Gardiner's World |
Fighting for Survival There’s not a lot I can say to you at the moment –everybody knows where we are –the simple fact is that to stay up, on playing performance, we need a win and a draw, [hopefully in that order], or even a pair of wins against two of the best teams in the league. It’s not beyond us at all –Culter are one of the best teams in the league but they have had savage fixture list so lets hope that we can turn them over. With Sunnybank going for the league it will take a really good proformance to take anything from them but we managed a draw against them in the cup not that long ago. They’re there for the taking. Both of them.
To do it, we simply can’t afford a nicey - nicey approach – we need to fight tooth and nail until it is over and this is so important because it will tell me something about the lad’s attitude and if they want to stay in this league. We are getting punished for individual mistakes and that what happens when you down at this end of the league, but we will just have to get the lads heads up and hope we can cut these mistakes out. On Saturday we had most of the first half and with that wee bit of luck we could have scored a couple of goals but that tell the story ever since I have arrived we need a STRICKER with that goal scoring touch. We are a better side than Stonehaven and I’m not saying we rolled over because our work rate was excellent – my heart goes out to these boys who gave it everything in terms of effort but to compete at this level it takes more than just effort-it needs concentration too. That’s what we need tonight against Culter. I hope to see you all there looking for the result you know we need.
Thanks again for your support
All the best,
John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United JFC. |
Believe! There’s no getting away from it, we’re now at a stage of the season where everybody has to stand up and be counted. We can stay up in the Superleague or go down to the First Division. I’ve said all along that we have the players to stay up and I still believe that. It’s also equally important that they believe it too. On Saturday, we played the best side that I’ve seen since I came here – by a fair bit in fact -and although we lost by 3 goals we had a performance that we can still take some satisfaction from. We made life difficult for them and made just about as many chances as they did. [We had 7 corners to their 4 in the first half]. Problem is- and everybody knows it – we don’t have any out and out strikers. My heart goes out to Marc Young who takes on a very hard job on his own up front without ever complaining but he gets on with it, running at defenders, holding up the ball and splitting or closing defenders down when they’re on the ball. That’s graft for you. This is not to take anything away from the Dee- they were slick and very well organised and had quality from back to front.
We have a number of injuries’ at the moment to a couple of the players ( i.e S.Craib, M.McLeod etc ) and these lads are a big miss right now as they can cause teams a lot of trouble with the skill and ability that they have, in saying that we have to just roll up our sleeves and battle for every ball in the next three games and work our way out of this situation.
Saturday is a really big one for us. Stonehaven are a fair side but no more than that. We definitely need to take the game to them and we have the players to do that and have shown not just against Banks O’ Dee but in other games too that we know how to fight for every ball. If we do that on Saturday, we have every chance of getting 3 out of the 4 points we need to stay up. I watched the Hive against Sunnybank on Tuesday night and have one or two ideas about how to play them. Having said that, tactics and so on are not nearly so important in our situation as belief. If we believe we can take them and if we believe that from the first minute until the last there’s no doubt that we will.
A good and loud representation from our supporters who have been great this season will go a long way to help us. We all need to pull together and get behind the boys on the park on Saturday. Let’s show them that we believe in them too.
All the best, John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United F.C. |
A Good Fight Back
This wasn’t exactly the result we wanted but it was still better than it could have been and credit has to go to a bunch of players that battled themselves back into a derby game when others could have put their heads down and rolled over and taking a beaten, it still leaves us in there fighting. O.K. we didn’t start as well as could have but we didn’t give anything away in the first half and I thought we were just about getting the measure of them by half time.
In fact, I’ll come out and say this- these players in my opinion did better than Scoop has given them credit for in his report. We can disagree about this but there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that they put everything into the game and had a good fight back. When Ally Bremner came on and M.Brown went over to the left, we started getting decent balls in to their box. I really wish Ally could be a few years younger and run like he used to do, but the quality of balls he puts away for the limited time we can play a guy of his age is still well worth the effort. It’s also got to be said that Ricky’s save from the penalty was just what we needed at the time and we needed it most witch in turn gave the lads a lift. You can argue all you want about whether the penalty decision was as soft as I thought it was. The fact remains, the boy stood up, eye- balled Derek Craigie then saved it.
If the game had gone on any longer we would have got all the points we wanted – Ellon were well done for at the end and we were all over them. These players deserve not only credit for what they did but all the encouragement they can get. We have a small squad and there are still one or two carrying injuries so we have to make do with what we’ve got.
We now face the chance of getting into a cup final. It’s only one game of 90 minutes with no extra time against Turriff tonight so it’s there for the taking if we show the right attitude from the start. The League still has to be our priority but in some ways, that makes the cup game at least as important. A good result and a good performance could do wonders for confidence and morale and that’s exactly what we need at this moment in time for our league campaign.
I hope not only to see you there in numbers but also to hear from you as well.
All the best, John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United F.C |
Nightmare at the Back What can I say? This was three points right down the drain at a time when we really needed them. There’s no way you should be able to score 4 at home and come away with nothing. That’s what we did and there’s no getting away from the fact that every one of the five goals we conceded was from a header. We played well against them last month and got our result mostly on the back of good defending. We lost at home to them this time because we were unable to defend at anything like that standard I am looking for and paid the penalty.
Right enough, we missed Stewart Craib in defence and yes, the loss of Darren McGuinnes was another blow to our defence when we lost him early in the second half at 2-2. But after saying that, the goals we lost after it were just down to bad man marking.I can’t believe we have defended worse in my time here. We simply didn’t defend simple set pieces at all and it’s not as if they were all that clever moves on their part- these were basic balls to near the penalty spot and we were doing nothing more than ball watching and letting them in for free headers. As simple as that, and as bad as that.
Every player can have a bad day and it looked like we had too many on Saturday, particularly at the back, and they were all having them at the same time. I’ve let every one of them know what I felt was wrong with their performances and I’m not going to name names because this is a team game and we all need to take a look at this result and see if we can bounce back. We scored a couple of really good goals on Saturday so hopefully we can take that in to the next game. Now we have an equally important game against Turriff on Tuesday night. I hope the players have learned something from Saturday. I still believe that we have too many good players to be relegated but you can see for yourselves the size of the squad we have , how many points we have on the board and the number of games left. Interesting times ahead.
All the best,
John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United F.C |
FRUSTRATION
There’s only one word for frustrating and that’s frustration like we got on Saturday. Once again we played well against a top rated side and did enough to deserve a win. In the first half, we got the early goal we were looking for and again it was down to keeping good shape and a decent work rate before Ross Forsyth made the kind of run I’m expecting from him to put us ahead. We knew they would come back at us and they did. I thought we handled their pressure pretty well and Ricky Horne certainly did his part to keep us in it. O.K. they got their equaliser but we didn’t roll over and lye down, but fought tooth and nail to claw our way back into it. By half time and despite a couple of injuries to young Stuart Craib and Darren MGuinness we were beginning to get control of one of the best sides in the league.
We started the second half well and after that when the real frustration was beginning to start. We bossed them for most of the second half and with their goalkeeper in such good form and their defence in no mood to give anything away we found it a hard task to get that second goal. Our discipline and work rate was beginning to tell more and more and we got a bit of a break when they had a player sent off for what we have been told was spitting at one of our players. I can say that I never saw any spitting but it was the linesman call and if he did spit he needed to go as this can not be allowed in the game at all, you can’t get any lower than that at any level of football, but this was an example of an assistant telling the referee about something he thinks was wrong. One assistant had no problem of drawing attention to the referee, but five minutes or so later we got the exact opposite when we had a perfectly good goal disallowed. There was no doubt at all that they had a player alongside the keeper on the line and that the goal should have stood. This time the other assistant who was in perfect position did not raise his flag to and was going to give the goal until the referee had awarded a free kick for off side in his opinion, the assistant should have brought this to the attention of the referee but didn’t and a winning goal was disallowed to frustration of the players.
Then we go into penalties against a ten man side that have had a number of penalty shoot outs this year already. Extra time might have given us the chance to create more goal opportunities and finish the game but that is the rule and we payed the cost of not taking our penalty’s better. I can tell you we had no shortage of players wanting to take penalties. The rest were on target but were soft that I could have dropped a hat on them to stop them going in so it is a case of learn by you short falls.
So, we are out of the ATR Cup but on Saturday we have a big, big league match against Hillhead. We really want to win this and with the number of players we have who have been at Hillhead in the past I shouldn’t have to much of a problem in motivating the side this weekend. They need to keep their discipline and work rate to do the job and we will be doing all we can to make sure that we come away with a result.
See you Saturday,
All the best,
John Gardiner, Manager Formartine United F.C |
Credit Where Credit's Due There’s a time to give credit where it is due and against Maud on Saturday I’ve got to say that the boys deserve it they were showing more of the signs of what I’m looking for with the manner of play. They worked hard and more importantly, they worked for each other. You know that I’m always looking for us to do better and it is obvious that we can, but give credit where it is due, there’s still lots of room for improvement, but some of the discipline and hard work throughout the team on Saturday is what I’m looking for. For example players are now realising that we are just as good as some of the top teams in the league. I have seen a vast improvement in the display from the first game that myself an Lenny were in charge and this is down to a good work ethic on the training park. On Saturday you could see a bit of that happening when myself or Lenny shout an instruction they now know to follow it straight away with no back chat from the players.
It looks like that by following these basic disciplines we are beginning to stop the rot. Maud are a fair side: they’re not third in the league in their first season up for nothing- they pass the ball about very well. They played tidy enough football and were well organised. They threw a lot at us but the good thing about how we handled it was that Ricky Horne didn’t have that much to do. What he did, he did well but the work rate in defence and midfielders working back like they are meant to do ended up in them having not too many chances in front of his goal.
The goals we did score were down to good running from R.Forsth and a bit of good finishing in front of goal, Ross is one of a number of players that can play in a number of positions and he had to do that on Saturday with no complaints. He deserved his goals and with a wee bit of luck he could have scored three.
We got a wee rub of the green with other results in the league at the same time. After starting a cup game in second from bottom we are now one place further up and retain that extra game in hand.. That is no where near where I want us to be at the end of the season. We need to grind out good results in the games we’ve got in hand and start climbing that league. This is not about avoiding relegation and saying that’s it – it’s about showing what we are really capable of and pushing to be as good as we possibly can. And believe me, we can still get better.
Another cup game on Saturday and that gives us another opportunity to improve our act.
See you there.
Yours,
John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United FC. |
ABOUT CULTER
We are getting there, but I was disappointed that we came out of that game without a point. We played well enough for most of it to get at least 1 if not 3 points. We lost against a good team, but by no means a brilliant side. Again it was down to our own defensive errors and not picking players up at the right time that lets us down but the team is starting to believe in their selves again.[I do not like to criticise weak refereeing but you have to bite your tongue sometimes]
The first goal came against the run of play and a number of errors with giving the foul away and R.Horne knocking it on to the post with no one following in for the rebound. The guy had a simple tap in, but we live and learn.
The second was all down to bad man marking at set pieces and he should have never have the chance that he got. A corner where everyone was ball watching and nobody even looked like picking up Mountford as he came in to the back post. That was a pretty basic mistake on our part and to be honest it deserved to be punished.
Apart from that, we showed a good shape and a bit fight within the whole team and the discipline is what we have been working on in training, this is now beginning to show on the park during games and , believe me we’ll keep working at it.
We don’t have the squad that I would like to pick from right now due to work commitments and injuries, but the players we have here are good and they are improving all the time. It’s just that we are short in a few places. For example we don’t have either an out and out striker or a target man for M.Young to play off but this is not the time of year where you can sign anybody in that department who’s good enough to make the standard we set ourselves.
I thought we had a number of good performances last week and we need to keep them going and showing what they have got week in week out.
What I saw on Saturday is enough to give me a lot of confidence against the teams we have to play in the run in for the league and on Saturday, we have Maud in the cup and while a continued run in the Regional Cup might give us a bit of excitement in the season, the priority remains the league and always will be.
Thanks For your support,
See you Saturday,
Yours,
John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United FC |
On Dyce Just what we needed a win at home to one of the top teams. We got a thoroughly deserved result against an in-form team by playing good football and defending well. Obviously we still have room for improvement and some way to go, but what I saw on Saturday pleased me. We created great chances over and over again and in the process kept them for most of the game, on the back foot.
When they came at us we defended well and with R.Horne in that kind of form we did a lot better than they have in recent games by showing improved concentration and discipline. I am not one for picking out players for prise but young Stewart Craib is playing like he’d been playing at this level for much longer than he has, but in saying that the whole back four played well.
We have a fighting sprit back in the midfield and fought well for every ball and playing some good football. O.K we didn’t convert all the chances we created but you never do in football and that’s obviously still an area for improvement but the fact that we made chances that kept pressure off us enough for us to show what we can do.
I thought that Mathew MacLeod and Stewart Shinnie linked well and imposed themselves over Dyce and that Forsyth running into the box when attacking was an-other display and although they didn’t get all the reward their work deserved in terms of goals, they showed that on the right day, at the right time, with a decent rub of the green, they will get their just rewards. Yet again Mark Young, playing solo striker, got the rewards of his hard work up front with a well taken winning goal.
I’ve always said that we have good enough players to be in a better position than we are. That’s beginning to show - we have moved up a place in the league and with a bit of rub of the green we should have had more points on the board than we have, we’ve have Culter on Saturday away which will tell if this was just a one off or are we on the road recovery. With a team performance like Saturday’s and a little more work on the training field we should give a good account of our-selfs.
Thanks for your support,
See you Saturday,
Yours, John Gardiner,
Manager ,Formartine United JFC |
Hello,
There’s a lot and a little that can be said about Saturday at Longside but it comes back to one thing –we threw it away. For the first 20 minutes if not longer we were the far better team. We were first to the ball, we were more determined had better shape and discipline than our opponents, but you have to maintain that for the 90 mins of the game not for short spells. Just as we were getting into a rhythm and playing well, we let them right back into the game by gifting them two easy goals in two minutes. You just can’t do that at any level of football.
We started the game with one up front and it was working well as M.Young was giving their three defenders a torrid time by running at them with pace, the first goal came from a corner and with M.Brown being in the right position at the back post to slam home the fist in the first five minutes we got of to a flyer. The lads were knocking the ball about well and keeping good position and working to close the opposition down and that lead to our second with M.Brown winning position on the left and driving at the defence and with playing a good ball across the box there was M.McLeod to finnish off a good move. After that had a couple of more chances to extend the lead but with not taking these chances we let Longside back into the game. This was just down to bad marking and not doing the things we were doing in the first part of the game, we lost a bit of confidence and within two minutes they were level with what can only be put down to bad defending. It’s natural in that situation to get anxious, but what needs to be done is to put the work in to get confidence back and that requires commitment as well as cool heads. We have a bit of each but not enough of it yet to grind out the results that the pay deserves.
The second half started as the first and with the wind at the back of us we should have scored more goals, but give the guys credit they never gave up and in the last couple of minutes we got the goal from a long kick from R.Horne and after there defence got in a muddle G.Graffin was there to finish off what should have been the winner. But I was told at the start of the game that Longside never give up and you have got to give them credit as they scored with the last kick off the game to make it 3-3. ( A sore one to take )
So we have to keep the players heads up and start again this week with Dyce coming to North Logde and that is going to be another hard game.
We have too many good players for us to be in the position we are in but we have to work even harder now to get our self out of this league position. A wee bit better rub of the green is due –we’ve not had much of that recently but luck is also something you make –it doesn’t just come itself.
Hope to see you there,
Yours,
John Gardiner, Manager Formartine United JFC |
Buchanhaven Hello,
What we got on Saturday was a result with the exception of a couple of players who have been trying their hearts out without getting the due credit we did not play that well. We had to fight for it all the way because we made things difficult for ourselves. We missed a couple of chances in the first half and again early in the second but we had very few shots not even on target but actually at goal. We also struggled to get the ball down and keep it on the ground. Passes were over hit and too often went astray- in saying that the wind had a big part to play in that. Some of it I can see as a case of the old “nerves” creeping back in. Confidence usually comes after puting the work in at training and grinding out a few results and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I think it’s coming but there’s still a lot of graft to be done until we get there. We got the result we needed, maybe not in the manner we would like, but we got it and that shows character. In the second half we were all over them but with no end result.
A penalty shoot out without extra time is never easy , but it’s the same for both sides yet we stood up to it and got the result that we not only needed but deserved. Ricky Horne was the hero of the day not only did he keep us in it in the last minute of ordinary time with a brave dive at the forwards feet but then went on to save two pens in a row at the time when we needed it most.
We had to change the team line-up as we had a number of players out due to work commitments and with J.Seivwright having a car crash in the morning of the game he was in no fit state to play, luck for him and us he was unhurt but was no way mentally fit to play.
We may have to change the formation from time to time and we’re not yet in a position where we can have a set formation and use that to impose ourselves on all and sundry, we are working on this on the training field and with a couple of signings we are looking to have a more settle formation in weeks to come.
We’ve got a home win under our belts and now face a very big test on Saturday away at Longside. So myself and Lenny will be preparing the players for this week game.
So once again thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing on Saturday at Longside.
See you there.
Regards,
John Gardiner, Manager, Formartine United JFC |
 |
Parkvale Away Hello; well we ground out the result that we needed and played well in patches but we still have a lot of room for improvement. The pitch was not what we would have wanted and although it was obviously the same for both sides it was a bit of a leveller. It was narrow, bumpy and did nothing to allow for flowing football that I would like to see the players use, but that is not a excuse as the two teams have to play on the same surface but it obviously suited those who were used to playing on that surface.
I thought we started pretty well and certainly took the game to them. Mark Young was turning defenders inside out and we had reasonable shape down the right. We had them on the back foot but were struggling in the conditions to capitalise on our pressure and with a wee bit of luck and a little more composure we would have scored more goals.
The players looked nervous at times and it showed more often than I would like, but coming off a long run of defeats and with no games for up to four weeks, this was always going to be an issue for this young squad. We have a decent squad who, because they want to do well there are sometimes afraid that they will make mistakes, but the confidence will come back if we can go on a run of games and give the same commitment as we showed, we will turn this season around and get back to the winning ways.
I thought the first goal was well worked and “Cloudy” finished a decent move down the right with Bobby Maitland and Marc Young. We had a number of chances after we scored but were caught offside and hitting the bar. It would have made the game a lot easier than it turned out to be, and with that we should have cleared their goal but after a good save from Ricky Horne the boys were unlucky that a complete miss-hit deceived them all and ended up in the back of our net-- but that’s Football.
At half time I made my opinions clear and thought that communication and commitment improved thereafter. We are not as fit as I would like and against a team where many players were well short in that department we struggled to impose ourselves.
Thankfully we eventually got a decision from the ref and Steve Craib stood up and dispatched the penalty with great composure and that was one of the pleasing things to see a substitute come off the bench and show that he wants to be part of the starting line up. After that we were all over them and despite some bizarre decisions from the officials we were never in much danger of losing an other goal.
I’m looking forward to our home game v Sunnybank this Saturday and think that playing on a decent surface will help us to show what we really can do. It won’t be easy but we’re heading a wee bit at a time in the direction.
So I look forward to seeing you all at North Lodge this Saturday and your continues support.
Yours John Gardiner, Manager Formartine Football Club |
On Nae Game but Steady Progress Elsewhere
There’s not too much to tell you about the last wet and frosty week. I think we are making some kind of progress by all accounts despite being denied a game at the weekend by the weather. Obviously I’d have liked to have seen us having a real go and hopefully get some goals under our belt at Findon but the frosty pitch put paid to that. Meanwhile the concentration has been on the training and signing side of things and the first thing I want you to know is that what I’ve seen of the players in training is definitely pointing in the right direction –I can’t fault the effort and commitment of the players that they have shown me so far. They work hard and you can’t really ask for more than that from a group of young players. Having just said that I still believe that there is room for improvement in all departments and reins can be tightened further yet and be assured that will happen. We seem to have a problem at times with the number of injuries that players have been picking up. I’ve noticed it and am thinking about ways to reduce this. We don’t have that big a squad and although anyone can pick up an injury, we need to have a good look at this as we can’t carry on this way with a number of players out each week. On the signing side of things I’m pleased to confirm that young Darren McGinnis has signed a pro form for the next year and a half, as he did enough in the Ellon game and is looking good in training to convince me that as a natural left footer he has something to offer the club. Still in the defensive area I’m also pleased to tell you that we have signed Stewart Craib who can play on the right side of defence or in midfield until the end of the season and we look forward to great things from these young players. We have also just signed Stuart Shinnie which is a player I have known for a number of years and has a lot offer our club in experience and endeavour, Stewart has played at the higher level with a number of highland league clubs and I am sure he will be a good addition to the squad. You will be wondering about Mike Beattie who has not been part of the squad of late, Mike had a family bereavement. He is obviously thinking about a lot of things at the moment but there is just a wee hint that football is again beginning to cross his mind and we hope in time he will again look to getting back into football. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed that in time he will be back. The work has started now so my-self and Lenny look forward to seeing you all on Saturday and for your continuous support. John |
Hello
This is my first ever web message to any of the clubs I've been involved
with and there's a fair few of these, either as a player or manager,
including Motherwell, Dundee United , the Dons, Huntly and the Locos. I
hope you'll bear with me until I get the hang of this stuff. |