Today we make the East-West trip across the breadth of Scotland to play Morton in the first of the 3rd round of 4 games in the league this season.
DECISION POINT – KILMARNOCK OFFER INTERVIEW
Out of nowhere Kilmarnock (Premiership, 12th, Okay finances, £2.5M/yr wage bill) offer an interview, I’m going to take it (The interview that is).
An average wage of £900/wk but only a maximum wage allowed of £500 is a bit of a worry – sounds like a big fat cull is required – Suggests there are 65 players or so at the club with a weekly wage bill of £58k.
At the moment Aberdeen, Hibs and Kilmarnock are all looking for managers… Paul Lambert looks like he may get one of them or Luton in the EFL League 1. Nikola Jurcevic (Motherwell) is favourite for the Hibs job, so there could be a merry-go-round.
Our U18’s beat Dunipace Res 4-0 (Goals from Archie Gardiner, Tom Sutherland, George Mitchell & Conor McLaughlin)
OK – Is it the right time for me to move on, or have I got a shot at getting Berwick to the Championship. Personally i think I have. I’m staying at Berwick 🙂 Chances of me getting the Killie job is quite low I think anyway, lets get some good will with the board and players.
Only the 7 of the lads in the League 1 Team of the Week this week 🙂
Our Ressies beat Sauchie Res 7-0, goals from Daryl Healy, Jordan Armstrong and 5(!) from George Mitchell.
DECISION POINT – LINFIELD OFFER INTERVIEW
Interesting one, Linfield (7th, Danske Bank Premiership, N. Ireland) offer an interview. Season Preview has them 9th, they’ve released a ton of players, finances show as Okay, but what does that actually mean? Plus I’ve just committed to Berwick now. I’ll leave it for now I think. Interestingly my reputation matches Linfield’s (And is a bit higher now than Berwick).
And we are now at Saturday 18th December, ready for the Morton game. We’re 5 games unbeaten after our little blip at the end of October. Morton have won 6, drawn 1 and lost 1 of the last 8 league games after we last played them (3-1 win on 25th September). I’d settle for a draw I think.
Mackie back at left back and we’re going with Turner as the playmaker, Davidson free to attack from Centre Mid and palmer as the Carillero, meaning less requirement to keep slogging his guts out as a BBM. Morton go with a 5-3-2 wingbacks – overload out wide perhaps??
FT Morton 0 Berwick 3 (MacIver 49, Leitch 68, McManus 82) Att 1,407 (98 Away)
Rain on the West coast, rain on the east coast, can’t get away from it! Berwick looking good early on, getting some joy down the left with Mackie & Dow. Dominating possession early on. 24th minute, Palmer gets a bruised foot – Leitch on in his place. Morton back in it a bit at the end of the half with a few set pieces but it’s 0-0 at Half Time – Berwick with the better of it.
A good start to the second half, Dow should have scored in the 2nd minute but took a touch when he should have hit it. But we did take the lead in the 49th minute – MacIver again getting into a good position at the back post, a Jack Leitch looped pass after running 30 yards unchallenged, MacIver controlling and scoring from 8 yards. 1-0 Berwick. Nearly 1-1 in the 58th, Maguire dispossed by Johnstone, Sinclair clearing up the mess with a great save. 58 gone, Martin on for Slavne as a Shadow Striker, moved the line up one to Standard. And then a stunner in the 68th, Leitch receives the ball from Turner from the right wing dead centre, takes a touch after controlling it and drills a daisy-cutter into the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the ‘D’. 2-0 Berwick! McManus for Davidson with 15 left for our last substitution. And it’s 3-0 in the 82nd, beautiful play from the boys. A free-kick on halfway taken short, Mackie to Dow, to Turner to Martin, who picks out MacIver with a worldie of a pass, all that’s left is a simple cut-back and McManus taps in from 7 yards (He actually thumped it but taps in seems more professional). Stunning play versus the league leaders. Morton get a goal back not long after but its offside, 3 players all offside when the cross came over, good stepping from the Berwick defence. We had a few more chances for a fourth but it finished 3-0 – back to back 3-0’s versus 1st and 2nd in the table!!
Up into 3rd as Albion Rovers lose again, now just 3 points off the lead. Still very tight with just 3 wins separating 1st and 7th.
Next up we’re away to bottom-placed Stenhousemuir on Boxing Day – as per with these games expect a difficult one. See you soon.