Watsonians vs Borders Fjordus

Under strict instructions to leave at 12.20 from our far flung Captain who was bigging it up with some questionable cocktails in Vietnam, we of course were all late then spent most of the trip down to Galashiels wondering if the sat nav really did mean we were gonna arrive 2mins before pass back. Fortunately a bit of luck and some country road shortcuts saw us arrive with a massive 20mins to spare (more than enough time for us to get 'warmed up' or at least put our shin pads on...)

12 gallant souls made the trip to Tweedbank and with Zoe in charge we took to the field with cries of 'what's a pendulum? It's a seesaw, aw right that makes sense' and 'where do I line up', the opposition were quaking in their 15 year old child size 4 Astros...

A nervous start saw both sides not do much for the first ten minutes. The low sun glare and two dark kits made for a few amusing passes to the opposition and tackling our own player moments (next time we deffo need to wear white!). Slowly the pendulum was set in motion and started to swing in our favour as we figured it out. Suddenly a pass from deep in defence made it's way up the Watsonians right with some silky smooth moves it made its way to Barbara who shimmied it through the D and smashed it into the back of the goal to take us to 1-0 at halftime. Borders had a good few short corners but failed to convert any, a diving save was required for a break away they had on goal but it thumped off my pads mid dive and the danger was cleared by the defence.

A spirited team talk from Zoe gave us the confidence we needed to start the 2nd half and we stuck with the pendulum with the aim of keeping more possession and moving the ball quicker. Borders struggled to get the passes in with the effective man marking but when they did get the ball they were efficient and had another 3 good shots on target which were denied with a bit of nifty keeping and defending.

Suddenly another break was on (or it might have been a short corner, two of us could not remember when we were talking about it back in Myreside) and Barbara once again drilled it home to take us 2-0 up with about 15 minutes to go. This of course meant Borders attacked full force having got rid of the earlier nerves and the Watsonian defence was getting tested. Another couple of shorts for Borders and finally they slotted one home. With 30 seconds to go the inevitable happened and they got a gap in the D with a straight strike but with every fibre of my being I managed to get a foot on it and it was cleared. Finally the whistle went and we were safe, we had won 2-1 and we were ecstatic! Really good game and Borders will be ones to watch in the second half of the season.

Great start to the season and everyone played a blinder, hopefully this is the start of something special, a swing up to promotion spot perhaps??!

Back to the clubhouse for a few hard earned beers and a late night curry to celebrate, roll on our next challenge!

Katie D