Inverleith Dev vs Colts

Inverleith Development vs Watsonians Colts-17th October 2015

After our last win against the veterans of the Grange M8s, we knew we would have a more challenging game against the only other development side in our division. We were expecting a much quicker opposition and with that, we had to be aware of their counter attacking. These were all valid points Captain Waugh would have made before the game, if only the M3s game he was umpiring hadn’t overrun and they also hadn’t stolen the Colts goalie for the day, giving us more problems than we needed.

With Iain McGillivary taking over the captain’s duties in Waugh’s absence, a team was organised and on the field with Iain taking on the role of kicking back. Just as the whistle went for the start of the game, absentee Waugh turned up with a player willing to wear the pads. Tony Allan had come along from the M3s, to fill the gap between the posts. First he would have to figure out how to put the kit on????

While we were trying to shoehorn Tony into the kit, Andrew Mortimer opened the scoring, finishing a fast breakaway, making the defence commit to him before slotting the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0 Colts.

With a keeper in goal now and subs rolling on and off nicely, the pressure was mounting on Inverleith once again. Roddy Craig would make a quick pass to striker, Murray Cannon, who would again slap the ball past the oncoming keeper. 2-0 Colts.

The half set into a bit of attack and defend, with Inverleith finding a little more form, mounting some good attacking moves. It was however the Colts who would get the next goal. After a counter attack up the left, the forwards managed to find a foot in the D, giving us our first penalty corner of the game. A quick injection from Waugh, allowed Ross Fontana to stop the ball, switch it to his strong side and smash the ball into the right side of the goal, hitting the backboard two thirds up. The Colts retreated to the half way line seeing nothing but a goal, leaving the Inverleith players arguing with the umpire, claiming the ball was too high while crossing the line. In my honest opinion, with the pace on the shot, the ball crossed the line and was still rising. If the backboard was not there, that ball would have continued on into orbit.
3-0 at the half time break.

The second half underway and Inverleith caught us with our pants down. Almost straight from the start they pressed high up the field and got the first goal of the second half, powering the ball into the D and passing past our goalie. 3-1.

The restart gave the Colts a kick up the bum and we started to play our passing game again. We were trying, and succeeding, in working the ball up the right, and pushing to get round to the baseline. Our pace was helping and some nice one-twos, had the ball across the opposition D a number of time, but without any reward.

Inverleith once again got the ball up the field, with a long pass. Tony managed to make the initial save, but his momentum set him backpedaling, leaving the striker with a second chance, which he took. 3-2.

Now this is a really tough spot to be in. You’ve just lost two goals in pretty quick succession, the side is still relatively new and you have been making good attempts on goal but nothing has really paid off in the second half.

Inverleith attack again and with a goalmouth scramble the ball pops up and hits a Colts defender on the line. Penalty flick. Up steps the opposition #66, a lump of a man, who had been putting himself about all over the field and only minutes before had left the field for a breather, in a flurry of swear words after getting belted with the ball, as he walked to the side line. He was back now and ready to take the flick. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Tony stood alone, never facing a flick before in his life. The brute was on the spot readying the lump of wood he called a stick. Whistle. The ball was flicked heading to the top right corner, but so was Tony’s outstretched stick, blocking the ball and dropping it dead to the ground.

The game would finish at 3-2 to the Sonians. A good team performance, again I think we could have converted a few more chances, but with the attacking power from both midfield and the forward line, more goals will come.

A well deserved ‘Man of the Match’, goes to Iain McGillivary, for his hard work and organization of the defence, as well as motivating the midfield to keep running.

Colts are still going strong, even if Waugh did get the score wrong at the end of the game and thought we only came away with one point.