Ah but I'm not looking at it through Cork-tinted specs now am I!! ;)
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Good first half but poor second half after all the substitutions.
I thought Gamble had a great game. I was impressed b yfoley, McCarthy, Keogh looked good in patches but missed a sitter. Stokes impressed when he came on.
I was very disappointed at the small crowd. Our last B game was totally sold out v Northern Ireland.
As promised pics from the game: http://picasaweb.google.com/tetsujin...ndBVSScotlandB
Have to say - Picasa is just too simple, import all pics from the camera, click upload to web album and bingo bango bongo - all pics available on the interweb!
They're a bit dark, the lighting wasn't the best.
Indicentally, the man leaning over to sign an autograph is your friend and mine - Walter Smith!
Bloody hell would you calm down man - I'm giving my honest opinion on the game which has nothing to do with whether a player played for the Eircom League or not (funny you didn't notice that I said that Gamble did alright)....The "Cork-tinted specs" comment was only a bit of banter cause you were specifically picking out the EL players for praise and was taken with a typical lack of humour.
Oh yeah just because a player play in England they are a mercenary???? Tell that to McCarthy, Foley, Stokes, Keogh and the rest....Get off yer bloody high-horse will ye...
It's all too easy to knock players that play in Ireland but your claim isn't backed up by any fact, since O'Donovan was as active as any forward who featured in the game. I hope you don't mind if I ignore your opinion in future.
Only the ones that chase the Ruple. (I can spell that out for you if needs be)
Didn't see it but listened to first half on Radio Scotland. They said Alan O'Brien was the best player by a mile! Que cynical response ''does Devlin have mates in BBC radio Scotland?'' :)
Press reports say O'Donovan did well to get into good positions but snatched at his chances. McCarthy was good by all accounts.
The crowd was poor ok. I reckon about 3,000. It was badly advertised. They obviously didn't trust anybody to take cash at the stiles. A lot of people saw the queue at 7.15 and headed home. Their was only 4 people in the caravan selling tickets. Like I said earlier, the tickets arrived 40 minutes late, people who came along on their way home from work, hung around for a few minutes and then decided to go home.
I've said it before, but I really think Morrisson's attitute is refreshing. Yes, I don't think we were the first choices of who he wanted to play for but ever since he has pulled on that green shirt he has given more than most, this is just another small sign of it.
Ah Clint is a good auld soul. He always wants to score when takes to the pitch for Ireland and seems to enjoy his football.
One thing I noticed last night. There were a few Rangers chaps involved but I didn't hear any "booing" from the crowd. Is that carry on exclusive to Lansdowne?
There was booing of Boyd by a about 20 lads behind me. They were just sitting near the Burdocks chipper van. OF course they did not boo Charlie Adam.
I thought the game was rubbish, very poor crowd and very little invention by either side. The lack of a final ball by both teams was the one thing that struck me about the game, hence the lack of chances. Although Stokes did create a sitter for Keogh.
Mc Carthy looked very comfortable and def worth a call up to the senior side as he is a lot slimmer than last time I saw him also. O Brien is all pace and does not offer much else. I thought Hunt was much better when he came on. Stokes looked very lively for someone who played the night before and his touches were that bit above the rest on show. Mc Phail was dissappointing for someone of his calibre. The two full backs for us were steady but not spectacular. Gamble was def in the running for man of the match in my view but to be honest it was mostly 6s all round if you were marking players out of ten
All the changes in the second disrupted the flow of the game but I was impressed by the guy from Arsenal who came on at centre back. Looked like he had lots of pace and composure on the ball.
Atmosphere in Doyles before and after the game was great craic. Very little singing from the Irish at the game and the Scots showed us up in that regard.
From the Indo:
"While the Scottish support was boisterous enough, there was little for the home supporters to cheer about aside from the handful of morons who decided to boo every touch from Rangers forward Kris Boyd. They lacked the football knowledge to twig that left full Steven Smith also plays for the Glasgow giants."
I think it goes to show that you can't actually class these people as Celtic fans. If they had any clue about Scottish football they'd have also booed when Smith got replaced by his Rangers teammate, Charlie Adam.
Sound doesn't travel well up the Jodie. It appears that these guys were in the blocks F/G.
As for atmosphere, the biggest cheer of the night from the Irish, was of the ironic kind and came in response to the brief celebrations from the Scots, when they thought they'd scored. They had infact, hit the side netting. Fair play to them for making the effort to travel over and support their side.
I like the idea of the B game but a Tuesday night, the night before an A game was a disaster. I definitely am not in the position of going to games on successive nights in Dublin, thats a no go and I'm sure there people like me. That probably had an effect on the crowd size, also making it all-ticket, which, unless instructed to do so by UEFA, was a stupid thing to do. Was there ever going to be the demand that would necessitate the need for tickets. Plus the fact that the actual tickets arrived late and people turned away as aresult compounds the issue.
I heard some booing in the first half when a Scottish striker was making a run forward. I assume it was Boyd. I was in Block A and only heard it once.
I was right beside them and they were just about 20 lads of the baseball cap wearing variety. About 70 of the Scottish support were members of the Dublin Tartan Army.
3,000 is a Pi$$ poor crowd, I was at a 1st round cup game here at the weekend between a Conference North Side and a league 2 side and there was more people at it than that!
Yeah I dont understand why most of the people who are going tonight and who are living in Dublin did not go last night.
I wish I didn't bother going last night, waste of 90 minutes.
Ratings from last night:
Randolh 7/10, Not too troubled but confident in everything he had to do.
Foley 7/10 Also confident, bit surprised he MOTM
McCarthy 7/10 Few dodgy moments but got better as game went on.
Bruce 5/10. Did not impress. Got away with blatant penalty when tugged forwards jersey.
Emanual 5/10 Unfit, poor decisions, not good enough.
O'Brien 5.5/10 Tried, lots of effort but too inexperienced & final ball poor.
McPhail 4/10 Did very little. expected him to control midfield.
Gibson 5/10 Did nothing of note.
Gamble 7/10 Playing out of usual central role but got forward with purpose & tidied up many loose balls.
O'Donovan 6.5/10 Made a couple of opportunities out of little, probbaly should have scored with 1 but at least forced keeper to make saves.
Keogh 7/10 Good first half but faded badly in 2nd. Should have been subbed 15 mins earlier.
Subs on long enough to rate.
Hunt 7.5/10 Busy & made good choices. Showed experience of higher level football.
Stokes 6.5/10 Hard to judge him as played 90 minutes night before. Some of his decisions were poor.
Potter 4.5/10 Did nothing much. Gave ball away.
About 3,000 people is the answer to that question which sadly is not that much.
I think it's a shame so few came along because it shold be a valuable experience for the players and management but if there arae only 3,000 turning up how many games will they play taking costs into a/c?
It only holds 5500 though :) next season it would be filled alright if there were city players in the team-dunno how it would fare without city players in it
Poor enough game and its a pity the crowd was relatively small.
Thanks to the thief who robbed my Tricolour from the Shopping Centre end. If anybody sees an SRFC tricolour on bebo or ebay they might let me know!
i think that shows you the writer had a team sheet with numbers and the crowd didnt. the writer wouldnt knwo Steve Smith or Adam from ...eh...Adam:)
Boyd is a well known rangers striker, scotland striker while adam was on loan with st mirren all last season and smith is a kid. Should Celtic fans know every Rangers squad member?
or are you saying that if they booed all the rangers players they would be fine and dandy as that would illustrate they are season ticket holders?
can they not be armchair celts, who know Boyd and wanted to have a laugh!? its not exactly death threats now is it!
anyhow, thats from the indo..come on now....