Team: Millen, Foley, Cunningham(Nyadu), Mackenzie, Dunsire(Blyth), Weare, M.Smith(c)(Patience), Fearn, Fleming, Alexander, Trialist

Another game, another defeat for the Bridge, and although the St Andrews final score of 6-3 flattered the opposition, there was no flattery required yesterday as the Welfare side ripped through our back line time and time again, leaving our goalkeeper as a helpless spectator for the majority of the goals.

The first 15 minutes were fairly even, with both sides having half chances at either end, and it was Welfare who struck first after around 20 minutes. A corner kick wasn’t cleared properly, and after good work from their right winger who skipped past Mark Smith, the resulting ball into the back post was swept into the bottom corner despite a valiant effort from Chris Millen. As in the past The Bridge lost a second soon after with Welfare striking once more when a clearance wasn’t dealt with first time by the backline for 2-0 Welfare.
Despite the scoreline, the Bridge were actually playing well, with the ball being kept on the deck and passed around. Our trialist on the right wing was having a good start to his Bridge career, and Mark Smith was getting some joy out on the left too. A break into the edge of the box saw Mark cut it back for the onrushing Barry, but his controlled side footed attempt went agonisingly past the post. Our pressure was rewarded moments later when a long through ball saw Keith on it in a flash, he rounded the keeper as cool as you like and slotted into the unguarded net for 2-1 Welfare. At this point it was no more than we deserved and we had another opportunity to test the keeper from a free-kick around 25 yards out . Mark struck it well enough but there wasn’t enough power behind it and it was a comfortable catch for the keeper.
Our inability to stop balls into the box caught us out again around 5 minutes before half-time, when another ball in from the right was very well volleyed into the back of the net for 3-1 to Welfare - and it’s true to say that it knocked the stuffing out of us after getting back into the game.

Half-time 3-1 Longstone

One substitute was used at halftime, with Kofi Nyadu slotting into right back, Cameron Foley moving to left back, and Kevin Cunningham making way. Throughout the halftime interval, we spoke about using Chris Millen to clear balls through instead of attempting a clearance whilst facing our own goal, and also the need to sit deeper than we had been doing.
This went out the window not even 5 minutes into the second half. A ball in behind the defence was picked up by their striker and the gap was extended to 4-1 Welfare. Shortly afterwards the gap became 5, when their tall striker latched onto a ball on the right of the box and fired a high looping shot into the opposite top corner which left Chris stranded.
Our morale was taking a bit of tanking now, but after a period of pressure on the visiting defence, Keith swung in a corner from the right and Steven Weare met it at the front post with a glancing header to make the score 5-2. It was a great corner and the finish matched it perfectly.
Our trialist on the right was getting stuck in and was continuing his performance from the 1st half, and was covering up well for the right back position. With Laurie Dunsire starting to fade a little on his comeback from injury, we brought on Chris Blyth for the final 25 minutes or so at centre back, but this failed to stop the leak at the back and 2 very similar goals through the middle were swept past Chris in goal to bring the scoreboard to 7-2. Chris had barely had a save to make other than a couple of weak efforts in the 1st half, yet had seen 7 go past him into the net. With Mark feeling the effects of being ill on saturday, Grant Patience was brought on in the left midfield position with around 15 minutes remaining.
The game was opening up as the Welfare side went in search of more goals, Keith was caught offside in a couple of close calls when through on goal, before Ian scored arguably the best goal of the game.
He picked the ball up around 25 yards out, took it past a defender, looked up and saw the keeper off his line and looped a perfectly directed shot over him and into the top right corner for easily one of the Bridge’s best goals so far in any game. It was no more than Ian deserved after a difficult outing in the last game.
The game only had a few minutes left and fizzled out as both teams accepted the final score.

Final Score 7-3 Longstone

Managers Comment:
Going to have to pick my words carefully here, after another afternoon of woe for the Bridge. We knew when we started the team that it was not going to be easy in the slightest, however I for one did not think that the best (pretty much) XI we could put out would be conceding more goals than a scratch XI did in our first 3 games as a club. Gorgie Hearts only put 6 past us, and they are by far and away the best team in our League. I shudder to think what the score will be if we get them for our 1st game of the season if we cannot cut out the poor defending that has blighted our form of late. We HAVE to clear the ball first time and not p*ss about with it at the back.
NO team has ever scored with the ball lying 25 yards out of the pitch, and until the defenders and midfielders accept this then the defeats will continue. Our team as a whole is setting up far too far upfield and this is causing the problem of the ball over the top, or around the back of the back 4. This problem is shared throughout the ENTIRE team, as it is just as important to stop the source of the pass as it is to cut the pass out. I am at a loss as to how I can prevent the back 4 from going to far up, other than maybe attaching bungee cords to the goal posts that we are defending. If you do have idea’s on this subject, then please visit the forum page and complete a reply to the topic titled “Stop the Rot”.

In terms of our best players yesterday, there were a few good performances, it’s not like the team played badly or anything. Best in an orange shirt for me were, Cammy at the back for his tackling and attempts to get forward, Issacc, our trialist for the day put in a good shift on the right and looks a great prospect, and Kofi played very very well at RB when he came on, probably his best game for the Bridge to date. The M.O.T.M award however goes to
Ian Fleming, for his endless running and harassing of their backline, and for his terrific finish for his goal.

M.O.T.M. – Ian Fleming

(Man of the Match)

J.