Fountainbridge finally brought the run of poor results to an end with an emphatic win over their fellow strugglers, Stables today at their home patch at Saughton. Having only played them once before it was a bit of a revenge mission having lost 1-0 to an o.g in the final minute the last time round, and if the Bridge attackers had brought their shooting boots it could and should have been game over by half time.
The Mighty Bridge's plans were thrown into dissary before the game when their comfortable 13 man squad for the game became 11(which dropped down to 10 at h/t as Ian F had to go the hospital with is other half) due to Luigi having late work commitments and Strevs doing his 2nd no-show of the season, and with in mind the 3 no-shows and your'e out rule we have in place at the club he is now on a rather sticky wicket for the remainder of the season. This meant the Gaffer once more taking up the sticks, with Matty being brought in from the start in a prominent midfield role behind the sole striker in Gaz. To get a little more composure into the back 4 Capt Baz dropped into his 2nd position of CB, and Lee pushed up into the centre of the park to give more energy in there alongside the always hard working Stu.
These changes seemed to work and despite playing into the bright sunshine which was blinding for the Bridge defenders and keeper, we had the best of the early going with their back line by far the busier of the two teams. Ian F was linking up well with Matty and Gaz, although to begin with Matty was drifting out wide too much and was moved into the central area after around 15mins which brought the 1st goal of the game. Ian ran past his defender with ease down the left and his through ball saw Matty cooly slot it past the on rushing keeper from 8yds out for his 2nd in as many games. Broony was seeing plenty of possession as the half wore on and can only blame those awful green boots for passing up 4 chances in 10mins to open his account this season. His best chance came to him after Ian had mugged their player out near the corner flag and ran in on goal before laying it back into Broony's path inside the box, but the finish was rushed and lacked composure and skied over the bar to safety. He then created his own chance when his dancing feet made him some room for a shot from 20 yards which narrowly missed going into the bottom corner, before shooting wide again seconds later, then driving a low shot in which the keeper hacked away with his feet. In between all these efforts was the 2nd goal of the game and it again showed the striking prowess of a player that is quickly becoming a real favourite within the squad members. Gaz showed his aggression to get onto the ball in front of their defender to hold him off before firing a low drive beyond the keeper and in off the base of the far post for his 4th of the season already, ahving only played 5 games this season to date for a 2-0 lead with 30mins gone.
At the other end there wasn't too much for the Bridge keeper to do other than catching a couple of high balls and coming out to collect 3 attempted through passes, and the Bridge defensive unit was looking strong and unflustered for a change. The combination of J-Mac and Baz at CB was working well with the brain of Baz combined with the raw aggression from Johnny making a formidable duo. One thing that wasn't going our way however was the somewhat erratic decision making from the last minute replacement Ref, who for some reason chose to award a free kick every 2mins to the Stables players for some very soft challenges, whilst stopping Gaz in his tracks for an offside that looked far from debatable. Despite their keeper looking very dodgy when dealing with any kind of ball into the box we were unable to extend our lead through efforts from Matty Ian W, and Gaz, and this was praying on our minds as the half time whistle went to bring an end to the enjoyable 1st 45mins.
H/T 2 - 0 Fountainbridge
Despite having a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead at the break, we knew the hard work was still ahead of us, as the loss of an in-form Ian F was going to cause us some difficulties for the remaining 45mins. Matty was shuffled out wide to form a 4-4-1 and both Stu and Lee were reminded to stay close as a unit in the middle. Stables were informed by the Ref at the break that we would be playing with 10 so they imediately pushed a defender up into midfield to get the body advantage in there. This worked straight away and we were on the back foot from the off as the numbers game began to tell. We were struggling to get it away out our half, although to be fair the defence was still dealing with anything they could throw at us. Ian W was almost redundant out on the left as everything was coming down Chris's side, so everyone had to move over to provide cover for the late runs from the middle of the park. The Ref was still being as sloppy as ever with numerous generous decisions going Stables way, including one when Johnny fell onto the ball whilst going in against 2 players, his arm was adjudged to have touched the ball as it got caught up under him and the foul was given as a direct free kick some 30 yds out right in the centre of goal which was chipped into the area but the resulting scramble for the ball was blocked away by the Bridge keeper before being cleared by Capt Baz. Stu has recently passed his Referee badges and was rightly incensed by this and many other decisons being given and was booked for taking his protests too far after he was guilty of a foul seconds later.
Two more very dicey free kicks were awarded in the space of 5mins soon after out to the right of the box within shooting distance, the first was well shut down by the wall then the second was diverted into the path of their striker who was in an offside position by at least 6 yards. He spun on the ball on the corner of the 6 yd box but his shot cannoned off the legs of the Bridge keeper and out for a corner. The Bridge keeper got a talking to by the Ref for shouting for offside as this was "unsporting and could have caused an indirect free kick to be given" ! Never heard of that one before but the Ref decided it was only worth a chat and kept the cards in his pocket. The Bridge soon extended their lead though after good work from Broony and lee saw Gaz clear in the box and he made no mistake to get his 2nd of the game and the crucial 3rd of the match. Stables were seeing plenty of the ball in the final 3rd but their final ball was very poor other than a good corner that was flicked off the head of their inrushing striker by the Bridge keeper, then Baz got us out of trouble when a high ball into the box came back off the under pressure Gaffer in goal and bounced back into the pen spot area.
Stables finally got into the game with 20mins gone in the 2nd period when a ball was cut back into the box from out on the right near the goal line. There midfielder got there ahead of Stu and his shot deflected off the Bridge player and past the Gaffer far to his left for a 3-1 scoreline. The rightly gave the Stables players a boost and they half-tested the Gaffer soon after with 2 low drives that lacked real power, the first was cleared away with his legs, the 2nd was caught and held down to his right from a tight angle. They were having the odd pot-shot but they all went wide or over the bar without causing any problems to the keeper. Broony went on another fine run not lbg after their goal, but with two Bridge players in fantastic positions for a simple pass inside he chose to shoot and although it was only feet wide the better choice would have been a 6yd pass into one of his fellow players to kill the game off. Lee then made a great lung bursting run through the middle but the keeper got his legs to the shot before it was blasted away to safety. With 15mins to go we got our 4th and final of the game when the ball was eventually switched to the unmarked Matty,and after drawing in the defender he slid the pass in to Gaz who side footed it away for his 2nd hat trick of the season. It was a nice wee goal allround, and good play again from the returning Matty who also managed to make it through the full 90mins in Bridge colours!.
Stables then got their 2nd when a corner was cleared away but played back in early by their winger. It was a looping high ball that should have been tipped away by the Bridge keeper but he got caught under the ball slightly and it dropped in just under the bar behind him for the final goal of the game. There was just time for the Ref to cock up another big decision when Gaz tried to shoot but was brought down and had his shot blocked with the defender's hands but the Ref waved play on to keep his shocker of a performance going to the last whistle.
F/T 4 - 2
Managers Comment
We really wanted to win this one after losing out in the dying seconds last season to them, and despite the very poor effort shown by Strevs in not turning up or phoning/texting we were able to grind out a result that could have been game set and match by half time if the chances had been taken. We have to take our time in front of goal and go for the kill when we are up in matches, had these chances resulted in goals we could have been 5 or 6 up by the break. As stand-in keeper I was pretty redundant in the 1st half and this speaks volumes for the effort put in from front to back by the team in the opening period, we defended well and made plenty of chances through good team play. We knew it would be tough after the break, but a 2-2 draw for the 2nd half showed we gave as good as we got, I only had 3 half- saves to make despite us being a man down. The very dodgy performance from the Ref throughout the game did us no favours, but we kept going to the end to our credit.
Best in the Bridge colours : I thought that Ian Fleming was excellent in 45mins he played and i thank him for attending, Stu and Lee got through a great shift in the engine room, Baz was solid at the back in what might be a career lengthening role, Matty got another goal, and although he had his shooting boots on the wrong feet, Broony showed glimpses of what we know he is capable of.
M.o.t.m however goes to the player that has been a stand-out in every game he has played this season so far, and with his goal tally sitting at 6 now he is the top scorer for the club, so take a bow Gaz Stephen and take the credit that's deserved for a great showing.
M.O.T.M - GAZ STEPHEN
Player Ratings
Gray 7
Waugh 7
Mackenzie 8
Fearn 8
Blyth 7
Fleming 8
Mcrindle 7
Osborne 7 (1g)
Davidson 8
Brown 7
Stephen 9M (3g)
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