Rowley gains positives from draw and defeat

ONE point from a possible six may not sound great but for manager Charlie Rowley there were plenty of positives to take from his sides back to back away matches against two of the top performing teams this season.

Having conceded that silverware is no longer an option last week Rowley is looking to the future and was delighted to see how his team adjusted to some formational tinkering, feeling that the points return from the Vale game in particular wasn’t really reflective of the performance.

“If there is a positive of being out of the title hunt it is having the chance to try a few different things in terms of where individuals play and also in terms of testing out how we perform in different formations.

“We did that against Deveronvale with a midfield diamond that had Duncan Jones sitting in, Kyle Scott and Ryan Mackintosh on either side with Kevin Duguid at the point. I was really pleased with the performance considering it was a new shape and the fact that they changed their formation after 20-25 minutes shows how dominant we were.”

“I thought for the vast majority of the game we played extremely well at it was a bit of an injustice going in 2-0 down at half time. Certainly our open play didn’t merit us being behind but Deveronvale took their chances and we didn’t take our chances, the be all and end all putting ball in back of net so you can argue their case.

“In the second half we stuck to the same shape and individuals and kept to the principles of the first half and scored two cracking goals. The boys showed a great desire to get back into the game and we could have won it with Kevin Duguid’s chance late on.”

In contrast the match against Wick was one where the home side had the edge and Rowley feels that they deserve credit for the victory but still took a number of positives from the game. He contined,

“The conditions were really really difficult for both sides, not farcical but verging on it. That doesn’t usually provide a good game but Wick try to get it down and play as we did ourselves but we were not able to have the same impact on the game in terms of quality possession as we had at Princess Royal Park.

“I would put that down to Wick’s workrate and shape which stopped us playing at times. When you are pushing for the title as they are you have an extra edge, that wee bit extra heart at certain times and there were only two or three from our side who matched that extra endeavour.

“That’s not to say I am being critical of the players because Wick are an excellent side and are in a great position that gives them that lift and edge at times and to win a game like that you really need all eleven players to be on the same wavelength. However I would rather praise individuals and yet again Grapies (Graeme Grant) was outstanding.

“If there is a better centre half and captain in the league just now I would like to see them and even then I would argue Grapies case. His standard of play is as high as I have ever seen from him and his performances are top notch.”

Another player gaining praise was Lee Fraser, the returning striker notched two out of the Can Cans three goals over the two games and it was another sign that his fitness is improving. “You could see on Wednesday that he is a wee bit off the pace at times and then at other times he looked back to the Lee Fraser that made such an impact last season.

“On a fitness aspect he is getting more involved in the game and he has just played back to back 90 minutes in the space of four days. His first 25 minutes on Saturday was another big positive from the game as was his overall performance. It is staggering to see how far he has come, we know he isn’t close to 100% yet but he is getting there with ever game and training session and the end of the season could be coming at the wrong time for him.”