A battling performance from the Bridge wasn't enough to contain the joint league leaders at a soaked Saughton on Sunday, with a penalty early in the 1st half followed by a cheeky lob in the 2nd sending the tangerines to a 2nd defeat of the season against a strong Gotham side. In a 1st half dominated by the men in orange, shots poured in on their keeper but most lacked the power or precision to bring the breakthrough, whilst a pile driver of a free kick from Johnny from 20yards scraped the bar as it screamed in goalwards. The penalty was a soft one but probably the right decision after Johnny had clipped their player as he moved onto a return pass just inside the box, and although Strevs went the right way it was tucked away into the bottom corner for the only goal of a one-sided half although we were lucky not to concede a 2nd penalty after Chris left a leg in on a tackle and clearly brought the player down inside the box with around 15mins left before the break.
The 2nd half was far more even, with Strevs being brought into action with a couple of low shots to smother, whilst he was alert to get off his line and fall onto several through balls into the area. We were struggling to play the correct ball in the final 3rd of the park though and weren't testing their keeper enough in poor conditions. Ian Fleming had a great attempt soon after the restart after flicking up a pass from Broony he let fly from just outside the box but it flew narrowly past the post, then Marky had a snap shot from 20yards but it went high and wide of the goal. The Gaffer came on for Broony on 65mins in order to get some more power up front and was imediately welcomed to the game with not one but two chops to his ankles on his first touch of the ball. Lee put a good ball into the back post but Gaz couldnt keep his header on target. With 15mins left the 2nd goal came after a lapse in defence allowed their winger to float a cross-cum shot high over Strev's dive and into the far corner for 2-0. The final good chance of the match fell to Gaz after a nice chip into the box reached him at the far post, but the combination of keeper and defender saw the effort blocked away to safety to end a very good encounter with the Gotham players perhaps a little relieved to get the full 3points.
MANAGERS COMMENT
A far better performance than the result suggests, and once more it was shown that when we get the ball down and play passes in to feet we are much more dangerous. I lost count the amount of shots we had in the opening 15mins, and although none of them really tested their keeper we were at least making the chances for a change. The pitch was 99% unplayable but both teams put on a very good game played in a sporting way with nothing for the Ref to get bothered by other than a cheap booking for dissent for Gaz and not the Gaffer as usual. We have Edin Caley again this week and having beaten them 3 times out of 3 already I want the run to continue, the following week we have Stables at Saughton so 3points are a must from that one also.
Best in the Tangerine: much in the same vain as the Edin Southern game a few weeks ago there were no failures throughout Sunday's game. We all pulled together to try and play decent football in the poor conditions, and everyone can be pleased with their performance. The standouts for me were Johnny at the back for marshalling the line well, Ian F went past their full back with ease every time, and Gaz got through a power of running up front. M.O.T.M for the Gotham match however goes to MARK SMITH for a gutsy performance in the middle of the park where he went box to box for the full 90mins and crunched into tackles all game long.
M.O.T.M - MARK SMITH
Strevens 8
Waugh 7
Mackenzie 8
Veitch 8
Blyth 7
Fleming 8
Smith 9
Davidson 8
McCrindle 7
Brown 7 (Gray 65mins 6)
Stephens 8
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