Date: 26-Sep-09
Competition: Umbro Fraser Trophy Rd 1
Scorers: Alex Dick, Davy McKean, Andy Toner, James McKean (3)
Man of the Match: Stephen McDermott
Match Report:
Hamilton Harvest advanced in to the second round of the Umbro Fraser Trophy at the expense of Anniesland on Saturday. Harvest lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with Shug in goals, left to right in defence was Hawky, Omar, Steph & Davy, in the midfield Rab sat just in front of the defence with Paul & John Barr in the centre in what was a midfield triangle, wide left was Des, wide right was Andy and Kyle was up front, Yos & James started on the bench. Harvest started the brighter of the 2 teams and got the ball down and played some neat football, Harvest carved out the first opportunity within the first couple of minutes when Paul picked the ball up midway inside the Anniesland half and played a great through ball out to the right to Andy but his fierce shot was parried by the Anniesland goalkeeper. Harvest then had another opportunity to grab the lead when again Paul picked the ball up in midfield and was allowed to advance unchallenged but again the keeper was equal to the shot and turned Paul’s effort round the post. Harvest were dominating play at this stage but despite the possession the score remained level and it was Anniesland who took the lead in the 16^th minute against the run of play. A long ball out of defence fell over the head of Omar and as he tried to shepherd the ball back to Shug the Anniesland striker got the break of the ball and lashed his shot high into the net to make it 1-0. Harvest didn’t let their heads go down and grabbed an equalizer almost immediately when Des picked up the ball on the Harvest left, he cut inside and was unchallenged as he advanced to the edge of the area and fired in what looked like a tame shot but the Anniesland keeper somehow managed to let the ball slip through him and the ball ended up in the net to make it 1-1. Harvest continued to dominate possession, were playing some neat passing football and controlling the pace of the game. It wasn’t long before Harvest took a deserved lead in the 30^th minute, Davy picked up the ball just inside the Harvest half on the right and strode forward, skipping past a few challenges he advanced in to the penalty area where the Anniesland defender came across and took him out of the game and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, Davy picked himself up and lashed the penalty high in to the net to make it 2-1. Anniesland did manage to carve out a few opportunities in the first half but apart from the goal none of the other efforts really tested Shug in the Harvest goal and the score remained the same until half time.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with Harvest taking the game to their hosts as they looked to kill of the tie, but despite the possession Harvest were unable to add to their lead, a few half chance came and went but nothing that really bothered the Anniesland goalkeeper. Just like the fist half Anniesland grabbed a goal and the equalizer against the run of play, once again a hopeful ball forward caused a mix up between the Harvest’s central defenders and when the ball broke of the knee of an Anniesland striker he was presented with a shot on goal, his first shot was blocked brilliantly by Shug but he managed to get to the rebound and fire the ball past the despairing dive of Shug and the player on the goal line to make the score 2-2. Anniesland were lifted by the goal and maybe Harvest were a wee bit deflated after dominating so much of the play and Anniesland started to come in to the game a bit more and had Harvest on the back foot at times. Anniesland could have snatched the lead when a cross from the Harvest left travelled all the way to the back post but the striker’s header went straight in to the arms of Shug. Harvest continued to press forward and regained the lead in the 65^th minute, Hawky who had advanced from left back picked up a loose ball on the Harvest left and swung a delightful cross in to the Anniesland box which was met by the head of Andy Toner who had done brilliantly to get across the front of the defender and Andy’s header flew past the keeper to make it 3-2. Harvest then made a change when James came on to replace Kyle up front and he had an immediate impact as he increased Harvest’s lead in the 73^rd minute. The ball was knocked forward to James, he managed to flick the ball over the defenders head and turn and shoot at goal, the keeper could only parry the shot backwards and was unable to prevent the ball dropping in to the net. The 4^th goal had knocked the wind out of the Anniesland sails and Harvest were able to make another change without 2 much disruption to the team, when Yos came on to replace Paul. Harvest increased their lead even further in the 80^th minute with what was a well worked goal, The ball was played in to James on the edge of the Anniesland area, he held of the defender and played a neat reverse pass to Des on the right of the Anniesland penalty area, Des immediately returned the ball to James with a square pass and in doing so took the keeper out of the game and James had the easy task of slotting the ball in to the net from 10 yards to make the score 5-2. As the game drew to a close Harvest did manage another goal in the 85^th minute when they were awarded another penalty after Rob Roy was fouled in the box, this gave James an opportunity to complete his hat-trick and he made no mistake from the spot as he fired the penalty his in to the right hand corner of the net to make it 6-2. Yos then had a great opportunity to make it 7 in the dying minutes but his left foot shot whizzed past the keeper and the far post. That was the last action of the game and the referee blew the final whistle with a final score of Anniesland 2-6 Hamilton Harvest.
Well done today guys a great victory and everyone should take credit for what was a great performance. Well done to Alex, Davy, Andy & James who got their names on the score sheet, especially James who came of the bench with 25 minutes remaining to complete a hat-trick. Well done to Steph as well who was awarded the man of the match award by his fellow team mates, the big man done great against some very difficult and big opponents. Our reward in the next round is a home tie against Ruchill. Well done again lads lets take this good performance in to next week’s league game.