Team: O'Donnell, Dunsire, Veitch, Maltby, Blyth, Davidson(c)(Manson), Smith, Pia(Osborne), McCrindle, Balloch, Brown(Gray)

After a narrow 3-2 defeat to Dickens a few weeks ago, the Bridge were looking for a revenge win against one of their closest matched teams in the league. Our plans were spoiled by call-offs, some of which were expected, which resulted in a very depleted line up starting the game. Our team lacked a physical presence other than the back 4, however we would try and use this extra mobility to get their team spread out across the pitch. John Maltby slotted in at CB alongside Chris, Stephen Balloch came back into the starting X1 at LM, and Stu McCrindle started up front alongside fellow newbie, Stephen Brown. A late call off from Ben caused the midfield to be changed, with the formation reverting to a straight 4-4-2 with Lee and Marky in the middle, and Luigi on the right wing.

We won the toss and played up hill in the 1st period, and for the 1st 15 mins there was nothing between the 2 teams. Our back line were clearing any danger away, whilst Mark and Lee were coping well against the settled midfield from Dickens. We were pulling their defenders all over the pitch with our off-the-ball running, and Stu was causing them all sorts of problems as our main threat. He almost latched onto a through pass from Lee, but could only get a slight connection on it and the shot went wide. We were getting plenty of the ball down the flanks and both Stephen and Luigi were taking up good positions high up the park.

The break through came after around 20 minutes and it was a good team goal from the Bridge players. Lee chased a lost cause down the right sidelines and managed to hook a cross into the box, Stu went at it first and pulled 2 defenders across with him, the ball eventually fell in between both Stephens at the back of the box on the edge of the area, and Stephen Balloch cut inside the RB and hit a high half volley into the keepers left corner just inside the post for 1-0 to the Bridge.

Dickens were playing well too, and their main man in the middle “ Goose” (no’ 8) was pulling the strings for them, however he had to go off for some running repairs after a clash of heads with Lee brought some claret to the occasion. Dickens were pushing for an equaliser now and we defended well from several corners that were swung in, with Barry making a fine save around his right post from a good header from their CB. Laurie then made a fantastic goal line clearance when indecision left their no’9 through on Barry. The striker waited for Barry to come out and slotted it low under him, but Laurie kept on going to slide in and hook it away for a corner.

The equaliser came with 10 minutes left in the half , a corner was knocked clear and Stephen Brown was in possession around 30 yards from our goal, he was clearly tripped as he went past a challenge but the Ref couldn’t see it through the group of players, the ball was slid past Chris and John and their no’9 made no mistake, knocking a high finish past Barry into the opposite corner for 1-1. It was a bit of sickner to lose, but there was no way the Ref could have seen the foul so there was no complaints from the Bridge players (or Manager!). We almost went back into the lead straight away, when good play from Stephen Brown forced a foul at the edge of the box on the left, it was swung right into the mix by Lee, but Brian couldn’t keep his diving header low enough and it cleared the bar to safety.

Stu was still causing them problems with his tireless running and he had a half-chance when a ball broke to him in the box just before half-time. He hit a good low shot with his left, but the keeper eventually got down to palm it away for a corner. We really should have been peppering him with shots as did not look too mobile in their goal, but the resulting corner came to nothing.

Half time 1-1

With the hill on our side, we were confident of gaining the momentum in the 2nd period, however it was Dickens who started the brighter and with more energy. They changed their style slightly in that they were looking at getting balls in behind our back 4 from cross-field passes, and only the reactions of Barry coming out stopped their strikers from having a clear run on goal. Barry then had to get down smartly to his left to make a block as their no’7 went on a mazy run past 3 players and hit an early drive goalwards.
With the score still level we had a great chance to get the 2nd when an early kick-out by Barry got good distance and found Stephen Balloch one on one with their last man. He showed good upper body strength to nudge their player out of the aerial challenge and scampered away in on goal towards the right of their box. With only the keeper to beat though he took a heavy touch instead of shooting from the edge of the area and the keeper was alert enough to come out and smother at Stephens feet. Stephen was commited to the challenge on the keeper but the LB took it upon himself to kick out at Stephen as he slid in. A little bit of handbags commenced, but the Ref was having none of it and showed a straight red to their player. He was a bit mouthy and this probably had an effect on the Ref’s decision. To make it worse he threw a water bottle at the Ref as he was walking away and was shown a 2nd red for his troubles.

This seemed to push Dickens into being even more determined to take all three points, and after around 20 minutes of the 2nd half they took the lead from a very unlucky OG from John M in the six yard box. He attempted to clear a spinning ball 1st time but it shot up off his shin guard and looped over Barry in goal to the despair of the Bridge players for 2-1 to Dickens. Matty was brought on shortly afterwards for Stephen Brown to try and get us back in the game.
We were struggling to make any inroads at their goal, with only a snap shot from Mark, and a long range effort from Lee, coming from us in the 1st 25mins of the 2nd half. At the other end, Barry again had to sharp off his line to take a cross off the head of their striker, who took Barry out at the same time. With 20 mins left, John G came on for Luigi, with Stu moving over to RM and John going through the middle to try and out muscle the CB’s with Stephen Balloch playing in behind him. Seconds after the switch though, Dickens increased their lead with another fortuitous goal. Their RM strode into the area and let fly with a low drive from the right of the box. It may have been going wide or maybe sneaking inside the post, but it hit Laurie on the ankle and trundled past the stranded Barry in goal for 3-1. It was really harsh on the Bridge players to lose on deflection, but to lose goals from 2 was beyond belief. Lee had to make way on 80 mins for Sean as he was feeling the effects of the early head knock with their player. We were still not making anything up front, with the support from the midfield not high enough up to close the players down when they were playing it out from the back. Matty was trying to make something happen out on the left and when he got hold of the ball on the break, John yelled for the ball to be thrown into the back post where he was left against the LB on his own. The ball came in and got over the defender, but took off as it hit the hard ground in the box, and the resulting drive from John went wide of the target.

With only minutes remaining, our two CB’s got in each others way and left the simplest of finishes for their Striker who only had Barry to beat with a side foot finish for the 4th and final goal. The game was over and what had been a real chance of a draw or sneaking a win had been lost for another week.

FINAL SCORE – 1 - 4

Managers Comment:
What began at the start of the week as a definite chance of 3 points became less and less as the week went on through various absences. We finally kicked off missing 6 or 7 regular starters which was just too much for a make-shift team to handle. We knew that Capt Baz, Keith, and Ian were unavailable already, but we lost Johnny, Tony, Anthony, and Crawford the day before the match. The players have to start giving me at least 48 hours notice that they are unavailable through work or other commitments.
That said, the team we did eventually field was more than holding their own for the 1st hour, ok so didn’t create too many chances in the 2nd period, but there were numerous half-chances in the 1st period when we were playing up hill, it was the final ball or final decision making that let us down. Our players looked tired towards the end, with the back 4 looking flat footed as the game ended after a hard shift from them. We didn’t have an attacking presence in the middle of the park and it affected the way we played.

Best in Tangerine for the Bridge were: John Maltby who was making his debut at CB, Stephen Balloch had his best game for us yet, Lee tried in the middle against 2 very good ball players in their no’ 7 and 8, and Stu put in a very good effort up front, pulling the defence about the park and taking up good positions for through balls.
However there can be only one M.O.T.M, and this week the award goes to BRIAN VEITCH for a strong performance at the back, and his willingness to get forward down the sidelines. Well done to Brian for his 1st award of the season.

M.O.T.M. – Brian Veitch

(Man of the Match)

Teamsheet:
GK – Barry O’Donnell (7 out of 10)
RB – Brian Veitch (8)
CB – Chris Blyth (7)
CB – John Maltby (7)
LB – Laurie Dunsire (7)
RM – Luigi Pia (7) (Matty Osborne 6)
CM – Mark Smith (7)
CM – Lee Davidson (8) (Sean Manson 6)
LM – Stephen Balloch (7) (1goal)
STK – Stu Mc’Crindle (8)
STK – Stephen Brown (7) (John Gray 6)