Watsonians 1 - 3 Edinburgh University

A bright and windy afternoon began with a coaching curveball: Fraser Sands struggled to hide his delight at his last minute transfer out of the forward line to centre back. Despite the late adjustment Watsonians edged the early exchanges; their press functioning effectively to pin Uni back in their own half. The pressure was rewarded after 20 minutes when Craig McCrossan rolled back the years to carve smartly through the Uni defence before finishing calmly into the corner. It was his first goal for Watsonians coming at a valuable time against his former club. The goal acted to galvanise the University side who pushed further up the pitch forcing Luke Campbell in the Sonians goal into a string of impressive saves. As Uni’s momentum increased, Sonians were forced deeper and deeper. From the touchline the injured Craig Beattie valiantly attempted to encourage, his efforts welcomed by the players; less so by the usual coaching staff. Finally on the stroke of half-time Uni struck a hammer blow as a well-executed drag-flick nestled into the bottom corner to even up the score line.

The second half began in tense fashion as Uni again assumed territorial advantage, aided by less than slick Watsonian passing. Ten minutes in and Watsonians resistance was broken; Uni cutting in behind the defensive line to take the lead. Two soon became three for the students as a counter-attacking move was forced in at the back post. Tempers began to flare in the Sonians ranks as they searched for a way back into the game. Northern Irishman Jamie Brown took his frustrations out on a packet of haribo, whilst Sands scythed down an opposition winger to earn himself two-minutes in the sin-bin. With five minutes to go Sonians thought they had handed themselves a lifeline as Ali Vaughan slapped the ball into the goal. The umpire however deemed it to have gone out of play earlier in the move and a long corner was the result instead. With this setback Watsonians hopes faded and the side were unable to mount enough pressure to really test the Uni defence. The full-time whistle followed shortly signalling yet another defeat in a tough start to the season.

MOM: Fraser Sands
DOD: Craig Beattie