Date: 04-Sep-10
Competition: League
Scorers: John Barr, Alex Dick, Davy McKean
Man of the Match: Davy McKean
Match Report:

Hamilton Harvest continued their good early season form with a hard fought victory over Westwood BB. Once again competition for places was fierce with 18 bodies showing up, Harvest started in a 4-4-2 formation with Shug in goals, right to left in defence was Mark, Smillie, Hawky & William Anderson, right to left in midfield was David Anderson, John Barr, Wullie McKenna & David McKean with Hammy and Des leading the attack, that left Matt, Wullie McKean, Wullie Gillespie, Ants, Zuko, Ritchie and Calum on the bench.

Harvest were right out the blocks from the kick off and pinned Westwood back in the early stages. This early pressure paid off when Harvest took the lead in the 3^rd minute, a corner on the Harvest left was driven in to the area and headed clear by the Westwood defender but the clearance dropped invitingly to John Barr who was lurking just out side the area and John drove in a lovely strike which took a slight deflection on its way in to the net. Harvest continued to pile the pressure on and Westwood struggled to get out their half in the early stages and this led to Harvests 2^nd goal in the 9^th minute, the Westwood keeper threw the ball out to the right back, Des done some great tracking and nicked the ball off the right back and played a neat ball down the left to Davy McKean, Davy advanced down the line and in to the box evading a few challenges, he got to the bye line and cut the ball back to Des who had made a run in to the box and Des side footed the ball in to the bottom corner to make it 2-0. This then sparked Westwood into life as they came into the game and with their height were throwing balls forward and in to the box but the Harvest defence stood strong and managed to deal with the danger. Westwood did have a couple of decent chances in the first half one of which fell to their big striker but he snatched at his shot from the edge of the area and Shug was able to make the diving save. The game was now evenly contested however since taking a 2 goal lead Westwood did pin Harvest back a bit and this was rewarded when they pulled a goal back in the 28^th minute. Good work down the Westwood right hand side saw the ball fall to their winger and he dinked a ball in to the Harvest area and for the only time in the game the striker slipped his marker and was all alone on the penalty spot and he swivelled and fired the ball in to the bottom corner to make it 2-1. Harvest were then dealt an injury blow when Hammy hobbled off to be replaced by Ants, Harvest kept pressing forward and the pace of the boys up front was causing the Westwood defenders problems and similarly the height of the Westwood strikers meant that the Harvest defence had to be on their toes. Harvest regained their 2 goal advantage just before half time, Smillie floated a free kick right to the back post where Davy McKean got across his defender and leaped to send a looping header toward goal and as the ball came down it dropped behind the keeper and in to the net to make it 3-1. This was the last of the action and the referee blew for half time.

The second half started with Westwood trying to find a way back in to the game and Harvest trying to kill the game off and it was Westwood who passed up the first opportunity when the ball was slipped through to the striker but just as he was about to hit the shot Smillie done a superb job of getting back to block the shot. Harvest then passed up a great chance when Wullie McKenna ran through on goal and despite the attention of the defender got his shot away which the keeper done well to parry and as the ball flew up in the air and fell to Wullie again his first time volley flew just over the bar. Westwood kept pushing forward and did put the Harvest defence under a bit of pressure with a succession of corners but everyone defended brilliantly and the 2 goal lead remained in tact. Harvest then passed up an even better opportunity to put the game to bed when Ants picked up the ball made his way down the right wing and squared the ball to Des in the box, however Des took a touch to steady himself and this allowed the goal keeper time to close him down and in the end Des had his shot blocked. Harvest then made another substitution when Wullie Gillespie came on at right midfield to replace David Anderson. As the game was drawing to a close Westwood had a great opportunity to get back in to the game when a long ball down the right saw the striker roll Hawky and advance in on goal at the angle, the striker saw the white’s of Shug’s eyes but as he fired in a low shot Shug got down well to block the shot and keep Harvest’s 2 goal lead in tact. Westwood then changed their formation to 4-5-1 and the extra man in the midfield was starting to cause Harvest some problems but the whole team got tore in and there was some desperate defending at times but Westwood could not find a way through to goal. John Barr then hobbled off with about 10 minutes to go to be replaced by Matt. Shug was called in to action again in the final minutes when he had to dive to his left to stop a low shot. The final moments of the game were played out in the Westwood half and as Harvest won a corner the referee brought the game to a close with a final score of Westwood BB 1-3 Hamilton Harvest.

Well done today guys a great result and I think over the piece a well deserved victory, I know at times we had to defend for our lives but everyone was solid and we played some really good football especially in the lead up to our goals, you should all be pleased with your performances. Well done to John Barr, Des and Davy McKean who scored the goals and to Davy McKean who was awarded the man of the match award. Enjoy the victory and have a good week, we’ll see you all at training on Wednesday until then God Bless.