1s vs Weirside Rangers – 19.12.15

The Hood was pretty wet and the top pitch was the only one that was playable and that was only just. The drainage on the top pitch seems to have broken down in the three pitches on the high points which is really odd. But despite the dreadful boggy patches it was a really entertaining game with a surprising amount of good football. The wind which I had not noticed earlier in the day was now a factor blowing down the pitch and we were against it in the first half. Weirside wind assisted started really well. A good run down the left wing and an early well flighted cross was put in the net in the first minutes but was disallowed for offside. But this recipe was repeated several times down both wings and life was a little uncomfortable. Weirside missed a good chance putting a free header over the bar from a corner. Their early crossing was an issue and Woody tracked back really well to get his head to deflect one away, but annoyingly got his kit really dirty in the process. A price worth paying.  Gradually we got a foothold in the game and Vanny was troubling their full back who hauled him down a couple of times but 5 mins before he broke clear and their keeper could only half stop his shot and Charlie was at the far post to finish. Charlie made that seem quite difficult as he seemed to get caught up with it for a while. So 1-0 up at Half time and with the wind helping seemed a promising position. However that was not the case and straight from the kick off the Weirside striker seemed to waltz through our defence collide with Sherbs and somehow we cleared it off the line twice. We recovered from this scare and started to create chances. Tom Rowe was played through but fired wide and Will Low went close. But Weirside were always threatening and their skipper was always probing from midfield and they had good movement and their CF was good at holding up. So the equaliser when it came with 20 mins to play was not totally unexpected or against the run of play. Another good diagonal ball was latched on to and fired home on the turn. Pretty good stuff. The wind had dropped and it was good end to end stuff, Dave Quainton came on For Charlie and Hoppy (welcome back) came on For Woody who had put in a really good shift. DQ fresh legs immediately caused problems and with 10 mins to go broke clear down the right and crossed for Tom to fire home emphatically. We looked to hold on but Weirside were not to be denied and a hard shot from close quarters denied us the three points and delivered a fair result but disappointing as we were so close to a much needed win. I thought Weirside were good value and played better than when they beat us 1-0 at their place earlier in the season. They had some very good players well organised well lead and good movement. David Buick the ref was first class and his control was a major contribution to an what was a very enjoyable game to watch albeit a little disappointing. We put in a great effort and appoint is ok against a good side like Weirside. I thought all our players performed well and worked hard slogging thru the mud. Vanny had a really good game but Rat was outstanding yet again. We need to string a few results together in the new year and climb up the table but have every confidence in the lads and Clappers to do that.

Team; Sherbs (GK) Rat Clappers (Capt) Browner, Cookie, Woody, Al G, Will Low , Vanny , Tom R , Charlie. Subs Hoppy, Dave Q.