DRAMA AT FENIESIDE, 17-6-09

FERNIESIDE 3 MYS BLACKS 3

It is difficult to write a report of this game - re-arranged to Wednesday as Fernieside had a club event the previous Sunday - without mentioning "the incident", but I fear it is best left alone. What I will say is that I came along for a kids' football match and ended up experiencing something more like a Shakepearean play, by turns comic and tragic.

The comedy came when Cammy Brown - the cornerstone of a long unbeaten run since he decided he wanted to be a full-time goalie - was sent to the wrong ground by his dad. The rest of us were at Fernieside, he was at Wallyford. Oops.

Callum bravely volunteered to go in goal, no easy task, especially as the penalty box at Fernieside is the tiniest in the league by some distance, making distribution by the goalie very hazardous indeed.

Our stand-in did well, catching the ball confidently, making some good saves and kicking out well as the game see-sawed from end-to-end at what seemed like 100 miles per hour. Seth had a good angled shot well-saved, Jack just failed to head in at the back post and after a brilliant move involving a superb dummy by David, Seth hit a good chance straight at the keeper.

Though we had most of the chances in the first 20 minutes, Fernieside took the lead with a fierce right foot shot across Callum (who had no chance) into the corner. They made it 2-0 with a left-foot shot high into the net, but the wind and slope had been in their favour and we were confident of coming back into it.

Lloyd had a shot well-saved just before half-time after another good move, but immediately after the break, he ran onto an excellent throw by Jack to slip the ball home to pull us back to 2-1.

The Cammy cavalry then arrived but after one good save, he had no chance with a brilliant curling shot from the left of the goal to put the home team 3-1 up. The incident then took place and meant a break of almost ten mnutes before play could resume.

Jason and Connor (and David when Jason was off after a whack on the knee) held the line well at the back and we were starting to move the ball forward well. Brandon and Seth, however, struggled to make an impression up front and with Scott missing, we pushed Jack up top. This could, in hindsight, be seen as a piece of tactical genius as he scored twice to rescue a 3-3 draw.

His first goal came when their keeper handled outside the box and Lloyd played the free-kick to Jack who swept it in. The equaliser was a net-buster as he found spce to the right-hand edge of the box and hammered the ball into the far corner. It was a well-deserved draw for us and Callum, David and Blair deserve credit for helping take the game to Fernieside from the midfield with Lloyd and Jack - and all the boys deserve huge credit for coping in a very difficult situation.
That is now nine league games unbeaten, a tremendous record.

Finally, I would like to make one thing clear - if I ever feel any of our boys are cheating or deliberately playing in an unsporting manner, they will be withdrawn from the pitch. If they persistently argue with a referee or their team-mates - or deliberately set out to hurt other players - they have no part in this team. On this occasion (like the rest of the season), I feel our boys played in a whole-hearted, committed way, but without any malice. Please all do your best to ensure this remains the case.

Squad: Callum, Jason, Connor, David, Lloyd, Jack, Seth, Blair, Brandon, Cammy.
Scorers: Lloyd, Jack 2