Scottish Reprise- Return to East Stirling

[Faramir]

27.9.16

Sporting (2) East Stirling (2) Champions Cup Group F

It was a bittersweet 2-2 draw for us as we fought back with a last moment equalizer in a match that we could, and should, have won. We went down 2-0 quickly as Mark Green made a horrendously bad choice to backpass- directly to Mauricio Pinilla. Pinalla rounded Ross Brown and fired into the open goal to put us down. Darryl Knights answered for us with a well placed shot inside the left post after finding space in their area, but we gave the lead right back when Pinilla wasn't marked at all on a free kick and flicked a header past Brown. We worked hard to try and get even, but Sporting keeper Apula Bete was turning in a MOM performance and made several terrific saves to keep us from getting even. With the match into second half injury time, it looked like a loss for us. On a last second corner, Knights headed back across the goalmouth and Anthony Hallam rammed the ball into the goal to salvage the 2-2 draw. Chelsea and Barca battled to a 1-1 draw in Chelsea in the other Group match.

[FlownCanary]

I hope you don't get knocked out of the Champions League dude would be a real shame!

[Faramir]

FlownCanary- me too Thanks

***

1.10.16

East Stirling (2) Dundee (1)

This was another match that should not have been as close as it wound up. We played well in defeating Dundee 2-1, but again squandered many good scoring chances on our way to the win. Brian Walker took the ball away from keeper Peter Hendriks when Hendriks mishandled the ball outside the area. Walker strolled in and slammed the ball into the goal for the only goal in the first half. Hendriks made a trio of key saves early in the second half to keep things close. MOM Danny Howard made a good pass to spring Steve Buchanan, on for a tiring Walker, and Buchanan slipped a shot inside the left post. We almost immediately gave a goal back when John Jairo Mosquera made a splendid shot past Ross Brown. We put the clamps on the visitors after that to close out the 2-1 win.

[Faramir]

5.10.16

Celtic (2) East Stirling (3)

We threatened to waste another good result thanks to defensive give aways, but a penalty kick in second half injury time gave us a stunning last minute winner at Celtic Park. Darryl Knights scored as he knifed between Zander Diamond and Dean Duncan to rifle a shot past Vesa Karjalainen to give us the lead midway through the first half. Celtic drew back to even when our backline started moving up too quickly and a mishit backpass set up Emrah Ekin to equalize when Ross Brown was left alone with three Celtic forwards on him. We regained the lead in first half injury time when Mark Green burst up the pitch and Scott Golborne scored an inadvertent own-goal after Karjalainen parried Green's shot with his shin and it bounced in off Golborne. Celtic fought back as John McLaren's terrible clearance set up Jefferson Farfan to score his 50th Celtic goal. Both clubs battled up and down the pitch. In second half injury time Frederik Nilsson, on for Jamie Fraser, used his speed to race down the right and break into the area. Diamond took down Nilsson to receive a redcard. Stuart Ritchie, on for McLaren, became the hero when he blasted the penalty kick past Karjalainen as we edged Celtic 3-2 in a win that we needed. Nicolas Fischer earned MOM honours for his animated all-action play in the midfield.

BSP Table- 10 matches played

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

1- Rangers 24 pts (+13)

2- East Stirling 23 pts (+13)

3- Celtic 22 pts (+14)

4- Hearts 16 pts (0)

5- Dunfermline 15 pts (+4)

</pre>

[Faramir]

SCOTLAND

12.10.16

Denmark (1) Scotland (0) World Cup Qualifying Group 9

It was a closely played match, but our poor finishing and one good strike from Johan Absalonsen was enough to send us to a 1-0 defeat in Copenhagen. We suffered a double blow early in the match as I had to bring out both Danny Howard and Craig Beattie- our forward tandem- due to slight injuries. John Moffat and Jamie Ferguson replaced them and just didn't show the verve and scoring ability. We had some great chances, but both Moffat and Ferguson passed up chances to shoot when in one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel and that was frustrating to watch. The lone goal came early in the second half as Absalonsen used great vision to find a narrow seam in our defense and he rifled a 25 yard shot that was well placed to elude Ross Brown's diving try for the save. We weren't as sharp as we needed to be in the match and paid the price in the close loss. Dane defender Kasper Nielsen earned MOM honours. Bulgaria topped Lithuania 3-1 in Sofia in the other Group 9 match.

[Faramir]

18.10.16

East Stirling (5) Chelsea (1) Champions Cup Group F

In a shocking result that garnered national attention, Darryl Knights star shone brightly as he scored all 5 of our goals in a 5-1 destruction of storied Chelsea at Firs Park. Petr Cech retains his reputation as one of the top keepers in the world, but Knights certainly had his number today in earning MOM honours. Knights struck early to give us the lead at 16 minutes off a nice pass from Stuart Thomson. Knights made it a brace when he slipped a shot inside the left upright after Kenneth Stenild alertly sent a long pass straight up the pitch for Knights to run on to and we were up 2-0 at halftime with his 10th goal of the season. Stenild, making his 1st appearance all season as he came back from ankle problems, lost his shot at a clean sheet early in the second half when Michael Essien deflected a cross from Joe Cole past him. Knights then reasserted himself and whipped a shot past Cech after John Terry missed a tackle in the area. Knights pace was telling in the late stages of the half and he got free to snap home a shot after a nice cross from Stefan Vonboe Lang. Knights made it a fiver late in the second half when Steve Buchanan unselfishly passed the ball to him to push into the open left side on a two man break. The other Group F match saw Sporting hand Barca a stinging 1-0 loss at Camp Nou. All four clubs in Group F now have 4 points apiece after one swing through the schedule.

[bluebirds4life]

My last post wasnt very typed in a kind way and had many handwritting mistakes i am sorry as i could have ruined the page!OOPS read all 29 pages in 3 hours or so best story i've ever read and that means books and on the web and i have read a lot and lot.

Good luck in Europe its amazing from Mark Batty to Danny Howard and from around 210 p/w to a 5 digit number is amazing going to read all your stories now and you should make a real book about it because i go on the screen too much it makes me get a constant headache and great title victory, also Harrow on the Hill i went to that tube station to Wembley on the 17th of May 2008 - Fa cup final day!

Brilliant read keep it up!

[Faramir]

bluebirds4life- Thanks very much, glad you liked this story and hope you enjoy the others as well Some of my older, closed ones are faves of mine too (Lord of the Rings Challenge).

I have been playing Harrow Hill in FM2008 as well, but I won't start that story until I finally reach the end of one of those currently going. With how much I have been playing them, I really should try to get one of their shirts

***

22.10.16

East Stirling (2) Dunfermline (0)

The surprise club of BSP- Dunfermline- had experienced success this season due to being quicker than many other clubs. What they found waiting for them at Firs Park was a club even quicker than they were and we handled them in a 2-0 win. Danny Howard gave us the early lead when a through ball from Alan Young set him up to round keeper John Gibson and score. We had a wealth of chances in the rest of the first half, but weren't able to capitalize on them. In the opening moments of the second half Ross Brown came up with the save of the match as he stopped Christos Sakellaropoulus in a one-on-one situation. Shortly after that save, John Burns headed out to Howard at the edge of our area. Howard raced down the left side of the pitch and whipped a shot past Gibson for a magical goal to give him a brace in the match. We helped Brown close out a fine clean sheet.

[Faramir]

26.10.16

East Stirling (6) Hearts (2)

A wild match from the opening whistle on, we finished well throughout the match and, despite only holding a 19-16 shot advantage, won easily 6-2 over Hearts at Firs Park. We found ourselves trailing in the first minute when Sebastien Muller deflected a cross from Nathan Weaver past Ross Brown. Our fans hardly had a moment to fret about it though as Darryl Knights skinned David Henderson and snapped a shot past Simone Donati. A long pass from Tim Burgess allowed Knights to roll in with pace from the left side and blast a shot past Donati for his brace. A quick pass from Stuart Ritchie found Mark Green with space and he finished well off the inside of the left upright to move us ahead 3-1. Alan Scott drew a goal back and gave the visitors hope at the half as they only trailed 3-2. The second half was all ours and Green laid the ball off for Nicolas Fischer to put away. Rightwinger Scott Watson capped a strong debut with a terrific pass that Green put away for his brace. Green then provided a good short cross that Knights put away past Donati to complete his hat-trick as we closed out an entertaining 6-2 win.

***

27.10.16

Kenneth Stenild is hurt again. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, but he hurt his hamstring and will miss another while- so basically he has been healthy for 1 match all season.

[FlownCanary]

Excellent win over Chelsea my man! I'm surprised that there wasn't a hole in the nets at Stamford Bridge!

[coldkohmew]

Nice story!

[Faramir]

FlownCanary- It was especially surprising, given that every club I have managed has trouble against Cech in goal (when I boost them up enough to play against him)

coldkohmew- Thanks very much

***

29.10.16

St.Johnstone (0) East Stirling (1)

It took a lot of hard work, but we battled past struggling St.Johnstone 1-0 at McDiarmid Park. The lone goal in the match came courtesy of the home side as Scott Spencer was whistled for a handball in their area on a corner. Scott Grant converted the penalty kick past Dennis Limpens and we had the lead. St.Johnstone played well in the match and most of the play was an intense battle for the midfield. Our backline was stellar today- led by MOM John McLaren- and we gave Ross Brown plenty of support as he put up the clean sheet. Brown made several timely stops in the match. We let a golden chance to put the match out of reach slip away when David Graham was redcarded for taking Danny Howard down in the area midway through the second half. Limpens guessed correctly and was able to palm away John Burns penalty kick to keep the match within reach. We clamped down on the reduced home side and kept them from getting another quality chance against Brown.

[Faramir]

2.11.16

Chelsea (0) East Stirling (1) Champions Cup Group F

We took a great step forward in our development- and likely our reputation- as we edged Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. The match was closely played from the start and both sides attacked up and down the pitch. Ross Brown had to be sharp to push a rising shot from Carlton Cole over the bar. Petr Cech made a dazzling save on Mark Green and managed to push a low blast from Tim Burgess around the post as the first half ended scoreless. The second half saw more of the same. The key moment of the match came midway through the half. Burgess made a wonderful through ball that found Mark Green free as he split John Terry and Simon Henry. Green hesitated in the area and Henry managed to hook tackle the ball away from him. Darryl Knights was coming hard behind the play and the ball bounced right to him and he drilled a 25 yard rocket past Cech for the only goal of the match as he clinched MOM honours. We supported Brown well in the closing stages as Chelsea desperately tried to rally and closed out a strong 1-0 win. Sporting and Barca battled to a 1-1 draw in Lisbon.

[Faramir]

5.11.16

East Stirling (2) Motherwell (0)

It took another full match of hard work and determination, but we managed to defeat Motherwell 2-0 at Firs Park. Scott Sim, in his first appearance in quite some time, came up with a brilliant save on Nicky Maynard to keep the visitors from gaining the early lead. We found Alex Heather difficult in the early going, but we managed a goal midway through the half. Scott Watson made a nice tackle on Nghia Luu Thanh in their area and MOM Alan Young pounced on the loose ball and fired a shot inside the far left post for his 1st goal of the season. We felt much more comfortable midway through the second half when Sam Hatton tripped Danny Howard in the area and Stuart Thomson calmly converted the penalty kick past Heather to make it 2-0. We helped Sim close out the clean sheet with a strong effort by our backline.

[Faramir]

9.11.16

Rangers (3) East Stirling (1) League Cup Quarterfinal

If there is a more difficult assignment than beating 'Gers (unbeaten in BSP play) at Ibrox- I don't know what it is. We got off to a fine start when Nicolas Fischer drilled a shot past Clas Bergwall at 13 minutes. Unfortunately, our backline could not handle MOM Jose Maria Martinez at all and he put the sword to us. He slipped past Anthony Hallam and drove a shot past Ross Brown to peg us back immediately. Later in the first half Martinez slipped the attempted tackle of Mark Campbell and flicked a shot over Brown as he tried to come out and smother the ball. Early in the second half it was Martinez again as he capped a quick counter-attack by firing a well placed shot past Brown. We battled until the final whistle, but 'Gers were better than us today.

***

10.11.16

It was a blow that we certainly didn't need on top of Stenild's injury woes as Ross Brown broke a couple ribs in practice today and now will miss at least the next month of play. Scott Sim will have to carry the load for us in goal in the meantime.

[MUPPET.JMR]

Whats the Ucl group and league look like?

and KUTGW.

[Faramir]

Muppet- sorry, to be honest I don't remember and it isn't a spot I can go back and look at.

Thanks

***

19.11.16

Dundee United(0) East Stirling (2)

We rebounded nicely from the brooming out of the League Cup with a determined, committed effort in defeating struggling Dundee United 2-0 at Tannadice Park. It certainly helped when our early pressure gave Mark Green a chance in the opening moments and he was a shade quicker than keeper Peter Toth as he reached a loose ball first and swept it into the goal to put us off on a flyer. Dundee United showed their heart as they applied a lot of pressure through most of the rest of the first half. Scott Sim made several key saves and had good support from our backline as he kept the home side off the scoreboard in the first half. We regained our momentum in the second half and Toth had to be very sharp in the early going to keep Darryl Knights and Green from improving the lead. It was a much more comfortable feeling when a nice long cross from Mark Baxter found Toth hesitating to try and reach the ball. Toth paid the price for his indecision as Scott Grant, on for a tiring Green, picked up the cross and rounded him to score. Sim's clean sheet was well earned, though the home side didn't threaten as much in the second half. Our defender David McKenzie earned MOM honours.

[Faramir]

22.11.16

Barcelona (4) East Stirling (2) Champions Cup Group F

I really feel we would have done better in this match if Ross Brown or Kenneth Stenild had been in goal. I don't want to lay all the blame on Scott Sim, as our backline did not play with composure and concentration today, but he could and should have intervened on two of the goals and his lack of aggressiveness was costly. Danny Howard scored early to give us a quick lead, but Barca answered as Rodrigo Tiui scored twice. Howard equaled Tiui's brace with his own as he deflected a cross from John Burns past Victor Valdes. That was our last highlight as our midfield and backline broke down entirely too easy under Barca's short passing attack. Giovanni dos Santos gave the home side the lead and Cesar Jiminez put the match out of reach with a header past Sim. Howard still received MOM honours for his impressive work up front, but we need to play much better defense to have a chance against this level of side.

[FlownCanary]

Ouch! Seems like Europe gave you a reality slap there! KUTGW my man! Good luck with the CL!

[Faramir]

FlownCanary- we got what we deserved

Thanks

***

27.11.16

East Stirling (1) Rangers (1)

I am really missing not having either of our top choices as keepers, as Scott Sim played like a 3rd string keeper and we allowed 'Gers to come back for an undeserved 1-1 draw at Firs Park. We dominated the match, outshooting Rangers 14-4, and had pressure on them throughout the first half. Darryl Knights continued his impressive season with a blazing shot past Clas Bergwall. We came close to adding to the lead, but Bergwall made excellent saves on Tim Burgess and Mark Green just before halftime. Rangers equalized midway through the second half when Stuart Thomson misplayed a ball that allowed Armando D'Angelo to break free down the right side. D'Angelo easily outmanuevered Sim and slotted the equalizer past him. It was a case of Sim not holding his position well, as we had backline help trying to cut off D'Angelo. It was just another of many frustrations against 'Gers- but I was happy to see how our side took the draw, as they kept their heads up because they knew we had played well enough to deserve a better result in the televised match.

BSP Table- 16 matches played

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

1- Celtic 40 pts (+24)

2- East Stirling 39 pts (+24)

3- Rangers 38 pts (+24)

4- Hearts 25 pts (+2)

</pre>

[Faramir]

3.12.16

Hibernian (2) East Stirling (2)

I will be very pleased if Kenneth Stenild is ready to go for next match, though Scott Sim did perform adequately today. We had to fight back twice to earn a 2-2 draw and it was thanks to MOM Darryl Knights' finishing that we were able to salvage a split of the points. Our problems today again related to the backline as usually steady John McLaren had a brutally bad match. McLaren's give away allowed a quick counter-attack with Bruno Costa passing to Ramiro Poza Vivar. Vivar teed up and boomed a superb 30 yard shot past Sim inside the right post. We wasted little time equalizing as Knights drilled a well placed shot past Christoffer Kallqvist to even the match. Early in the second half our backline failed miserably as Sim made the initial save, the second save and then watched Lorenzo de Luca hammer home the the third chance as our defense stood around and didn't react at all to the flurry. Knights pulled us back again with his brace and he rounded Kallqvist and zipped his shot into the open goal midway through the second half. We came close to taking all three points, but Kallqvist dove and parried a blast from Scott Grant to preserve the 2-2 draw.

[Faramir]

7.12.16

East Stirling (2) Sporting CP (1) Champions Cup Group F

After a slow start, we righted ourselves and fought back for a satisfying 2-1 win over Sporting at Firs Park. The opening moments didn't bode well as David McGregor wandered out of position, missed intercepting a pass and watched helplessly as Arnor Angeli slipped a pass in and Sergey Kornilenko put his shot away past Kenneth Stenild. We equalized midway through the first half when John Burns showed superb vision and timing as his cross picked out Alan Young moving alone through the middle of the Sporting area. Young picked his side and drilled the ball past Apula Bete to even the match at 1-1. Both sides battled through the remainder of the first half. We came out much more organized in the second half and began to apply consistent pressure. Danny Howard showed exactly why he is such an exciting player and great addition to the club when he scored one of the most magical goals I have seen when he took the ball at midfield, dribbled all the way across the pitch while moving inside their area, pivoted away from an attempted tackle and then rifled a rising shot into the roof of the left side of the goal for what would be the match winning goal. We played a strong match in the midfield to throttle their attempts to fight back and held on for the 2-1 win. After the match we got the news that Chelsea had edged Barcelona 4-3 in a wild match at Stamford Bridge- improbably we finished atop Group F and Chelsea finished even with us, but 2nd on tiebreaker.

[coldkohmew]

Good job topping the group!

[Faramir]

coldkohmew- It was pretty unexpected

***

10.12.16

St.Mirren (0) East Stirling (4)

Darryl Knights continued his rampage in the BSP as he earned MOM honours by leading us to a 4-0 win over St.Mirren at St.Mirren Park. Knights got us off to a flying start when he whistled a shot past Danny Owen in the 2nd minute. Knights made it a brace when he finished well past Owen off a cross from Jamie Fraser. We dominated the struggling home side and Knights put the finishing touches on our good effort as he added two more late goals to score all of our goals in the 4-0 win. It was a sensational performance by Knights. The clean sheet was split between Kenneth Stenild and some late relief by Scott Sim.

***

16.12.16

Our difficult draws continue in Champions Cup as we will face FC Bayern as our first opponent in the knockout round. Rangers will be facing Manchester United in a 'Battle of Britain'.

[Faramir]

17.12.16

East Stirling (3) Livingston (0)

This match demonstrated just what an explosive combination we can field when both Darryl Knights and Danny Howard are working up front for us. Both gave Livingston fits today and Knights earned MOM honours with a superlative second half performance that led us to a convincing 3-0 win over Livingston at Firs Park. Knights gave us the lead midway through as he deflected a cross from Jamie Fraser past Sean Murdoch. Murdoch did his best to keep Livingston in the match with a series of sensational saves and kept us quiet until the second half. Murdoch kept things from getting worse, despite almost continuous pressure from us, in the opening moments of the second half. We exploded in the late stages of the second half to finally clinch the win. Knights took a beautifully laid off ball from Howard for his brace and 25th goal of the season. Knights then whipped in a 30 yard rocket for his hat-trick to cap the scoring in our convincing win. Ross Brown returned from injury with a fairly easy clean sheet in the win.

[Faramir]

26.12.16

Dundee (1) East Stirling (1)

We played well enough to earn a better result today, but the usual culprits- inconsistent finishing and a key defensive mistake- left us with another unsatisfying draw. We outplayed the home side by a large margin in the first half, but they took the lead to halftime. Mark Campbell lost the ball on the dribble at midfield and it turned into a quick counter-attack that saw Leonardo Garcia cross for John Jairo Mosquera to deflect past Kenneth Stenild. We rallied and poured more pressure on the home side to open the second half. That work paid off in a penalty kick after Kaj Ramstiejn was redcarded for tripping Darryl Knights in the area. Stuart Ritchie calmly converted the penalty kick past Peter Hendriks to draw us even. Stenild was forced to leave with an injury- again and Scott Sim gave us a solid effort in keeping the home side from further damage on the scoreline. Despite our man advantage, we could not find the goal with our shots and we let Dundee escape with a split of the points. David Baxter earned MOM honours for his leftwing play.

***

1.1.17

I was happy to see that we swept Player of the Month honours for December. Darryl Knights earned Player of the Month honours and David McKenzie earned Young Player of the Month honours.

[Faramir]

1.1.17

Several unhappy players have no homes, courtesy of the transfer window opening. Mark O'Brien is now at Southend after they paid us 35K to purchaser the midfielder. Swansea paid us 45K for leftback Paul Gray.

There was one new addition. Because of the worrisome rate that Kenneth Stenild seems to accumulate injuries, I paid NEC Breda 200K for 23 year old Dutch keeper Arjan van der Heijden. van der Heijden is a promising youngster that my scouts liked a lot and I think he gives us another viable keeper, as he could develop and be better than our #3 keeper Scott Sim. I will let him get some Reserve time before bringing him on to the Senior side.

***

4.1.17

East Stirling (0) Celtic (1)

To say I am unhappy with the officiating is mild. We outplayed Celtic again, but lost thanks to a very questionable penalty kick awarded to them in the second half. What left me more unhappy is the two times in the first half that we saw our forwards taken down in their area on questionable tackles and nothing was called. We had some good opportunities in the match and forced David Marshall to make some fine saves in the Celtic goal- especially in the first half. We were scoreless at halftime and Ross Brown had made his share of good saves as well- including a superb one on Craig Beattie late in the half when Beattie was in free on him. The key moment of the match came when David McGregor was whistled for holding Emrah Ekin in the area early in the second half. MOM Neil Woods converted the penalty kick past Brown and we were left to try and fight back. We couldn't find the goal we needed and were left with another intensely frustrating loss. David Moyes made some unflattering comments after the match, but I refused to rise to his bait- we played well and I was happy with the effort and told the press just that.

BSP Table- 21 matches played

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

1- Celtic 52 pts (+29)

2- Rangers 48 pts (+30)

3- East Stirling 47 pts (+30)

4- Hearts 33 pts (+3)

</pre>

[Faramir]

5.1.17

Two more unhappy players have moved to new clubs. We completed the 24K sale of winger Paul Taylor to Swansea and a 350K sale of winger Alan Murphy to Crewe. I know what my core roster is at this point and am not actively pursuing any transfer additions at present.

***

7.1.17

St.Johnstone (1) East Stirling (3) Scottish Cup 3rd Round

An early brace from Brian Walker was enough to help us survive a first half redcard and an own-goal on our way to a 3-1 win over St.Johnstone in our Scottish Cup 3rd Round match. Walker got us off on a flyer when he took an excellent through ball from Stuart Thomson and put away his shot past David Sugar. Walker made it a very quick brace as he deflected a cross from Scott Watson past Sugar to give him 2 in the first ten minutes of play. Thomson then earned a redcard for an elbow on Thorsten Seifort midway through the first half. We made it to halftime still leading 2-0 thanks to good play by Kenneth Stenild in goal. Stenild lost his clean sheet when David McGregor deflected an innocent cross past him early in the second half. Though the home side now had hope, we played well and finally dashed those hopes for good when MOM Mark Campbell sent a nice through ball to Scott Grant and Grant rounded Sugar to cap the scoring late in the second half.

[Faramir]

8.1.17

We let Steven Morrison go on loan to Morton for 4 months. The transfer listed (at his request) leftwinger may be able to demonstrate enough to garner some interest, something he had not been doing on the Reserve side for us.

We also completed a minor transfer purchase as we paid Hearts 50K to purchase 19 year old Scot MC Alan Sloan. Sloan will work on the Reserves for the rest of this season, while he learns our system and we evaluate how he might be able to help us in the future.

***

9.1.17

In the 'Laugh Out Loud' offer of the season- so far- Rangers wanted Nicolas Fischer on loan for the remainder of the season. They did kindly offer to pay all of his wages. I turned them down flatly- why would I allow one of our best players, who is having a fine season for us, to go on loan to one of our biggest rivals? I found the whole discussion frankly humorous.

***

15.1.17

Hearts (4) East Stirling (0)

Unfortunately, today's rout by Hearts showed we are still a young side and at times we lack composure- today being one of those times. Ross Brown is the best young Scottish keeper, but he played like a complete youngster and lost his focus as Hearts had three goals by the 28 minute mark of the match. He wasn't helped by brutally bad backline play- David McKenzie and David McGregor failed to mark anyone on the three goals as Nathan Weaver had a brace and Mika Karkkainen added the other goal. Gavin Day scored a pretty goal to cap the scoring in the second half as his 30 yard rocket eluded Arjan van der Heijden- making his debut for us in relief of Brown. It was a forgettable match and it may well have doomed our hopes of repeating as BSP champs- both Celtic and Rangers continued their winning ways.

[Faramir]

21.1.17

East Stirling (4) St.Johnstone (1)

After our last match and after a war of words with St.Johnstone Manager John Hughes, I was more than a little happy with our performance as we ran St.Johnstone off the pitch in our 4-1 win at Firs Park. The score should actually have been about 6-1, but Danny Howard had a right to be frustrated with the officials after losing two goals when he was ruled offside on each of them. We gained the upper hand midway through the first half when a through ball from David McGregor put Alan Young in free and he put his shot away past Dennis Limpens. St.Johnstone proved their own worst enemy during the match too as Jamie Weaver deflected a sizzling cross from Howard past Limpens to make it 2-0. St.Johnstone drew a goal back on a rare good chance as Paul Verbeek deflected a Mika Saarinen cross past Ross Brown late in the first half. We took control of the second half and never let off against last place St.Johnstone as Howard scored on a through ball from McGregor to ensure receiving MOM honours in the match. The visitors then contributed their second own-goal as Rob Thompson swept a backpass by Limpens to make the final margin 4-1.

***

28.1.17

We did wind up with one transfer acquisition after Dundee offered us 26 year old Scot MR Peter Ward for 35K. I accepted the offer with the intention of seeing of Ward wanted an outrageous wage. When he didn't ask for an outlandish amount and was willing to accept a backup role on the side- we completed the purchase. Ward will help provide cover, but I also bought him to keep him out of the hands of several other BSP clubs that were bidding on him.

[Faramir]

28.1.17

Motherwell (1) East Stirling (2)

After an unfortunate first half that saw us trailing at halftime, the boys came out and gave a splendid effort in the second half as we fought back to score a dramatic last minute match winner in our 2-1 win at Fir Park. We looked to take the lead in the opening moments of the match after Jorn Fischer tripped Scott Grant in the area. Simon Hollis, despite being hobbled with a bad ankle that would send him out of the match at halftime, made a diving parry of John McGregor's penalty kick. Midway through the half an uncharacteristic mistake by Kenneth Stenild allowed Motherwell to gain the lead. Stenild misjudged the ball when coming out of his area and it bounced over him. Stenild could only watch in frustration as Chris Parkin was first to the loose ball and smashed it into the open goal. We surged to the attack, but the Motherwell backline was doing a nice job of blanketing us. The second half saw us turn up the pressure more, but it appeared for naught when we just couldn't break down their backline. Darryl Knights was again the catalyst of our revival as he dove and flicked a header that put Mark Green in free on the right. Green drilled the equalizer past Bruno Gomes, forced into goal with a late injury to backup keeper Alex Heather. Knights then capped our fightback as he put away a Green cross to cap a sensational counter-attack in the last moments of second half injury time. The win cost us Knights for 2 to 4 weeks with bruised and battered ribs.

[Faramir]

4.2.17

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

A replay looms for us as we weren't able to turn our domination of the match over Kilmarnock into a win. Enrique Castro played superbly in the first half to keep us off the scoreboard despite pressure through almost the entire half. We were doing everything right, but just could not get the goal. In the early moments of the second half Castro tried to punch away a cross. John McGregor drilled the shot back past Castro before he could react as the punch had come out right to him. A free kick midway through the half provided the vistors with their only goal when Craig Matthews deflected the free kick from MOM Dean Richardson in off the right frame of the goal past Kenneth Stenild. We hammered away, but were left with a replay when we couldn't score.

***

5.2.17

I was a bit stunned to answer a call and find that Mexico wanted me to take over as National Manager. I politely thanked them, but told them I wanted to continue to manage Scotland- since the Board had wanted me enough to invite me back after my resignation. It was flattering to be offered the job and I let them know I appreciated the compliment they had paid me with the offer.

[Faramir]

8.2.17

Kilmarnock (0) East Stirling (2) Scottish Cup 4th Round Replay

It is on to the Scottish Cup Quarterfinals after we defeated Kilmarnock 2-0 in a workmanlike effort in our 4th round replay. We piled the pressure on immediately and Jonas Sjoquist kept us at bay for a bit with three terrific saves in the first 15 minutes of play. Sjoquist was let down by his backline as we took the lead at 16 minutes when Mark Green snapped home the rebound after Sjoquist parried a hard shot from Scott Grant. We added to that margin just before halftime when Stuart Thomson made a superior cross that Scott Watson easily pushed inside the far right post to make it 2-0 at halftime. Our backline played wonderfully in support of Ross Brown and we kept them without any really good chances as they tried and failed to fightback in the second half. Rightback John McLaren earned MOM honours for us. We will now host Dundee United at Firs Park in the Quarterfinal.

[Faramir]

11.2.17

East Stirling (2) Dundee (0)

It took a strong second half surge, but we defeated a stubborn Dundee side 2-0 at Firs Park. After a scoreless first half with chances about equal for both sides, we finally struck for the lead early in the second half. MOM John Burns, who had a brilliant match on the leftwing, made a blazing cross that Danny Howard dove and deflected past Peter Toth for a sensational goal. Dundee tried to fight back and Ross Brown earned his clean sheet with stellar saves against Adrian Pich and Francisco Javier Moreno midway through the second half. We clinched the match with a late goal as Howard set up Brian Walker to score his 5th goal of the season to finish the 2-0 win.

[Faramir]

15.2.15

Dunfermline (0) East Stirling (2)

Another win in which our key was MOM Darryl Knights as we worked hard to earn a 2-0 win over Dunfermline at East End Park. The first half left our players just shaking their heads as Gaetano Romano was brilliant in goal for the home side. Romano made at least five crucial saves as we had continual pressure. Ross Brown came up with a pair of big stops as well when we were hit by counter attacks. Early in the second half it was a trip on Knights by Andraj Bajlac that gave us our first goal when Stuart Ritchie converted the penalty kick past Romano. Knights then provided a highlight reel goal with a 30 yard whippet that sailed past Romano after John Burns nicely laid the ball off on a throw-in. Brown had plenty of support from our backline in notching the clean sheet.

[Faramir]

19.2.17

Rangers (2) East Stirling (2)

I can't say how disappointed I am with this result. Though it looks fine on paper- a 2-2 draw at Ibrox in front of a packed house- this match was ours and should have been a win. We stormed to a 2-0 lead by the 19 minute mark as Danny Howard scored in the first minute of play to get us off on a flyer. Jamie Fraser made a super cross that Brian Walker deflected past Clas Bergwall to give us our second goal and we came very close to adding a third as Bergwall made a sensational save on Howard. We couldn't score again on Bergwall and 'Gers started their fightback when David McKenzie failed to play his position well and his drifting allowed Lasse Qvist to slip a pass forward that Jose Maria Martinez fired past Ross Brown to draw 'Gers a goal back. It remained 2-1 at halftime, but I encouraged the boys by reminding them we had to stay aggressive. We had a couple more good chances in the opening moments of the second half, only to see Bergwall make the key saves. We were working hard, but I could see the all too usual lack of composure on our backline as the match reached the late moments and it proved costly again as we failed to make Jamie Ferguson and he scored the dramatic equalizer as he headed past Brown on a cross from Armando D'Angelo in second half injury time. John McLaren earned MOM honours for us in the match. We are clearly gaining ground as far as our talent being equal to 'Gers- but until we can play an entire match with focus and composure, we will keep running into these 'almost-had-them' results.

[Faramir]

22.2.17

FC Bayern (0) East Stirling (0) Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round 1st Leg

Though it would have been nice to get an away goal, we played well in battling Bayern to a scoreless draw in the 1st leg of our Champions Cup Knockout match. Both keepers- Kenneth Stenild and Michael Rensing deserve credit for the final score as each played a stellar match and neither side will feel cheated on their chances. The tackling of the Bayern backline was another key component as they made several saving tackles against us on excellent chances. Our backline- headed by MOM David McKenzie- played better positionally and kept things uncluttered in front of Stenild. Overall, Bayern had more scoring chances in the match, but we had better quality chances. Neither keeper could be rattled and it leaves us with the task of needing to beat Bayern at Firs Park to move on in the competition.

[Agent.Smith]

Took me all week to read this and I've thoroughly enjoyed it! Must have been one of my least productive weeks at work tho, lol.

Great story mate!

[Faramir]

Thanks very much Agent.Smith Glad you enjoyed it enough to stick with it

***

25.2.17

East Stirling (2) Dundee (0) Scottish Cup Quarterfinal

It took a determined effort, but we broomed Dundee out of the Scottish Cup competition with a 2-0 win at Firs Park in our Quarterfinal match. We controlled much of the play in the first half and MOM Paul Murray keyed us taking a 1-0 halftime lead when he intercepted a through ball from Pablo Merino and slotted a pass back to Brian Walker. Walker slipped past Merino's attempted tackle and skipped a shot past Bruno Costa inside the left upright. Dundee showed life to open the second half and Ross Brown was forced to make a fine save on Francisco Javier Moreno. We regained momentum by controlling the midfield. Our pressure finally paid off when Walker was sent free again, only to be taken down from behind by Paul Ward. Ward earned a redcard as the last man and moments later it was Nicholas Fischer who keyed a counter-attack and then finished the fine passing sequence with a short chip over Peter Toth- on as a replacement for Costa in goal.

***

26.12.17

The draw for the Scottish Cup Semifinals was held today. We will face Rangers and St.Mirren and Celtic will tangle in the other Semifinal match.

[Faramir]

1.3.17

East Stirling (3) Hibernian (0)

We used our quick passing attack to great advantage as we built a 3-0 halftime lead and coasted home to a win over Hibs at Firs Park. We got off on a flyer as MOM John Burns slipped a pass through heavy traffic to Mark Green and Green finished well past Gary Hall. Green then made that into a quickfire brace as Darryl Knights chipped a pass in to find him unmarked and he put away a shot into the roof of the goal. Later in the first half it was Burns getting on the scoreboard as he deflected a free kick from Alan Young past Hall. With the lead, we were content to control the midfield in the second half and help Ross Brown put up another clean sheet in the 3-0 home win.

[george94]

Finally returned to reading this story and it's excellent. Keep it up, looking forward to the next post. Well played Faramir!

[kddurris]

Is there any sign Of Aberdeen in the SPL or did they get relegated? its a great story by the way Faramir keep up the good work

[Faramir]

george94- Thanks very much and glad to be able to post again (though I wish they would fix my non-existent moderator status)

kddurris- Aberdeen was relegated at this point, always close to moving back up though

***

4.3.17

East Stirling (3) St.Mirren (3)

An inconsistent performance by Ross Brown in goal cost us dearly as St.Mirren scored a dramatic equalizer in second half injury time and we frittered away another win- settling for splitting the points in a 3-3 draw. We certainly deserved better- outshooting the visitors 22-4 in the match, but our backline also deserves a heaping portion of the blame as they did not play good positional football- especially our fullbacks- and we got caught on odd-man situations because of their wandering. MOM Darryl Knights did his part to carry us to victory- scoring midway through the first half for a 1-0 lead. Stuart Thomson gave them a goal back just before halftime when his poorly headed ball left Brown at the mercy of Yasin Zengin, who rounded him and slotted the equalizer. We retook the lead when Knights made his brace his 100th League goal for East Stirling and 30th goal of the season. St.Mirren answered again with Zengin scoring past Brown on a shot that he should have been able to make a play on. We fought into the lead for the 3rd time when Knights was taken down in the area by Sebastien Persson and Stefan Vonboe Lang converted the penalty for his 1st goal at East Stirling. The bad coverage of our backline allowed Daniel Kvam to fire off the inside of the left post past Brown for the equalizer in a frustrating result for us. The draw realistically means we likely won't repeat as BSP Champions, with both Celtic and Rangers holding a match in hand on us. On the better side was the news that Knights' 12th MOM of the season is a new club record.

BSP Table- 28/29 matches played

1- Celtic         70 pts (+42)
2- Rangers        67 pts (+42)
3- East Stirling  64 pts (+37)
4- Hearts         48 pts (+12)

[Faramir]

8.3.17

East Stirling (0) FC Bayern (0) Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round Leg 2 (Bayern advances on Penalties)

We gave it our best effort and the chances were there for both sides to win the match, but in the end it came down to so 'ever so close' as David McKenzie's penalty hit the upright squarely and bounced back and Bastien Schweinsteiger's eluded Kenneth Stenild's grasp to send Bayern onward in the Champions Cup and sent our disappointed Firs Park faithful home drained of emotion. We gave the storied German side everything it could handle and handled everything they sent our way as well in battling scoreless through extra time. Bayern defender Per Mertesaecker earned MOM honours in part as he saved what appeared to be a certain goal for us in the last moments of extra time as he managed to slide and hook away a ball that seemed destined for the open goal after a scrum in the area. I am happy with the effort we had, but the entire club is disappointed that we fell short.

[Damien77]

Tough luck on penalties...KUTGW!!!

[Spav]

What a heartbreaker. Most German sides are tough to beat on penalties.

[MUPPET.JMR]

KUTGW mate a great read

[Faramir]

Thanks guys- it was a difficult loss, we came close to winning outright. Been a busy week, so nice to be able to get back and update all my stories

***

11.3.17

Livingston (4) East Stirling (1)

Our title defense of the BSP Crown is pretty much over after a match that saw us outshoot Livingston 17-9 and still lost to them 4-1. We executed well offensively and only the fact that Ole-Jorgen Abelsen was dazzling kept us from more than the Scott Grant second half goal that we scored. Darryl Knights was really talking to himself after the match as Abelsen had bested him four times in one-on-one situations. On the other side of the ball- we were horrible- as our backline play was terrible and Ross Brown and Scott Sim (after Brown was injured) were both ineffective. We gave away the ball in our end several times, gave away a penalty kick they converted, failed to mark anyone on two of the goals- it was a litany of failure in our backline play. MOM honours went to Livingston defender Leon Barnett.

[Faramir]

14.3.17

I find it extremely laughable that I am being severly criticized in the press for including 10 East Stirling players on the Scottish Roster for our upcoming trip to face Turkey. Labeling me "unprofessional" for the choice ignores the fact that East Stirling is built almost entirely of homegrown Scots- while 'Gers and Celtic have a combined total of 6 Scots on their Senior Rosters. It also ignores the fact I selected 5 of the 6 players from 'Gers and Celtic Senior Rosters. If the top level Scot talent was more spread out- it would be easier to avoid this contention, but I have deliberately constructed East Stirling with the top young Scot talent and the press can hoot all it wants about unprofessional bias- I am here to win matches for the National side and I could care less what they believe.

***

19.3.17

Hearts defeated Celtic on Penalties to capture the League Cup.

***

21.3.17

I didn't do the selections for the Scotland Under-21 side, but I notice there are 9 East Stirling players on that roster as well.

[Damien77]

That's a usual thing one get as both manager of club and nation...the criticizm of press...