PRE-SEASON PROFILES

By Angonamo
July 16 2003

Who's new at Links Park? If you need some guidance about the new additions to the squad, or reminding about some of the others, read on to see Angonamo's profiles and analysis...

"- Hankinson looked a lot better than last time I saw him, although his positional sense needs work. He pulled off a McGlynn-like save to deny Niddrie in the first half - Donachie looked as if he is still carrying a wee bit of weight and let himself get wound up far too easily - Smith appeared a bit nervous, so was fairly anonymous - Stephen looked like justifying Sheran's hyping of him as he seems to be a classy player who always looks to play the ball on the deck (oh the novelty of it!). BUT (and it may have been that he - quite reasonably - didn't see any point in clattering into anyone in a meaningless friendly) I wonder if he's up to the rough and tumble of the third division. Could form a very good partnership with an old head like McQuillan or Conway, and has something we have been seriously lacking over the last wee while: pace. Cast your mind back to the number of times in the last year that opposition players have broken forward or beaten our backline to a hopeful clearance and gone on to score. One worry is a potential lack of height/aerial ability in defence outside Conway. - Ferguson looked to be not far off 'league form' although his touch let him down a few times. One of the best on the night, if only from the commitment point of view. - Sharp stuck to his left wing berth and didn't get much of the ball. - Farnan may not be a classy playmaker like Johnson, but he appears to be a motivator on the pitch and may provide some much needed bite in the centre of the park (something else we were seriously short of last year). - Gibson looked out of sorts. Is he still working nightshift? If so he's having to overcome a pretty serious handicap to get on the park every week. - Webster played some decent balls in, but rather worryingly seemed to have lost his ability to go past defenders. Still arguably the most talented player we've got though so I'm sure once he gets on his game we'll see lots of good things from him; also the best dead ball striker we've got. - Kerrigan had a poor game (sorry Stevie...) but I've no doubt he'll not let us down this season - Wood, for me, looked a very decent signing. Good touch, as good movement as anyone we've had for a couple of years, and a decent turn of pace. Looks very promising if that can be exploited and he can form a decent partnership with one of the other strikers. Of the subs, - Johnson may well have signed off his Mo career with that goal as he looked like a man with other things on his mind, - Watt looked slightly short of match sharpness but quite dangerous so should be a good signing, - Smart showed some nice touches but I can't see him repeating his scoring feats of last season, - Narey seemed OK, - trialist Baillie looked like a bustling sort not disimilar to Kerrigan with the ball at his feet, - Lindsay didn't have the physical presence needed for a game like that, - Henderson again showed he can be a threat with the ball at his feet." Do you agree with Angonamo? You can post your own views on the MMSM Message Board