Go West

Another weekend, another road trip for the 4s. The pre-match tunes selection somewhat less inspiring this week than the previous – special thanks to Ozzie for his choice of Sombe FM to accompany the trip west. The land of many roundabouts and few road signs did not deter the intrepid explorers, who made it to Inveralmond Community High School in one piece and on time.

With the pitch in use right up to pushback, a brief warm-up and some yoga on a relatively dog doo free patch of grass would have to suffice, and the lack of intensity in this period could perhaps be one of the reasons for a slow start to the game by our boys.

Not helped either by a slow pitch and some stout defending by the home team, we had some difficulty finding space and creating chances in an increasingly "feisty" first half. The few times we did manage to deliver the ball to the danger areas, there was nobody on the end of the service and frustration began to get the better of us.

A visibly rattled captain delivered an impassioned(ish) team talk – the emphasis on avoiding physical confrontation (advice best directed inwards perhaps), hitting the baseline and occupying the Positions of Maximum Opportunity ((c) Richard Gray) in the D.

Some inspiration was required, and was delivered by MoM Will Evans early in the second period. Having been heard on the sideline to mutter something about going back on and scoring a wonder goal, he picked up near the half way line, strode forward and used his decoy runners well (aka didn't pass to anyone) before creating some space in the D and slamming the ball towards goal. Adam Kinghorn made sure that it successfully travelled the last inch or two, and we were 1-0 up. Joking aside, a great piece of individual skill and drive by Will was exactly what was required and released a huge amount of anxiety for the rest of the team and Adam was exactly where he should have been to finish it off.

The game was not won yet though, and a 1-0 lead is never a comfortable one. The killer blow did follow on later in the half, as an interception on the sideline and a pass into the middle left Will Evans in acres of space, and his ball into the D was received and finished cleverly at the near post by Fraser Brignall. 2-0.

Not much to report for the remainder of the game other than a short corner at the last play as Tony Allan took a short ball at the left of the D and somehow managed to miss every single one of the players flooding in at the back post, thus earning himself DoD honours for a second successive week (a conspiracy, surely...).