Date: 08-Aug-09
Competition: Friendly
Scorers: James McKean (2), William McKean, Robert Roy
Man of the Match: Brian Hamilton
Match Report:
Hamilton Harvest took on EK Claremont in their third pre-season friendly on Saturday, with several 1^st team players missing Harvest had to bring in some fringe players for this game. Harvest lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Shug in goals, right to left in defence was Mick, Lairdy, Hammy & Hawky, right to left in midfield was John, Paul, Rab & Sandy with William and Gibby leading the attack, Steph, James & Jim started the game on the bench.
Harvest started the brighter as the took the game to the visitors as they looked for an early goal but despite having the majority of possession they couldn’t find a killer pass and at times the final ball was poor. EK Claremont took the lead against the run of play midway through the first half when the ball was knocked over the top of the Harvest defence down the left, the right winger picked the ball up and drove towards goal and his shot squirmed under the body of Shug at the near post to make it 1-0. Harvest kept pressing forward and a good run from John saw him brought down outside the box, he dusted himself down and crashed the resulting free kick of the outside of the post. Harvest did get an equalizer and it was well worth the wait, James had came on from the bench and slotted in to right midfield, he picked the ball up on the right came inside and curled a delightful left foot shot in to the top left hand corner of the net from 20 yards to make it 1-1. Harvest continued to press forward and were completely dominating the game and had a glorious chance to take the lead when John swung in a deep cross straight to the head of Paul at the back post the header was goal bound but the EK keeper made a fantastic save to knock the ball over the bar. EK Claremont did have 1 other opportunity at the end of the first half when their midfielder ran at the defence and from 20 yards fired his shot at goal but Shug got across to palm the ball away, with no further action both teams went in level at the break.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with Harvest pressing forward but a combination of good defending and poor finishing kept the score at 1-1. With their first attack of the second half and only their third of the game EK Claremont snatched the lead, the Harvest defence was on the half way line when the ball was given away in the centre circle and the attempt to stop the midfielder as he picked up the ball also failed and he ran through one on one with Shug and slammed his shot high in to the net to make it 2-1. EK Claremont then snatched another goal a couple of minutes later when again a poor pass out of defence went straight to their midfield and a quick pass saw the EK Claremont forward bare down on goal and as Shug came out he toe-poked his shot in to the far corner of the net to make it 3-1. Despite this Harvest continued to press forward and the EK defence and keeper had to be on their toes to keep the score down, chance upon chance came and went without any reward as Harvest looked to get back in to the game. Harvest then passed up a gilt edge chance, good work by John saw him square the ball to Paul but he could only fire the ball over the bar from 8 yards out. Harvest then had another chance to score when good work by William saw him hit the bye line and cut the ball back to John on the edge of the six yard line but somehow the keeper managed to block John’s effort with his legs. With 10 minutes remaining Harvest did pull a goal back and it was another screamer from James, he picked the ball up about 25 yards from goal and fired another shot towards the top right hand corner and despite the keeper getting a touch to it he couldn’t keep it out. Harvest kicked on from this and scored and equalizer 5 minutes from time when Gibby played William in with a neat through pass and William fired his shot under the keeper and in of the near post to make it 3-3. Harvest continued to press forward looking for the winner that their chances and possession deserved and it came in the final minute, good work by Gibby on the Harvest right resulted in him getting to the bye line and he fired the ball across the face of goal and Rab had made up the ground to tap the ball in at the back post to make it 4-3. With only a minute remaining Harvest passed the ball about and the referee blew the final whistle to bring the game to a close.
Well done today guys a good victory and one which I think we deserved considering our possession and the amount of chances we created, going forward we need to be more ruthless in front of goal as our missed chances nearly cost us a win today. Well done to William, James and Rab who got their names on the score sheet and to Hammy who was awarded the man of the match award. Thanks to all the guys who turned up today to help us out it’s very much appreciated and I hope you all enjoyed the game.