In our last meeting we managed to hold them to a credible 1-1 draw despite us only having 9 men, this time around we wanted to push for the win with a very strong squad available to the Bridge Gaffer. A victory today would put us above them in the league so the incentive was there for the team. This was thrown out the window though with the absence of Tam and Striker Chris, along with the late arrival of Stu and Gaz, which meant a re-shuffle of the pack. The starting eleven was still a formidable one though and we had good ball players throughout the side in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Ian F playing off Norrie up top. Lee and Baz made up the centre pairing with Luigi and Wullie out wide whilst Reidy, Chris B, J-Mac, and Ian W were the solid looking back 4 in front of Otas.
On a flat but very rutted pitch it was difficult for either side to try and play simple passing football, but we still tried to keep the ball on the ground and use short passes into feet rather than lumping it in behind for chasers to run after.
Icapb were playing 4-5-1 which was causing Lee and Baz some problems with them up against 3 in the middle, and their lone striker Matt was doing well to hold the ball in and bring his team mates into the action.
Baz was linking well with Norrie and Ian F, and we won a series of corners which Lee whipped into the area, the 1st one fell kindly to Johnny at the back post but his rifled effort smacked off a couple of players before an attempted back heel from Wullie was smothered on the line by their keeper. Lee’s next corner was looping over the keeper for an unlikely goal direct from the set piece until their big Dutch CB headed it away from under the bar, then Baz was so unlucky not to score with a deft header that cannoned back off the bar and hoofed away to safety. We then took the lead and it was another header from Capt Baz that did the damage, Lee exchanged passes with Luigi out on the right before curling in a peach of a cross deep into the penalty area where Baz out muscled the defender to power a header high past the keeper for the opening goal of the game. The lead was no more than we deserved at that point having been in their half for at least 70% of the game, Otas had been a virtual spectator with only a couple of back passes to deal with.
The bar then came to their rescue again only minutes later, when a skirmish in the box saw Norrie slice an effort up and against the goal frame with their keeper in no-mans land. We were putting them under immense pressure now, and when another low ball was fired across their goalmouth it eventually found it’s way to Luigi near the goal line outside the 6yd box, he tried to skip past the inrushing defender before knocking it back across the goal but too a little too much time and the defender crowded him out. Johnny then tried his luck with a free kick from some 35 yards out but it didn’t worry their keeper, whilst Ian found himself blocked on route to goal when he played a 1-2 with Wullie down the left. From practically their 1st attack of the game Icapb stole an equaliser, and although the finish itself was a cool one it should have been cut out long before it reached our box. A nothing ball was hoofed up to the midfield from their CB and their CM played a simple through ball inside Reidy at RB and left him trailing in the winger’s wake to get back and cover. The winger easily blew past him and progressed in on goal before slotting a low finish past Otas from 15 yards for a 1-1 scoreline with around 15mins remaining in the opening period.
Reidy seemed to be struggling with the pace of the game for some reason so he switched with Chris at CB and this seemed to help him. Our attacking continued and moments after the equaliser we had a great chance to restore the lead when Wullie was scythed down only feet outside the area after good work from Norrie and Baz. Norrie took the reins this time and after the wall was placed back around 7yards at best from the free kick he took aim but fired narrowly wide and just high of the target. The only booking of the 1st half came shortly before the half time whistle when Wullie attempted to skin their RB only for him to rugby tackle him to the ground, Wullie was booked however for retaliating in the tackle as he pushed the defender off him and away. Lee set up the free kick but seemed to be in 2 minds whether to shoot or cross it to the back post, and the resulting effort was cleared away from near the penalty area by the Icapb No’5 at the back.
H/T 1 - 1
Our half time talk centred around the need to get the ball out to both wings where we were getting plenty joy against two rather sluggish full backs, we also wanted to try and test the keeper from range as he had looked very dicey whenever he had been called upon in the opening 45mins. Ian F was asked to fall back a little to provide a connection between the centre midfielders and Norrie up top, as there was a big gap that Icapb had been seeing plenty of the ball in. The players were also reminded that there were plenty of options on the bench so changes would be made if the effort wasn’t being shown.
The second half started and it was Icapb who came out of the blocks the fastest, and they seemed to find another gear in the opening 10mins of the half with them continually pinning us back and trying to play slide-rule passes down the channels in between our CB and F/backs. Chris was caught napping on one such occasion but the offside flag came to our rescue with their winger bearing down on goal. Otas then showed great hands to pick a free kick out of the air deep in our box before setting Ian F away down the left side, he tried to set Wullie away in behind their back line but a mix of the keeper and defender blocked it out for a corner. The corner was played in low and cleared out as far as Ian F near the halfway line, and with Reidy calling for a simple pass along the half way line the pass was attempted by Ian. The Icapb players had rushed out on mass and intercepted the slack ball to set off on a searing counter attack, with their influential no’8 at the heart of it. He sped away from Ian W down the right side and looked up to see his team mate bursting a gut to get into the box for the cross-field pass which was put in to great effect. Their winger took a touch and side footed a low effort past the outstretched arms of Otas to put Icapb 2-1 up with around 15mins played.
Worse was nearly to follow only 5minutes after the 2nd goal went in when the earlier scares caused by the back 4 pushing too high up the park saw their left winger once more scamper in behind the static defenders. He ran on toward the area and rounded Otas cleanly before striking a placed effort net bound, only his fellow team mate decided to make sure and knocked it in over the line from only a couple of feet. It was however an awful decision as the Ref ruled he was in an offside position when the shot was taken and duly chopped it off before issuing a yellow card to the scorer for his protests, but in all honesty it was a very close one to call and I for one expected it to stand initially. With the score at 2-1 and us struggling to break into their box we made a double substitution with Stu and our top scorer Gaz taking the place of Reidy and Luigi. This allowed Norrie to drop back into the space behind the striker with Gaz being pushed up against the last defender, and it almost brought dividends when Gaz was played in neatly by Norrie and after bossing his way past their CB it looked a formality but he took a touch to go round the keeper and the angle was just too tight for the resulting shot. We were starting to have more possession again in a similar vein to the 1st 45mins, and we were very unlucky when Gaz swivelled and shot in one motion from inside the area only for it to cannon off the base of the post and out for a throw after the CB cleared it away. With just under 20mins to go we were about to make the final change with Ian F drifting out of the game slightly. The Bridge Gaffer was warming up on the sidelines, the Ref jogged over in his direction and asked his number, the gaffer replied that he wasn’t coming on yet as he was still warming up, but the Ref said that he was taking action over an insult that he had “heard” the gaffer say from the edge of the pitch. He took the gaffers name and no’ and to everyone on and off the park’s astonishment branded a straight Red Card and sent him off for “foul and abusive language directed at the referee,” despite the protests from the players and the culprit who was a random standing with a mate watching the game some 20 yards from where the Fountainbridge subs were standing. The Ref refused to budge on the completely incorrect decision and stood firm on the red car but did let the Bridge player/Manager stay on the sidelines.
This made the Bridge players all that more determined to equalise, and with a little over 10 mins to go we got our rewards. Gaz collected a pass into feet from Norrie and as he sped past the defender he was bundled to the ground by a poorly timed tackle from their big CB. It could have been arguably a last man situation but he didn’t even get a yellow for the offence, and the Bridge players held their breath as Johnny placed the ball on the spot. The Bridge CB took his time collecting himself before taking a long run up and smashing the ball confidently past the diving keeper to bring the Bridge right back into things with only 10mins left. We thought that might be the end of the scoring but to our horror the stalemate lasted less than 2 mins from the restart, Matt, the main Icapb striker picked up a loose ball some 40 yards from goal before setting off past 3 Bridge defenders before screaming a right foot effort in off the bar from around 18 yards out for a 3rd Icapb goal with time running out quickly. If truth be told we should have been a bit more clever and gave away the foul as the run began, but the finish was excellent from the Icapb striker. It looked like all our hard work and pressure throughout the game was going to count for nothing until Baz popped up in the dying minutes to float a header goal wards, Gaz leaped with the keeper and a defender and got there first to nod the vital equaliser and also kept his scoring run going in the process for a well deserved point in a very entertaining game.
F/T 3 - 3
Managers Comment
I better be careful with what I say here, as we WILL be appealing the ridiculous sending off that I received from the Ref today, but its suffice to say that he got it majorly wrong yet wouldn’t even entertain the thought that he had made a poor decision. I may be guilty from time to time of shouting at the Ref’s but have never stooped to swearing at one as I know what will happen if I do. To send someone off with a straight red when he hasn’t done anything was a shocker and it now means us having to put in a lengthy appeal to get it overturned. In terms of the game it was once again a case of plenty possession and pressure but just no end product, which wasn’t helped by our top scorer arriving late due to transportation. We had them on the ropes for much of the 1st half, and they were very lucky to be on level terms at the break, our biggest problem though is a lack of efforts from outside the area and we need to get this sorted soon. We lost some sloppy goals today through simple wee balls played in behind our defenders for players to run onto, something that we had eradicated from our game this season. Okay their 3rd goal was a cracking finish and very powerful run but we need to start boxing clever and giving away “good” free kicks high up the park to prevent these chances from happening. We were sleeping at the 1st goal and gift wrapped them their 2nd, and if their player hadn’t touched that ball over the line whilst being offside we could have been looking at a 4-3 loss rather than a 3-3 salvaged point.
Overall I was pleased with our performance other than the opening 10mins of the 2nd period when we were very poor and didn’t close them down at all, I am still not convinced that our team can play in a 4-4-2 formation, each time we try to play it we concede goals from runs through the centre so it may have to put to bed once and for all. We have still got 8 games left to play this season with at least 5 of them being very winnable matches, so lets keep the momentum going from our last 3 good performances and end the season strongly.
Best in the Tangerine: Johnny was the stand-out from the defence and slotted away the pen to keep his 100% record going, Lee got thru a great shift and set up the 1st goal, Gaz came on and showed what we were missing for the previous 60mins and got his goal at the end, and Norrie looked that wee bit faster than anyone else when it came to decision making with the ball at his feet.
Man of the match for today’s game however goes to Barry Fearn for leading the team by example, knocking in the 1st and making the 3rd, and showing in general just why he is Club Captain.
M.O.T.M – BARRY FEARN
Nitka 7 (out of 10)
Blyth 6
Reid 6 (Stephen 8 (1g))
Mackenzie 8 (1g)
Waugh 8
Davidson 8
Fearn 8M (1g)
Pia 6 (McCrindle 5)
Mclintock 7
Fleming 7
Webb 8
Sub not used : Gray S/O 70mins
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