Happy Christmas Arbroath - Take Three Points

26th Dec 2007: East Fife 0, Arbroath 2 (Barrs Scottish League Third Division)

What's the opposite of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? I guess it's something like, "when it's no' fuckin' workin', try somethin' else!". Last Saturday we were well done by a no more than ordinary team that had two big centre halfs who could keep our forwards in their pockets all afternoon. So what exactly did Baikie think he'd achieve by playing the same game today? The only real difference between today and Saturday was that, this afternoon, we were up against a good team. If truth be known, two-nil flattered us (but only hugely....). We really do need a better Plan B than simply punting the ball up the pitch.

Ah'd be the first to accept that at Christmas time, we've all got our heads up our arses, we're eatin' and drinkin' too much and none of us could give a shit about work (my apologies to any nurses, firemen, care workers etc who've just put in a thirty two hour shift....). But, for fuck sake, am I being too naive to believe that fitba is, like, entertainment. Is it too much to expect the manager to send the team out and gie it some welly? Naw, it isn't, is it?

As it was, it looked tae me that they'd all had a wee bit too much plum pudding yesterday after the turkey and that they were slightly less than thrilled about having to be there for this afternoon's encounter. And that was a real shame as over nine hundred folk turned up tae watch today's game (only seventy three of them were from Arbroath....). Don't get me wrong, I go to the football to watch the team, no' just tae watch them winning. But this afternoon they were really pretty poor. And that was really pretty disappointing.

(Honest, this tirade will be over shortly but if you'll indulge me for just another paragraph). While ah'm still in rant-mode I may as well get this off my chest too. Fozzie looked fucked from about five minutes in. So I guess he's still ill. Why pick him to play if he's no' fit? McManus is our top scorer this season and missed the last game because of a 'wee hamstring twinge'. He just about managed to last until half time - why risk picking him if he's no' fully fit? Big Craig O'Reilly just looked like he's been goin' right over the top with Christmas dinner; always on his heels, he looked as slow as me. And Stevie Nick got five minutes after we were already beaten. Why fuckin' bother at that stage?

Right then - now that ah've got all that bile oot ma system ah'll move on. I guess the reason that we're all hurting so much right now is down to one thing only. We've really not had to suffer the pain of defeat much this term. And today was really painful. We've played every other team off the park this season so far. Even when we were up against it, we dug deep, Baikie came up with new ideas and we found a way to get the job done. I suppose that every team at every level will always go through patches when their form suffers. The team's got to somehow work their way through it and come out the other side.

But they're not gonna do it on their own. No matter who the manager is or who're playing in the shirt we have to remember that they're not intentionally going out and playing badly. They're doing their best and we need tae get behind them all the way. Nine hundred fans turned out this afternoon and every one of us has to keep coming, paying the cash and cheering on the team. East Fife don't have a God given right to win every match they play. But we do have a talented manager (stop shakin' yer head - ah didn't say that he was Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson), we do have a decent squad of players (I know that they're not Ronaldo or Raul) and we do have a committed support who want nothing more than success for the club. So from where ah'm sitting right now, maybe it doesn't look as bad as my initial rant suggests.

We were never really at the races this afternoon and when the Red Lichties' first goal went in on the half hour mark it was already fairly obvious that we had nothing to respond with. The question now shouldn't be about retribution and pinning blame on any individual(s) at the club but rather what do we do if we concede a goal to a team that's playing better football than us? How do we go about changing things so that we get the upper hand on the park? What positions should the guys play in to be most effective? When should we make substitutions? These are all questions that the manager and the coaching staff need to address. Tactically, Baikie may or may not have all the answers but that's his worry - he's the same as every other manager and will live or die (if you'll excuse the melodrama) on the results of the team. Our job as supporters, however, is quite simple...

We've got to stay behind the team all the time. We've got to let them know that, come what may, they can always rely on our support. Today was a difficult time for us all - the lads on the park didn't do much that impressed. However, they played as well as Arbroath allowed them. Maybe we need to recognise that they came south today and played awfy well. They scored two good goals and, if we're honest, should probably have scored more. But for some desperate (if somewhat tragic at other times....) defending and great goalkeeping, things could have been a shit load worse.

As it was, we lost a game. Three points. In the bigger picture we should just forget about the other shite. So we lost a game on grass. So we lost our unbeaten home record. Shite, shite, shite - that's all just shite. We lost a game of football and we're all hurting. But it's gone now and there's fuck all that we can do about it. What we can do, however, is resolve to travel with the team on Saturday. Can you imagine how the players are feeling right now? And now can you imagine how they'll feel when they run out on Saturday to the cheers from eight hundred fans who've made the trip with them? We've got one job to do and it's the most important at the club. The team won't let us down so let's not let them down.

C'mon the Fife - let's fuckin' do the Wee Rovers on Saturday!!!