1st April v Evening Times at Holyrood Sports Centre 6-2 (1-2)
John Crosbie, Arthur McCue, Alistair Dorward, Paul Joyce, Stephen Wozencroft, Mark Hume (Brian McGowan), Darren O�Neill (Dave Brown), Alan Main (c), Gary Sutherland (Marc Cairney), John Kirkland (Colin McGowan) and Gary Lyle
We were blessed with perfect conditions for football with bright sunshine and only a slight breeze at Holyrood as we faced a team from the Evening Times newspaper. There was a familiar face in the opposition former QPSFC player Ally Dick turning out for the pressmen although Logie seems to be doing a better job of retiring than Crossers as by all accounts he was unavailable.
In the 26 games played this season we have only three draws and three wins to show for it. With The Gaffer absent (working), Razor tried to impress on the squad the importance of starting to get some results and to embrace the philosophies of simple passing football and teamwork along the way. As we left the dressing room for a warm up we also had Club Captain Barry Cook in our thoughts whose daughter Jenny is currently in hospital.
We went 4-4-2 for the start with Crossers (complete with "I must not come out of my goal" teeshirt !) between the sticks, Arthur and Algie at fullback and Paul and Wozy in the centre. On the left was Daz with Humey on the right and a central pairing in midfield of Tyrone and Sicknote. Up front we had The Bellgrove Bullet and Gary Lyle for a bit of pace (obviously only Gary has the pace). In reserve were The Playboy, Dion, Cuckoo and Choccy.
The first half was poor and like we have already this season we made a bounce team look good. We struggled to keep the ball and to cope with the fact that a lack of positional savvy from the opposition meant that both their fullbacks pushed up into midfield leaving us heavily outnumbered. Gary and Tyrone did at times keep the ball well between them but they were limited in options in moving it forward and we lost it putting ourselves under further pressure. The pressmen's tactics up front were also causing confusion as Ally dropped deep all the time forcing Wozy to come out and mark him leaving Psycho one on one with just the kind of pacey forward he hates to play against. When the ball got to the speed merchant he carved us open time and again. Eventually we fell behind and it was clear that things would have to be lifted otherwise we were headed for another embarrassing result.
We got back level with a typical Bellgrove Bullitt strike from five yards after the keeper had caused us considerable problems with some top class stops. No-one likes to see a player injured but when he injured a finger our hopes were lifted since we were creating chances. He wasn't gone for long though and we didn't manage to take advantage of the use of a second choice keeper.
Sicknote soon showed typical robustness and had to be replaced in the middle of the park by The Playboy after complaining of shin splints. There was a difference in Razors� approach this week as well as he tried to introduce subs throughout the game to see if it made any difference to the way games pan out. Before half-time we lost another goal to a pen which crossers was beaten all ends up by.
Half-time then and a pretty stern team talk from Razor left the squad with there ears buzzing as the took to the park with Brian replacing Humey and Dion replacing Daz on the left with Gary Lyle going to right mid. Early in the second half things looked good as we got forward with plenty of space at the back to cause problems. Wozy levelled the scoring with a bullet header from a corner before a tactical change to 3-5-2 with Algie being replaced by Daz. Dion moved over into centre mid with Alan and Gary and Marc went to wide right. The switch changed the match as we dominated in midfield and were soon rampaging forward in numbers looking for goals. There was even time and space for Paul to make the odd run forward from the back and we were often lining up on the edge of the box all itching to try and stick one away.
We took the lead when Tyrone played a simple square ball to Dion who took a touch before hitting a 45 yard diagonal ball right across the park and into the area around the right hand side of The Times box (no...honestly!) for Marc to run onto. Taking a touch inside he composed himself before rattling the ball home. The goal gave us a lift and it was all Queen's Park now as we went into the last twenty minutes.
Players came and went as we saw the game out comfortably with Humey coming back on to make it 4-2 before Colin replaced BBJ to score a sclaffed effort which he meant to put in the bottom right corner but which ended up in the top left and he got booked for his wild celebrations !.
It's a delight to see Choccy back on a regular basis as well and he finished off a fine performance from himself, and a second half to be pleased with for the team, with a goal to make it 6-2 to the home side.
In fairness fitness had probably played a part in the game as we had maybe just the slightly better legs (apart from Arthur who has horrible bony knees) to hang on to the end. The first half could largely be forgotten with the extra effort to get a result we showed after the break but despite the score we were a long way from being convincing. With a break for Easter we will be looking to come back all guns blazing against Beechwood on the 16th.
Player of the Day: Stephen Wozencroft