“The Battle at the Bridge”
Fountainbridge ran out the winners for the 3rd match in a row, in a game that was spoiled and eventually abandoned by a 20man battle royal with only 10mins to go. In a match that was an opportunity for the Bridge to bring fringe players in, the changes saw Andy, Luigi, and TC all start, and Stu was given a run up front alongside Keith. Baz continued his return from injury with a place on the bench, alongside Brian, Chris, and John. Si and Broony were late call-offs, and both would have been playing from the start, but we still had 15 players available.
In the early exchanges we were seeing more of the ball, and it was clear that infighting and arguing was going to work against the Star side. As early as the 1st minute their “striker” complained and moaned at his team mates for not playing the correct ball into him, and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Our strike duo were causing problems with their speed and movement, and Ian was seeing plenty of the ball out on the left. The 1st real chance of the game came from a cracking left sided cross from deep in their half by Andy which swung right into the heart of the Star box. Keith judged it to perfection and hit it as it dropped, but with the keeper nowhere it crashed back off the bar and away to safety. The wait for the opening goal didn’t take too long though, and Keith was once again the taker, although Marky may have a cause to take it to the dubious goals panel. A long throw in from the left was headed on by the Hitman just inside the box, and as it bounced on through towards the keeper Mark made a challenge for it and this seemed to put the keeper off, causing the ball to trickle through his legs and beyond the line for the 1st goal. Whether Mark got a touch is the big question, but I think he missed it along with the GK.
Within 5 mins of the restart after the goal, we doubled our lead, and this was a cleaner decision on who scored. Lee broke away down the left and sped past the final defender before knocking it square to Stu who had made a great run to keep up with him. His 1st effort cannoned up off the keeper and fell nicely for a cushioned header into the unguarded net for his 1st bridge goal since September 08. These 2 quick fire goals only wound up the Star players even more and they were soon arguing with one another again, yet they could easily have got back into the game with 3 chances in as many minutes. The first one came after a long ball into the box went too deep for the strikers but the onrushing midfielder tried to connect with it 1st time and blazed it over, then Tam did well to usher a through ball out for a corner, then Strevs came out and collected a low cross with 3 Star players lurking for any crumbs. Stu had got a taste for the goals now, and after a ball wasn’t cleared properly he spun and hooked a finish beyond the keeper for a seemingly uncatchable lead for the Bridge at 3-0.
Keith was having a good tussle against their rangy CB, and only a superb last gasp sliding tackle prevented Keith from having a pot shot on target from the right of the area after he sped past their LB. The next goal would be crucial now and it fell to the Star, after some hesitation from the defence. The ball was knocked in from the right and when the defenders waited it was pounced on and side footed past Strevs from 6yrds to make the scoreline 3-1 with around half an hour gone. The formation was working going forward but was leaving too big a gap in the centre and their skilful no’10 was pulling the strings in an effort to get his side back into the match, and 5mins after their 1st, they pulled another goal back. Along ball was knocked on for their midfielder to ghost in behind Tam and Andy, he took a couple of touches to get it into the box and slid a neat finish past our keeper from 16yards on the right of the area for a now shaky looking 3-2 lead for the Bridge with only a few minutes left in the half.
Half time 2-3 Fountainbridge FC
You could tell that they would be coming out all fired up for the 2nd period, so we changed things around to put some more strength into the back 4, with Chris coming on for Andy, and TC going to LB to allow Chris into his normal RB slot. Concentration was key for us in the 1st ten minutes of the 2nd half, and we also moved Stu back a little to pick up their no’10. Sure enough, the Star went all out attack for the 1st 10mins, and only some last gasp defending from Chris then Johnny stopped them from setting their sights on Strev’s goal. They won a series of corners, and their big CB was getting his head onto most of them without hitting the target, they did however challenge our goal with one such attempt. Their mouthy striker took the corner from the right and a good front post run saw a header going goal wards until Marky made a great goal line headed clearance to keep the lead intact. It was vital that we tried to push forward, and considering the dicey clearances from their keeper in the 1st half, we wanted to put him under far more pressure. We were seeing plenty of the ball, but we were struggling to make any inroads on their defence, partly due to them pushing up higher, and partly due to the amount of free kicks being given away to stop us moving it with pace. We did get through on goal after good play by Ian and Keith saw Lee burst clear into the box, but a perfectly timed tackle from their big CB put it out for a corner. Lee went down with an ankle injury picked up in the tackle, and when the Ref stopped play for him he was given a verbal lashing from the Star players. They were harping away at the Ref after every decision, and kicking out after every tackle, including a full on jump into Luigi after he took the ball off one of them. Had it been a league game they would have been down to 8 or 9 men with their antics, and it only served to disrupt their own team rather than us.
After surviving the early storm during the first 15mins of the half, we scored a great breakaway goal to give us a bit breathing space. Luigi once again was strong in the tackle and after striding forward into their half he pinged a beauty of a cross field pass into the run of Lee who sped in behind their RB. Lee showed good strength to hold off their CB and bulleted a cracker of a volley past their keeper and into the far corner of the net for a very deserved 2nd goal of the season for our stand-in Capt. Lee was still feeling the hit to his ankle from earlier and was subbed soon after for Baz to enter the fray, with a reminder not to get involved with any of their antics on the park. Brian also came on for TC and slipped into the LB role with ease. Strevs was now a spectator other than coming off his line nice and early to collect an attempted through ball, and had to look sharp to catch a mishit clearance that spun up wildly in the air in the box. With Luigi starting to show the effects of a busy 75mins, John replaced him with Ian going out wide on the right and John playing just in front of Brian on the left to stop the flow down that side. Within seconds of coming on, both Brian and John had to look alert after a good break down their right saw the Star playing trying to get to the goal line. The danger was cleared away by John who slid in on their Striker to knock it away, who then tried to follow through in the tackle but came off 2nd best against the challenge from the Bridge sub. Only 2mins later the game was over as a contest, their CB tried to knock a long ball over our midfield but it was cut out by John in front of their nippy no’32, he took it forward to the halfway line and slid a pass into Keith’s feet. Keith killed the pass and turned in one move before releasing Lee once more who had just come back on for Stu. Lee again showed good pace and fired a low fierce effort past the keeper from just inside the area to give the bridge a 5-2 lead with nearly 10 mins left.
This unfortunately was where the fun started. After a ball into their box was cleared away, the majority of the Bridge players went on with play up near the half way line, only to see that Baz and their CB were scrapping on the floor on the edge of the box. Something had happened to set it off between them but 3 or 4 of their players waded in on Baz as he tried to get up, including their no’32 and no’8 who had sly digs when he wasn’t looking. All hell broke loose, with Marky rightly incensed by their antics and dually put one of them on his ass with a kick that would have been good in cage fighting. Their manager then appeared from nowhere to try and jump on Chris, then it was a free for all with several of them getting grabbed and thrown out the way. Their no’8 and no’32 were trying to go with anyone near them but didn’t manage it after being held back, and eventually the few players in their team with any common sense or an IQ bigger than single figures pulled their guys away as the Ref signalled that it was game over. They were still giving it big licks at Baz as they went off, and we spoke to the players from Star who came over to apologise for their team’s lack of behaviour. The Ref said that the result would stand given that 70mins had been played.
Final score 2-5 Fountainbridge FC
Managers Comment:
What should have been a relaxing morning’s work in a friendly match turned out to be a bit of war of attrition, with certain members of the Star more intent on starting trouble than playing football. To their credit, there were several members of the Star side that showed a bit of decency and were embarrassed by the aggro caused by their team mates, however it was really too little too late, especially after their “Manager” entered the field and grabbed Chris. Our League is a fairly decent one and it doesn’t need to have teams of this nature in it, as it only spoils the game as a whole irrespective of the final score. It was good to see Lee getting into positions higher up the park, very reminiscent of Gerrard’s late runs from the middle for Liverpool!, and a mention also goes out to our strike partnership who scored or had a hand in all the goals today. The Summer League starts this Wed against a side called JP Morgan, down at Edin Academy pitch just behind Stewart Melville rugby pitches off Ferry Road, the street name is Arbortumn Road. Can the majority of players please make their way there directly, it’s a 7pm k.o.
Best in the Tangerine: Everyone played their part today, and it was good to see that nobody backed down in the face of adversity when it all kicked off. It’s vital in these situations that the team sticks together, and supports whoever is in trouble. Johnny once more had a great game at CB and seems to be a far more controlled player since returning to the Bridge colours, TC looked comfortable at both RB & LB, Stu stuck at it up top and was rewarded with a couple of goals, Mark got through a power of work in the middle and showed he is not only a lover but a fighter also, (ask da ladies!), and Chris looked solid as always in the RB slot when he came on at H/T. However M.O.T.M this week goes to LEE DAVIDSON. He was up against it at times in the middle of the park with us playing in a more attack minded 4-4-2 formation, but managed to get forward and scored 2 cracking goals, albeit with a little help from his friends.
Well done to Lee on the award.
A.Strevens 8
A.Stewart 7 (C.Blyth 45min (8))
T.Irving 8
J.Mackenzie 8
T.Chan 8 (B.Veitch 68min (7))
L.Pia 7 (J.Gray 75min (7))
M.Smith 8
L.Davidson 8M (2g) (B.Fearn 70min (7))
I.Fleming 7
S.McCrindle 8 (2g)
K.Alexander 8 (1g)
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