North Kelvin United Match Report – Saturday 18/09/2010

Paisley and District League tie

Location: King George V playing fields

North Kelvin United (T2) 0 v 3 Glenburn AFC

MOM: Tom White; he was extremely solid today- he held the line well, used the ball from defence and made many crucial interceptions. He played with an authority unmerited by the score line.

Match Report

After a number of early and crushing defeats thus far T2 were optimistic ahead of a very winnable game against an average Glenburn side suffering a similar start to the season. Overall we have been very poor in the key areas of defending and attacking, conceding 15 goals in 4 matches and only scoring 1 in the same length of time. Though the performance last week was much improved last week, we were looking to get ahead in this fixture and get a result on the board. This game also marked an end to the T2 career, for the foreseeable future, of Alister Eden who will be touring Australia for 3 months. As such, in recognition of his dedication for signing up to the club for a few matches, he was named captain for the day, taking up a familiar position at right back. In other team news, Davidson’s absence in the T2 goal would be taken up by the versatile Scott McKinnon, showing his leadership qualities.

The game itself started well for T2 and we looked to get on the ball and take the initiative in the early stages. There were neat interchanges between Kay and Roberts reflecting the holdup play we had put in at training, but the Glenburn defence snuffed out most of these premature attacks. Then a moment of contention. From losing the ball whilst in possession it ballooned up into the air and looked to have been taken down by the arm of opposition winger; appealing for handball, T2 players switched off allowing him enough time to pick a pass between defenders, finding his centre forward who slotted home from 10 yards. Despite the dispute over the decision, it was a blatant handball, we didn’t defend it well and were waiting for an unforthcoming whistle.

However, T2 didn’t fold as in previous weeks after the goal. At times are passages of play were well constructed, we looked to create chances with Seywright wriggling into the box and snapping a shot down the keeper’s throat and Kay gambling on a 50/50 in an attempt to lob the onrushing Glenburn goalkeeper. Despite the efforts of the forwards they had very little real service from which to test the Glenburn defence. The Glenburn side were giving as good as they got and only a last gasp challenge by Thompson kept it at 1-0 at half time.

Into the second half T2 did start well and we aimed to get something from the match. The early chances went T2s way, McMillan driving through the challenges to pick out Kay whose instinctive lay-off to arrival of Rehman was timed allowing him space, but the finish didn’t match the build up. Similar play led to a through ball by Seywright to the advancing White but his shot hit the keeper. At this point T2 were all over a Glenburn side in disarray but the chances came and went and suddenly we were on the back foot again, with McKinnon to thank for some useful saves despite his unfamiliarity with the position. A simple long throw was poorly defended with men up the pitch seeking an equaliser and the Glenburn attack had men over at the back post, although the initial shot was saved, the rebound fell kindly to the Glenburn striker for him to smash it in from 3yards . At 2-0 it was game over. There was time for Glenburn to add a third whilst T2 looked despondently back from forward positions as defending was abandoned altogether. Despite the one-sided score line T2 were in this game for a large part of it, but we fell apart again when it became obvious we weren’t going to get a goal.

Whilst it is obvious T2 need to look within themselves to find a result, bravery, determination and an iron will to win are things we need to find; but perhaps more importantly is a belief that we can win tight affairs like this one that is so far proving elusive. Having only scored 1 goal in 5 games now, we need to find the net on more occasions. If we had scored while this game was still close there is no reason we might not have gone on to draw or win. As it was it proved to be another poor performance.

Team

1. 1.Scott McKinnon

2. 2.Alister Eden (c)

3. 3Ritchie McCluskey

4. 4.Tom White

5. 5.Dughall Thompson

6. 6.Keiron Roberts

7. 7.Umar Rehman

8. 8.Sat Uppal

9. 9.Fraser Seywright

10. 10.Adam Kay

11. 11.Derek McMillan

Subs

12. 12.Ryan McGregor

13. 13.Rammo (10)

14. 14.Harry Colegrave

15. Matt Owen (7)