B Team / U18s / Academy 2024/25

[FIGJAM]

13 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Pretty accurate summary, but I thought MacDonald was badly positioned at the free kick goal, as it went in at head high on the side of the goal he was covering. Why he felt the need to come off his line and get tangled up with Forrester for their 3rd, I haven't a clue. 

Pretty fair. Could you imagine if Sportscene had to summarise this game?

[Chuck Berry]

Well, we got away with that.

 

As other have said, first half was poor and Linlithgow were deservedly in the lead and it could have been more. We just didn't get into any sort of rythm.  Dylan Patterson looked dangerous anytime he had the ball and scored a penalty and a great free kick, although not sure about MacDonald's positioning.

 

Second half we started to get more of the ball, missed a pen after Pollock suffered a heavy challenge from behind and he needed treatment on his knee which initially didn't look good. Keeper saved Wilson's effort but Wilson made up for his miss by scrambling one home a few minutes later and we began to get a bit of belief and some passing going. Pollock roasted the left back again and got a cross in before being halfed in the box which looked another sore one, it would have been a penalty if Forrester hadn't got on the end of his cross to nod home at the back post to equalise.

 

Tait was getting some heavy treatment as well and took a couple of bad challenges, this was after changing his shirt at HT into an un-numbered one after it was nearly ripped off his back in the first half inside the box, no penalty.....

 

MacDonald and Smutek? then get into a fankle right on the edge of the box and present Devine with the ball to tap it into an unguarded goal, you're really looking for Jamie to take charge of this situation, a bad goal to lose. However we're still pushing forward and this time it's the Linlithgow keeper who misjudges a through ball and Sandilands taps it into the net.

 

Into the injury time and it's that man Pollock again roasting the fullback and another covering defender, pushing along the byline into the box for Sandilands to stab home from close range for the winner. 

 

Overall Linlithgow may feel hard done by but ultimately it was fitness that told in the end, with a great bit of desire from the laddies to get something from the game.  They didn't hide or chuck in the towel.  These are the sort of games that the B team is there for, tough, hard, no quarter given, some rough challenges.   A great game for the neutral that's for sure.

[Chuck Berry]

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

[Footballfirst]

Gretna surprisingly going well.

 

[Hungry hippo]

36 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

 

Enjoyed reading that.

 

We better start letting some of these teams win a game!

[GinRummy]

6 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

Clearly approaching his assessment from a biased point of view in the first place. 

[Gorgierools]

7 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

Not to mention the large financial backhander his team received just let us play against them.

[Boyz]

19 hours ago, Footballfirst said:

Don't know about that, but Ally Graham from Dundee is a very good keeper. His distribution with the ball at his feet is excellent.

Neither Graham or the Celtic keeper did much to warrant further selection after their performances in the victory shield IMO but they are both part of the JD performance schools network which is interesting. Agree Graham good with feet. The SFA apparently did ask Tas to attend a recent pre selection camp but hearts said he was wanted for B team despite being on bench with Macdonald playing. Seems unfair that a keeper misses out on a Scotland opportunity to be on the bench but maybe that’s how it works these days. Don’t know about the England thing but would imagine they track them once they have been to a few England camps. 

Edited August 7, 2024 by Boyz

[RustyRightPeg]

9 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

He must’ve been frozen in time when his team shelled it long to Tommy Coyne all those years.

[John Findlay]

10 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

Have a dozen lemons and half a dozen bunch of grapes in his mouth.

[CornhillHearts]

On a similar theme to the disgruntled Lithgae' fan. Was amusing how quickly some changed from telling a few Hearts players how bad they were to the "shouldnae even be in this league". 

[Chuck Berry]

2 minutes ago, CornhillHearts said:

On a similar theme to the disgruntled Lithgae' fan. Was amusing how quickly some changed from telling a few Hearts players how bad they were to the "shouldnae even be in this league". 

 

Lithgae fans are some of the most arrogant dicks in non-league football, particularly if you're a perceived smaller team. How very dare you if you have the audacity to beat them.

 

The post I quoted is of course mostly bitter bollocks, we didn't fire it long very often, we played some good stuff second half (yes, first half we were shite), his Broxburn comment is amusing. Pollock was switched over to the right for the second half and ripped their left back a new one, it was nothing to do with him being knackered.

 

On the subject of Pollock, he received some rough treatment and it was good to see he lasted almost the full 90 minutes - hopefully - unscathed.  It will give him confidence to push on after his injury troubles. I can see him getting his first team chance before the season is out if he continues to impress.

[TheBigO]

10 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

A Lithgae fan is upset on Pie & Bovril 

 

"It's better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right, because when you do the wrong things right you keep doing them and you just get wronger.

If it were Hearts' objective to pick up as many points as possible in the Lowland League then they should be very happy with how tonight's game went against Linlithgow Rose. But we all know it's not. The objective is to create players good enough to take on Celtic, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Hungary, Germany. So you'd expect to see them attempt to execute their skills under pressure, play on the deck, rotate from the back, play quick give-and-goes, do third man runs, all that stuff that improves your technical quality. Right?

Nope.

Tonight - same as the two games I saw them play last season, and the two games Rose played against Celtic B - the vast majority of their attacks were long balls over the top. This is a good strategy if you have a team of young and fast players and you're against defenders who have never and will never make a living from playing football. Their only two dangerous attacks in the first half came like this.

Hearts could easily have been four or five down by half time and probably would have been but for the quality of their goalkeeper, who has a good future behind him. Rose should have put the game to bed at 2-0 and 3-1 and that's on them, but chasing fast young boys tired them out, the whole midfield needed replaced and Hearts took advantage against a weaker, tired opposition to get a couple of late goals and snatch the win - which they did by outpacing Rose's knackered left back and whipping crosses in for onrushing forwards. Nothing but pace and fitness.

The technical standard of many of the Hearts players is pisspoor. There are guys playing in tier 7 better than that left back and they had one good outfield player tonight, Tait. Take away the pace and the fitness of the rest and Broxburn are better than them. Genuinely, Broxburn have a higher level of technique and create threats in a wider variety of ways. What those boys are learning will be completely worthless if they ever get near a Premier league opposition, never mind better teams than that.

I don't like the B teams in the LL but I could live with it if I could see it improving the national team, which is my bigger priority. But it obviously, obviously won't.

We can't bin this stupid novelty fast enough, for everyone's sake."

He's totally wrong and clearly a hibby (hand in hand)

 

Our boys have all the technique you want and I'll wager could totally school 99% of players at that level (and higher).  However they ARE a bunch of kids and the purpose of the B team as much as anything else is to learn game management.  I'm sure when the time is right, we play very neat and technical football.  When the boys are up against it, they need to learn how to win.

 

He references Pilzen, Germany and Hungary.  One of the biggest issues I see in Scottish football both club teams in Europe and our national team, is that we try to play a continental style of football which frankly we're no good at.  Both Switzerland and Hungary at the Euros just let us have the ball.  It was genuinely as simple as that.  Scotland is far better served having our own almost old fashioned style.  I'm not talking lump it up the park, but certainly in your face both on and off the ball.  Quick forward passes and runs with loads of support.  Play channels, don't give the opposition a second.

 

I'm not downgrading technical ability here.  Midfielders need to be able to play on the half turn, to dictate pace of game, to take the ball in tight areas and play the progressive passes, for example.  But to say our boys aren't in that league to win games is nonsense.  It doesn't matter if they don't.  But they're in that league expressly to learn HOW to win games.  This team is playing like this - OK we need to do this.  The weather is like this, OK it's time to do this...

 

For quite some time, just looking at Hearts here, we produced hugely skilful players who knew nowt about how to REALLY play the game.  I remember when Lockie and BB took over the admin team - they said the skill level of the boys was as good as they'd ever seen (keep the baw off you in a phonebox was the term!), but not one of them could tackle, hold shape, head a ball, use their body, knew any of the dark arts of slowing a game or whatever.  It was ground zero on learning how to really play football.  But every one of them had the ability this buffoon is asking for.  It means nothing, or well it's just part of the picture.

[Chuck Berry]

15 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

He's totally wrong and clearly a hibby (hand in hand)

 

Our boys have all the technique you want and I'll wager could totally school 99% of players at that level (and higher).  However they ARE a bunch of kids and the purpose of the B team as much as anything else is to learn game management.  I'm sure when the time is right, we play very neat and technical football.  When the boys are up against it, they need to learn how to win.

 

He references Pilzen, Germany and Hungary.  One of the biggest issues I see in Scottish football both club teams in Europe and our national team, is that we try to play a continental style of football which frankly we're no good at.  Both Switzerland and Hungary at the Euros just let us have the ball.  It was genuinely as simple as that.  Scotland is far better served having our own almost old fashioned style.  I'm not talking lump it up the park, but certainly in your face both on and off the ball.  Quick forward passes and runs with loads of support.  Play channels, don't give the opposition a second.

 

I'm not downgrading technical ability here.  Midfielders need to be able to play on the half turn, to dictate pace of game, to take the ball in tight areas and play the progressive passes, for example.  But to say our boys aren't in that league to win games is nonsense.  It doesn't matter if they don't.  But they're in that league expressly to learn HOW to win games.  This team is playing like this - OK we need to do this.  The weather is like this, OK it's time to do this...

 

For quite some time, just looking at Hearts here, we produced hugely skilful players who knew nowt about how to REALLY play the game.  I remember when Lockie and BB took over the admin team - they said the skill level of the boys was as good as they'd ever seen (keep the baw off you in a phonebox was the term!), but not one of them could tackle, hold shape, head a ball, use their body, knew any of the dark arts of slowing a game or whatever.  It was ground zero on learning how to really play football.  But every one of them had the ability this buffoon is asking for.  It means nothing, or well it's just part of the picture.

 

Absolutely agree with regards to style of play, why try and emulate something that we know deep down we may not be very good at.  We're never, ever going to be Spain or Netherlands.

 

Wales got to a Euro semi-final in a large part by utilising Gareth Bale's pace. The top teams struggled to defend against the long ball and a world class pacey forward.  Nothing wrong with that, you play to your strengths. They mixed it up, short and long, kept the opposition guessing. It was brilliant management.

 

In a Hearts context it was a little like Ginnelly's final season when we discovered that actually going long to him was a useful weapon that cause the opposition problems.

[TheBigO]

18 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Absolutely agree with regards to style of play, why try and emulate something that we know deep down we may not be very good at.  We're never, ever going to be Spain or Netherlands.

 

Wales got to a Euro semi-final in a large part by utilising Gareth Bale's pace. The top teams struggled to defend against the long ball and a world class pacey forward.  Nothing wrong with that, you play to your strengths. They mixed it up, short and long, kept the opposition guessing. It was brilliant management.

 

In a Hearts context it was a little like Ginnelly's final season when we discovered that actually going long to him was a useful weapon that cause the opposition problems.

Absolutely, the modern obsession with playing "the right way" is so tedious.  And counter-productive but for very few teams.  Even at the recent Euros, the teams who played above their station such as Georgia did so through no lack of skill or esciting football, but they allied that to sheer in your face determination.  I think Scotland or Scottish teams trying to play in a "controlled" fashion takes away our identity and edge.  Be Scottish.  Christ, didn't Nagelsman say as such after Germany pumped us?

 

It's more or less how Robbie wanted us to play.  All very high on instructions and low on expression or passion.  It can get results of course and it did, but with players at the level we can get, I feel it has a lower ceiling in that their ability will always let them down eventually (in the nicest possible way).

 

Anyhoo.  That Lithgae guy is a bitter tube by the sounds of it.

[Chuck Berry]

"The right way" or more accurately, someone elses way.

[Chuck Berry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlD_rfD-CqE

 

Match highlights

Edited August 7, 2024 by Chuck Berry

[FIGJAM]

In no way I am explaining the first half performance on the referee. But 5mins in McLuckie starts running at Linlithgow and gets brought down. The ref saw nothing wrong with challenge and ended up being a drop ball. I was thinking it was a yellow all day long. This was likely the second or third incident in first few minutes. When the ref has a very high tolerance for the physical side, I always think the B Team might struggle. As it turned out, the ref seemed to soften in second half and must have produced 3-4 yellows for Linlithgow.

The Hearts B players are certainly getting prepared for the rougher stuff at LL level. Last night Pollock, Tait and McLuckie all came in for some rough treatment and you just hope the refs deal with it appropriately. I love the physical aspect, but their are some refs at this level who set the threshold very high before they below their whistle.

[Footballfirst]

11 minutes ago, FIGJAM said:

In no way I am explaining the first half performance on the referee. But 5mins in McLuckie starts running at Linlithgow and gets brought down. The ref saw nothing wrong with challenge and ended up being a drop ball. I was thinking it was a yellow all day long. This was likely the second or third incident in first few minutes. When the ref has a very high tolerance for the physical side, I always think the B Team might struggle. As it turned out, the ref seemed to soften in second half and must have produced 3-4 yellows for Linlithgow.

The Hearts B players are certainly getting prepared for the rougher stuff at LL level. Last night Pollock, Tait and McLuckie all came in for some rough treatment and you just hope the refs deal with it appropriately. I love the physical aspect, but their are some refs at this level who set the threshold very high before they below their whistle.

I also thought the ref favoured Rose in the first half with similar challenges treated differently, but Hearts probably got more of the 50/50 decisions in the second half.

[TheBigO]

29 minutes ago, FIGJAM said:

In no way I am explaining the first half performance on the referee. But 5mins in McLuckie starts running at Linlithgow and gets brought down. The ref saw nothing wrong with challenge and ended up being a drop ball. I was thinking it was a yellow all day long. This was likely the second or third incident in first few minutes. When the ref has a very high tolerance for the physical side, I always think the B Team might struggle. As it turned out, the ref seemed to soften in second half and must have produced 3-4 yellows for Linlithgow.

The Hearts B players are certainly getting prepared for the rougher stuff at LL level. Last night Pollock, Tait and McLuckie all came in for some rough treatment and you just hope the refs deal with it appropriately. I love the physical aspect, but their are some refs at this level who set the threshold very high before they below their whistle.

 

15 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

I also thought the ref favoured Rose in the first half with similar challenges treated differently, but Hearts probably got more of the 50/50 decisions in the second half.

Will do them no harm (unless it does them harm!).  You know what I mean!

[RustyRightPeg]

Just watched the goals. Chaotic game to say the least. 

[RustyRightPeg]

 

good footage from Linlithgow’s YouTube. 
 

Edit: notice @Chuck Berry Already posted 

Edited August 7, 2024 by RustyRightPeg

[Mikey1874]

 

[Chuck Berry]

Tonight in the Lowland League

🆚 
TranentFC
 
📍 Ainslie Park
⏰ 7:45pm
🎟️ £5/£2/U16s 🆓 

Edited August 9, 2024 by Chuck Berry

[Mikey1874]

[Footballfirst]

The U18s beat Hamilton 4-2 this afternoon. Goals from Connor Dow, Owen Muirhead, Callen Robb and substitute Szymon Plesiewicz.

 

Hamilton finished with 9 men.

[TheBigO]

16 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

Wilson Tait and Pollock all playing. B team so essential isn't it. Years gone by, if a youngster got a chance in the first team, they were coming in cold. These lads are all getting regular mens football. 5th tier or not, thats a big positive imo

[Mikey1874]

Penalty Tranent from fair block tackle.

 

0-1.

[ehcaley]

Dean Brett ,cmon Tranent feck the B teams😃

[Mikey1874]

Been a bit low key. Had decent possession but few chances. Stevenson who has played well further forward hit post after driving run near end. Then Wilson effort from cross saved. A couple of good balls in not quite connected one by Sandilands. 

 

Penalty was main Tranent chance apart from Rathie back pass saved by McDonald and a miss from good possession plus cross that hit bar. 

[Jarhead]

A bit disjointed but it is blowing a force 9 gale in Pilton tonight. 
We’ll have the wind behind us in the 2nd half 🤞

[Mikey1874]

Subs. McLuckie and Duncan for Stevenson and Plank

[Mikey1874]

A bit hectic. A terrible pass back by Pollock just intercepted by McDonald. Then straight up park last ditch interception just stops Wilson scoring. Rathie down holding leg subbed by Smutek. Now Wilson shot just deflected past. Then great interchange by Duncan and Pollock Sandilands shoots straight at keeper. 

Edited August 9, 2024 by Mikey1874

[Mikey1874]

They certainly tried. Nothing much came off. Best chance was a great move pass out to Pollock on right but ref gave foul to Hearts. 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2024 by Mikey1874

[JTJ]

I expect The Belters will be up challenging East Kilbride for the Title.

[John Findlay]

Yon Lithgae supporter should be happy😉

[Footballfirst]

Disappointing game. Plenty of effort but few chances created. Tranent were content to hold what they had from the minute they went ahead and their centre backs kept everything tight defensively.

 

Pollock saw lots of the ball, beat his marker regularly, but his cross balls or cut backs all too often failed to find a Hearts jersey.  

 

The defence continues to have its bomb scare moments that it needs to cut out.  It looks as if Rathie could be out for a few weeks with what looked like a hamstring pull.

 

I thought Matty Gillies played well as a replacement for Smutek.

 

I don't know what it is but there seems to be a spark missing this season. Last season they seemed to be playing with a smile on their faces. I haven't seen that as yet this season.

[Daveandal]

First B Team game of the season. 

 

First half even, didn't look a pen and we hit the post. Second half all Hearts and we created a few good chances but never really looked like we had them on the ropes as such.

 

Players that stood out.

 

McDonald did alot of talking and encouraging. Can clearly see why he'll be an asset and bailed us out a couple of times after poor passes from the defence.

 

Rathie looked like a "man" great physical presence but a game where it felt everything he did either went wrong or came to nothing. Pulled up 2nd half and screamed so hope he is OK.

 

Plank - nice touches and big fan of the 1995 boy band hair cut.

 

Pollock had some great runs and touches, has a good cross but also gave it away a little easy at times

 

Sandilands always looking to be involved and was clearly getting very frustrated towards the end

 

Tait was the best players on the park by a mile. So comfortable on the ball, can look for and pick a pass, knows how to defend ala Cammy/Beni. I can see why the management lobe him.

 

We looked good in possession, didn't deserve to lose.  Lots of postives to take.

 

Wind didn't help.

..

[Chuck Berry]

16 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

I don't know what it is but there seems to be a spark missing this season. Last season they seemed to be playing with a smile on their faces. I haven't seen that as yet this season.

 

I actually said that towards the end of the game, it seems like we have adopted the worst bits of last season from the first team, too formulatic, too side to side, struggle to break down teams who sit it. We're not playing with the same freedom. McLuckie is struggling, Wilson not really filling Kirk's role and defensively we barely can put the same back 3 or 4 out game to game.

 

We had chances to win that tonight but all credit to Tranent, they got their early goal and sat on it and worked hard second half to keep Hearts at bay. We simply ran out of ideas.

 

Tait has been fairly anonymous the last two games and is doing nothing to improve his first team chances. Jury is still out for me on Wilson, the only one getting value out of this B team game time is Pollock who looks fit and sharp.

Edited August 9, 2024 by Chuck Berry

[Daveandal]

47 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

I actually said that towards the end of the game, it seems like we have adopted the worst bits of last season from the first team, too formulatic, too side to side, struggle to break down teams who sit it. We're not playing with the same freedom. McLuckie is struggling, Wilson not really filling Kirk's role and defensively we barely can put the same back 3 or 4 out game to game.

 

We had chances to win that tonight but all credit to Tranent, they got their early goal and sat on it and worked hard second half to keep Hearts at bay. We simply ran out of ideas.

 

Tait has been fairly anonymous the last two games and is doing nothing to improve his first team chances. Jury is still out for me on Wilson, the only one getting value out of this B team game time is Pollock who looks fit and sharp.

 

Sorry Tait was everywhere tonight. He was on a different level to anyone on the pitch.

Pollock had spells as I said earlier but also took the wrong option over and over and was looking shattered at the end.

 

I thought we played well and on another night would have won comfortably.

[David McCaig]

Was last night not a case of the B Team suffering a bit of a hangover from the Linlithgow epic just a couple of days earlier.

 

The key thing for guys like Tait, Wilson and Pollock is that they are getting a load of competitive minutes under their belt.

[Chuck Berry]

9 hours ago, Daveandal said:

 

Sorry Tait was everywhere tonight. He was on a different level to anyone on the pitch.

Pollock had spells as I said earlier but also took the wrong option over and over and was looking shattered at the end.

 

That's not the game I saw, it was very similar to Tuesday night where he was anonymous for large parts of the game.  At Linlithgow he only became an influence when the guy who was marking him went off.  He needs to be much better than that if he was back into the first team, he needs to impose himself on the game.   Last night he only started to dictate play when Tranent began to tire and sit off Hearts.

 

Pollock was double teamed most of the game and was one of the very few players trying to create something.

 

By normal B team standards, we did not play well.

Edited August 10, 2024 by Chuck Berry

[Daveandal]

20 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

That's not the game I saw, it was very similar to Tuesday night where he was anonymous for large parts of the game.  At Linlithgow he only became an influence when the guy who was marking him went off.  He needs to be much better than that if he was back into the first team, he needs to impose himself on the game.   Last night he only started to dictate play when Tranent began to tire and sit off Hearts.

 

Pollock was double teamed most of the game and was one of the very few players trying to create something.

 

By normal B team standards, we did not play well.

 

Amazing how people see things differently.

[Chuck Berry]

5 minutes ago, Daveandal said:

 

Amazing how people see things differently.

 

Agree.  I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, it's just how I saw it.  Either way, I don't think by the close of the window, all three of Tait, Wilson and Pollock will be playing with the B team.  I can see a loan coming one of their ways.

[FIGJAM]

10 hours ago, Daveandal said:

 

Sorry Tait was everywhere tonight. He was on a different level to anyone on the pitch.

Pollock had spells as I said earlier but also took the wrong option over and over and was looking shattered at the end.

 

I thought we played well and on another night would have won comfortably.

I thought Tait disappointing from his usual high standards. Agreed with person said he only started to dictate as game wore on. The wee maestro just didn’t strut his stuff as he normally does.

The last 2 performances been disappointing as a team. I also thought Plank and Rathie were poor too. Plank such as exciting dribbler of the ball but has yet to find the balance between this and a pass. Hope Rathie recovers quickly but this week has been a very poor one for the lad. Such a good player normally I am writing it off.

Everything just slightly off tonight.

 

i did think Tranent had done their homework. Keep Tait, Pollock and Sandilands quiet and stop service through to Wilson. Worked a treat.

 

[RustyRightPeg]

Tait is head and shoulders above. Pollock follows closely. 
 

Thing about the LL league is, as shown during the week against Linlithgow, some of it (not all) is blood and guts. Tait and Pollock have taken a few hits this week, which will do them no harm. When they step up, they’ll be able to cope physically, it’s just refinement on the ball that comes with games at a higher level. 

Edited August 10, 2024 by RustyRightPeg

[FIGJAM]

11 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

I actually said that towards the end of the game, it seems like we have adopted the worst bits of last season from the first team, too formulatic, too side to side, struggle to break down teams who sit it. We're not playing with the same freedom. McLuckie is struggling, Wilson not really filling Kirk's role and defensively we barely can put the same back 3 or 4 out game to game.

 

We had chances to win that tonight but all credit to Tranent, they got their early goal and sat on it and worked hard second half to keep Hearts at bay. We simply ran out of ideas.

 

Tait has been fairly anonymous the last two games and is doing nothing to improve his first team chances. Jury is still out for me on Wilson, the only one getting value out of this B team game time is Pollock who looks fit and sharp.

I don’t think Haaland would score many as the No 9 in that team over past 2 games. Foxy shouting at his No9 to keep high and occupy the 2 CBs. I’ve watched every game and does feel some of our best stuff when Wilson drops, picks up the ball and gets on half turn to play in Sandilands and Pollock.

i agree Pollock been the standout. His final ball not great tonight but always a threat and so direct.

[Jarhead]

Last season when anyone asked who I thought looked like they could make the step up, the answer was always Tait who absolutely stood out playing at Lowland League level. 
I’m not in any way saying he is playing poorly. He’s playing well but, IMHO, not at the level of last year (yet). 
Right now, Pollock is the player catching the eye. 

[Chuck Berry]

1 hour ago, FIGJAM said:

I don’t think Haaland would score many as the No 9 in that team over past 2 games. Foxy shouting at his No9 to keep high and occupy the 2 CBs. I’ve watched every game and does feel some of our best stuff when Wilson drops, picks up the ball and gets on half turn to play in Sandilands and Pollock.

i agree Pollock been the standout. His final ball not great tonight but always a threat and so direct.

 

Absolutely agree, Wilson is not a target man like Kirk was/is, he didn't see a lot of the ball last night as he normally does.  Let him drop back into the No.10 now and again, let Sandilands/Ross/Pollock/McLuckie run beyond.  I'd also like to see him switching occasionally with Pollock.  Last night it was far too easy for the CH's to keep tabs of what was in front of them.

 

Anyway, a good learning experience for these lads, you probably don't learn too much by pumping poorer teams every week.

[BM1874]

On the subject of Linlithgow, was amusing being there for the game last season and being told to “**** off back to the big city ya (child born out of wedlock) 

 

Very bitter bunch