Inverleith 4 - 3 Watsonians

This was the second time this season Watsonians Men’s 1st XI had met Inverleith on pitch 1 at Peffermill after the infamous Burgh haar had put an end to the first encounter at the half way stage on a busy Friday night. Watsons arrived at Peffermill on Sunday with high hopes after the 1-1 cancellation early in the season where they had pressed the Inverleith backline with confidence and to great effect.

Eager to put the first points on the National 1 board the young Watsons team charged out to chase the ball down hard again in the Inverleith defence. However, these efforts proved fruitless at first as lessons had been learnt from the first meeting and Inverleith simply decided to scoop the ball over the top of the aggressive Watsons press. Watsons failed to adapt to this as Inverleith stepped a man up from their backline and were able to continually find a player in space behind the maroon midfield. This caused chaos in the Sonains defence which over the half allowed Inverleith to slot themselves three past gym monkey and prophet Luke Campbell between the sticks. Only the prematurely aging Jamie Brown was able to play with some composure making him flavour of the month with Coach Wood.

After a deep breath from ex-GB Internationalist Calum Wood he was able to recall on some experiences from his time spent playing in Germany and the Netherlands to rearrange the Watsons ranks for the second half. It was team veteran Ash Cochrane who first took the game by the scruff of the neck finding his old character and individually running though the purple defence before making it 3-1. A father figure to many within the team, Cochrane spurred Watsonians forward. The forwards stepped up to the plate with 2 Dad’s “Gus” – not plagued by last season’s arthritis – running confidently on the ball and with the two new Harry’s using their intimate knowledge of each other to link well. These three were well serviced by right back and team heart throb Jonny Ogle who is finding confidence in his position if not his voice. This led to a series of short corners with the Inverleith first runner breaking the line and allowing The University of Edinburgh student Fraser “Beachy” Sands to take his seasons goal tally to three with a well-placed drag flick bringing Watsonians back within touching distance at 3-2.

With the clock ticking down the Watsonians defence had an uncharacteristic slip up leaving an Inverleith forward top D with only the keeper to beat, making it 4-2. Captain Will Butler was beginning to come down with a case of the notorious Watsons bench-anger with his isolation from the pitch and screamed for more from his team. A late short corner took Beachy to four goals for the season but there was not enough time left in the game to move the score from 4-3 by this point. A disappointed Watsonians began their cool down knowing that this was another experience for the new team to build upon but frustrated that there was so much more to be had in that game for them. Watsonians next play 6th place Edinburgh University at Peffermill on November 1st at 15:00.

Inverleith vs Watsonians
HT: 3-0
FT: 4-3
Man of the Match: Jamie Brown
‘Donkey’ of the Day: Fraser McCurdy