Sunday 1st February v Evening Times at Glasgow Green 2-5 (0-2)
James McLaughlin, Arthur McCue, Alistair Dorward, Barry Cook (Raymond McCulloch), John Crosbie, Alan Main, Logan Taylor, Tam Moon, David Nisbet, John Kirkland (Stephen Din) and Paul Stormonth (c).
Our third successive game against first time opponents pitted us against the Evening Times, a team from Logie's work, who had one of our ex-players Stewart Paterson in their line-up.
A few changes for us with Roddy, Brian, Neil, Owen, Stormy (all unavailable) and The Gazelle (told the game was at Castlemilk) all missing whilst Tam, Raymie, Crossers and Nisby all returned.
It was another quiet, calm day at the start with the crowd numbering zero as even the kids stayed away and amused themselves elsewhere.
It wasn't a bad choice either as the first half was decidedly low key with chances few and far between.
The only efforts of note in the early stages were a superb save by James from a free kick which he turned onto the bar and a shot from Young Alan which hit the post after a long throw had caused problems in the gutter press's defence.
It was a dour struggle for both teams with the majority of the action being Arthur taking goal kicks (slowly).
Our two bulky forwards did eventually combine with Jazza crossing for Big John but he headed wide of the post.
With half time approaching we unexpectedly got caught out with a ball over the top of Algie and a forward ran on to shoot past the advancing James.
From our kick-off we managed to give the ball away and again a forward ran on to score.
There aren't many teams that could turn a certain goalless first half into a 2-0 deficit but we never cease to amaze.
There was still time for us to pull a goal back before the break but Jazza's cross to the back post was shot into the keeper's arms ("passback !") by Big John and we went off the pitch shocked and stunned (by the two goals lost not BJ's miss).
Barry hobbled off at the interval with Tam moving into defence and Raymie taking his place in midfield. Young Stephen also came on with Nisby going up front.
Unusually for us we came out of the blocks quickly and suddenly looked a different side as we put pressure on the Fourth Estate's defence.
The Evening Old Firm were struggling to get the ball out of their half and our pressure eventually paid off when NISBY headed home Arthur's corner.
The turning point of the game came just after this as a through ball heading for the on running Young Al was cynically handled by a defender just inside the halfway line.
The referee chose to not even speak to him far less send him off. We could have done with Stuart Dougall in the middle as he would have deservedly told the guy to "F*** Off".
Things didn't improve when Crossers had to come off (apparently his calf this time, although it could have been the knock on his face he took during the game, or his groin, or his ankle........) and Raymie had to go into defence with Nisby going back into midfield.
Despite only having two subs there were far too many changes made in the game for us, never a good thing.
Stephen was doing well down the left and he cleverly beat the offside trap, skinned a defender but his cross wasn't picked up by anybody and the chance was lost.
Nippy also came close with a shot at the back post from a cross from Alan as we pushed forward in numbers.
Unfortunately we were pushing forward in far too many numbers as a free kick from Arthur was cleared at the third attempt by the tabloid's defence, with nobody on our side bothering to challenge any time, and this left our defence (Algie) exposed.
A forward ran through on his own but James did brilliantly to save his effort and then got up to save again. However, with the "defence" back, a third shot came in and James couldn't get to it this time.
Cue the floodgates opening as we then got carved open twice more as we decided that everybody should be a forward for the day.
It wouldn't have been so bad if we scoring at the other end but we only had a Logie shot (no, seriously) which he got on target (aye, right) but the keeper dived to save (at least he got it on target for the first time in three years).
There was also a loud, and prolonged, shout for handball after a shot from Young Tyrone was blocked in the area but no penalty was awarded.
We did get a consolation goal back with a couple of minutes to go when NISBY headed home unchallenged from another Arthur corner (we only had two corners and scored from both of them) but it was far too late by then to make a difference.
A very quiet dressing room afterwards after the team received a "wee word" from the Manager and there was an air of disappointment all round.
Well played to The Herald's Wee Sister who deserved to win with Our Stewart being a stand out. It's a strange day when the general view at half time was that he was running the midfield. Maybe it wasn't the same Stewart Paterson that played for us after all !
Player of the Day: James McLaughlin, we lose five goals and the keeper wins it, says it all !