Watsonians 3s vs ESM 3s

Watsonians 3s 7 – ESM 3s 4

After some excellent results in the past few weeks, Watsonians 3s were looking to make it 5 wins in a row against the unknown quantity that is ESM 3s. As the previous game had been conceded and with ESMs erratic form in the table, Watsonians were unsure what to expect but with a strong squad and a rich vein of form, went into the match with high hopes.
From the off, the 3s attacked in their usual high-pressing, high-energy manner creating several chances early on and after a few efforts going tantalisingly wide they eventually took the lead thanks to some great work down the right wing from Calum Watkins who centred the ball leaving Sandy Hendry with an easy finish to make it 1-0. However, going a goal behind seemed to wake up the opposition and ESM duly came straight back to make it 1-1 due to the Watsonians back line switching off momentarily.
However, for the rest of the first half, the men in white kept up the tempo and were playing some exceptionally fluid and fast-paced hockey with full backs Andrew Cockburn and Conor Small being constant outlets out-wide and moving the ball up towards the ESM 23m. This led to several balls being fired into the ESM D from all angles hoping for a deflection and it wasn’t long before returning captain Duncan Bell stuck out his stick and guided one of these crosses with laser-accurate precision inside the near post: 2-1.
ESM then suffered an injury to one of their defenders, and with their only substitute currently umpiring, were down to 10 men for the rest of the half. Therefore any hope of the Stew Mel team being able to hold off the rampant tide of Watsonians attacks was gone and the lead increased firstly thanks to a goal-of-the-season contender (another one to add to the list) from Phil Long who finally – after about 138 attempts so far this season – managed to hit the back of the net with a reverse stick strike from the top of the D. Groans were heard from the rest of the squad though along the lines of “Oh no we’ll never hear the end of this” & “God he’s going to be trying to do it again all afternoon!”.
The lead was then extended to 4-1 as some great work down the left hand side this time from Ian Duncan led to the ball being fired across from the left sideline. It evaded all attackers and defenders and was sat in a huge open space on the right hand side of the D, sitting up perfectly for the onrushing Calum Watkins to smack it home. Before half time however the defence and midfield were too busy thinking of the half-time oranges and less than 30 seconds later ESM had waltzed up the pitch unopposed and made it 4-2 with a nice reverse-stick finish – although not quite in the same league as Long’s strike.
At half-time, over-the-top supersub umpire Fraser Munro turned up and kindly allowed ESM to get their sub onto the pitch making it 11-a-side again. Although Munro’s first contribution was to cause havoc by trying to overrule a Martin Booth foot outside the D as a short corner despite the other umpire’s clear decision and both teams – as well as the Watsons’s bench – all agreeing the foul was outside the D. Cue much frivolous arm-waving, shouting and exceptionally camp whistle blowing from Munro despite the fact both teams had played on anyway.
Due to this confusion, ESM then scored a swift goal, again catching Watsonians cold to make it 4-3. This sent Dereck Thomas into a panic and he seemed to have inherited the strength of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons as passes to both Chris Sholdis and Sean Conkie were pushed at about 1mph, rolling a few inches before an ESM attacker picked up on the gift and causing a huge scrambling defensive effort to retain the lead.
Order was needed. Intensity was needed. Strength was needed. A HERO was needed. Unfortunately with Richard Booth on holiday and David Hogarth suspended all we had left was Sandy Hendry. Spurred on by the opportunity to stake a claim to the 3s top goal scoring trophy whilst both his main rivals were away, Sandy created a goal all by himself. Firstly robbing the ball from the ESM left back and sprinting half the pitch into the D before forcing the ball past the onrushing keeper to make it 5-3. Order restored, Watsonians then extended their lead again with two goals from Ollie Platts, first from a rebounded shorty and then converting yet another cross from the wide areas.
ESM clawed one back with a well taken short of their own to make it 7-4. As the game drew to a close there was time for one last assault on the ESM goal. Captain Bell was played through sublimely 1-on-1 with the ESM goalie and managed to guide the ball just past his reach into Sandy Hendry’s path before being completely upended A over T and dumped into the deck. Penalty. Bell stood over the ball before 2 thoughts went through his head – 1. Wouldn’t it be nice to give young Ollie Platts a chance for his hat-trick and 2. I’ll get a ton of stick if I miss this. So Ollie stepped up but the keeper made a great save to keep it 7-4 at the final whistle.
Our thanks to Stuart Purves and Fraser Munro for umpiring.