ITS SINKING

in now and I'm able to get my head round the possibilities that this tie gives to the club, and they're all positive. I know planning has started already and much is to be done. The big talking point is, and will be, the sale of tickets. Thankfully we have the experience within the club that hopefully will make this a successful operation. Everybody will have their view, that is right. My own one is fairly simple, this season their is an average home gate of something in the region of 470. Every one of them must get a ticket if they so desire. After that Supporters Club and Trust members after that, basically whoever you want as long as they're sold. Yes I know that's overly simple but as long as the afore mentioned all get a ticket that's all that's required. How about the addition of those Berwick fans that went to Clyde and Cove. After that the only important thing it that they are all sold, which face it, will hardly be a problem, will it?

WELL WE

waited 2 years and 9 draws but did we get the hum dinger today. This certainly makes up for all these away ties and more. Celtic at Shielfield, one of the biggest clubs in the world. What this kind of game will do for our club as regards everything can not be calculated right now but things will become clearer and with the right administration this can put the club on an even keel for a number of years. I know work has started already and am confident this board will make sure that maximum revenue is obtained and used in such a way as to safeguard our club for a number of seasons. The work done at Shielfield eg Ducket side turnstiles, new seats etc will make staging this game much more feasible. And don't remember there's also the enjoyment factor of seeing your team play in this kind of game.

JUST BACK

from the weekend and off course Cove. Were you there? The Berwick support were well represented in what is listed anyway as a 250 attendance. It was hard to tell standing in the covered enclosure where the majority of the crowd were. No seating at the Rainbow Stadium unless you pay for one of their packages and sit upstairs behind the glass fronted area. Must be the smallest tightest ground I've seen Berwick play on, marginally bigger than my kitchen, and I've seen them play on a few! Nice little set up non the less. The game itself was a hard affair with the home team giving nowt away but in the end our class showed and we beat them into submission. How about Greenhill's goal? You'll need to look hard to see a better one this season. On to the 4th round, or third as it used to be when the big boys entered. Personally I want the old firm or Edinburgh two away or anyone else at home. That's what I'd like. What I'll get will probably be Stranraer or Buckie away. Any chance of a home tie this time. The draw, don't really know when it is, they are a well kept secret aren't they. Got to finish by saying well done to Duns who courtesy of their win yesterday now sit top of the Border Amateur League. Well done lads keep it up.

A WINS

a win and that's exactly what we had to get yesterday. Mind you, for a long spell I couldn't see us getting a thing. One nil down and they had a second chalked of, we were playing absolute mince, but, the manager made a desperately needed double substitution and in two mad moments we pulled it round and got the points. Someone said that at desperate times you need to win ugly. Well let me tell you yesterday was John Merrick ugly, and improvement is needed. Rightly you'll say that Gribbon, O'Reilly and Greenhill were absent but don't let the end result fool you. We were for 90% of the game crap. However after dropping a couple of places in the week we pulled one back and got, if I'm right something like our first win in at least six. What did you make of the away support? There were hardly any of them and those that chose to stand in the home end would have been no disgrace to any day centre. Someone said "the tree family" No matter onward to Cove next week.....anyone know how to get there!

THE NOOSE

tightens, or so it seems to me this week. Starting last weekend with a defeat at Gayfield, one which by all accounts was deserved which worries me even more. Then on Tuesday we slipped down a place after the Annan Montrose game. Last night was no better when Arbroath won again and we further slipped to our lowest position of the season. Then 5 minutes ago I read on the SFL site that Paul Currie will be out for what they describe as an extended period with an injury. I'm presuming this to be accurate although our club have said nothing. I don't know the up to date situation re bookings but no doubt they will kick in soon. Our squad is looking shockingly thin, but that's not really news to anyone given what we have. Where do we go now, well a win on Saturday is imperative, everyone knows that. What team will we see though?

WELL, IT

had to happen we all knew it and now it has. You know, our first league defeat of the season. I wasn't there yesterday but got a first hand report which in summary said we pretty much got what we deserved, nowt. More worrying though is that fact we may have a couple from yesterday with injuries plus suspensions kicking in. This is something the Ducket faithful have worried about for some time now and although its threatened on occasions this season its never really caused a main problem. They always say that its the way a club reacts after the first defeat at the end of a long unbeaten run and next week at Shielfield we'll all be holding our collective breath. Its hugely important in the context of our season that we MUST get a win next week. Anything else and we are well and truly hitting the skids.
Got to mention the reserves as well, and their 7-1 thumping of the perennial whipping boys Hawick. Good stuff lads, none of you know how soon you may be needed elsewhere!

ANOTHER FITBA

week dawns but a quick look back to the weekend first. Not a great weekend for our black & gold teams, the first team as you know drew its fifth league game in a row. Too many points lost has seen us into third place I'm afraid, need better or we'll start to see a gap starting to appear. Gribbon however kept up his phenomenal goals record to hit his 12th league goal this season. The only person beating him in Scottish League goals is Rangers Kenny Miller whose on 13. If he keeps up this rate he'll end the season on something like 44! Our reserves lost 4-3 at Peebles Rovers and the Under 17 team lost 3-0 at Ayr United. Lets all hope for considerably better this weekend.
You'll also have noticed Dundee have been docked 25 points. I think this puts then on minus 13 which should make relegation something of a certainty, because to be fair anything else would be totally inappropriate. The message must be sent, and I know its extremely harsh on the clubs fans. The players will eventually move on, some sooner than later but the message must be loud and clear to these individuals who want to own clubs and cheat, ITS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

WERE YOU

there this afternoon? There was an improved crowd of 520, which is good. What was bad was the performance. The whole afternoon, apart from say the last 10/15 minutes we couldn't string anything together. The way the team performed was stinking, and when Queens Park took the lead they thoroughly deserved it after a long range shot fair streaked into Mark Peats net. At that stage there was only one result and when Crease made a double substitution and Darren Gribbon, too willingly feigned to leave the field, there must have been more than my heart sank. And it proved right when he pushed home the equaliser, can't remember the timing, but there must have been about 20 odd minutes to go. After that we did step it up a wee bit but couldn't get the winner. In truth that would have been unfair on the visitors. We'll need to step it up from here mind today was not good enough. I know we remain unbeaten but its turning into too many draws. I won't slag individual players of, there were to many.

FIRST GAME

in the second quarter of the season tomorrow and we have yet to taste the bitter pill of defeat. What chance tomorrow then? Well, if we play like we know we can the victory is there for the taking, and conversely, if we play like we did in the first half at Broadwood last week, well, who knows. I believe we have a full squad to pick from tomorrow, makes a change doesn't it? If you believe what you read Queens Park are not having a great season so far so here's hoping eh. You'll know as well as I do that Annan are on cup duty tomorrow so lets get the points and maybe Stranraer may not then the top of the league here we come, get your self along and watch your local side, cause remember there's only one local league team in the town and you don't have to go on a train to watch them.....

ANOTHER AWAY

draw would you believe it? Conspiracy theory's, I'm really starting to believe in them. I'd really appreciate it if you my reader could tell me the last time we played a cup tie at Shielfield. I know we've just got to get on with it. At least it's a team we don't normally play. Question number 2, have we ever played them before, I'll endeavour to answer that one and say no, pretty sure about that. Plus it's one we can and should win. It's not very often we play a team we've never played before but it should be interesting. We'll be going there as the "big" league team and remember what with all the debate about league v non league and league v juniors etc we need to be sure to keep our end up. And remember the next round sees the big boys all coming in. How do you fancy Hamilton away?

THE DRAW

for the third round is apparently to be made tomorrow at Hampden at 2 o'clock. Nice to hear at last although they managed to keep it a secret long enough. I heard it from within our club I've still not seen it publicised anywhere. Suppose they had to tell us eventually didn't they. Maybe they wanted to keep the whole thing a secret within their own little club and play the games without telling anybody. Mind you they probably realised if they did keep it "in house" nobody would end up paying. Well they don't do they, snouts and troughs spring to mind, that's the only time they need the great unwashed, must really rile them eh.
I see as well we've signed a left back from Stenny on loan for a month. If I were Elliot Smith I'd be starting to get a complex. Wasn't that last lad we had on loan a left back as well, or does Jimmy know something we don't?

JUST WATCHED

the announcement on Sky Sports about the top 50 players nominated for some French sounding award and the fact that for the first time in five years there's no English players nominated. Now don't get me wrong here I'm a huge fan of the English game and this criticism is squarely aimed at the suits running the game, but what do you expect when you allow your game to be saturated with non indigenous players, and off course owners. The main thing that made the English league great was the Englishness. Sadly I've got to say year on year that Englishness is being diluted. More than half the top flight teams are owned, I hate that term, by foreigners, some of whom are doing here what they are not allowed to do at home. More non English managers and it's no longer unusual for teams to take the field bereft English or Scots or Welsh or Irish players. Are you really surprised at this outcome, I'm not.

ARE YOU

like me and waiting for the Scottish Cup draw? How is it nobody seems to know when the draw is. The suits must know so why ain't they tell the great unwashed. I know they have no interest till the old firm appears but please, come on the competition has started. Which led me on to thinking, again we're not being told, whose in the draw. As far as I can see from the top down, there's 6 from the first division, all the second 9 non leaguers and 4 from the third, with 2 replays to go there could be 2 more from the third or non league, or one of each. That's probably a load of bollocks and I certainly can't be bothered to trawl back through checking my sums. Either way from a black & gold perspective, any chance of a home draw? From a personal perspective someone at home we can beat easily or failing that someone we don't normally play.

TWO GAMES

this weekend both involving the black & gold. Yesterday first at Broadwood where we progressed to the third round of the cup at the expense of Clyde. Didn't turn out to be hugely easy in fact for times it was decidedly nippy, edge of seat stuff. It shouldn't have been but they did hit woodwork on several occasions. We were treated to two cracking goals again and for the second McMullan was incredible. If that had been done by a foreign player on the telly they would have been screaming about it. No matter we're through. First time incidentally we've beaten Clyde in the Scottish Cup and they've won it three times. Did you see the crowd they gave, nothing like it. There were 111 Berwick fans there but I'm afraid the crowd they gave didn't seem right. They wouldn't doctor the attendance figure and cheat would they?
This afternoon I spent at Old Shielfied with 36 others, my first ever game there incidentally, watching our Under 17's against Arbroath. Interesting game with the Angus side winning, should I say.....ok then 9-3!

CUP WEEKEND

is with us this season again, and as usual, it's getting a habit, we have an away tie, back up the road to picturesque Cumbernauld. It's only a few weeks since our last visit there and if you look at the league table, I know tomorrows the cup, it would appear they have made no progress at all. They do appear to be having a torrid season and I read the other day that Marc McCusker is still out, so lets hope, and no malice intended here, I certainly hope tomorrow shows no improvement. We need to be through to round three, suppose mind you every club will say the same, and get a wee break cup tie wise. How many will be there I wonder supporting the black & gold? The last time the numbers were quite respectable so I hope we can take a few more tomorrow. If your not going the reserves are playing Kelso at Shielfield and on Sunday the youth team have their first home game this season against Arbroath.

STATS STATS

and damned lies so the saying goes, and if your talking about various government departments releasing them it couldn't be truer, and in that I'm talking from experience. But in this instance I'm talking fitba, off course, and I've been looking at the games I've attended in the first quarter of this season as against last seasons games for the same period. Looking at all the games, for purposes of clarity I've put this seasons figures in brackets, for last season I'd attended 23 (19) games and travelled 1769.3 (1458.1) miles spending £413.73 (£417.65)
For the Berwick only games last season I'd attended 12 (11) games travelling 960 (1197.8) miles spending £266.78 (£197.93)
A load of numbers I know but it shows there isn't much difference without really trying.

A COUPLE

of things have struck me in the last couple of days. Firstly the games I've watched in the last two nights, all English Premier League sides, good to see they are all embracing the idea of bringing through young English talent, in Chelsea's game last night the Russians had almost as many Britons as the London based side. Strikes me more and more about these clubs, what exactly is English about them? Hell, it was almost like watching an African Cup of Nations match, in all of them.
The other has been the emerging situation at Dens park. Out of the shadows have reappeared an itinerant Italian who apparently was on their board the last time they were in a similar position, credentials indeed. He apparently is expressing an interest in taking over. Another foreign owner, oh no. He has already been ultra disparaging towards the clubs fans, and has been quoted as saying "The fans are not going to be sufficient. They don't have the money, the expertise or the credibility" He's got them right on side them. He may be right, but what they do have is their club in their hearts. How many games has he seen since 2003? Send him packing Dens fans......

Another fitba

week starts. I was thinking that last week I started with 46 others at Kelso watching them play Ormiston then three days later I was one of 51322 at the nation stadium as the roof came of and I finished the seven days at Links Park Montrose with a couple of hundred others, although they'll tell you it's more, again. But tonight I'm an arm chairer, you know that curious lot that are experts on all things football but couldn't tell you the last time they set foot inside a ground, and putting your Newcastle/Liverpool/Man United/Everton tops on and going to the Brown Bears doesn't count. So I'll join this venerable company tonight and kick the week of at Blackburn Rovers. Oh by the way did you see Villa's goal at Blackpool yesterday, ye I know on the telly, but what an absolute cracker.

MONTROSE 1-1 BERWICK

Had a weekend away and managed to take in our game yesterday at Links Park. Result, probably fair, I spent an agonising last 15 minutes when we got absolutely battered, I was literally just waiting for their winner to go in. But it didn't, and we certainly deserved a point. What can you say about Darren Gribbon, he can certainly get them. 11 so far for the season from I think starting 8 games. Was mystified by the managers double substitution, may be a reason, hope so,cause I couldn't see any logic in it. Had to laugh when I seen the match attendance figure. I commented at 4 minutes to 3 that there couldn't be 150 in the ground but the attendance figure would be 375, it always is from Links Park. What figure was given.....376! What point is there is giving out incorrect crowd figures? There was nowt like 376 there.

I'm now

looking to this weekends game up at Links Park. These breaks always seem a long time to me and we left Montrose on a bit of an up with ourselves coming of the back of three draws and in all honesty not really firing on all cylinders. But we're into the next game and it's time to get back up there. We know off course that thanks to our erst while officials David Greenhill will be absent which will require the manger to do a wee bit of juggling again. Thanks to these same officials he should be getting used to it by now! The couple of games played last week, results wise, were ok for us but we need to get something from the game. Frighteningly this Saturdays game signals the end of the first quarter of the season, wouldn't it be great to do that on top of the pile because off course next weekend we have another break, from the league that is, with the cup rearing it's head, but that's another story.