Sat, 27th October - Dunfermline Carnegie II 2-3 GHK
The only two unbeaten teams left in the league finally met to see which one would be leaving with the same accolade at the end of the day. Carnegie had a squad of twelve, all of whom were fired up and raring to go. GHK turned up with a squad of 15, 14 carrying sticks and one carrying a whistle (more on that to follow).
The game was an even affair all the way through with much of the play mired in the middle of the pitch. For the massed spectators it would hardly have been an entertaining match to watch, but for those playing it was hard going and evenly matched.
We took the lead about 20 minutes in when Gary Clark finished off a good move from the right hand side, however, GHK came back within 10 mins as slack marking and poor tackling allowed one of their forwards to dribble through several players and stick the ball in past Willie Dunster.
In the second half, GHK’s 15 th player came into effect as some ‘dubious’ (being polite at this stage) decisions affected the outcome of the game (more to come). GHK’s second goal, however, was not dubious – more unlucky as a blocked shot deflected and bounced around like a game of pinball off stick, through legs and straight to the front stick of a GHK forward who couldn’t really miss the empty net from 2 feet. 2-1 GHK.
Enter the GHK umpire!! The GHK third goal can be described as nothing more than a farce. A GHK attacker came into the circle and was promptly relieved of the ball by a timely tackle from Fraser Johnson who played the ball back onto the foot of the attacker, who kicked the ball over Fraser’s stick and keeper Dunster (who had slid out to block any shot). It was a wonderful lob that any Premiership player would have been proud of and it happened right in front of their umpire…who waved play on. This was probably down to the fact that the ball had fallen to another of the GHK forwards, who again had an empty net to aim at – all the defence having been taken out by the Christiano Ronaldo like move. There is absolutely no way that the umpire could not have seen the foot, being only a few feet in front of her face with no-one in the way, so the decision did not go down well with the Carnegie defence – a fact that was made clear by several players.
The goal was followed by some equally dubious decisions. One kick of Willie’s stands predominantly in mind. Apparently it is now dangerous for the ball to come six inches off the ground, through a channel and into open space (I wish the SHU would let us know about these rule changes). By now the Carnegie tempers were starting to fray and after one such ‘decision’ several players should have been taking a breather behind the goals. “Why not just give the goal and be done with it?”, being one of the comments made. Thankfully the umpire never got out the cards.
In the final minutes, we pushed to forget the officiating and try to salvage a draw and it looked possible when Martin Daw scored with a few minutes to go. But the damage was unassailable and the game finished 3-2 to GHK, with the Premiership goal separating the two sides. Any defeat is a downer, but to lose in that fashion left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Carnegie players and a lot of pent-up aggression that needed to be purged. All in all it was a good fighting performance, although in some areas we still have a lot of work to do. A draw would have been a fair result for this one and it would have been if not for the creative umpiring. We are not amused.
Scorers: Gary Clark, Daw
Squad: Dunster, Begg, Akrigg, Clayton, Johnson, Melville, Bregazzi, Lambert (of the Mini variety), Clark, O’Neil, Daw, Lemm
Sun 21st October - Erskine Stewarts Melville II 0 -3 Dunfermline Carnegie II
The previous day’s inability to score carried over into this match. We had a few changes in the team due to unavailability and the first eleven pinching one player 50 minutes before we were due to meet for their trip through to Giffnock.
Rarely during the game did ESM put any pressure on our goal and when they did it was readily dispatched, although a few times, overwhelming numbers did give us some food for thought.
At the other end, however, we had chance after chance after chance as we repeatedly carved open the ESM defence. We often found ourselves with either a 3 on 2 or a 4 on 2 situation that we failed to capitalise on. The scoring was opened by Tubbs', this was one of Tubbsy's ’s first chances at goal, but unfortunately the last to go anywhere near it. J A few minuted later we made it 2-0 as Mark Briggs scored from the rebound off a Ken Begg penalty corner strike. And finally, just before half time, we scored from another penalty corner. This time is Fraser Johnson and ‘The Beast’ that finished off the business.
The second half consisted of numerous attacks, all of which were squandered in one way or another. Too often did the defence watch as an attacker held onto the ball for too long, tried an over-ambitious pass or tried to go for a mazy dribble through 5 of their players, who often defended in packs. Highlight of the second half was one of these moments when Chewie tried a mazy through 3 players and lost the ball, while Tubbs was standing wide open in the middle of the circle. This prompted Tubbs to have a bit of a tantrum. The stick was thrown and I'm pretty sure I saw him hold his breath and stamp his feet in true Rugrats fashion. This resulted in an overwhelming landslide of LVP votes for Mr. O'Neil.
The final score was 3-0 going on 13-0 had we not wasted so many chances. This is an aspect of our game that we need to sort out quickly or our undefeated record will end sooner rather than later. Next weekend brings GHK, who top the table and have been scoring for fun so far. Hopefully our defence will be up to the task and our attackers will give the performance they are capable of in front of goals.
Scorers: O'Neil, Briggs, Johnson
Squad: Dunster, Begg, Roberts, Woodrow, Johnson, Melville, Clayton, Briggs, Hanlon, Lemm, O’Neil
Sat, 20th October - Dunfermline Carnegie II 1-1 Waverley Inveresk Trinity II
Following on from our dramatic cup come-back of the previous week, Carnegie 2nds came to this match (a second vs third place battle) with a lot of confidence. Once again, however, it was Carnegie that fell behind early on as WIT slipped one in at Dunsters' near post.
The rest of the game was an evenly balance battle with either side having opportunities to score. Carnegie, in fairness, had a lot more opportunities but our inability to stick the ball in the back of the net kept the score at 1-0. The WIT keeper had a good game and was making a lot of saves, and the tactic of taking the ball around him had not occurred to our attackers.
Eventually, however, it did occur to them and the ball was worked in and around the circle well for Mark Briggs to pop the ball into an open net.
The final score was 1-1 and probably a fair result, although had be scored some of the many chances we had the score could have been a lot different.
Scorer: Mark Briggs
Squad: Dunster, Begg, Harry Potter, Woodrow, Johnson, Beattie, Clayton, Bregazzi, Melville, Briggs, Shipley, Lemm, O’Neil
Sun, 14th October - Watsonians II 4 – 4 Dunfermline Carnegie II
The seconds’ first cup match of the season saw us drawn against Watsonians II, who had been promoted from our division to division 1 last season, but were struggling at the bottom having taken a couple of major beatings – including a 23-0 pumping from Western II in their first match. Undefeated as we were, we fancied our chances in this one and started out with the intention of winning.
Plans didn’t exactly go our way in the first half, however, and so sloppy play gifted them 2 goals early on. We pulled one back through Andrew Doyle, before losing Craig Lemm for the rest of the match due to receiving a nasty blow from a followed through stick - a tactic they were very good at. With Chewbacca out for the rest of the match we found ourselves with the bare eleven and had to dig in for the rest of the match. Just before half-time, Watsonians II scored again and we went in at the half 3-1 down with Watsonians feeling pretty confident.
The second half was a totally different story, whether down to Carnegie resolve, Watsonians overconfidence or a combination of both. Carnegie dominated the second half with most of the pressure being on the Watsonians goalmouth. We quickly got one back through an Andrew Doyle drag flick from a penalty corner and continued to press. A sideline ball from Fraser Johnson rocketed in, courtesy of his new stick (affectionately nicknamed ‘The Beast’) was left by everyone (including the Watsonians keeper, who stepped over it) for Andrew Doyle to tap in from 2cm for his third of the day.
Once again, however, the curse of the follow through hit us (literally) right between the eyes. This time Ian Roberts was the hapless victim of a late follow through and was caught in the centre of the forehead. Having only eleven men left Ian bandaged his wound and carried on playing, bearing a scar similar to that of Harry Potter.
Carnegie now smelled victory and we pushed even harder. They were aided by one of Watsonians players, who got himself yellow carded for mouthing at Big Al. Another piledriver into the circle, this time I believe from Tubbs, was deflected by one of our strikers who had no idea where how he got a stick on it, let alone where it had ended up. Thankfully, it ended up in the back of the net, but the scorer of it evades me……oh yeah, it was Andrew Doyle again.
As the minutes ticked away Watsonians started to push for an equaliser and got one with a few seconds to spare to finish the game at 4-4, meaning penalty flicks. However, the drama was not finished from normal time. Not content with getting a yellow card, the Watsonians player decided it would now be a good idea to call Al a racist and a bigot to his face and accused Al of sending him off because he was Irish. This level of stupidity (stereotypically associated with being Irish, I admit) resulted in a Class 2 Red for the Watsonians player and a red face for the rest of the Watsons squad, who were visibly embarrassed by their colleague.
Onto flicks and they went something like this. Tubbs stepped up and was saved by the keeper. Watsons scored. Andrew Doyle went up and scored. Watsons scored. Mark Briggs went up and scored. Watsons missed by a mile. Fraser Johnson’s brilliant flick was saved expertly by the keeper (witness accounts may differ). Watsons was saved by Willie Dunster. Andrew Melville went up and scored. To summarise, we were not 3-2 up with Watson’s last penalty to go. Their player stepped up calm and experienced and blazed the ball over the bar. Victory to Carnegie!!
Overall, this was an excellent fight back from the team with some moments of brilliance, interspersed with some moments of absolute bilge. The prize - a first round proper tie against Inverleith II.
Scorers: Doyle, Doyle, Doyle and…err…Doyle
Squad: Dunster (aka Wandering Willie), Begg, Roberts (aka Harry Potter), Woodrow, Johnson (accompanied by ‘The Beast’), Melville, Clayton, Beattie, Briggs, Lemm (aka The wounded Wookie), O’Neil (aka Tubbs), Doyle (but he didn’t really do much)
Player of the Match: Hmmm? 4 goals plus one in PF’s! Could have been Andrew Doyle.
Sat, 13th October - Uddingston II 4 - 2 Dunfermline Carnegie II
Sorry, no full report received for this match yet.
Scorer: Kevin O'Neil (2), Vince Shipley, Jonathan Clayton
Sun, 7th October - Dunfermline Carnegie II 4-2 Greenock II
With most of the squad still hurting from coach Dunster’s training regime of Tuesday night, the second XI turned out a squad of twelve, eager and willing to give the weegie’s a demonstration of how to take a beating. Weather conditions were perfect and we all basked in the sunshine as Willie and J.C. gave their inspirational pre-match repartee. Suitably enthused we took to the pitch and started out playing some very good hockey and dominated the match from start to finish.
We took the lead pretty quickly through Andrew Doyle , with his third of the season for the 2 nd XI. This was followed up by another from Andrew Melville , who took so long to shoot after receiving the ball in front of an open goal that the rest of us had time to go for a pint before he stuck it home. Greenock never really provided any problems for our defence, who soaked up whatever they threw at us to keep us at 2-0 going in at half-time.
The second half started and things continued much the same, although Greenock were able to pull one back from a penalty corner (pretty much the only shot they had on target during the game. Keeper Dunster managed to get half a pad onto the ball, which gave it just enough to deflect it past Ken Begg on the line.
We came back immediately and went 3-1 up from a penalty corner, scored by Fraser Johnson. This took the wind out of Greenock ’s sails and they reverted to defensive tactics and a damage limitation exercise. This didn’t stop Andrew Doyle getting his second of the game when he broke through and took the ball round their keeper before slotting home from a narrow angle.
Greenock ’s problems were compounded by the loss of a player, when one of them received a yellow card for deliberately kicking the ball. From this point they reverted to playing half-court, effectively removing the little attacking threat they had. Indeed, we spent the last few minutes of the game passing the ball around at the back with relative ease.
The game finished 4-1 and we can put this down as a much improved performance compared to previous weeks.
Scorers: Doyle (2), Melville, Johnson
Squad: Willie Dunster , Ken Begg , David Lees , Ian Roberts , Fraser Johnson , Andrew Melville , Ben Bregazzi, Mark Briggs , Jonathan Clayton , Kevin O’Neill, Andrew Doyle , Adam Rintoul
Sat, 29th September - Dunfermline Carnegie II 2-2 EK Avondale
Our squad was filled to bursting this week (for once) so much so that we almost had a 5 a side team on the subs bench! We prepared for the game still smarting from a 5-0 defeat in the cup last season in our minds, determined to show more of the fight that was prevalent the following week in the league with a 1-1 draw. We had a game plan - which was promptly blown to smithereens inside the first 2 mins when the Weegies scored!! Slack marking from the whole team and EK took the most of their gifted opportunity. An open game then ensued with no real oppotunities for either side for a considerable period. Then with a dangerous counter attack brewing, our new centre back marked his arrival in the 2nd XI with a blatant back stick to halt the progress of the EK forward
- step forward John Woodrow!! One yellow card and sin bin later and we were down to 10 men. This brought the strange sight of Vince Shipley coming back into our own half to act as Left Midfield!! I don't think even he could believe it by the look of his face!!! Vince did a good job to prevent any danger and we resumed with 11 men no worse off. This brought a change in fortune as a lightning attack by Andy Melville produced an opportunity for Andy Doyle to score from a central position. Half time loomed with both sides seeking to take the lead. After our Vice-captain Willie Dunster, gave us a few choice words on where we were going wrong, we headed into the second half confident that we could improve. WRONG!!! Within 5 mins we were again a goal down this time from a short corner. No blame apportioned to anyone, but the keeper was nutmegged from the strike!! C'mon Mr Vice!!! Without exerting full control on the match we were able to exert a few opportunities and from one of these, Andrew Doyle stepped up to the plate and scored again from close range! EK were still piling on the pressure and creating short corners, but our hard worked defence was able to repel them. Right at the death, with a break down the left, the ball came across the D for Craig Lemm to win the game for us in the last minute...only to see it hit the outside of the post and go agonisingly wide! Overall, a draw was a fair result as we didn't really deserve anything more from the game. We will hope to put in a better performance in the double header next weekend.
MVP was a close contest between Andrew Doyle (for his goals) and Ken Begg (a stalwart in defence) and so, with the casting vote, the captain - having already decided on his top player - ensured that Ken was declared MVP.
Sat, 8th September Stirling Wanderers 1 – 3 Dunfermline Carnegie II
A hot, sunny day saw the Men’s 2 nd XI travel through to Dunblane for their first encounter of the new season against Stirling Wanderers. With new skipper JC going with an eclectic squad of twelve, most of which hadn’t played together for a while, we were expecting to be a bit rusty and have a fight on our hands. Fortunately, we got our first bit of good news early on as their much loved umpire turned up and started putting on the keepers pads. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about the match being called off for drizzle or having to deal with 20 penalty corners on the trot this time around.
We started well with a few dicey moments thrown in to keep us on our toes. Both teams mounted attacks on the others circle, few of which resulted in a shot on goal, until we eventually got the first of our two penalty corners of the game. Quick thinking and vision by Mini Lambo (didn’t think I’d ever construct those seven words into a sentence) resulted in a quick push out to Ken Begg at the top of the circle, who screamed the ball into the goal past two of their defenders, who were still on the line deciding who was going to run out first. 1-0 to Carnegie!
We continued to pressure the Stirling defence and were soon 2-0 up through Craig Lemm (a.k.a. Chewbacca) who scrambled the ball home after Tubbs’ alleged shot. (I say alleged as the ball almost ended up closer to our goal than theirs.
Just before half-time Stirling pulled one back through a penalty corner and we went in at the half 2-1 up.
In the second half, Stirling looked to pull one back and steadily built up attack after attack on our goal. Several good saves from Willie Dunster kept the ball out until at last one squeezed past him. 2-2 looked on the cards, until the ball was tipped round the post by Fraser Johnson . This resulted in a corner to Stirling , which broke down almost immediately unleashing a Carnegie breakaway. The finale of this was getting odds of 1000-1 at Ladbrokes as Owen Goody turned up at the back post and first-timed the ball into the roof of the net. From almost 2-2 we had gone 3-1 up and this took the wind out of Stirling ’s sails. In this reporters opinion it was the goal line clearance that was the turning point of the game (NB – witness accounts may vary).
Stirling had a few more attempts but seemed to have no spirit left – would you after conceding a goal to Goody? The end result was a 3-1 win to the second in our first match out, 3 points and an early position of third in the league. Still a lot to improve on, however, as we were by no means at our best on the day. There’s a long season ahead.
Scorers: Ken Begg, Craig Lemm , Owen Goody
Player of the Match: Willie Dunster
