Watsonians Men's 1s vs Falkirk 1s

Saturday afternoon was a beautiful one for hockey, after 8 weeks and countless warm up games it's fair to say that the 1st XI were raring to go ahead of their delayed start to the campaign. This was shown by the siege laid on the Falkirk goal in the opening exchanges. Wastefulness in front of goal and defensive frailties left the squad disappointed not to win the game, but also relieved to come away with a point.

After a bright start the home side found themselves a goal behind after being caught out on the counter. Parity was soon restored, with a lovely composed finish from McCorkhill. The man from Ireland's most northerly county latched onto a free ball inside the D, before slipping it over the onrushing keeper.

The game soon returned to a familiar pattern, Watsons dominating but unable to convert possession into goals. Half time 1-1.

The second half began much like the first, the home fans ramped up the noise as the side went on the offensive once again. Falkirk emerged with a new tactic, the quarter court, sending only the occasionally force forward. Shorties, clear shots galore for the home side but yet the score remained the same. Then a sucker punch; on a rare attack Falkirk looked for a foot in the D, only to be met by a wonderful tackle with a hand on stick from McCurdy. The Umpire was seeing shapes at this stage and inadvertently awarded a penalty corner which was dually converted. 1-2.

The game returned to its usual pattern, the ebb and flow favouring the home side, a clear cut chance to level the score had to be created. One of our many penalty corners was sent towards the back post and met by the onrushing youngster Kappa; his goal bound effort was cruelly cleared off the line by a Falkirk foot. Penalty stroke. Another Irishman stepped up to cap off what had been an eventful debut with a goal, only to be denied. The keeper sent the wrong way managed to get a toe on a flick which had been sent towards him at some rattle, McKenna could only watch helpless as the ball rebounded away to safety. Still 1-2.

The onslaught continued, glorious chances came and went. Blair Wynd led the line with experience beyond his years. The midfield was full of running and inventiveness, still that elusive goal wouldn't come. The corners began to flow and with it the pressure on the away side, eventionally one had to go in. And it did, McKenna making up for his earlier mishap from the penalty spot, with a deflection on a variation from the top of the D. 2-2.

With the win in sight and five minutes remaining, the home side went for the jugular and peppered the Falkirk goal. But the drama was not finished, a long hopeful ball up the pitch from Falkirk and not one but two Watsons centre backs missed it, they were in! One v one, an old Falkirk head against the youngster Euan Hamilton making a competitive debut for the 1sts. Many an older head could only see an ideal scenario of Euan braking down the play, receiving a card and hoping the defence could resist the Falkirk attack in the final moments. But those old heads underestimated the agile reactions of this young man, he galloped of his line and produced a tackle many an outfield player would have been proud off, stopping the attack in its tracks and maintaining the scoreline. Reactions that won him the Man of the Match award, good start to hopefully an impressive career.

A final word, to wish T Swarbrick a swift recovery following a horrific eye injury which forced him off near the end of the game. For all of 25 seconds.