Chris Ball - The European Journeyman

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Chris Ball - The European Journeyman

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Chris Ball, the new kid on the block. A 34 year old, from Kent in England, that has spent his whole career to date working in sales roles across different industries, who has now decided to turn his hand to football management. He comes to the table with absolutely nothing to offer....no prior experience, no coaching badges......just the accolade of being top goalscorer for his local pub football team for the last 3 seasons! The man that is affectionately nicknamed as 'ballb4g' by his closest friends isn't fussy about where he will begin his career and has even said he will initially work for free to make his football management dreams come true!! The question remains as to whether there will be any football club owner out there who will be crazy enough to take a punt on ballb4g?!

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It is rumoured that Ball is looking to some of the more obscure leagues across Europe to get his foot on the football management ladder, with countries such as Hungary, Norway, Denmark and Finland being mentioned as possible destinations for the man who shares his nickname with men's genitals.

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Chris Ball is said to have no real game plan. In a letter that he wrote in to a local paper (in a desperate attempt to try to drum up any sort of interest in his story), he mentioned that one day he plans to be the most successful manager Europe has ever seen! Sounds like pipe dreams from where we are sitting at the moment, but only time will tell if this 'dreamer' can have any kind of impact on the footballing world, or whether he'll simply fade away as a nobody after half a season managing a club nobody has ever heard of!

There are a whole host of available jobs at the moment, but it remains to be seen whether any of these are 'too big' for the inexperienced Ballb4g and whether he'll have to await further opportunities to kick start his career...


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Unknown English Manager Appointed As Brechin City Boss

Chris Ball moves to Scotland to replace Mark Wilson

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Chris Ball, fondly known as Ballb4g, has moved his family (fiancée and two children) to Scotland as he has accepted an opportunity to become the new manager of Brechin City.

Brechin City are a semi professional outfit and play their football in the Ladbrokes League Two, which is the 4th tier of Scottish football. The club have a limited history since their formation in 1906, with only one League Two and three League One titles to their name, with their best spell coming in the early 2000s. The Brechin City owners will be hoping the Ball can bring success to the club, although firmly admits that he sees his manager eventually going on to bigger and better things one day.

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Chris Ball has said that he is eager to get to work in his new role and will arrive at Glebe Park for his first day tomorrow. He will have an opportunity to meet his new team in the morning after a meeting with the board to confirm the club’s vision, before taking his first training session in the afternoon.

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Settling In At Brechin City

After a meeting with the Brechin City board, their expectation of me is to steer the club clear of relegation during my first season in charge. The club are expected to struggle throughout the campaign and every single point will be important if I'm to keep the club in the division. As far as the cup competitions go this year, I'm expected to simply help the club avoid any embarrassment.

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The longer term vision of the club isn’t exactly demanding, with the Brechin board only expecting the club to become firmly established in the current division within the next 5 years.

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I won’t have much money to play with to strengthen my side this Summer, as the club have made £30k available for transfers, with the bank balance currently in the red.

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After introducing myself to the squad, it is believed that the Brechin City players have taken well to my appointment.

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Talking of the squad, there’s little to choose from with a real shortage of players in the team and this is something that I will need to rectify before the season begins. Most of the players are of Scottish nationality and there are a couple of standout talents in a team that is mostly mediocre at best!

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Connor Baron is a player that I am likely to be building my team around in the centre of the midfield. He looks head and shoulders above the rest of the players in the squad.

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One of the topics discussed at my interview for the Brechin job, was that of adding a parent affiliate club that I could exploit to potentially bring some talented youngsters into the club on loan. The board have fulfilled their promise in setting up such link with Dundee United and it will now be interesting to see how this relationship pans out and what becomes available to me.

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Good luck with this. Looking forward to see where you end up after Brechin
 
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Pre Season 2020/21

Incoming Transfer; Greg Pascazio
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£40 p/w)


Our squad is severely lacking decent cover at centre back. Although he is no world beater, 24 year old Greg Pascazio looks good enough to be able to do a job for us this season so I brought him in to add to the defensive numbers.

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Incoming Transfer; Taylor Queen
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 1 year (£7 p/w)


Another centre back added to the ranks and we probably have enough cover in this position now. Taylor Queen was another player available for no fee and the 21 year old still has plenty of room for improvement and could develop into a decent player for the club.

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Injury; This is proper sh*t news before the season starts. Leeroy Makovora is one of the best players in the squad and he’ll now miss virtually the whole season. I’m better off terminating his loan and sending him back to Hearts rather than making the weekly contributions to his wages every week when he can’t play. This is a massive blow for us though!

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Incoming Transfer; Connor Scullion
Signed From; Fauldhouse Utd, Fee; £2,600, Contract; 2 years (£130 p/w)


I wasted no time in bring new wingers into the club, to bolster my wide options. First in was Connor Scullion, a young left winger with decent dribbling and crossing skills. I’ll be looking for him to play to his strengths and whip plenty of balls in from the left side.

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Incoming Transfer; Ryan Ferguson
Signed From; Broughty Athletic, Fee; £3,000, Contract; 2 years (£100 p/w)


Next in was a player for the right wing, in the form of 26 year old Ryan Ferguson. Probably going to be our best option down the right side to start with I would imagine and for a player that has plenty of experience at this low level and has played for the club before (21 appearances in 2014/15), I will be looking for some consistency in his performances this year.

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Our pre season friendlies offered up a very mixed bag, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Not as consistent as I’d have liked, but I did do a lot of chopping and changing with the squad to try to find my best formation and tactical setup. Still don’t think I’ve got it nailed just yet though.

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This is where I am at with the tactic at present. A few players have personalised roles and tactical instructions, so things can be changed and mixed up with subs etc throughout games. I’ll probably look to change our mentality depending on opponents as well.

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Looking at the season preview, we are nailed on to finish bottom of the league according the media and bookies. Queen’s Park and Edinburgh City are expected to run away with the league title challenge between them and the entire media dream 11 is made up of just their players!

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We will kick off our competitive games with two matches in the League Cup before three league fixtures in the month of October.

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Incoming Transfer; Cameron Taylor
Signed From; St.Cuthbert’s, Fee; £4,000, Contract; 3 years (£130 p/w)


I wasn’t planning on adding another centre back to the squad, but my scouts found Cameron and it was recommended that I sign him whatever the price. And to be fair, he does come into the club as probably my best option in the central defence position, despite being only 20 years of age.

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October 2020

Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 1
Cove Rangers vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Balanced (Attacking on 38 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio (C.Taylor 64), J.Page, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson (C.Scullion 64), C.Coupe, P.Nawrocki

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My first venture into competitive football didn’t have a fairytale ending as we were outplayed for majority of this game by our League One opponents. Luckily, nobody expected us to get anything from this game and avoiding a heavier defeat is probably seen as some sort of achievement.

Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 2
Brechin City vs Dundee United

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Cautious (Very Attacking on 86 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis (S.Cusick 74), R.Ferguson, C.Scullion, P.Nawrocki (R.Currie 74)

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A very brave effort from my lads as we really did hold our own against a team a couple of divisions above us! I expected us to get battered here if I’m honest and the end result is very encouraging with the league campaign just about to kick off.

Incoming Transfer; Chris O’Neil
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£75 p/w)


Chris is a versatile player who can cover across the entire back line, so it was a no brainer to add him to the squad for the upcoming season. Down at this level, I’ve always felt it important to have at least a couple of players in the small squad who can play multiple positions/roles for the team.

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150 season tickets sold for the upcoming season!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 1

Stenhousemuir vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Balanced (Attacking on 5 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis (S.Cusick 65), R.Ferguson, C.Scullion (C.Coupe 65), P.Nawrocki

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A very tight game between two sides who struggled to get going. Even after taking such an early lead, Stenhousemuir offered very little for the remaining 88 minutes of the game. Fortunately for them, neither did we!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 2
Brechin City vs Albion Rovers

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Positive (Defensive on 86 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh (C.O’Neil 63), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd (S.Cusick 63), K.Inglis, R.Ferguson*, C.Coupe, P.Nawrocki

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First 3 points are up on the board and my first competitive win as manager. We were bl**dy good value for this win as well. The boys turned in a great performance and I come away well chuffed with this result. Both of our goals came from headed efforts.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 3
Annan Athletic vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh (C.O’Neil 67), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor (L.Bollan 88), D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, C.Coupe, P.Nawrocki

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Absolutely gutted to have lost this one with one of the final kicks of the game! The ref added on 4 minutes and they scored on exactly 94:16!! We gave another decent enough performance here though to think that we won’t be the league’s whipping boys this year as everything thought!

Pleased to have an early win up on the board. Early days yet but good to see that we don’t end the first month of the season at the very bottom.

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 6.8, 6.7, 7.0, 7.7, 7.0)


Cameron has been our most consistent player this month and the young centre back seems to have settled in at the club quickly which bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

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Next month offers up three league matched and our final couple of group games in the Betfred Cup. I’m likely to rotate the squad for these games with absolutely no interest in that competition at all this season!

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seems like a not to bad a start to the season what are you hoping the season and cups go. Thinking of doing the same challenge how did you manage to find a Scottish club as normally there is none when i did them in the past.

I'll be glad to survive in the league this year if I'm honest, as according to everyone in Scotland, we are so far behind all the other clubs in the division on paper. If I can give myself a platform to build on next season I'll be happy
 
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November 2020

Scottish League Two – Matchday 4

Brechin City vs Cowdenbeath
Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, C.Coupe, P.Nawrocki

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A game that we probably just edged a maybe deserved to win on that. Still, when you are the strong favourites to finish stone last in the competition, then we’ll take every single point with gratitude!

Betfred Cup Group Stage – Matchday 3
Brechin City vs Ross County

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Defensive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 45), L.Bollan, C.Taylor (B.Luissint 45), D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd (K.Inglis 45), S.Cusick, M.Paton, C.Coupe, R.Currie

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For the first time this year, we were completely outplayed. But I guess it’s to be expected when League Two meets Premiership! No complaints….on to the next one.

Betfred Cup Group Stage – Matchday 4
Brora Rangers vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Attacking (Very Attacking on 43 mins, Positive on 65 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, J.Page, B.Luissint, R.Brown, S.Cusick, M.Scott, M.Paton, C.Scullion, R.Currie*

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Some serious rotation here as several players came into the team who haven’t been making my starting 11 so far this season. We were definitely out of sorts in the first half against our non league opponents and looked to be staring an embarrassing defeat in the face at half time. However, a good kick up the **** at half time and a switch to a very attacking mentality seemed to do the trick and we had a lot more urgency about us in the second 45 minutes. A double from Rory Currie saw us get our noses in front, but we couldn’t hold on as they scored an absolute screamer in injury time to share the spoils. We went on to lose the most pointless penalty shootout ever!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 5
Brechin City vs Stirling Albion

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Positive (Attacking on 87 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, C.Coupe (C.Scullion 74, M.Paton 77)), P.Nawrocki (R.Currie 74)

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Back to league action and my starting lineup was back to full strength for what I felt was a winnable game for us. However, we had to settle for a single point as we played out a bore draw with Stirling. And boring was the only word to describe the game as neither team managed a single shot on target during the 90 mins.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 6
Queen’s Park FC vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Cautious (Attacking on 63 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 78), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, C.Coupe, P.Nawrocki (R.Currie 78)

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We had an ‘impossible task’ ahead of us here according to the press, and if I’m completely honest we were never in the game and lucky to come away with such a narrow defeat. Queen’s Park managed 18 shots on our goal and could easily have given us a good thrashing here on another day.

We didn’t win any games this month, but picked up 2 valuable points in the league which does keep us clear of the relegation spot at the bottom of the table. There is already a gap forming to the teams above us, but we don’t need to worry too much about the teams ahead of us, as long as we can stay clear of the bottom 2 or 3.

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Player of the Month
Greg Pascazio (Form; 6.9, Didn't play, 7.0, 7.2, 7.0)


Nobody has shone this month, but Greg has certainly been our most consistent player, turning in 3 match ratings of 7.0 or higher in his last 4 games.

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There is no denying that December is going to be a tough month for us as we take on 3 sides above us in the league who have all reached double figure points already. We kick off with a real tough fixture against top of the league Elgin.

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December 2020

Scottish League Two – Matchday 7

Elgin City vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Defensive (Attacking on 11 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, S.Cusick, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, C.Coupe (M.Paton 70), P.Nawrocki (R.Currie 50)

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Despite what the scoreline might suggest, this wasn’t a walk in the park for the league leaders and if we were able to actually take our chances, this could just as easily have been 4-4 instead of 4-1 to them. We were wasteful of some good chances in front of goal here and it cost us!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 8
Brechin City vs Stranraer

Formation; 4-3-3 Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Barron, M.Todd, K.Inglis, R.Ferguson, M.Paton, P.Nawrocki

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Simply not good enough. We really needed to pick up at least a point here, but never looked like scoring and it’s worrying times now with no wins in 8 in all comps.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 9
Edinburgh City vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor*, D.McKay, M.Paton, R.Brown, K.Inglis (C.Barron 60), S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie (M.Scott 60)

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With an air of desperation around me, I reverted to a standard, old fashioned 4-4-2 in order to try to turn our fortunes around. It definitely produced a better performance and we took a good point away at Edinburgh. Hopefully, this result can see us kick on and put a couple of wins on the board with the new formation.

Scottish Cup – First Round
Edinburgh University vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, M.Paton, R.Brown, K.Inglis, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Absolutely disgraceful! I felt we could boost our confidence with a good win here against non league opposition, but again we fall to a defeat! We were on top for most of the game, but a lack of conviction in front of goal saw us punished as we could only put away 1 of our 19 shots on goal! Embarrassing and the pressure is surely going to come raining down on me in the new year!

We finish the calendar year just 1 point clear of bottom club Stirling Albion. We knew it was going to be a gruelling season and it is proving to be just that. However, we haven’t been at the bottom of the league since the opening day so have to be seen as achieving our target right now!

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 6.7, 7.0, 8.3, 7.0)


For the second time this season, Taylor takes my player of the month award. Consistency was key to winning the award again and an excellent man of the match performance against Edinburgh City this month!

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No cup games to distract us now and we have 5 league games coming up in January. I really feel like we must win one of these games and pick up a couple of draws maybe to keep ourselves out of trouble!

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January 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 10
Brechin City vs Stenhousemuir
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, M.Paton, R.Brown (C.Barron 66), K.Inglis, S.Cusick*, P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 66), R.Currie

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A perfect start to the month as we record our 2nd victory of the season! Scott Cusick was sensational down the left wing as he proved a handful for the Stenhousemuir defence all game, contributing with a goal and an assist!

That win ended a 7 match winless run in the league for us!

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Incoming Transfer; Ben Eardley
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2.5 years (£65 p/w)

With the January transfer window opening, I quickly add a new player to the ranks in for the form of Eardley who was available on a free. The central midfielder is better than other options I have at the club and his decision making in the centre of the park, with the play flowing through him in the new 4-4-2 system could be key to creating us plenty of chances up top!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 11
Albion Rovers vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, M.Paton, R.Brown, K.Inglis (B.Eardley 59), S.Cusick (C.Scullion 59), P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 84), R.Currie

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A massive game as 7th played 8th with only a point separating the two sides at kick off. We started the game well and when Rory Currie hammered home into the roof of the net on 21 minutes to put us in front, it was well deserved. However, the goal seemed to kick Albion into life and out lead didn’t last long and before half time they scored again to lead at the break! We came out hard in the 2nd half and hammered the Albion goal for the whole of the second period. It didn’t look like we were going to be rewarded with an equalizer though….that was until Cameron Taylor headed home a powerful effort from a corner on 89 minutes. Just as it looked like we would take a well earned point from the game though, a lapse in concentration at the back allowed our opponents to nick it in stoppage time! Gutting!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 12
Brechin City vs Annan Athletic

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 81), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, R.Ferguson, R.Brown*, K.Inglis (B.Eardley 70), S.Cusick (C.Scullion 81), P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Two first half goals from Przemyslawl Nawrocki had us well in control of this game at the break and my half time team talk was all about keeping my lads focused for the 2nd period. The talk I gave obviously didn’t work as we let the lead slip and looked like walking away with only a single point! But then Ross Brown scored a winner in the 95 minutes to send me, the coaching staff and the fans absolutely nuts!! Wow….emotions a plenty here throughout that 2nd half!!

Outgoing Transfer (Jonathan Page)
Sold To; Basingstoke, Fee; Free Transfer


Page wasn’t getting in my team but was costing me £200 per week on the wage bill, so when Basingstoke offered to take him off my hands, I gladly accepted.

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 13
Cowdenbeath vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor (B.Luissint 75), D.McKay, R.Ferguson, R.Brown (B.Eardley 75), K.Inglis, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie*

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Cowdenbeath sat one place below us in 9th at kick off, so this was a great opportunity for us to kick on and record back to back wins for the first time this season! We made the perfect start to the game as Rory Currie continued his good form, putting us in front inside 2 minutes. Only 90 seconds later, we were 2 up when Mullen headed into his own net from a cross whipped in from the right wing. We were absolutely flying and inside quarter of an hour, Currie had his 2nd and the game was already beyond the reach of our opponents. My lads were playing with freedom and confidence and it was only a matter of how many we’d score from that point. The answer was another 2 without reply, as we completed a thrashing!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 14
Brechin City vs Queen’s Park

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio*, C.Taylor, D.McKay (B.Luissint 69), R.Ferguson (M.Paton 40), R.Brown, C.Barron, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 76), R.Currie

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Despite winning our last game 5-0, THIS is our result of the season so far as we beat one of the league favourites to nil! A fantastic performance from my lads and we really seem to have settled into this 4-4-2 tactical setup now and things look promising for the 2nd half of the season!

Incredibly, we won 4 of our 5 league games this month which has seen us move up to 5th in the table. Incredibly, we sit only 4 points off the top 4, but more importantly we are a massive 10 points clear of bottom of the table Stirling Albion!

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 7.3, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5)


We’ve definitely been good going forward this month, but it’s the stability at the back that has won us games and Cameron Taylor is at the heart of that back 4 and has again turned in some great performances over the past 5 games.

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Four games coming up in February, starting with a game against the bottom side, so a great opportunity to extend our winning streak! We do have to take on the sides in 1st and 2nd though as well, so it won’t be an easy month!

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February 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 15
Stirling Albion vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh (C.O’Neil 62), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, R.Ferguson (M.Paton 52), R.Brown, C.Barron, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 71), R.Currie*

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There’s no denying Rory Currie is in great form at the moment and his two first half goals were enough to see us take all three points away at bottom side, Stirling Albion. He thought he’d bagged his first hat trick of the season too, when he tapped home from close range in the 88th minute, only for the ref to rule it out for offside.

Injury; Right winger, Ryan Ferguson, who supplied both assists in the last game, will now miss up to 3 months of action with an injury he picked up during the match.

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After 20 games in charge, the press are mostly excited about the amount of new players I’ve brought to the club apparently. I’m pleased to see they are recognising our recent upturn in form as well though!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 16
Brechin City vs Elgin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, M.Paton (M.Todd 80), R.Brown, B.Eardley*, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie (M.Scott 80)

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Ben Eardley bundled over the line after a scramble in the 6 yard box, to score the winner with the last kick of the game! It’s no less than we deserved here either as we were the better side for large portions of the game and Elgin are sent home with nothing as we extend our run to 6 wins in our last 7 games! I bet nobody would have bet on us having a run like that at the start of the season!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 17
Stranraer vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Coupe (M.Todd 69), R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick (C.Scullion 81), P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 69), R.Currie

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Our winning run comes to an end, but this isn’t a bad result though as we take a point on the road. A close fought game this which was pretty even on the stats as well, so a draw was probably a fair result.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 18
Brechin City vs Edinburgh City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor (L.Bollan 85), B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie* (M.Paton 77)

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Now that result was a statement and a half from us and shows everyone that we fully intend to compete for the final 3rd of the season! Rory Currie might have just missed out on a hat trick earlier in the month against Stirling Albion, but he achieved the feat here against the league leaders!

Fears of finishing bottom of the table are well and truly behind us now and we are now looking like a force to be reckoned with in this league and I’m sure that top 4 will be looking right over their shoulder at us, shaking in their boots!

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I managed to pick up my first ever manager of the month award as my reputation in the lower leagues of Scottish football continues to grow.

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Player of the Month
Rory Currie (Form; 7.7, 6.6, 6.4, 8.5)


His form may not have been the most consistent throughout the whole month, but bagging 5 goals across those two games with Stirling Albion and Edinburgh City is enough for Currie to win the award this month.

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Just Saturday fixtures again next month, so four league games to play in a nice, relaxed schedule. We don’t have any reason to fear anyone on our current run of form, so bring it on!

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March 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 19

Stenhousemuir vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick (C.Scullion 58), P.Nawrocki*, R.Currie (M.Scott 86)

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A good performance and a nice win away from home to kick off the month. A win that saw us enter the top 4 in the table for the first time this season – somewhere nobody expected us to be!!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 20
Brechin City vs Albion Rovers

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil*, G.Pascazio (L.Bollan 87), C.Taylor, B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick (C.Scullion 58), P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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This was a lot closer in the end than it should have been and we actually found ourselves hanging onto the 3 points in the final few minutes, despite racing into a 4-0 lead in the first half!! I’m obviously pleased to come away with the win, but we must hold our concentration better in future!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 21
Annan Athletic vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 80), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick (C.Scullion 62), P.Nawrocki (M.Scott 62), R.Currie

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This was a massive game for both clubs as we chase a top 4 spot, with us kicking off in 3rd and them in 5th! Neither team was able to press home an advantage though as we played out a 1-1 draw. It’s amazing there weren’t more goals in this one as the two sides managed to conjure up 34 attempts at goal between them!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 22
Brechin City vs Cowdenbeath

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor*, B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley (C.Barron 71), S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Cowdenbeath might be 7th in the table, but they came into this game 2nd in the form table (behind us), so this wasn’t going to be an easy game. It wasn’t and we had to be at our best to win it. We were never completely comfortable, but managed to hold our nerve and stay solid at the back, whilst taking our chances up top! Nawrocki’s goal to wrap things up in stoppage time deserves a mention as it was a beautifully struck effort from just inside the box, right into the top corner at the near post!

Another unbeaten month has seen us rise to 3rd in the table and with just 5 games of the season left, we are just 3 points off top spot and could even mount the unlikeliest of title challenges!!

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It’s back to back Manager of the Month awards for yours truly!

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 7.8, 7.3, 7.1, 8.5)


Taylor takes the plaudits again as Mr Consistent turns in another great month at the heart of the defence. He even chipped in with 2 goals this month as the 21 year old looks mature beyond his years!

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Four of our last five games will be played in April and if we do well enough in these matches, we could set up a massive final game of the season clash with Edinburgh City in May (it could even be a title decider!!).

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April 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 23

Queen’s Park vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive (Very Attacking on 84 mins)
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 64), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, M.Todd, R.Brown, B.Eardley, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie (M.Scott 64)

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Our 11 game unbeaten run comes to a sharp and distinct end, as we are thrashed away at Queen’s Park! We were poor, offered very little going forward and looked dodgy as **** at the back! It will now be a test of character to see if we can pick ourselves up for the next game!

Who’d have thought at the start of the season, that we would be getting analysed by the press as part of the ‘promotion hopefuls’ run in with 4 games left!! It’s a testament to how well we’ve done this season that we’re in this discussion and we still have a shot at making the top 4, or dare I say it, even winning this league!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 24
Brechin City vs Stirling Albion

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, C.O’Neil (S.McIntosh 45), G.Pascazio*, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, M.Paton (R.Ferguson 45), R.Brown (K.Inglis 78), B.Eardley, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Well, if you want an opportunity to bounce back from a defeat, then you’d want to be playing the team at the bottom of the league, and that’s what we were presented with here! And it wasn’t long before we had out noses in front as Nawrocki poked home from close range to bag his 14th goal of the season. However, the lead didn’t last long and a volleyed goal from Dylan Mackin had the visitors back on level terms within minutes. Another goal a piece meant we went in at half time at 2-2 and it was all to play for in the 2nd half. Both teams created a number of chances in an open 45 minutes of football, but the better chances definitely fell to us, so it was disappointing not to take one and had to settle for a point.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 25
Elgin City vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, D.McKay, C.Coupe (R.Ferguson 54), R.Brown (C.Barron 54), B.Eardley, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Absolutely gutted to lose this game after fighting back from 2-0 down. We gave as good as we got against one of the strongest sides in the division and have every reason to be proud of our efforts here and were unlucky not to take something from the game.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 26
Brechin City vs Stranraer

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, K.Inglis, S.Cusick, P.Nawrocki, R.Currie*

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We finish the month with a dominating performance against Stranraer where we had 18 shots at their goal. We took 4 of those chances to make the scoreline as convincing as the performance. Rory Currie’s 1st was the pick of the goals as he saw the ball come over his left shoulder onto a first time volley into the top corner from 12 yards out.

Going into the last game of the season, it’s simple….beat Edinburgh City and we make the playoffs!!

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Player of the Month
Przemyslaw Nawrocki (Form; 6.3, 7.2, 6.9, 7.3)


Forgiving a poor performance against Queen’s Park, Nawrocki has been a major contributor this month with 3 goals and an assist in his last 3 games and that’s enough for him to take my player of the month for April.

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Only one game left and it’s simple….whoever wins makes the playoffs!

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May 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 27
Edinburgh City vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive

Lineup; L.McMinn, S.McIntosh, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, B.Luissint, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, K.Inglis (C.Barron 55), S.Cusick (C.Scullion 55), P.Nawrocki, R.Currie

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Without a doubt my biggest game of my career so far, so let’s give this game a little more attention than a little summary…

On 8 minutes I thought Rory Currie had put us in front as a ball was lofted over the top and he ran onto it and powered home his shot….only for the goal to be ruled out for offside!

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Just before the 20 minute mark, the home side were in front from the penalty spot and we were now up against it if we wanted to overhaul them to that 4th playoff spot!

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On 37 minutes, our task went from hard to near on impossible as Edinburgh doubled their lead, when a cross from deep caught out our defence and left De Vita a tap in at the back post.

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A glimmer of hope on 78 minutes as Rory Currie hammered home from 19 yards with his 19th goal of the season!

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All hopes were shattered in the final minute of the game though as Benjamin Luissint recklessly gave the ball away in his own penalty area, to allow Blair Henderson to cross to an unmarked Gabby McGill who headed into the bottom corner from 4 yards out.

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A brave effort where we competed in the whole game, actually recording more shots than our opponents and having more of the possession. But they had a bit more quality in the final third and that was enough for them to secure the win.

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END OF SEASON REVIEW

Centre back Cameron Taylor was easily the pick of the new arrivals as I built my defence around the 21 year old! He has been extremely consistent and looks a promising player for the club over the next couple of years if we can hold onto him.

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To finish the season on 42 points is a massive accomplishment for the club, considering most expected us to struggle to get half of that at the start of the season. If we’d had just started the campaign better, we would have been right up there! I’ve highlighted how poor our start was on the right side of the screenshot below, to show just how well we did to turn it around. To have narrowly missed out on the playoffs is gutting, but we can still be extremely proud of our efforts this year!

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Our two most impressive wins of the season came away from home!

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A decent amount of money has come into the club over the course of the season.

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My favoured formation was the 4-4-2 with a deep lying midfielder to help cover the defenders and our football massively improved when we made the switch to this lineup. Three players managed to achieve average ratings above 7.0 and it is encouraging to see that two of them were my centre back partnership.

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Young Cameron Taylor cleaned up on awards night!

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Rangers won the Scottish Cup, beating Celtic in the final.

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Edinburgh City will remain in our division after failing to beat East Fife in the playoffs.

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I’ll have £15k to spend on strengthening the squad in the Summer. It may not sound a lot, but it could buy 2 or 3 really good players down at this level.

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I’ve signed a new one year contract with the club with a cheeky little pay rise added in as well. I’m looking forward to another season at Brechin and really think we can make a good go of it next year with the right additions to the squad.

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June 2021

Incoming Transfer; Stephen Bronsky (CB)

Signed From; Elgin City, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£100 p/w)

With a new contract signed, it was time to get to work in the new transfer window. My first addition was centre back, Stephen Bronsky, who joins from Elgin City on a free transfer. He played 24 times in the league for Elgin last year and managed an average rating of 7.27 which is impressive. A great addition to my back line!

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Incoming Transfer; Marky Munro (RB/RM)
Signed From; St Johnstone, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£110 p/w)


Marky comes in on a free from St Johnstone and adds versatility to the squad, being able to play a number of positions competently. He spent some time on loan with Stenhousemuir last year, making 8 appearances for them without really shining, but I hope he can settle here and get some decent game time under his belt and show what he’s made of.

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Incoming Loan; Layton Bisland (RB)
Signed From; Dundee United, Monthly Fee; £0, Salary Contribution; £0 p/w


The club had already maxed out it’s loan options when I joined last Summer, so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the partnership with Dundee United. But I dived straight into their Reserve team this year to bring in 17 year old right back, Layton Bisland. A solid defensive option, with good tackling, decision making and some good pace down the right side too, he could well be my first choice for that position this season despite his young age.

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Incoming Loan; Flynn Duffy (LB)
Signed From; Dundee United, Monthly Fee; £0, Salary Contribution; £0 p/w


Another 17 year old through the door, another full back, another loanee from Dundee United. Duffy has a very similar profile to his Dundee teammate, Layton Bisland (above), and these two could buddy up at the club and be my little gems in the full back positions….or so I hope!

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Incoming Transfer; Ally Park (CM)
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 1 year (£110 p/w)

Ally comes into the team to add some much needed experience as he becomes one of the oldest members of the squad at 31. He shas previous experience at League One and League Two level with Clyde and that could prove valuable for some of our younger lads.

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There have been some rule changes implemented for the upcoming season, with the main one being that we will now play each other 4 times each, so the season will total 36 games instead of 27.

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The board outline their expectations for the upcoming season and again, it’s just to ensure we keep our place in the division and don’t get relegated. Personally, I am aiming a little higher after such a successful campaign last season!

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Incoming Transfer; Cole Starrs (ST)
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£55 p/w)


19 year old Cole Starrs was released by Forfar Athletic in the Summer and although they didn’t think he could do a job for them, I think he could be a potential starr for us….did you see what I did there ?

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The draw for the Betfred Cup has actually been relatively kind to us and we actually have a chance of picking up a few points in the group stage this year. Not saying we’ll qualify with the likes of Raith and Ross County in there, but we will play a couple of non league sides where we could pick up results.

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We’ll start the league campaign with a couple of tough opening games as we take on Peterhead on the opening day who have just come down from League One, before taking on the team that beat us on the final day of last season.

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July 2021

Incoming Transfer; Kane Paton (ST)

Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£55 p/w)

One thing I didn’t have last year was good backup strikers to push my front two for their place in the team and it’s something I wanted to rectify this Summer. After already adding Cole Starrs to the front line last month, I’ve now given myself 4 options up to with the addition of Kane Paton as well. He offers me some good pace and determination and at 19 years old has plenty of scope for improvement.

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Incoming Transfer; Gary Fisher (MC/ML)
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 1 year (£100 p/w)


I reckon Fisher could be my best signing since I’ve been at the club ya know! A central midfielder, who can also play down the left wing, he is an accomplished passer of the ball with some great attributes to back up his passing ability as well. Good teamwork and work rate, combined with decent determination, whilst adding a bit of aggression and bravery in the centre of the park as well.

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Before the Betfred Cup kicked off, we needed a couple of friendlies to get some match fitness amongst the lads. I chose to play two teams that were well out of our league simply as a money maker! The club was £70k in the red, but these two games brought in around £30k revenue each as we sold out a full house. The results really didn’t matter in all fairness!

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Incoming Transfer; Liam Callaghan (MC/ML)
Signed From; Montrose, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£95 p/w)


Another new face in, this time in the form of Liam Callaghan. A good crosser of the ball, I’ll be looking to him to play down the left despite being a centre midfield player naturally. Callaghan played 20 times for Montrose in League One last year, and although he didn’t have the best of seasons, he has to be seen as somewhat of a coup for us.

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Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 1
Kelty Hearts vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, L.Bisland, T.Queen (G.Pascazio 72), C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, G.Fisher, L.Callaghan, K.Paton (C.Starrs 72), R.Currie*

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Last season I lost every single cup game I managed, so it’s nice to get a cup win under my belt early on this season, even if it was against lower league opposition. We dominated this game from start to finish and Rory Currie picked up where he left off last season, bagging 2 goals on his opening competitive appearance of the new season.

Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 2
Brechin City vs Brora Rangers

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; L.McMinn, L.Bisland (M.Munro 45), T.Queen*, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, G.Fisher (G.Pascazio 74), L.Callaghan, K.Paton, R.Currie (P.Nawrocki 45)

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We played Brora Rangers in the group stage of this competition last year as well, and they managed to get a penalty shootout win over us after a 2-2 draw. Again the game finished in a draw and went to the penalty spot to decide it, and again it was our opponents that hold their nerve to win the shootout. Disappointing that we couldn’t close this out in 90 mins really though and we must do better!

Incoming Transfer; Dale Burgess (GK)
Signed From; Beith, Fee; £1,000, Contract; 2 years (£100 p/w)


I needed another keeper as I only had Lewis McMinn in the first team squad that plays between the sticks. Burgess will push McMinn for his spot in the team for sure….on paper he is a better keeper, but I’ll monitor both players form and efforts in training as to who becomes my number 1 for this season!

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Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 3
Brechin City vs Raith Rovers

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, M.Munro, T.Queen, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, G.Fisher, L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 75), C.Starrs (K.Paton 68), R.Currie (P.Nawrocki 68)

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On the stats, this was a very even game and we held our own against the Premiership club. We just lacked a little conviction in the final third where as they had that extra bit of quality up front which was the difference between the two sides today. A decent and encouraging performance from my lads though.

Betfred Cup – Group Stage Matchday 4
Ross County vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, A.Park, G.Pascazio, S.Bronsky, B.Luissint, R.Ferguson (C.Coupe 54), M.Munro, K.Inglis (Sent Off 45), C.Scullion, K.Paton (C.Starrs 54), P.Nawrocki (L.Callaghan 45)

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Ross County are another side that were in our group last year as well, beating us comfortably 3-0 with a dominant performance over us. Now I didn’t expect us to win this game going into it, so I used the match to rotate the squad and give a run out to a few players before the league campaign kicked off. We were well and truly thrashed by the Championship side…the sending off on half time didn’t help our cause and they completely ran over us in the 2nd half.

As expected, the Premiership club win the group and progress. At least we weren’t bottom of the group this year, like last!

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League action is just around the corner now, but hang on a minute….those odds of 1-91 can’t be right for Peterhead to win the division?!? Our stock has gone up over the past 12 months and this year, we are predicted 8th rather than bottom, although our odds of winning the title remain at 100-1 as they did last season. None of our players make the media dream 11, which is a lot more evened out this year and not dominated by just 2 clubs!

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Incoming Transfer; Josh Skelly (ST)
Signed From; Free Agent, Fee; Free Transfer, Contract; 2 years (£75 p/w)


Now I really didn’t need another striker, but the opportunity to sign Josh Skelly presented itself and he is better than all 4 strikers I have at the club, so I just couldn’t turn it down! Josh is a great addition to my front line and will now be the favourite to finish as my top scorer this season without doubt!

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We weren’t in the Challenge Cup last season, but this year we enter the competition in the 2nd round and have been handed a tough tie against Cove Rangers from the division above.

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 1
Brechin City vs Peterhead

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, , L.Bisland (C.O’Neil 54), G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, G.Fisher (K.Inglis 60), L.Callaghan, K.Paton, R.Currie (J.Skelly 76)

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It was always going to be tough opening the season against the side that are 1-91 on to win the title, but our defending was an absolute shambles here as they smashed 5 past us and we start the season in the worst possible way!

The most pointless league table I’ll probably ever show you with just 1 game played…

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Players of the Month
Kane Paton (Form; 7.4, 7.0, 6.7, 7.2, 6.9)


Kane has settled into life with us very quickly and hit the back of the net 3 times over his past 5 games, bagging an assist along the way as well.

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We’ll kick off next month with a very tough away day at Edinburgh, before a tough cup game as well. Hopefully, once those two are out of the way we will be able to put some points on the board with the three remaining league games in the month that are all winnable.

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August 2021

How unsupportive is that?! The board don’t want to fund a coaching course for me in fear that a bigger club will come knocking at my door!!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 2
Edinburgh City vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, M.Munro, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, G.Fisher, L.Callaghan (K.Inglis 54), K.Paton, R.Currie (J.Skelly 54)

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What the actual f7ck! 4-0 up at half time….4-4 by 54 minutes!!! Absolutely disgusted with my team for that!! And to be fair, we’re lucky to take a point as we were absolutely battered for the whole second half by them, but they just couldn’t find a winner!

Injury; A big blow as we lose Rory Currie for about 6 weeks to injury! It will give our other strikers a chance to show what they can do, but Currie will be sorely missed I’m sure.

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Scottish Challenge Cup– Round 2
Brechin City vs Cove Rangers

Formation; 4-2-2-2 Wide, Mentality; Cautious (Attacking on 65 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, L.Bisland (M.Munro 81), T.Queen, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, B.Eardley, L.Callaghan, K.Paton (P.Nawrocki 59), J.Skelly (C.Starrs 81)

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A closely fought game in which I tried a new tactical approach with wing play being the main focus and direct passing. We created a few good chances and looked more solid at the back with 2 DMs, but still didn’t manage to get a result against our higher league opposition.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 3
Brechin City vs Stenhousemuir

Formation; 4-2-2-2 Wide, Mentality; Balanced (Attacking on 23 mins, Cautious on 77 mins, Defensive on 86 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, L.Bisland (M.Munro 70), T.Queen, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, B.Eardley, L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 70), K.Paton, J.Skelly (C.Starrs 83)

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We just couldn’t hold on as Stenhousemuir scored in the final moments of the game to nick a point. It was a pretty even game on stats though so a draw was probably a fair result.

Incoming Transfer; Joe Macpherson (RB)
Signed From; Formatine, Fee; £1,700, Contract; 3 years (£130 p/w)


I bring in Joe Macpherson to fill the right back slot as 17 year old, Layton Bisland, who was brought in on loan from Dundee has been extremely poor with an average rating of 6.30 from 5 appearances! Bisland will remain with the club but will now become a backup player.

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 4
Brechin City vs Annan Athletic

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio*, C.Taylor, F.Duffy (M.Munro 62), R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, B.Eardley L.Callaghan, K.Paton (P.Nawrocki 62), J.Skelly (C.Starrs 62)

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My strikers had an absolute nightmare in front of goal here in a game we definitely should have won. We created some really good chances throughout the game but failure to find the back of the net means we have to settle for a single point.

Scottish League Two – Matchday 5
Albion Rovers vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, B.Eardley (K.Inglis 81) L.Callaghan, K.Paton, P.Nawrocki (C.Starrs 81)

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Another game that we should have won. We should have had Albion dead and buried well before they scored their equalizer with virtually the last kick of the game. Late goals have really cost us this month and it’s been another tough start to the campaign as we don’t look to have made any progress on last year at this stage!

Five games in and no wins on the board. On the plus side though, we’ve only suffered one defeat, as we look like the draw specialists of the division!

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 7.5, 6.5, 7.1, 6.8, 6.9)


Nobody has had a good month this month really, but Taylor was the best of a bad bunch.

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We only have two games scheduled for September and in all honesty, we must win them both if we are going to move into contention for the playoff spots which is where I want to be!

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September 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 6

Stirling Albion vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, A.Park (B.Eardley 74), L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 74), K.Paton, P.Nawrocki (J.Skelly 74)

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Yet again, another draw!! The game was very even with both sides sharing 9 shots a piece and 50% of possession, so a draw was the fairest result, even if extremely frustrating for us to still not have our first league win of the season!

We draw Stenhousemuir in the second round of the Scottish Cup. Definitely a winnable game for us!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 7
Brechin City vs Stranraer

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, A.Park, L.Callaghan, K.Paton (J.Skelly 44), C.Starrs*

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We finally get our first win of the season, and we get it in style as we give Stranraer a right thumping! Cole Starrs was given a chance to start up front and made the most of his opportunity scoring two goals and taking the man of the match award! Josh Skelly also got his first goal for the club!

Four points this month puts us hot on the tails of the top 4 at the end of September. However, we’re only 3 points above bottom as well, so we certainly won’t be getting too carried away at this stage.

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 7.7, 8.0)


Taylor may have won this award in August because he was the best of a bad bunch, but this month he gets it for two very good performances and it is well deserved!

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Three league games and a Scottish Cup tie as well next month. Neither Cowdenbeath or Elgin have made good starts to the season, so we will look to capitalise on that with decent results, before a tough match at Peterhead to finish off the month.

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October 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 8

Cowdenbeath vs Brechin City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor* (S.Bronsky 84), F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, A.Park, L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 63), J.Skelly (R.Currie 63), C.Starrs

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We went behind 5 minutes into the 2nd half, against the run of play. However, my lads responded well and turned the game on its head over the next 14 minutes with goals from Cole Starrs and Cameron Taylor. We controlled the remainder of the game and never really looked like conceding an equalizer. A solid performance!

Scottish Cup – Second Round
Stenhousemuir vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, G.Fisher, A.Park, L.Callaghan, J.Skelly, C.Starrs

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We’ll need a replay to settle this one. How we didn’t win this game I don’t know! We had 17 shots against their 5 and 58% of the possession in this one….it should have been comfortable!

Scottish Cup – Second Round Replay
Brechin City vs Stenhousemuir

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio (S.Bronsky 92), C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson*, G.Fisher, A.Park (B.Eardley 45), L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 105), J.Skelly (R.Currie 45), C.Starrs

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Exactly one week later, we played the replay. Same team but this time I had home advantage on our side. We were just as dominant as the week before (19 shots this time), but again failed to get the win in 90 minutes! However, the job was finally completed in extra time when centre back Stephen Bronsky came off the bench and scored only minutes later to ensure we progress to the next round.

We’ll now play Greenock Morton away in the next round.

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 9
Elgin City vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson, B.Eardley, A.Park, L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 50), R.Currie (J.Skelly 50), C.Starrs

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Another game that we dominated but did not win. My strikers are very hit and miss so far this season and it’s costing us points left, right and centre!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 10
Peterhead vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive (Attacking on 26 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, R.Ferguson (M.Munro 37), G.Fisher, B.Eardley (L.Callaghan 59), C.Scullion, R.Currie (P.Nawrocki 76), C.Starrs

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Peterhead battered us on the opening day of the season, putting 5 past us in the process! And they were again too good for us here, although we managed to keep the scoreline a little more respectable this time…progress?

Injury; Ryan Ferguson is out top assister this season so far, with 4, so he’ll surely be missed over the next couple of games!

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We’re still in touch with the top 4, but the 9 point gap that is already opening up between us and leaders Annan Athletic means we probably won’t be title challengers this season (not that that was ever expected).

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Player of the Month
Ryan Ferguson (Form; 7.5, 7.2, 8.3, 6.8, 6.8)


Ferguson has had a good month with three really good performances before a couple of average ones (possibly would have been better in the last game without going off injured on 37 mins).

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Some tough games coming up next month and another venture into the Scottish Cup. I’m targeting 2 wins from our 4 league games next month which should be enough to keep us flirting with the top 4 in the league.

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November 2021

Scottish League Two – Matchday 11

Brechin City vs Edinburgh City
Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, S.Bronsky, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, M.Munro (C.Coupe 62), G.Fisher, B.Eardley, C.Scullion (L.Callaghan 73), P.Nawrocki*, C.Starrs

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Last time we played Edinburgh, we took a 4-0 lead into half time and ended up drawing the game 4-4!! This time, again we led at half time, albeit by only a 2-0 scoreline! Anticipating that Edinburgh would come at us again, just as they did last time, I told the lads to keep focused at half time and not let their performances drop! It seemed to do the job as we immediately came out and added a 3rd to extend our lead, when Nawrocki found himself clean through on goal and slotted home calmly. Edinburgh did go on to get a couple of goals back, but Nawrocki had the last laugh when he completed his hat trick in stoppage time and ensured we walked away with all 3 points! A big, big victory!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 12
Brechin City vs Albion Rovers

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive (Attacking on 45 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, S.Bronsky, L.Bollan, F.Duffy, M.Munro (C.Coupe 88), G.Fisher, B.Eardley, C.Scullion (L.Callaghan 59), P.Nawrocki (R.Currie 59), C.Starrs

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By the time Albion took the lead with their first shot of the game on 29 mins, we had already had 11 attempts at their goal, so to say it was against the run of play would be an understatement. By half time, we’d had 15 shots to their 1….so my team talk was simply to keep the lads believing that if we carried on in this vein, we’d surely get something from this game. We came out strong in the 2nd half and were piling on the pressure coming close to scoring twice, before they caught us on the break and scored again with only their 2nd shot in the game…unbelievable! We did manage to put the ball in the net once, but it wasn’t enough!

Honestly, how the h3ll did we not win that game!! Just look at the stats!!

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Scottish League Two – Matchday 13
Stenhousemuir vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Attacking (Positive on 61 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, S.Bronsky, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, M.Munro (C.Coupe 84), G.Fisher, B.Eardley (A.Park 72), C.Scullion, P.Nawrocki (K.Paton 61), C.Starrs

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It was probably nailed on that this one would finish a draw as our previous three meetings this season have finished 1-1, 1-1 and 0-0. Again this was a very tightly contested game, with neither team ever really having any dominant periods of play and a draw was probably fair at the end of the day.

Scottish Cup – Third Round
Greenock Morton vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-4-2, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, S.Bronsky, C.Taylor, C.O’Neil, M.Munro (C.Coupe 59), G.Fisher, B.Eardley, L.Callaghan (C.Scullion 59), K.Paton, C.Starrs (R.Currie 59)

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The League One side were far too strong for us and dominated for large periods of the game. The scoreline didn’t flatter them and was a true reflection of how dominant they were and how far off League One level we still are!

Scottish League Two – Matchday 14
Annan Athletic vs Brechin City

Formation; 4-3-1-2 Asymetric, Mentality; Balanced (Cautious on 26 mins, Defensive on 86 mins, Cautious on 88 mins)
Lineup; D.Burgess, J.Macpherson, G.Pascazio, C.Taylor, F.Duffy, G.Fisher, B.Eardley (M.Munro 82), C.Scullion, R.Ferguson, C.Starrs, J.Skelly (R.Currie 60)

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It looked like we were going to get a smash n grab win here against the league leaders when Rory Currie put us in front with only minutes remaining. It would have been a proper smash n grab too as Annan had over 30 shots in the game against our 8! However, it wasn’t to be as they went straight down the other end and Nathan Flanagan scored a cracker from 25 yards that we could do nothing about!

We’ve learnt two things so far this season. We are proving very tough to beat, having only lost 3 times in 14 games, but we are also finding it very hard to win, having only recorded 3 victories all season. I feel like the season is teetering on the edge of going one way or the other….we’ll either string together some wins and move into the top 4, or we’ll string together some defeats and drop into the relegation scrap.

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Player of the Month
Cameron Taylor (Form; 7.9, N/A, 7.0, 6.9, 7.1)


Again the captain is the best player in the team across the course of the month. Some solid enough performances at the heart of the defence means Taylor takes this award yet again!

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We play two teams next month that are below us in the league in Cowdenbeath and Stranraer….these have to be seen as must win games for us!

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