Bye bye Firs Park

What may well have been my last ever visit to Firs Park (unless The Shire join us in the play offs of course!) , before it is absorbed by the local Retail Park turned out to be quite a thriller. Going in to the match, I must confess to a degree of apprehension. I feared the New Manager Syndrome, as this was The Shire's first match since Gordon Wylde became the latest in a long line of managers who have tried and failed to achieve anything better than last place in the Scottish League. How long they can continue to hold on to their league status despite displaying continued inadequacy remains to be seen. However, the sale of their ground, and what looks like another season propping up the other 39 teams, surely only means that they are delaying the inevitable. As for the match, well it marked Ian Harty's debut in a Warriors shirt. And it was a might impressive debut. His ability to control and pass the ball put me in mind of the last member of the Harty household to play for Stenhousemuir. The contrast was like night and day! I don't think there is a cat in hell's chance we would have won that game without him in the team. No-one else in our squad would have been prepared to take a shot from the position he was in. Too often the attitude this season seems to have been, why shoot when someone else in a much more awkward position can take a shot and miss! The presence of Harty in the team has given me renewed confidence about our ability to make the play offs at the end of the season. All in all it was a bizarre match, where we roared into the lead through the prolific Willie Lyle, only for the Shire to get their noses in front, while in between times missing a penalty (Andy Rogers likes a dive doesn't he?). Couple of belting goals they scored; one from Andy Brand who looks an excellent player - wonder where he'll be next season. We managed to get to half time on level terms with an equaliser from the not so prolific Paul Tyrell. His link up play with Eddie in the 2nd half was one of the highlights of the game. At long last he seems to have realised that the way to the opposition goal is forward, as opposed to sideways or backwards. McLaughlin remains infuriatingly inconsistent but if he could only perform like he did on Saturday more often he would be such a star for us. Second half, after a succession of heavy, late tackles, the ref finally lost patience with The Shire and reduced them to 10 men. Fantsatic I thought. Three points here we come, I thought. Hadn't reckoned on Joe Savage. Every time I have seen him for the Shire he has been absolutly brilliant. Saturday was no exception. I don't know if he saves his best performances for matches against us, but he is like a different player from the one who was as bad as it got towards the end of his spell at Ochilview. His was probably the pick of the bunch from a match that featured 7 quite excellent goals. Eventually, with the introduction of Ross Hamilton, we managed to stretch their backline even more and managed to get back on level terms through Hamilton, before Harty's sucker punch 5 minutes from time. So, a game to remember. While Firs Park might be a pretty unappealing venue, it is a unique ground, which I will be sorry to see go. Whether or not The Shire get a new home of their own, of whether they eventually disappear of the face of the footballing earth remains to seen, but at least it will leave some great, and not so great, memories.