One Step Closer

06/03/16 Watsonians 3-1 Perthshire

Watsonians 1s continued their determined march towards the National 2 title with a hard-earned win over relegation-threatened Perthshire on Sunday.

The Sonians’ team morale was tested right from the warm-up, where the navy team had to recover from the psychological scars of getting absolutely battered by the colours at handball. Fortunately, Swarbrick and co. raised their performance level when reintroduced to a more familiar sport, however, this certainly wasn’t difficult.

The first half saw Watsonians control the ball and territory on the pitch, without managing to produce many clear-cut chances. The best chance came when Beachy briefly forgot his groin injury and managed to set up Gus Fraser-Harris – however, the team’s returning hero failed to find the net with the goalkeeper out of position. The half ended with controversy as Sonians’ goalkeeper, Luke Campbell, was needlessly attacked by an over-exuberant youth in an off the ball incident. Shockingly, the umpires took no action and soon after Perthshire had the lead. A dubious penalty corner was charged down by McKenna, only for the Perthshire flicker to find the net at the second attempt, via the inside of the post.

Half-time Watsonians 0-1 Perthshire

The half-time team-talk was remarkably calm, mainly thanks to Ewan Swann, who instantly reassured the lads by telling them he had managed to ‘rattle’ his opponent, using a combination of aggression, witchcraft and unorthodox chat. The second half began as it would continue, with the boys in maroon in the ascendancy. As usual, one of Sonians’ best moves started at the back with Campbell. The playmaking goalkeeper manipulated the centre forward in textbook fashion, before distributing to Butler on the right hand side, leading to a length of the pitch attack which almost resulted in the equaliser. As time went by the home support grew more anxious, especially as another good chance was missed when Beachy shocked everyone by deciding to pass when five yards from goal, allowing a defender to intercept. The Perthshire goalkeeper made a couple of good saves, leading to the growing sense that this might not be Sonians’ day.

Butler and Hollis settled the nerves with some neat build up play, leading to more space out wide for Beattie, Brown and McCurdy to exploit. Soon enough Watsonians got the goal they deserved and unsurprisingly it was left to the Northern Irishmen to come to the team’s rescue. McKenna added to his tally of goals for the weekend with two more, while Jamie Brown is claiming the third, subject to a final decision from the dubious goals panel. The details of all three goals are hazy in the reporter’s mind, as the action was all quite far away. The game ended with Sonians’ in control, Craig Beattie’s now-famous ability to keep the ball in his own corner of the pitch was not even required as the Edinburgh team ended the game looking for more goals.

MOM Hollis

DOD Campbell