Gilmerton Star

Team: Streven, Stuart(Gray), Chan, Mackenzie, Walton, Brown, Smith, McCrindle, Davidson, I.Fleming, Alexander

Both sides came into this match desperate to get the 3 points, Gilmerton to avenge their 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Bridge at the start of the season, and the Mighty Bridge needed the points to have a chance of nabbing a semi-final spot in the Summer Cup. The Bridge were dealt an early blow when their tough tackling CB Tam did a no-show, which meant a bit of shuffle around in the back 4, whilst Bo’ wasn’t able to make it due to work commitments in the early hours of Sun, which again meant more moving of players in the middle of the park.

Gilmerton were an athletic, if a little short, side with plenty pace throughout and weren’t afraid to put a tackle in either, but we had given them a torrid time in the 1st match back in Sept and we were hopeful of doing the same this time. Our 1st chance of the game fell to Broony after a small scramble in the box saw the ball come to him near the pen spot but his shot was blocked away by the defenders. The match was very cagey in the opening 10mins with both sides looking bright going forward but a little fragile at the back, and it was the Gilmerton defence that was breached 1st. Keith was played through and although he had 2 defenders closing in on him in the box he was able to cut inside them before despatching a neat finish past the stranded keeper for the opening goal of the game. Although only one down the Gilmerton players were bawling and mouthing at each other rather than encouraging each other, and within minutes we extended our lead. Mark was played away down the right side after good pressure on their ball carrier and when he hit his right foot effort from 16 yards it cannoned back off the keeper and into the path of Broony only 10 yards out in the centre of goal. I could use a little artistic flair here and say that he knocked a superbly controlled half volley back into the net for his 1st of the season, but in reality it bounced off part of his leg and flew past the stranded keeper for 2-0 to the Bridge!
With the score at 0-2 and nearly 20mins still to play in the half, Gilmerton started to exert a little more pressure down the wings, and poor marking gave them 2 chances inside the box in quick succession that were both fired high over the bar, then Strevs got down well to a deflected effort to his left. Keith then nearly repeated his trick from earlier in a quick breakaway after Stu and Mark had closed down the ball in the middle of the park, Broony set him away and he spun past their last man only to see his well struck shot blocked by their keeper. Johnny was playing well at the heart of the Bridge defence and he was putting the shackles on their main striker to the extent of him moving out wide to try and make things happen. The Bridge won several free kicks out wide after Mark, Ian, and Johnny were all scythed down as they went past their men, and on each occasion Lee curled in great set pieces that were all right into the mixing pot for attackers to run onto, the best of which was headed over by Stu after a late run across the defence.
The game never really threatened to boil over despite the vocal inferno coming from the Gilmerton players and sidelines, and it seemed to be effecting the Gilmerton players more than the ones in orange. After a good 10 minutes of pressure, Gilmerton finally got back into the game, a throw in into the box wasn’t dealt with properly at the near post and after a couple of attempted clearances it was half-volleyed past Strevs from 8 yards to get Gilmerton onto the score sheet. This seemed to waken up the Gilmerton players and they pushed hard for an equaliser prior to halftime, and Strevs had to get down to his front post to drop onto a dangerous cross into the 6yard box to prevent a simple tap for the incoming striker.

Half time 2-1 Fountainbridge FC

Our message was simple at the break, keep passing the ball through their backline, and pressure the ball carrier high up the park to force them to go long, which was comfortably being dealt with by our defenders. We also wanted more support for Keith when he picked it up out wide, and needed a better presence in the centre of the park at their kick outs.

Gilmerton had played tough but fair for the most part in the 1st half and Johnny made an import point that our players had to stay strong and willing in the confrontations both on and off the ball in order to keep control of the game. Gilmerton came out flying in the 2nd period, fresh from an ear bashing from the coach, and went right for goal from the off. They swung it out wide in behind Andy and their main striker went inches past the post with his attempted finish, then they had a half chance from a corner seconds later which went high over the bar.
With less than 5 mins played in the 2nd period, Gilmerton got their 2nd through very poor defending on our part. A ball was knocked in from their right and despite numerous chances to hoof it wide, out for a throw-in, or even behind for a corner, it was sliced back into play from TC and although Stu cleared the 1st shot off the line it was bundled over as it bounced about in the 6yard area for 2-2. As usual we had been unable to keep our concentration at the beginning of the 2nd half, a problem which has haunted us all season, and worse was to follow in a horror 10 minute period. Ian picked the ball up 30 yards from his own goal and with 2 players closing him down he tried to play a pass back towards Andy in the left back position. The ball didn’t reach him however and was cut out by one of the closing Gilmerton players, he took a touch and played it simply across the box where it was met at the front post with a neat side foot finish to give Gilmerton the lead for the 1st time in the match. Again this was needless play when the ball should have been cleared from such a deep position on the park, and the 3 soon became 4 as the defence went to sleep and were guilty of ball watching.
A bouncing ball way out on the right wing around 35 yards out was speculatively scissor-kicked towards goal from their midfielder, and as it sailed high towards goal our back four stopped and watched it rather than trying to anticipate where it would end up. With Strevs back-peddling towards his far post it crashed back off the bar and bounced out to the waiting striker around 10 yards out with no defender within 15yards of him. He set himself and miss-hit a volley into the unguarded net for their 4th of the game as our defence all looked at each other wondering who should have been picking him up. This put a real downer on the Bridge performance to that point, and 3 silly goals in 10 minutes had taken the stuffing out of our hopes, however despite their superior possession and chances they didn’t really threaten our goal after that point, more through choosing the wrong pass than anything else. They did hit the woodwork some 15mins after their last goal however when their influential no’5 rose at the back post for a well placed header only to see it rebound of the post and away to safety.
We were struggling to carve out anything as our passing game gave way to some
very wayward attempts at finding a team mate, Ian was trying to get past his man down the left wing but was being outnumbered by their hard working midfield players, but the chances were very thin on the ground until around 20 mins from the end when he fed in Keith inside the box on the right. Keith turned their RB and fired in a shot that their keeper parried away, however it fell kindly for the Hitman and he bulleted the 2nd attempt high past their keeper for a lifeline back into the game for the Bridge. Stu was next to challenge their goal as Lee swung in a peach of free kick from the right, Stu powered in a great header from 12 yards but connected too well and it was straight at the relieved keeper. As we pushed for an equaliser we set up the best chance of the match for either side. Ian knocked in a pass that Keith did well to collect almost on the by-line, he chipped it up and put it back over his and the defender’s heads towards the back post. The keeper was in no-mans land as he was covering his near post, and as it dropped just feet away from the post it was met by the Marky with a header. Agonisingly for the Bridge however, Mark tried to put too much onto it and only managed to head it high and wide with the goal gaping, and the Gilmerton side breathed a collective sigh of relief. With 12mins to go, the Gaffer came on for Andy, with Lee slotting back into defence and John going up top with Keith and it almost paid off straight away. A long kick out by Strevs fell to John who tried to play in Keith’s run behind the 2 markers, but it bobbled up and hit the defender’s knee as it almost sneaked past him. The final real chance of the game came with only a couple of mins to go, Ian took a quick throw in into the box which was headed on by the Gaffer onto Keith. His attempt was blocked by 2 defenders and fell to the Gaffer 12 yards out, he put plenty onto the shot and it was heading for the corner only to be blocked away again by an outstretched foot of the last defender and away for a throw in. This was the final piece of action of a good game overall, but was spoiled by the 10 mad minutes that gave Gilmerton the 3 points.

Final score 4-3 Gilmerton Star

Managers Comment:
On countless occasions over the past 2 seasons we have been guilty of a 2nd half collapse, and Sunday’s game typified our failings at the back despite having brought in new personnel into the squad. On 3 different occasions, suicidal defending cost us a goal when up until then they hadn’t really created anything of note. To play a ball back into your 6 yard box when trying to clear it was bad, then to play a pass without looking to the player was worse, with the 3rd instalment of the horror show being the ultimate piece of ball watching ever when it was in the air for the best part of 10 seconds before coming back off the bar. These stupid mistakes are what is costing us 3 points each week as we are giving the opponents a head start in every match we play. We started well too that’s the annoying thing, Keith was pulling the defence all over the place and both Mark and Broony were getting into plenty of space, but as soon as it went to 2-1 our heads went into shell-shock mode and the ball was hurried too often instead of the simple 6 yard pass. We have Falside next week in the final cup game and these mistakes had better not be repeated or heads will roll before the Summer league starts in May.

Best in the Tangerine: Broony had a half decent game, the 3 in the middle of the park battled well, and Keith took both his goals in his usual style. However M.O.T.M this week goes to the only defender to get pass marks from the game, JOHNNY MACKENZIE. He led throughout the game and went toe to toe with whoever was up against him.

Well done to Johnny on the award.

A.Streven 7
A.Stuart 6 (J.Gray 78mins 6)
T.Chan 6
J.Mackenzie 8M
S.Walton 6
S.Brown (1g) 7
M.Smith 7
S.McCrindle 7
L.Davidson 7
I.Fleming 6
K.Alexander (2g) 8