- Kenneth Stenild

GK- Nicholas Sharro

DR- Gary Simpson

DR- Danny Black

DL- John Burns

DL- Stuart Dunn (arriving on free transfer during summer)

DC- Anthony Hallam

DC- Davide Ferrante

DC- Jamie Hart (arriving from Livingston on 725K purchase during summer)

DC- David McKenzie

DC- Andrew McCarthy

MR- Jan Urbanek

MR- Niels Ringoot

ML- Imad Khalili

ML- Martin Fribrock

ML- Preben Vatle Hammersland

MC- Giancarlo Pepe

MC- Andrea Serra (arriving on free transfer from Inter this summer)

MC- Gregor Balazic

MC- Santos

SC- Marc McCusker

SC- David Clarkson

SC- Steve Buchanan

SC- Brian Anderson

SC- Steven Watson

SC- Steve Lewis

This list does not include our leading scorer from last season- James Graham- he wants a big raise and disappeared too much against better sides. Other stalwarts not included are Peter Merkestijn (contract expires at end of 2014 and wants too much per week for a new one), Sergio Zijler (same as Merkestijn), Gonzalo Higuain (excellent player but really excels in a different attacking system than ours), Jukka Santala (had a great year- actually his only good seasons in career are the 2 with us- but wants guaranteed starting time and that won't happen next season), Jamie Ford (was disappointed with him in his play this season and a fairly expensive player for the level of play he has given us), Steven Hammill (very expensive part time player), Frederic Martins (despite how well he played, I want John Burns as starting leftback and he is a popular player in terms of other clubs interest), and Andreas Dahl (unhappy about not being a starter- contract expires at end of 2014).

The only player whose contract runs out in 2014 that I plan on keeping is Gregor Balazic. He is too valuable to our club and hard to replace and I remain hopeful I can re-sign him at some point during the season.

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

1.6.13

Italy (2) Scotland (1) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

We started well against Italy, as we stunned them by taking the lead in the 6th minute when Marc McCusker crossed to James McFadden and McFadden drilled it into the goal past Gianluigi Buffon. Buffon redeemed himself when he somehow smothered a ball minutes later that McCusker could, and likely should, have had a goal on. Italy rallied and Antonio Cassano flicked a header past David Marshall on a cross from Filippo Guerra to equalize at 32 minutes. They took the lead with a another header- this time from Lorenzo Morelli- as he overpowered Neil Woods. We fought well in the second half, but couldn't score again on Buffon and suffered the loss that drops us 3 points behind Italy in Group 8. Marc Wilson was awarded MOM honours for the match.

[Damien77]

Looking forward to seeing the results of your rebuilding to have a crack at the old firms.

[Faramir]

Damien77- Going to be a good challenge, to be sure

***

1.6.13

The exodus officially started from East Stirling today. Sergio Zijler is moving to Maccabi Tel-Aviv for 3.6 Million. Sergio was an important cog for us at rightwing and we will miss him a lot- but there was no way we could get him under a new contract, so it was time to take the money and move on.

***

2.6.13

Our first arrival during this summer transfer season is 19 year old MC Gavin Allen, who we purchased from Dundee for 200K. Allen is an impressive youngster- currently doing duty on the England Under-21 side- and will get a chance to work as a backup for our center mids.

***

2.6.13

Leaving today are Jukka Santala, Christopher Howe and James Graham. Santala, who I picked up mainly as cover, had a very good season for us and helped us survive injury problems in center defense. He wanted assurances that he would start and that isn't going to happen here- and we also have some talented youngsters coming along so he was sold to Aberdeen for 375K. Howe has a lot of promise, but doesn't have a good position to play in our system, so we let him move to Aberdeen as well for 100K. Graham was our top scorer last season with 25 goals and certainly gets goals in bunches, but he was never a factor in the matches we needed him to be one in. Given his ambition and the fact that we have a bunch of good young Scot forwards coming up, it was easy to accept Celtic's 4.4 Million offer for him.

[Faramir]

2.6.13

Three more arrivals today, all young Scot defenders as I try to bolster our backline by finding youngsters we can develop. Joining us were Stuart Dunn, Jamie Hart and Alan Hutchinson. Dunn is a 21 year old Leftback that cost us 120K to purchase from Dundee. With the imminent departure of Frederic Martins, Dunn will become cover at Leftback for John Burns. Hart is 20 year old English DC who was Runner-Up Young BSP Player of the Year last season while with Livingston and cost 725K. He should work right into our starting rotation. Hutchinson is an 18 year old Scot who we purchased from Celtic for 130K. He needs additional development, but could work into our Senior lineup in the next season or two. Adding the young Scots is a goal of mine as I think they are undervalued by the Old Firm clubs and this might be a competitive advantage we can attack them with.

***

SCOTLAND

5.6.13

Kazakhstan (1) Scotland (3) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

We had an easy time seeing off Kazakhstan 3-1 at Almaty. Danny Howard got us off to the lead when Marc McCusker ran down a loose ball and the crossed pefectly to Howard- who hammered it into the goal for his 10th goal for Scotland. Howard then dealt a neat short pass that McCusker drilled past Ilja Yurov. Kazakhstan drew a goal back when they caught our backline pressing up. Sergey Moskalenko was their goal scorer. Howard made it a brace just before halftime with a dazzling move. We maintained our 3-1 edge through a quiet second half of play. Belgium stunned Italy, handing them a 2-0 loss at Brussels. We are now even with Italy again atop of Group 8.

[Damien77]

Interesting that u sold your top scorer to Celtic, wouldn't u be afraid of him coming back to haunt u unless u got a secret weapon up your selvee...

[Faramir]

Damien77- Good observation, but I really wasn't too worried. Celtic already has other scorers that have beaten me too much already, Graham disappeaered in almost every important match last season, so I was happy to take the money and move on with the talented youngsters that are coming up...

***

6.6.13

We beat out 4 other major clubs to sign 22 year Italian AMRL Andrea Marino. Marino had been released by Inter. Marino will fit right in with our versatile winger Imad Khalili as both can play either side.

***

9.6.13

Unhappy young leftback John McGowan was sold to Livingston for 22K. McGowan may turn out to be a good youngster, but I prefer John Burns and he wasn't going to receive much of an opportunity here.

***

20.6.13

The Board reasonably has higher expectations for the upcoming season. They want to see us qualify for Europe again. Since this is my goal as well, I don't have any problems with it.

[Faramir]

1.7.13

A quick summary of the club as the transfer window opened again.

Current Bank Balance- 30.7 Million in the Black

Current Board Weekly Wage Budget- 475K /week (current level- 176K /week)

Transfer fund- 27 Million

Comings and Goings:

Left-

James Graham (4.4 Million- Rangers)

Gonzalo Higuain (3.2 Million- Austria Wien)

Sergio Zijler (3.6 Million- Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Andrew McCarthy (2.3 Million- Watford)

Peter Merkestijn (1.5 Million- Club Brugge)

Frederic Martins (1.3 Million- Panathinaikos)

Jamie Ford (1.2 Million- Bournemouth)

Craig Howe (95K- Aberdeen)

Jukka Santala (375K- Aberdeen)

Steven Hammill (150K- Hull)

John McGowan (22K- Livingston)

John Andrews (Free- Cambridge)

Arriving-

Gavin Allen (170K- Dundee)

Jamie Hart (725K- Livingston)

Stuart Dunn (120K- Dundee)

Alan Hutchinson (130K- Rangers)

Andrea Marino (Free transfer)

Paolo Pellegrini (750K- Roma)

John McLaren (120K- Ayr)

Bernd Helbig (110K- ICT)

Andrea Serra (Free- Inter)

Daryl Knights (2.8 Million- Motherwell)

All in all, we spent 4.9 Million on our purchases and took in 18.25 Million in sales.

Obviously, the biggest name in our purchases is 25 year old AM/FC Darryl Knights. With the sale of Graham, I needed another proven forward to pair with Marc McCusker. We have several good youngsters, but I wanted another one who has proven they can score at BSP level. It cost a substantial amount to get Motherwell to agree to sell him and a substantial salary, but I feel Knights will pair with McCusker very well. Bernd Helbig is a 24 year old DR who will likely move into a starting role- though Gary Simpson will continue to see a lot of playing time. Stuart Dunn will likewise share DL with John Burns. Andrea Serra will work as Giancarlo Pepe's understudy in the midfield. Paolo Pellegrini is a promising 22 year old DC who I was really pleased to add. He reminds me of Davide Ferrante when we added him and he will get starting chances. With the addition of Jamie Hart, Pellegrini and 17 year old wunderkid David McKenzie moving up- it was time to sell promising Andrew McCarthy. I am still exploring other transfer offers for players I feel are undervalued as I try to finish addressing the depth of our roster.

[Peljam]

Great story! Rather inspirational and brings back good memories of my St.Johnstone game on 05. Takes some doing but I'm sure you can break the Old Firms domination! If you haven't already.

Look forward to reading more.

[Faramir]

Peljam- Thanks for the comments You are right that it will take some doing to break through the Old Firm

***

5.7.13

We signed one and sold one today. Unhappy Andreas Dahl finally found a new home as we sold him to Aberdeen for 65K. We signed 20 year old German ML Michael Wagner on free transfer after his release from Werder Bremen. Wagner will be on the Reserves, but may work himself into the mix this season.

***

9.7.13

Two more additions to our burgeoning young Scottish contingent. 19 year old SC Paul Hamilton was purchased from Dundee for 300K, but he originally came from the Rangers youth program. 18 year old MR Jamie Fraser was purchased for 150K from Clyde. Both will begin the season on the Reserves, but could show me enough to make their way into our plans for later in the season. Also joining us was versatile 20 year old Dutch backfield/midfielder Ron de Groot. de Groot will also be on the Reserves to start.

***

14.7.13

We opened up our friendlies by hosting Borussia Dortmund- Euro Cup Holders after beating Celtic- at Firs Park. We played a solid match and won 2-0 in the televised match. Though it means nothing it was still a good way to begin the season.

[Faramir]

15.7.13

I had been searching for a reasonable 3rd keeper to work behind Kenneth Stenild and Nicholas Sharro and found him in Italy. Riccardo Delfino was purchased from Atalanta for 150K. Delfino is a 24 year old who came up through the Roma youth program and appeared on the Under-21 side. Our club has gathered up quite a few Italians this summer and hopefully it will help us.

***

17.7.13

Young Boys beat us 3-1 on our trip to Switzerland. We didn't play that badly and deserved a bit better- but they scored two goals in the second half to win this friendly.

***

20.7.13

Our next friendly- a trip to face Sparta Prague in Prague went better. We played a great first half and took a 4-0 lead that we were able to protect in a quiet second half.

***

24.7.13

Rangers edged us 1-0 in our last friendly. Neither side played particularly well in the match and it wasn't a true indicaticator of how our side can play.

***

26.7.13

Oh, lucky us! In our Champions Cup 3rd Qualifying phase we get-- Manchester United. Not exactly a walk in the park.

[suppitty]

Scotland gets 3 Champions Leagues places in your game now?

[Burgess Basso]

wat a amazin adventure youve lead your team on

yoo shood be very proud of yoorself

this mustve took some doin

hope it inspires some people like me

hopeu continue to progress

[Faramir]

suppity- Yes 3 Champs League spots now

Burgess Basso- Every story on here is the seed of inspiration I enjoy starting at the bottom and playing my way up- since I started doing that with Leyton Orient back in CM2. I don't really feel proud, because the enjoyment (and the frustrations too...) is why I play- my stories are just reflections of the fun I have playing the game.

This story has a lotttt more to go yet...

***

27.7.13

Dunfermline (0) East Stirling (1)

We worked hard to earn our first win of the season at Dunfermline. If not for Mick Watts, the Keeper on loan from 'Gers to Dunfermline, we would have beaten them easily. We had plenty of good chances as we managed 19 shots in a fluid passing attack that pleased me greatly. The lone goal of the match came in the second half as Jan Urbanek worked a counter attack to perfection and laid the ball for McCusker to hammer past Watts. Kenneth Stenild earned the clean sheet with a few solid saves and plenty of support from our backline- including MOM John Burns. It was a good win to open the season with.

***

29.7.13

BSP Odds- Totalbet.com

Evens- Celtic

Evens- Rangers

16-1- East Stirling

25-1- Livingston

33-1- Hearts

33-1- Dunfermline

[Nathan Pike]

I'll be interested to see how your new signings blend in, Faramir. I sense this could be a watershed year for East Stirling in the BSP.

[Faramir]

Nathan- the changes are many and the time to gel limited, so the start of the season may be a bit challenging

***

3.8.13

East Stirling (0) Motherwell (0)

It is frustrating to see how many good chances we are getting, but we just aren't scoring on them. Darryl Knights has looked really well so far, but is very snakebit as the opposing keepers are coming up with big saves against him. Marc McCusker is off to a slow start too. We had control of this match most of the way- until Davide Ferrante was redcarded for a professional foul at 86 minutes. Then we had to lean on MOM Kenneth Stenild to earn us a split in the points. Jamie Scott wound up with a wonderful late opportunity, but he also couldn't score past Michael Langer as we wound up with a scoreless draw.

***

6.8.13

Sometime the gall of the Old Firm clubs astonish even me. I don't really expect any different of Celtic and Rangers as they toss around money and buy up most of the best players in BSP, but when Rangers came 'offering' to loan Giancarlo Pepe for the rest of the season, of course with the option to purchase him at any time for an amount not close to what I value him at, well it leaves me wondering. They received my stony silence on the phone and a clear comment that in no way would I be interested in loaning one of my starting players to a clear rival. I don't know if they believed we needed the money, but since we are 30 Million in the black, with a payroll that is less than half the amount the Board set- we obviously don't.

[Faramir]

7.8.13

Manchester United (2) East Stirling (1) Champions Cup Qualifier 3rd Round Leg 1

We fought back to 1-1, but we blew our chance to come away with a draw and wound up with a 2-1 loss at Old Trafford. This was a trial-by-fire match as several of our youngsters made their debuts because of fitness concerns. Overall, I thought we played well for having a hodge-podge lineup and we forced the play against ManU's stellar lineup for portions of the match. They took the lead early in the first half when Lukas Podolski slipped his marker and blasted a shot past Nicholas Sharro. We kept battling and finally caught a break midway through the second half when Alan Smith was called for a handball in the area. Paul Hamilton calmly converted the penalty kick past Neil Rimmer for a goal in his debut. The match winning goal by Wayne Rooney left me furious. Jamie Hart completely failed to even try and mark Rooney on the free kick and that left Sharro at Rooney's mercy with no chance of stopping him in close. Despite the loss, we did manage to get an away goal, and that at least gives us a chance in the 2nd leg.

[Damien77]

Interesting to note that the old firms are even, and you as the closet challengers are 16-1 to show the dominance of the old firms in scotland.

Good luck for the return leg of the CL vs Man. Utd

[Faramir]

Damien77- Those odds were a fair reflection of how things stood at the time in BSP.

***

10.8.13

Partick (0) East Stirling (7)

Newly promoted Partick was the unlucky recipient when our offense finally woke up. Our explosion left the Firhill fans shaking their heads as we demolished the home side 7-0. Leading the way was Darryl Knights, who finally finished out his hat-trick with our last goal in second half injury time after missing numerous earlier chances. Also contributing single goals to our effort were Preben Vatle Hammersland, Gregor Balazic, Marc McCusker and Jan Urbanek. It was a very easy clean sheet for Kenneth Stenild. Partick's chances were already dim when down 2-0, but they worsened at 43 minutes when Ryan McKenzie was redcarded for taking down McCusker and Balazic whistled in a 25 yard free kick past Mathieu Valverde. It was a great win for us.

[BenArsenal]

C'mon you. Knock those Devils out!

[Faramir]

Ben- Won't be an easy task

***

11.8.13

I continued to my quest to keep adding the best young Scot talent as we purchased 20 year old Scot MC Gary Roberts from Southend for 300K. Roberts had come up with ICT and was pleased to be coming back to Scotland.

***

12.8.13

It is really strange. David McKenzie, who has yet to play a Senior game for us, is drawing other clubs like flies to the lamp. The 17 year old that we signed away from Dumbarton for 100K has generated interest in the BSP and beyond. At one point or another during this summer and the start of the season we have received a bid from every other BSP club on him- including Rangers and Celtic. Several English clubs and a couple French clubs have also come calling. As soon as he is healthy- which he hasn't been yet- he will start seeing Senior time.

***

12.8.13

We also managed to complete our transfer purchase of 18 year old Scot ML David Baxter as Livingston accepted our 150K bid and we quickly worked out a contract with the promising youngster. Like many of these youngsters, I expect to begin working them into the mix next season and would like to keep them developing together on the Reserve team for one season first.

[Faramir]

15.8.13

Another good looking young Scot Forward joined us as we completed a 525K transfer purchase of 17 year old Scott Grant from Kilmarnock. Grant had just started to blossom with Kilmarnock this season and it looked like the perfect time to add him to our club- before he drew the interest of the Old Firm clubs.

***

16.8.13

We also added 20 year old Scot DC Steven Shaw from Rochdale for 170K. Shaw had originally begun at Hamilton and was another youngster very glad to be coming back to Scotland. He will move to the Reserves for the balance of this season.

***

18.8.13

East Stirling (0) Celtic (1)

It is so completely frustrating to see us play another good match against Celtic and once again lose. The lone goal came when Anthony Le Tallec was able to deflect a long cross from ex-mate Petr Korinek past Kenneth Stenild midway through the second half. We had great chances, but our finishing was again the problem. Darryl Knights hit the crossbar and Jan Urbanek hit the right upright in the first half. Radek Kolenderski continued his dominance of us by making good saves on Knights and Marc McCusker to keep us off the scoreboard. What was worse is that this was Celtic's 1st win of the season after 3 draws- it was a chance for us to make a statement and we failed- again.

[Faramir]

21.8.13

East Stirling (3) Manchester United (2) Champions Cup Qualifier 3rd Round Leg 2- Manchester United advances on Away goals after 4-4 aggregate

We were minutes away from a stunning upset, but Robin van Persie slipped through two attempted tackles and slid a shot past Nicholas Sharro to give Manchester United the 2nd away goal they needed to advance in Champions Cup. We didn't start well as Lukas Podolski fired past Sharro after David McKenzie missed an interception. It was a tribute to our patchwork squad as we rallied. Steve Buchanan ripped a shot off the inside of the left upright to get the match back to 1-1. Just before halftime David Clarkson rapped a shot past Neil Rimmer after a good pass from Andrea Serra to send the Firs Park faithful into raptures as we had battled back to 3-3 on aggregate. Buchanan was pushed in the area by Rio Ferdinand and the referee showed no hesitation in awarding the penalty. Clarkson converted the penalty kick for a brace and suddenly we had a 4-3 aggregate advantage at 63 minutes. We kept working and never backed off, but the class of Manchester United caught up with us and it was a good passing sequence that allowed van Persie the chance to try to dribble into the area. The missed tackles killed us as he scored past Sharro to leave us with a win in the match, but a loss on away goals for advancement.

[BenArsenal]

Ahhhh...gutted!

Why is van Persie at Man U though?

[mark wilson27]

I would like to say I'm gutted for ya losing to Man.Utd in the Champs League but Im a Man.Utd fan and I want to see them win everything... Good luck in the Uefa cup.....

[Faramir]

BenArsenal- It was a close thing...

English leagues aren't active in this one, so no clue on how van Persie wound up there.

mark- I thought we had them Thanks

***

23.8.13

Two more unhappy players are on their way to new clubs. Ulrik Flo was sold to Ross County for 50K and Alan Morgan will move to Bristol City for 20K. Neither player was in our future plans and had lost playing time on the Reserves to the youngsters I have been brining in.

***

24.8.13

We were drawn against Beitar Jerusalem in the 1st Round of the Euro Cup. They will host the first leg.

***

24.8.13

Hearts (2) East Stirling (1)

Another bitter loss as they scored the match winner in second half injury time. We outplayed the home side in the first half, but went to halftime trailing as Paolo Pellegrini was called for a disputed penalty call and Nathan Weaver converted the penalty kick past Kenneth Stenild. I was mad not only about the call on Pellegrini, but was convinced that it had happened outside the area, but the ref obviously wasn't about to change his call. We evened the match early in the second half when Darryl Knights drilled a shot past Christoffer Kallqvist. We had at least four excellent chances to gain the lead, but Marc McCusker just hasn't shown the goal scoring touch he had last season and also hasn't been as aggressive in taking the chances he has. The match winner came on a rebound after Stenild, who played great, stopped Weaver on the initial chance, but Andrea Russotto drove home the match winner. The loss dropped us to 6th in BSP.

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

31.8.13

Scotland (2) Belgium (0) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

Although Anthony Hallam's choice as MOM in the match was fine, it was Marc McCusker who really deserved the honour. McCusker made a delicate pass that allowed Darren Fletcher to drive a shot past Silvio Proto in the opening moments of the match and helped set us up to pressure them continually in the first half. The luck was about even as Pete Seegers ripped a shot off the right upright past David Marshall, while James McFadden's header bounced back off the crossbar. Proto made several timely saves to keep the visitors in the match through the first and second half, but we finally nailed down the clinching goal when McCusker deflected a cross from McFadden past Proto late in the second half. Italy was stunned as they were only able to manage a 1-1 draw hosting Ireland, and that leaves us taking over the top spot in Group 8. Kazakhstan managed their first win to drop Northern Ireland into last place in the Group, and NI are our next opponent as we travel to Belfast to face them.

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

4.9.13

Northern Ireland (0) Scotland (1) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

Our bad luck and poor shooting caused this to be a close match, but we managed to win it 1-0 thanks to Marc McCusker's volley off a cross from Ross Wallace late in the first half. The home side had little quit in them and were close to equalizing at the end of the match, but Ryan Semple's volley sailed wide of the post. Both McCusker and Paul Gallagher had hit uprights in the first half and on both of theirs they seemed certain to score. Roy Caroll played a very solid match in goal for them as we held sway over much of the play. Defender James McEveley earned MOM honours for us in the match. Italy easily beat Kazakhstan 3-0 and Ireland and Belgium played to a scoreless draw. This sets up our showdown home matches against Ireland and finally Italy next month. We remain ahead of Italy by two points and have at least a 2nd place spot locked up.

[Faramir]

7.9.13

East Stirling (4) Dundee United (1)

We got our offense going- finally as we were able to cruise past Dundee United 4-1 at Firs Park. Darryl Knights pace got us the first goal as Pablo Merino was forced into a bad tackle in the area and that gave us a penalty kick. Jan Urbanek converted the penalty kick for our lead. Anthony Hallam made a bad giveaway as he tried to move the ball up the pitch. That gave Dundee United a 2 on 1 situation and Kevin King capitalized by drilling the ball inside the left post for the equalizer. We didn't wait long to hit back as Brian Anderson, starting in place of Marc McCusker because of McCusker's fitness, zipped a pass in that allowed Knights to wheel and blast a shot past Mark Brown for his 5th goal of the season. Santos gave us a 3-1 halftime lead when he deflected David McKenzie's corner past Brown in first half injury time. We kept the clamps on their midfield in the second half and added one more late goal as Jamie Scott, on for a tiring Anderson, snapped a shot past Brown to cap the scoring with his 1st goal of the season in our 4-1 win. McKenzie showed why there is some much interest in himself as he earned MOM honours in the match.

[Faramir]

12.9.13

Beitar Jerusalem (1) East Stirling (0) Euro Cup 1st Round Leg 1

The stats told the tale of this one as we managed 15 shots, but only 4 on target. David Clarkson and Steve Buchanan just could not get their shots on goal and it killed us. We dominated the match and overall played very well, but we are behind going into leg 2 thanks to our lack of finishing. Shimon Sabag got the only goal of the match and it was a pretty 25 yard strike that Nicholas Sharro had no chance. It was also another goal due to a giveaway by our midfield- they should not have had the opportunity. We have dug ourselves a bit of a hole and will need to play much better in leg 2 to have a chance to move on.

[Faramir]

15.9.13

East Stirling (2) Motherwell (0)

After a lackluster first half, we finally strung together some offense and defeated Motherwell 2-0 at Firs Park in a closely played match. We had a few chances in the first half but again had trouble putting shots on target. The opening moments of the second half brought us the lead as Giancarlo Pepe rapped home a rebound past Dennis Limpens after Limpens managed to parry away Darryl Knights' header. We kept the pressure up and finally got the second goal to ice the match as Brian Anderson scored his 1st this season with a well-placed sharp angle shot from the right. Kenneth Stenild notched the clean sheet and Preben Vatle Hammersland earned MOM honours.

[Faramir]

18.9.13

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

I was very pleased with our workmanlike effort as we played solid defensively and showed enough offense to beat visiting Hibs 3-0 at Larksfield Road. MOM David Clarkson deflected a cross from Steve Buchanan past Bruno Costa to place us in a 1-0 lead at halftime. We added to the margin when Clarkson made it a brace by deflecting a free kick into the goal. Steve Lewis rounded out the scoring when he drilled a rebound past Costa after Costa stopped Clarkson's bid for a hattrick.

[Faramir]

21.9.13

Livingston (1) East Stirling (6)

In a match that can only be categorized as a debacle for Livingston, we broke open a close match in the second half to crush them 6-1 at Almondvale. The referee was none too popular and had to be escorted off after handing three 'last-man' redcards out to Livingston in the second half. When the first one went to Marko Balazic, we were already ahead 3-1, thanks to goals from Jan Urbanek, Steve Buchanan and Steve Lewis (who came on for Buchanan). Xavi Robles had their lone goal that ruined Kenneth Stenild's clean sheet. Following Balazic's departure, the referee was forced by clear circumstances to also redcard Stephen Brown and Mariusz Zganiacz. Well took full advantage of the extra space as we dissected their defense. Lewis got himself a brace, while Marc McCusker chipped in with one and Gavin Allen scored his 1st goal for us as part of the onslaught as we completed the big win. Preben Vatle Hammersland earned MOM honours for us.

[Faramir]

26.9.13

East Stirling (1) Beitar Jerusalem (1) Euro Cup 1st Round Leg 2- B.Jerusalem advances on 2-1 aggregate

Our stay in Europe was much shorter this time around as we were upset by Beitar Jerusalem and broomed from the competition on 2-1 aggregate. We have only ourselves to blame as the stats tell the tale- we outshot them 15-3, but were only able to put 4 shots on target. We took the lead when Graham Thompson slid a pass through and Brian Anderson drilled the shot past Nir Edri. In their only offensive opportunities of the match, Beitar Jerusalem equalized as Avi Mesika hammered home the rebound after Nicholas Sharro made a good save on Moshe Nahum. Our backline did not help Sharro on the goal and that goal was the difference as we continually wasted good scoring chances with shots over or wide of the goal. It was immensely frustrating, but we deserved the result we got for our inability to finish plays off.

[Damien77]

Tough luck on out of the euro cup.

Starting a east stirling team also...having fun with it, cheers

[Faramir]

Damien77- Thanks Good luck with your try on East Stirling

***

29.9.13

East Stirling (1) Rangers (2)

Simply, another story in frustration for us as we lost to 'Gers 2-1 at Firs Park. Kenneth Stenild went out with an injury at 10 minutes and Riccardo Delfino gave up 2 30 yard blasts to Salomon Kalou and Jamie Murray in a three minute span. We tried to battle back and got a goal back early in the second half when Steve Buchanan scored, but could never get the equalizer against Lars Rungo as we continue our trend of difficult to take losses against 'Gers and Celtic. The match cost us Stenild for likely 3 weeks, Bernd Helbig for about the same and Jan Urbanek for the next two months as he dislocated his shoulder.

***

1.10.13

It was great to see us sweep the Player of the Month honours again, but it was also surprising. Preben Vatle Hammersland was the surprise as he earned Player of the Month over Emrah Ekin. David McKenzie earned Young Player of the Month honours. Jan Urbanek's goal against Livingston was runner-up for Goal of the Month.

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

5.10.13

Scotland (1) Ireland (2) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

We handed control of Group 8 back over to Italy with a poor second half performance as we lost to Ireland 2-1. Marc McCusker gave us the lead in the 2nd minute with a nice header past Shay Given on a cross from Steven Gallagher. We played a solid first half and had plenty of chances, but Given also kept us from adding to our margin. David Marshall was called on for some nice saves too, but he couldn't keep out a 25 yard rocket from Andy Reid as he scored the equalizer late in the first half. We didn't play well at all in the second half and that left me disappointed in the effort. Even more disappointing was that we lost on Anthony Hallam's own-goal. Anthony's play in the match was brutally bad and I had been waiting to sub for him when his blunder cost us the match. Ireland had little trouble blunting our feeble rally attempts in closing out the win over us.

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

9.10.13

Scotland (0) Italy (1) World Cup Qualifiers Group 8

We finish 2nd in Group 8 as we could not beat Italy and lost a close 1-0 match. The lone goal came at 85 minutes when Marc Wilson missed an interception on a long pass and Diego Dominguez rifled a well-placed shot past David Marshall for the late match winner. We played better in this match than we did against Ireland, but Gianluigi Buffon had our number with several key saves throughout the match. It was a surprise to find out after the match that we and Slovenia were the automatic 2nd place qualifiers- so we manage to avoid the Playoff process and will be going to the World Cup.

[coldkohmew]

Yay!To the world cup!Good job.

[Faramir]

coldkohmew- surprised me a bit

***

12.10.13

Hibernian (0) East Stirling (2)

In a excellent display of opportunistic, attacking football we managed to gain a 2-0 road win at Easter Road. Both of our goals came from attackers being in the right spot to take advantage of rebounds. Steve Buchanan gave us the lead when he flicked home the rebound after Darryl Knights shot crashed off the crossbar. Later it was Marc McCusker putting the rebound into the goal after Bruno Costa stopped Buchanan's blast. The key point of the match was when Jemel Henry was redcarded for taking down McCusker in the area early in the second half. Costa saved Gregor Balazic's penalty kick, but having only 10 men short-circuited the rally hopes of the home side as we yielded no more good scoring chances in helping Nicholas Sharro to a clean sheet. Preben Vatle Hammersland earned MOM honours.

[Faramir]

19.10.13

East Stirling (1) Dundee (1)

Another frustrating match for us as we handed them an early goal and fought back to even things at halftime, but couldn't score in the second half to win the match. Darryl Knights passed the ball right to John Jairo Mosquera and he split our defense before firing it past Kenneth Stenild to get the visitors off to a good start. We were able to equalize just before halftime as Preben Vatle Hammersland slipped a pass through and Steve Buchanan fired it inside the left post past Karl Dryden. We hammered away at Dundee the entire second half but couldn't find the magic to score again and were left with an unsatisfying 1-1 draw.

[Faramir]

26.10.13

East Stirling (3) Dunfermline (0)

It was nice to finally have a match that we gained control of in the early going and never let go. We potted two goals in a five minute span to give us early control of the first half. Santos drilled a curving shot past Mick Watts and then Darryl Knights coasted into the six yard box and snapped a shot inside the far right post. We had to be sharp defensively and Anthony Hallam earned MOM honours as he and David McKenzie did a nice job of keeping things in check around Kenneth Stenild. Stenild made several superior saves to preserve the lead. As the second half wound down, Steve Lewis put the match on ice with a nice chip past Watts to make the final margin 3-0.

[Faramir]

2.11.13

Motherwell (0) East Stirling (1)

I was pleased with our effort as this was a very hard earned win. We lost two goals in the first half as Brian Anderson was ruled offside twice when he scored, but we finally scored when Darryl Knights broke free of two defenders and smashed a low shot past Alex Heather. Though we didn't score again, we had plenty of chances in the second half. We dodged a couple close calls as Kenneth Stenild made excellent saves when left one-on-one with Nicky Maynard and Yasin Zengin. Stenild also policed up a couple long balls that might have been trouble and earned his clean sheet.

***

3.11.13

A groin strain will cost us the services of Darryl Knights for the next month. Considering he is our leading scorer- that is a big loss for us and we will have to hope that our youngsters can fill in adequately.