Finished 5-1 to the Dons. Chris Maguire, Lee Miller (2), Jeffrey De Vischer and Stevie Lovell. Wasn't much of a friendly to be honest. A few meaty tackles flying in all over the place. McNamara, Maguire, De Vischer and Dan Smith were all pretty good in my opinion. Dan Smith looks a totally different player to the one we had last season. Miller's second one was a bit of a screamer.

 

Dodgy penalty for them. Souter took a cross, dropped it, and then tangled with the striker and took him down. Whether it was or wasn't a penalty is by the by. It didn't fill me with with confidence anyway. We really, really, really need a keeper. And that was after Souter was unlucky not to open the scoring with a big punt up the field...

My sources were sure it was a pen, but as you say who cares.

How does the defence look without Anderson? I ken Cove ain't exactly a good challenge for them, but did they look comfortable?

not sure about touzani and hart in the middle. Would have thought that zander and jackie mac might have been a better proposition, or even Mair and zander.

 

Like the sound of the new lad but I remember the hyperbole around Peter the Pole a couple of years ago and also with the likes of Thornley so lets wait and see.

 

Good win. Sounds like we played some good stuff and hopefully it is the sign of things to come.  Hopefully this means we won't have the embarrassment of failing to score against amatuers again this season

To be honest the defence really didn't have anything to do. Touzani was strong in the tackle, but he does lack a bit in the air. Michael Hart was solid. McNamara was excellent. His link up play in the first half was great. Mair was solid as well, but they really didn't have an awful lot to do. Quite hard to judge how they would fare against a better frontline. I assume Diamond and Considine will get a run out on Sunday.

 

DeVischer was good, although it was inferior opposition his touch was good and he always wanted to run with the ball, which is a good sign no matter what the opposition. For me the man of the match was Chris Maguire, who caused no end of problems in the first half and was always looking for the ball. He was unlucky only to have the one goal and had a good workrate throughout, even though he was wide on the left.

 

Not that there was too much to complain about, but goalkeeping problems aside, I thought the central midfield was a bit weak. Severin got the shit kicked out of him early doors and never really recovered. Nicholson was a bit brighter in the second half but didn't get forward much. Smith was a bit quiet as well. I am not sure if that was a deliberate tactic (sit in in the centre, bomb forward on the wings) but I would have liked to see a bit more from the central players. It's not a major issue, just nitpicking.

 

I think the Egyptian Trip will give a better indication of the deal in Defence.

 

but I'll drink to 5-1 over Cove! 

Nicholson was a bit brighter in the second half but didn't get forward much

 

Excuse me if I'm wrong cos I wasn't there, but reading a couple of match reports ... wasn't Nicholson on the bench for the first half? Accordingly he came on for the second half to replace Touzani who came off with a head injury.

Yeah, Nicholson came on in the second half. What that sentence was meant to mean was 'Nicholson was a better attacking option from midfield when he came on in the second half', rather than 'he was better in the first half than the second'. Sorry for confusion.