Peffermill for thrills as Seniors teach Students a lesson

Posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2013

The first match on the road, and grass, for 3 months ended in a 4-0 win for the Seniors at Peffermill against Edinburgh University.

With the sides due to meet up against in the King Cup in a fortnight, the game will offer food for thought for both coaching teams.

Jack Beesley returned to the starting line-up after a two game absence through injury and illness & Willie Bremner was also back in the squad.  Cheering on from the sidelines was Chris Anderson, who is recovering well from his recent op.

With overhead conditions the best they’ve been this year so far, the game kicked off on what was a bit of a lottery underfoot as the pitch cut up with relative ease.

A frantic start to the game saw both teams produce attempts at goal and it didn’t take long before Beesley’s header forced a great save from Uni’s Mark Tait in the, as one observer noted, smallest goal frames he’d seen for a while.

Then, it hit.  A triple whammy! A trio of goals within a sensational five minute period which left the Students shell-shocked.

First up, the Malt & Hops Man of the Match, Keith McLeod headed on a corner into the path of Kevin Motion who half-volleyed the ball past the keeper to put us 1-0 up.

There was barely time for the social media team to chuck out 140 characters before shouts of Penalty!! McLeod’s strength and pace saw him skin the defender but just as he went to round the keeper, he was upended in the box by an outstretched glove.  The Ref pointed to the spot and perhaps decided this was punishment enough or he’d given up his red cards for Lent!

Cloudy dusted himself down (or rather picked the mud out of his ears) and blasted the penalty into the bottom right corner, sending the keeper the wrong way.

The only time some of the Students will have been hammered so quickly in a five minute period before will have been in Teviot on Freshers’ Week, however they were left punch drunk by a team determined to keep hold of their top of the table position as the season enters it’s business end.

Beesley was causing problems for the Students and after turning one defender inside out, his shot was parried by the keeper, only for it to fall to the feet of Motion who poked it in to score his fourth goal in as many games since his return to Ainslie Park.

Donal Henretty looked as if he’d won another penalty after being wrestled to the ground however his remonstrations fell on deaf ears.

For anyone who has experienced a day out at a Polo match, at half-time the crowd are encouraged to enter the field of play to push down the divets churned up during the game.  This would have been particularly useful at Peffermill due to the recent downpours causing the ground to turn rather soft.

What can we say about the second half?

The Students came out of the changing rooms after a bit of the old Fergie style hairdryer treatment and looked keen to push forward for that goal which may have changed the shape of the game.

Unfortunately for the University side, a solid defensive display from Kevin Sivewright and Danny O’Donnell amongst others meant Chris Flockhart had little to trouble him between the sticks.

Andy Martin came on for Henretty and further tactical substitutions came on the hour with Wringe and Ferguson coming on for Manson and Beesley who was enjoying his return so much, it looked like Dougie was going to have to come on the pitch and drag him off!

The surface began to cut up rather badly and both sets of players started to lose their footing and with the ball bobbling around, there were more than a fair share of passes taking a couple of touches to bring under control….

The explosive 10 minute period of mayhem in the opening 45 minutes never looked set to be repeated and it took until the last play of the game for another goal.

A fine period of keep-ball saw several passes in a patient build up before Ferguson’s cross was tapped in from close range by super-sub Sean Wringe.

Final Score: Edinburgh University 0 – 4 Spartans FC

Malt & Hops Man of the Match: Keith McLeod. He proved to be a total menace from start to finish.

Team v Edin Uni: Flockhart, Manson, Cennerazzo, Sivewright, O’Donnell, Grant, Beesley, Whatley, Henretty, McLeod, Motion. Subs: Ferguson, Martin, Wringe, MacCuish