Juniors take all 3 points against Pumpherston

Posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2011

On another wet and miserable evening we entertained Pumpherston Juniors at Ainslie Park in a League Cup Tie.

 Despite the weather conditions the game was played in a very competitive spirit.

 Kenny, Andy and I decided to change the team slightly from our last game in an effort to ensure everyone is gaining valuable match time during the League Cup Campaign.

The game itself started with us retaining good possession and keeping the ball for longer sustained periods. We came close to scoring on a couple of occasions before Ross Elliot side stepped a Pumpherston defender then sent another the wrong way before dispatching the ball into the corner of the net, at this point Pumpherston were defending well and trying to catch us on the break whilst playing with one forward up the field. Pumpherston had a few good attacking moves but we were resilient in our defending. On the half hour mark we had a very good opportunity to add to our goal tally however Nick Reid chose to shoot at goal where a cut back to one of the three players inside the box would have been a better option.

Half time arrived and we went in 1–0 up.

We started the second half well and continued to take the game to Pumpherston however our actual direct shots on goal were limited. After 20 minutes both Adam and Nick were replaced by Sean and Robbo and within 2 minutes of their introduction we were 2-0 thanks to a headed (sort of) goal from Paulo.

At this point Pumpherston made a substitution and pushed on another forward, which in turn forced us back in defence slightly however we were coping with their attacks.

With 25 minutes gone we made our final substitution and introduced Matty for Ainslie and he was soon in the thick of it going in with a crunching tackle that had the Pumpherston bench berating the referee.

With 8 minutes to go we lost the ball around the half way mark and Pumpherston drove forward into the box, Muzza made a great save from the resultant shot however he could do nothing to stop the rebound going into the net.

Overall Kenny, Andy and I were pleased to get 3 points and again it provided us with an opportunity to see how we would compete with the more physical side of the game.

Next up Broxburn at home 2.30 kick off at Ainslie Park on Saturday.