Seen a few films recently with none of them really standing out enough to recommend - Goal, Red Eye & the Brother Grimm all worth a mention as they didn't make me wanna scream for my money back like a lot of the rubbish i've watched recently.
Been giving my PS2 a much needed battering recently with Prov Evolution Soccer 5 taking up much of my time. As usual not a dramatic change from PES4 but the game has certainly slowed down - still getting to grips with it.
Visted the Gaffney's in Dunfermline at the weekend - Good to catch up with them and always a pleasure to see our god-daughter Alyssa who is getting so big - See the pic below.
Anyway here's what else has been going on
Morton
Skunks
Outplayed them for 120 minutes - infact tore them apart we were a joy to watch. Good passing and skill unfortunately we couldn't score - A lot of the chances fell to our Midfielders with Chris Millar having a hat-trick of chances from around 16 yards which he failed to make count. Ended up missing 2 of our 4 kicks with Chris Millar & Scott Mclaughlin missing theirs (Millar hit the post & Scott's was easily saved by keeper). A pround performance but ultimately a defeat - we took around 2.5 - 3K with them having to open the section next to the Skunks fan on the touchline of the stadium as the Caley stand was full.
Peterhead
Definite hangover from Tuesday night with this one. Lost an early goal when we conceded a soft penalty for handball. Dominated the game and were wasteful with our chances & final ball. Got a goal back when Temps headed in from a good Andy Mc cross and could have easily been a few up when Dave Mcgregor scored from a corner in his 1st start since returning from injury. Cruising until the final minutes when seemed determined to throw points away and gave away another soft penalty which was hit onto the post.
I was in hospitality for this one with some of the guys from Hawthorne Boyle and we choose Chris Millar as MOM as he was back to the sort of form that has made him one of the 1st names on the teamsheet.
By the looks of it the international break had came at the right time for us as after a punishing 120 minutes on Tuesday we certainly seemed to struggle in the last 10.
Partick
Dire performance from the team and they gifted Thistle 3 points and a lot of belief. 1st half the damage was done as our defence proceeded to gift Thistle the ball inside our own box. Around 5 chances were presented with them taking 2 after which they gave up playing and tried to kill the game - We for our part huffed and puffed in the 2nd but didn't deserve anything. Defence with Greacen & Harding in particular we shocking and we ended the game with Greacen, Spoonsy & Jason up front as Jim appeared to lose his marbles in the pursuit of a goal.
A worrying start to a very big month for us with away games with Raith & Gretna to come as well as a Tuesday night game squeezed between these 2. Saturday's game has thrown up some selection worries with not many players who can say they played well with Greacen, Harding, Lilley & Temps all coming in for criticism - May be an idea to switch to 4-4-2 but dont know how to accomodate Andy in this formation.
Scottish Cup draw was made on Monday with us playing Cowdenbeath away in the 1st round with Ayr (who put us out of Carling Cup) to meet the winners at Somerset in the 2nd round in what is 2 potential banana skins before getting into the proper draw.
Scotland
2 games in 4 days would decide our fate - We were still in with a shout if we won both games and other results went our way. I got tickets for the Moldova game at Hampden & 52,000 went more in expectation rather than hope.
This was to be the easier of the 2 games - Win this then put pressure on Norway who weren't playing till later that evening. 90mins of football later and our hopes were destroyed. Smith went with defensive line-up with Dailly playing in between 2 banks of 4 with Miller on his own up front. We lost an early goal and failed to react and change the system until it was too late. Yes we had chances and on another day Kenny Miller would have had a hat-trick but it wasn't to be and Hampden was like a morgue at 4.50.
For the 1st time in his reign Smith was savaged (a bit over the top IMO) and he held his hands-up and accepted the blame for tactical error.
Wednesday was a different matter playing away from home we had nothing to play for but pride. a 3-5-1-1 with James Mcfadden supporting Miller and no Barry Ferguson in mdifield we got our tactics spot on and counter attacked to great effect. 3 of the best Scotland goals i've ever seen from Fletcher, Mcfadden & Hartley with the 1st 2 coming at the start of each half. I think playing all our games away from home would suit us if it were possible as games in Austria, Norway and Slovenia have shown.
There is renewed hope that this squad with average age of around 24 under Walter's guidance can take us to Euro Championships in 2008.
Other News
Big month for 2 of my sisters with 1 graduating and the other moving house after a whirlwind "house buying selling" week
Phew !!!!! promise I wont leave it soo long next time
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