Date: 06-Sep-08
Competition: League
Scorers: William McKean (2), Paul Rollo (2)
Man of the Match: Brian Hamilton
Match Report:

Last years league winners Avendale were the visitors at the Palace grounds on Saturday and took all 3 points after running out 7-4 winners. Harvest lined up in the usual 4-4-2 formation with Shug in goals, right to left in defence was Daryl, Hammy, Gizzy & Aiky, right to left in midfield was Shanksy, Paul, Davy & Hawky and up front was William and Alex. Muggy & Gareth started on the bench.

Avendale took the lead after they won a free kick about 25 yards from goal, the Avendale midfielder stepped up and fired the free kick low and hard past the wall and under Shug in to the goal. Harvest then got a grip of the game and quickly equalized when a long ball in to the Avendale box was head flicked on by Paul and William quickly latched on to the loose ball to lift it over the keeper and in to the net. Harvest were now in the ascendancy and took the lead when Hawky flighted in a lovely ball from a corner right to the back post and Paul rose unchallenged to head the ball in to the net. Avendale were still dangerous on the break and a through ball from midfield was chased down by the Avendale striker but Shug was quick from his goal to clear the danger. Another through ball by Avendale had split the harvest defence but once again Shug was quick from his goal and as the striker hit the shot Shug got down well to block with his feet.

Harvest then increased their lead when they won a free kick and Paul stepped up to fire a fierce shot at goal, the ball took a slight deflection on its way in and the keeper was helpless to prevent the goal. No further goal mouth action saw Harvest go in 3-1 up at the break.

From the 2^nd half kick off Harvest had a glorious chance to increase their lead further when a good run from Davy found him in the box with only the keeper to beat, as he shot at goal the ball trickled towards the line and was just about to creep by the post, Alex tried desperately to get on the end of the ball but as he stretched his shot came back off the post and the danger was cleared. Avendale then got themselves back in to the game when an Avendale player nicked the ball from Gizzy in the corner was allowed to turn and fire a cross to the back post where a team mate was waiting to head the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. Avendale were lifted by this and equalized when a long ball played forward was allowed to bounce, Daryl tried to head the ball back to Shug but the header was short and this allowed the Avendale striker to fire a shot low past Shug in to the net, from 3-1 up Harvest had once again shot themselves in the foot by giving away cheap goals. Avendale were now showing why they were league champions last year by getting the ball down and playing some nice football.

Avendale then took the lead when another through ball from left to right caught the defence flat and presented the winger with a clear run on goal, a Shug came out to narrow the angle the winger fired the shot low in to the net, from 3-1 down Avendale were now 4-3 up. Harvest were still playing some good football and equalized when a ball in to the box was falling to William in an attempt to get the ball the defender barged William in the back and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, William picked himself up and dispatched the penalty in to the bottom left hand corner. A topsy turvy game was now level and any team could have went on to win, unfortunately for Harvest it was Avendale who were to regain the lead with a little help from the referee. There was no danger as the ball was picked up in the centre circle as the pass was made the referee got in the way and the ball deflected off of the ref’s heel straight in to the path of the Avendale striker giving him a clear run at goal and he made no mistake as he dispatched his shot in to the net. Avendale then scored a 6^th goal when another through ball split the defence and left Shug exposed as the striker was once again 1 on 1, another clinical finish from the striker made it 6-4. Harvest were still trying to get back in to the game and did play some nice football but the Avendale defence & keeper weren’t troubled as most of the moves broke down before any damage could be done. Avendale then completed the scoring with 5 minutes to go when a free kick was fired over the wall and despite Shug getting a hand to the ball he couldn’t prevent it going in.

This was certainly a game of two halves, after a good solid performance and controlling the 1^st half, Harvest pressed the self destruct button in the 2^nd half and allowed Avendale to play football. Guys we know what we need to do in future games, everything that needed to be said was said in the dressing room afterwards, lets forget about this week and pick ourselves up for next week and hopefully we can start putting more points on the board soon.