Date: 24-Jul-10
Competition: Friendly
Scorers: Davy McKean, John Hawkins
Man of the Match: Mark Monteith
Match Report:

Hamilton Harvest got their pre-season underway at Tulliallan on Saturday against ICC (former 2 time winners of the Strathclyde Evangelical Churches League and winners last season of the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur League 2^nd division). Harvest lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Shug in goals, left to right in defence was William Anderson, Hawky, Hammy & Mark, left to right in midfield was Andrew, Alex, John & Matt with Davy & Wullie leading the attack. Paul started the game on the bench.

The game started with ICC dominating the early exchanges and they were quickly on the attack looking for an early goal, after a few half hearted attempts ICC did take the lead in the 20^th minute, the winger was allowed to run down the left hand side evading three challenges and then he cut inside and as Shug & Hawky came to close him down he lifted the ball over sliding bodies and in to the net to make it 1-0. Despite this early setback Harvest didn’t let their heads go down and started to come in to the game more and dominated most of the play for the remainder of the half. Harvest did have a few half chances through William and Davy as the looked for an equalizer, Harvest still had to be on their toes at the back as ICC were dangerous on the attack but the defence coped well with what was thrown at them. Harvest then got the equalizer the ball was played out of defence in to the midfield to William and he slipped a neat through ball to Davy and despite the cries for offside by ICC the ref let play continue and Davy closed in on goal and coolly slotted the ball past the keeper to make it 1-1. The game was now finely balanced with both sides getting forward looking for the lead and it was ICC who gained the lead when a corner swung in from the right was met at the back post by an ICC defender and he headed the ball in to the top corner to make it 2-1. No further action in the first half saw Harvest go in 2-1 down.

The second half had just started when ICC increased their lead further, a stray pass across the Harvest box saw the striker nick in and steal the ball on the Harvest wing, as Shug came out to close the striker down he played the ball across the 6 yard box to an on rushing team mate who had the easy task of tapping the ball in to the net to make it 3-1. Harvest kept pressing forward looking for a way back in to the game but got little joy from a strong ICC defence. ICC then had an opportunity to increase their lead further but as the striker rushed in and tried to chip the ball in to the net Shug reached up and clawed the ball down to prevent the goal. ICC did increase their lead in the 70^th minute when another corner was flighted in and met by the head of an ICC player and his downward header creeped over the line to make it 4-1. Harvest did keep pushing forward and got a consolation goal in the 88^th minute when a corner was played in to the box and as ICC tried to clear it, the ball broke to Hawky about 30 yards out and his first time shot took a slight deflection and flew passed the ICC keeper in to the bottom corner to make it 4-2. That was the last of the action and the game finished 4-2 to ICC.

Well done today guys, a decent display for our first game back, we played some great football at times. Well done to Davy McKean and Hawky for getting their names on the score sheet and credit to the guys who assisted them in doing so. Hamilton Harvest would like to take this opportunity to thank ICC for their hospitality and wish them success as they look forward to the challenge that lies before them in the 1^st division of the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur League.