Match Report - 18th November 2007

You had to be a very committed or hardy spectator to enjoy watching football today. There was a biting wind that cut through as many layers as you could wear. Not much fun for the players either but at least they could run around. Could have been worse though, could have been raining. Perhaps the weather effected the Bs as it took a lot of time and effort to turn their possession into a win. The score line doesn’t tell anywhere near the story. For more than half the match the result was on a knife edge and might have gone either way. For quite a while it looked like the most the Bs would get would be a point. So it is all credit that they persevered and were rewarded with three goals that sealed it in the last ten minutes.

Daniel started in goal for only the second time this season and performed superbly. These were terrible conditions for a keeper, having to keep warm and focussed but he responded well each time he was called upon and produced, excellent saves and used the ball well. From the start the Bs took control of the ball and from the amount of possession they had it appeared that they should seal the game early on. There were some neat passing moves and St Andrews struggled to get the ball out of their half. Brett looked the most dangerous, looking to shoot from anywhere within a 30 yard range. On 11 minutes he opened the scoring with a superb, high, curling shot. He collected the ball just inside the right corner flag and from a defender’s view looked to be in a safe position. But Brett has a track record of scoring from unlikely positions and he was given too much space. He looked up and curled the ball over the keeper into the net. A great shot from over 25 yards.

Brett should have gone on to cap his performance with four or five goals. In the first half he had two shots that went very close and after the break several one on ones that he should have finished. That summed up the way much of the game went for the Bs. Kyle, Luis and Fed also had shots in the first half. But midway through the half St Andrews found themselves able to get the ball behind the Bs defence and there were danger signals. Thomas and Joe in the centre recovered well to deny them.

The Bs had had so much of the play that Luis and Ciaran got forward a lot and this left a few gaps behind them that St Andrews started to exploit. In one superb move they attacked down the right, drew Daniel off his line and beat him and sent over a great cross that their striker met with a fine header but he steered it just over. Daniel was called on again and denied St Andrews with a strong diving save from a powerful, close range shot. In the 28th minute St Andrews got the breakthrough. An attack from right to left found one of their attackers bearing down on goal and from eight yards his shot flew in and went straight through the net.

At half time the Bs made three substitutions to try and get the initiative back. Sid replaced Fed, George replaced Kyle and Jordan Coleman replaced Jordan Wright. Sid provided a good target and he and George provided some through balls for Brett to chase. There was some good passing from the back but too often there was a misplaced or too powerful pass in the final third that lost possession and moves broke down. But the Bs had regained the bulk of the play and controlled much of the game. Luis, Brett, Sid and George had chances but they came and went and it looked like the Bs might be made to pay when St Andrews broke. The back four played well though and managed to get a tackle in to frustrate St Andrews.

It took an hour for the Bs to convert one of these chances and gain the upper hand. From a throw on the left Sid collected the ball, turned and fired a low shot at the near post that squirmed under the keeper’s body and into the net. Moments later he had a better chance but he fired his shot, from just inside the box, too high. Shortly after, Kyle came back on replacing Francis in the centre. Francis had put in a lot of effort and has performed very well in midfield this season.

It was George, who saw a lot of the ball and worked really well to create opportunities, who sealed the points with two goals in the last five minutes. His first was made by Brett who has a habit of chasing seemingly lost causes and creating chances from them. Brett raced onto a through ball but looked unlikely to beat the defender and keeper. But he used his strength well and the ball ran loose to George who hit it first time into the empty net. Then in the last minute St Andrews looked to have cleared a throw in knocking the ball into the centre circle. But Thomas controlled it and then hit it high goalwards. George took the ball out of the air brilliantly on his chest, turned and shot neatly into the net.

It is credit to all the players that, despite not firing on all cylinders and seeing good chances go begging, they kept plugging away, managed to get the result and seal a 4-1 win. George made a big difference and was rewarded with two goals and the man of the match award.