Paisley & District AFL
McLean/Lothian Cup
Round 1
Bishopton United AFC v Blackstoun United AFC
KO 2pm Inchinnan Park (Grass) Referee Jim Rose
3-3
After extra time 3-3
3-5p
This was an eagerly awaited game; the reason being was that they gave us a humping the last time we met and we wanted to show that we were not as bad as that. Also last year we never got past the first round in any of the cups so we were determined to do better.
We kicked off at 2pm sharp and in the first 2 min’s we have a free kick, it is taken by Chrissie who picks out the on rushing Owen but he heads it just over. Two minutes later we get another free kick, this time Chrissie picks out Robert who gets in a shot but its well over.
10 min’s after some severe pressure from us they break out fast down our left they drive into the box and shoot, Kane narrows the angle and gets a strong hand to it putting it out for a corner. It goes out for another corner. That was a warning. Two minutes later Robert get's a shot on target but the keeper saves.
In the 15th min the Referee made a strange decision. He gave a free kick inside the box. I’m not sure what for and I didn’t get an opportunity to ask the ref. after the game. But I think it was either for picking up from a pass back or picking up after the keeper misskicked the ball ether way I think he made a mistake. But hay what do I know, the jobs hard enough without me nit picking. Any way we failed to take advantage of the situation, Ryan had tapped it to the side only for Chrissie to slam his shot into the wall.
20 min’s Gaza is working some good one twos which creates space for Karl to get in a decent shot, it’s knocked out for a corner. Chrissie takes the corner and it falls to Ryan who shoots over.
24 min’s we are given yet another free kick about 40 yards out on our left. Chrissie picks out big Owen again and this time he gets a good connection and powers it home with a sold header. 0-1.
30 Min’s Robert breaks up one of their rare attacks of the first half he passes to Karl who sets Gaza on his way down our right he charges into their box the keeper narrows the angle Gaza slips it across goal and Karl has an open goal but somehow the keeper gets back and saves his effort.
The rest of the first half was much of the same with us looking the better side and looking comfortable with the vast majority of possession. The first half seemed to me was peppered with a lot of fouling from them and as usual they never like it back. I’m not saying they played a dirty game. I suppose you could say that it was a good old fashioned cup tie
However they had the final act of the first half. The ref awarded them a free kick just outside our box for hand ball. They shot low and wide much to our relief.
Half time
We started the second half with more of the same we were pressing hard down the left flank with our captain for the day Ryan in fact he has been the captain for the last three games while Smudger is out.
Just about this time they get their first yellow card for persistent fouling.
52 min’s some bad defending allows Karl to get in behind there defence he rounds the keeper and walks it in to the net 0-2. Their keeper and their no. 4 both get a yellow for protesting too much.
Just about this point Gary S comes on for Kevin Kane.
55 min they win a corner but its put wide.
In the 60th minute we get a free kick outside their box Robert lays it off to Ryan who shoots and forces an excellent save from their keeper. A few min’s later John Moran comes on for Karl who had put in a fair shift but suffered from one tackle to many. I think.
65 min’s And Robert powers through their midfield and gets in a solid shot which the keeper saves putting it out for a corner. The corner comes in and Spooney gets in a shot that was blocked on the line.
67 min’s we break up our left some good work with Gaza and Gary create an opening for Ryan to get in a shot the keeper saves but only as far John M at the back post who taps it in 0-3.
At this point I would have said they were dead and buried such was our control of the game. It would have taken a moment of madness for us to lose this game in fact I made just that point to Stuart Piggott our new coach and then it happened, Sods Law.
3 min’s later for some reason we arse about at the back and get caught out 1-3. This was all the incentive they needed to give themselves a bit of belief. It has to be said that while I paint a rosy picture of us, they in no way lay down to us, they battled all the way. And this was the foot in the door and they went for it. While our player's were still arguing about who was to blame for the first goal they came at us and pummelled us with everything they had. Robert picks up a yellow for obstruction. From the free kick they put in a high ball in to our box S. Kane comes to gather ball and catches the ball cleanly but their guy charges in to Kane forcing him to drop the ball and they tap in the loose ball 2-3 free kick to us we thought but once again not for the first and no doubt not for the last time our opinion differs from the referee’s. Kane picks up a yellow for protesting too much.
75 min’s Ryan get a yellow for a late challenge Two minutes later they get another free kick they put in a high ball from the subsequent free kick no one deals with it and its 3-3. They keep us pressed in for the next three minutes in this time Chrissie is getting himself too involved and gets a yellow card Mark decides to take Chrissie off at this point to avoid him getting sent off. Budda comes on and goes straight to left back.
80 min’s and we have forced our way back into the game and for the last ten minutes or so of the game we had Bishopton pinned back, in that time Owen gets a yellow and had a fabulous strike that hit the left hand upright. After about three minutes injury time the ref. blows for full time.
First and Second Half Extra time
Unfortunately I missed most of the extra time as I was away trying to retrieve our balls that went over the hedge but I am reliably informed that we continued our domination of the game but were unable to get that winning goal despite another terrific effort from Owen again this time off the right hand upright.
Penalties
This bit is a lot more exiting, so much so I couldn’t watch it all. But any way hear goes. There was the usual scramble for who would take a penalty and those who didn’t want to take one, but finally Mark and Gordon got it sorted out. Ryan takes it to the Ref., wins the toss and elects to go first. And like a good captain he takes the first penalty to show the way.
1. Ryan steps up, a short run and sends the keeper the wrong way 0-1. (He said afterwards that when he won the toss and sent the keeper the wrong way he knew that it was in the bag.)
2. They take their first penalty to make it 1-1.
3. Robert steps up with great confidence and makes it 1-2.
4. They take their second to make it 2-2.
5. Gaza the consummate penalty taker steps to make it 2-3.
6. They take their third, this time Kane had guessed right but just failed to get a hand to it 3-3.
7. Owen took the forth and blasted it home 3-4.
8. They stepped up to take their forth penalty, he takes a long run up then hesitates not far from the ball then puts it past the post to our sidelines delight because this same player had scored the equaliser and ran up to us gloating. 3-4.
9. Up steps John Moran our third youngest player of the team with a big responsibility on his shoulders. He takes a short run and puts it to his right; the keeper guesses right but fails to connect. Ya beauty 3-5 and we win. While I can assure you we were absolutely delighted that we had won I think the guys were just too exhausted to celebrate in any elaborate fashion.
The team today was:-Steven Kane, Gary Hyndman, Chris Crichton, Stuart Piggott, Stuart Witherspoon, Kevin Kane, Owen Gillespie, Robert Clark, Captain Ryan Pirie, Karl Flynn and Gary McLeod.
Used Subs: - Gary Stevenson, John Moran and Craig Larkin.
Unused subs:-Paul Galloway and Gordon Larkin.
A good game today and one I think we deserved to win, the whole team played well and should use the majority of our performance as a standard that we must maintain if we are to achieve anything this year as for Bishopton I think they are a good side and will be seriously pushing for promotion this year.
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