Team: Gray, Mackenzie, Dunsire, Blyth, Nyadu, Ayiku, Smith, Fearn(c), Alexander, Robertson(Osborne), Fleming(Nairne)
Subs not used: Cunningham

In some of the worst wind we have ever had to play in, The Bridge went down to a heavy defeat to a very average Mrs Foremans team. With winds blowing a gale down the pitch everyone knew if was going to be a different game in each half.

Fountainbridge kicked off after Foremans chose to play against the wind in the first half, a decision which at the time looked strange but in hindsight was probably what won them the match.
The Bridge started well with Barry Fearn and Mark Smith taking a hold of the midfield and Dave Robertson and Ian Fleming doing well down the flanks. With the wind behind us it was a little difficult to measure how much power to put onto passes etc, and our front men were getting caught offside after taking off too early.

There wasn’t much happening at the other end, where John Gray had taken up his place between the sticks again in the absence of our keepers. After a couple of near misses, Keith Alexander continued his scoring run with a great finish on the turn after going round the last defender for 1-0 to the Bridge. Ian had a good chance when his pace and desire got him into the box, but a combination of the keeper and the centre back brought him to halt.

We were pushing for another goal but it was Foremans who should have had a penalty when John barged into their striker who was racing in to collect a lofted cross from the right wing. The ball got held up in the wind badly and caught out both the keeper and striker alike as it swirled back out from goal. Amazingly the Ref waved play on and despite much disapproval from the Foremans players, the Ref was having none of it.

With around 15 minutes left in the first half the Bridge went further ahead after a corner into the box was cleared properly. Jonny Mackenzie had gone up for the corner and was on hand to stab the ball into the net from a few yards out for his first goal in the Bridge colours for 2-0.

The same pattern of play continued up to half time, with the game being spoiled by the never ending number of free-kicks that the referee was dishing out. The opposition were seething with some of the decisions and were really frustrated as the half came to a close.

Half-time 2-0 The Bridge

With the inevitable onslaught expected in the second half, the Bridge made a conscious effort to stay a little deeper as the second period got under way - as the ball would carry much further in the wind. The Foremans team looked really up for it as the half started and a few of their tackles were somewhat crude and rash. Mark and Isaac in particular were on the receiving end of some unpunished brutal challenges, and the Ref was in danger of losing the plot altogether.

With less than 10 minutes gone in the half, Foremans pulled one back. A free kick was swung across from deep in the Bridge’s half, but the defence all stopped and played for offside. Ian Fleming was the only one who stayed switched on, but couldn’t get to their number 9 as he fired a low early shot across John and into the far corner. It was a poor goal to lose, and the defence needed to give themselves a shake after not playing to the whistle. Several Foremans shots went wide, whilst we were struggling to get any kind of rhythm into our play, partly due to the visitors closing us down early and partly due to the Ref calling for offsides when we were blatantly on.

Foremans were soon level when a break into the left side of the box left their winger with a clear sight of goal from only around 8 yards out. He made no mistake and John with no chance as the ball nestle into the bottom corner. Both goals for Foremans were great finishes, but their third only ten mins later was down to bad refereeing rather than good play.
Foremans won a corner on the left, and swung a deep cross in and under the bar at the far post. John had to back peddle under real pressure from the opposition to flick the ball up and over for another corner. Before the defence could get re-set the resulting corner was bulleted towards goal by their huge number 8, and when Isaac kicked it clear off the line the Ref blew and adjudged the ball to have crossed the goal line and awarded the goal. Again it was the Bridge who were victim of a shocking bit of refereeing, and it isn’t the first time this season that a goal has come of it. The goal stood despite the protests of our whole team, and we were on the rack at that point.

Matty Osborne came on for Dave at left midfield and almost had an immediate impact with a great run through the middle that was only halted when him and Ian got in each others way and the resulting pass found Matty offside. A simple long ball up the right inside channel then saw their no’ 9 with a chance outside the box, and with Kofi going over to cover him, he fired a cracking volley high over the keeper and into the top corner for a brilliant fourth Foremans goal.
Matty then had a great chance after a through ball from Mark saw him clean in on goal. With the keeper coming right out to the edge of his box, Matty chose to chip him, the keeper then handled the ball around 5 feet outside his box, but the Ref said he was INSIDE the box, but he was miles behind play as usual, so how he saw it is beyond me.

With the clock running down, there was still time left for John to block a goal bound effort with his legs, then the no’8 got his 2nd with a powerful diving header after a cross wasn’t closed down on the right, then Foremans had a 6th ruled out for a foul in the box after a free kick was swept into the far corner from just outside the box.

FINAL SCORE – 5 - 2 Foremans

Managers Comment:
Bit of strange one yesterday, as the old cliché goes, it was a game of 2 halves! We were well on top as expected in the 1st but just couldn’t get more to show for our efforts. We really needed a 3 or 4 goal cushion at half time as we knew that the ball would be coming back to us all of the 2nd half. If we had been 3 or 4 up the other team’s heads would have gone down before the 2nd half had even started. Nobody really played poorly, but nobody really played outstandingly well, it was just simply a poor performance all round, most notably in the 2nd period. We were only missing a couple of players so there’s was no real excuse for people hiding during the game, and unfortunately too many did when the goals started flying in for Foremans.
Best in the Tangerine for me were Johnny at LB, he did well in an unusual position, Barry had a steady game in the centre of the park, and Isaac put in a great shift despite getting no end of abuse from the pikey’s at the side of the pitch. For his overall play and willingness to get involved at both ends however, I am giving the M.O.T.M award to MARK SMITH. Well done to Marky, and I hope this is the 1st of many awards for his efforts this season.

M.O.T.M. – Mark J Smith

(Man of the Match)

J.

Player Ratings:
GK – John Gray (6 out of 10)
RB – Laurie Dunsire (6)
CB – Chris Blyth (6)
CB – Kofi Nyadu (6)
LB – Johnny Mackenzie (7)
RM – Ian Fleming (7) (Alex Nairne 80 (6) )
CM – Barry Fearn © (8)
CM – Mark Smith (8)
CM – Isaac Ayiku (7)
LM – Dave Robertson (7) (Matty Osborne (6) )
STK – Keith Alexander (7)