NORTH BERWICK FIELD TOP SQUAD

North Berwick 8 - 2 MYS Blue Stripes (1Nov08)

On one of the rare days when we had a full squad to choose from, we travelled to North Berwick supposedly to fulfil our rearranged game against their Colts team. However on arrival, it was evident that our reputation as a football team had preceded us as I was informed that we wouldn’t be playing the Colts, but the team which this season entered the top division of the Edinburgh league.

Not wanting to back down from a challenge, we started brightly enough, however on a very heavy pitch we didn’t deal with one of their initial attacks very well and soon found ourselves behind from quite a soft goal. However we soon drew level as Cameron pressurised one of their defenders from a kick out, robbed him of the ball and dispatched a good shot past their keeper. When playing a very capable team, we had to do the basic things well and it was disappointing to concede another very soft goal, which came from a throw in (playing Edinburgh league rules), we simply didn’t clear.

At the beginning of the second period, North Berwick showed their ability by passing the ball through us to increase their lead to 3-1. If the game was judged solely on chances created, we would have been level by now as we more than matched them in most areas of the pitch, yet we failed to take our chances. We did restore some hope by Keiron following up a shot from Ben which he turned in. However North Berwick seemed to step up a gear and for their fourth goal, they simply cut threw us and finished well.

I think the combination of them taking the chances they created and us finding it difficult to get our passing game going, I sensed that our heads went down a little and North Berwick eventually added four more goals to run out comfortable winners. We are clearly a much better team than our performance and the result showed and it was disappointing that North Berwick caught us on an off day. However whilst it is unlikely that we would ever be able to compete in their division of the Edinburgh league, the game was a stark reminder that we still have a long way to go as a team to be able to replicate their clinical movement and finishing.

I reminded the boys at the end that as much as it hurts to be beaten, games like this are a good barometer as to what we are striving to achieve and on another day when we were able to play closer to our potential, we could give them a much sterner test.

Teamsheet: Owain, Scott, Jamie, Ethan, Cameron, Jason, Keiron, Ben, Brendan, & Lennon

Goal scorers: Cameron & Keiron