No Edinburgh festival for Blues

Andy Munro watches Blues against Hibs.

This is going to start sounding like the proverbial broken record but Blues yet again failed to deliver and continued to show last season’s failings. Scottish football might be currently ahead in terms of fitness training with their earlier start to the season but we’re not talking about teams of La Liga standard here.

The fact that GAry Rowett’s quoted ‘strongest’ side in Scotland had Scottish international Caddis on the bench is another worrying feature on top of what was a tepid and toothless performance. Blues need leaders alongside Morrison and Caddis certainly comes into that category while his replacement, Spector, certainly doesn’t. In fairness, we were missing Kleftenbeld and Cotterill, two of our most influential players but this does not excuse the team’s limp-ankled performance.

If I read it once, I’ve read it a thousand times about Donaldson’s work rate and his ‘ability’ to scoop the ball over or into the keeper’s hands from close in. Conversely Vaughan getting into good goal scoring positions and being ‘denied’ seems to be an increasingly utilised description in Blues’ reports. Almost amusingly, the report on the Blues website referred to one move as “pleasant” – not the sort of innocuous phraseology that I want applying to anything that relates to BCFC performances. I am looking for performances that can be described as “ruthless”, “clinical” or “brutal” even.

Perhaps one of the few bright spots was another excellent cameo by the talented Reece-Brown but Rowett’s transfer dealings are such that we have enough players in the hole to warrant filling something along the size of an elephant pit. Meanwhile Donaldson ploughs a lonely furrow up front, just about within loud hailing distance of the nearest support. No wonder he is too fraught to suddenly turn into a calm and deadly assassin in front of goal.

At the same time Blues are continuing with their inability to keep a clean sheet, which is another concern. While these matches are ‘only’ friendlies our inability to run up a few wins is bound to affect confidence, probably the most important component of any successful side. One thing is certain, the need for new players has to be centred around a young forward with pace and power. It’s all about goals rather than pleasant moves.