Date: 24-Oct-09
Competition: League
Scorers: Davy McKean, Rob Roy (2)
Man of the Match: John Barr
Match Report:

Hamilton Harvest suffered their first defeat in 5 games when they went down to 10 man Victoria Croftfoot on Saturday. Harvest lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Shug in goals, right to left in defence was Omar, Steph, Hammy & Hawky, sitting just in front of the defence was Rab Roy, the midfield four from right to left were Andy, Des, JB & Davy and Paul played up front. Yos, James, William & Aiky started on the bench. The game started and possession was shared as both teams looked for an early goal. Victoria took the lead in the 13^th minute when a cross in to the box was cleared high into the air, as the ball came down on the edge of the Harvest area a Victoria player managed to head the ball in to the path of his striker and he managed to turn and direct his shot beyond Shug in to the far corner. Victoria were then reduced to 10 men in the 25^th minute when their midfielder was sent packing for what the referee judged as a late 2 footed tackle, this clearly enraged the Victoria players and 1 other player was booked for his protests. Harvest came in to the game and were starting to create some chances but were finding difficult against a big Victoria back line. Harvest did get an equalizer in the 35^th minute and what a great goal it was, the ball was played forward to Paul, who done well to hold the ball up on the edge of the 18 yard box, he laid the ball in to the path of Robert Roy who cracked an unstoppable left foot shot high past the keeper in to the top corner to make it 1-1. Harvest grew in confidence after this goal and took the lead in the 40^th minute from the penalty spot, a long ball was played in to the box to JB, but as he tried to bring the ball under control with his chest the Victoria defender barged him in the back and the referee awarded the penalty which Davy dispatched high in to the net to make it 2-1, with no further first half action the referee blew for half time.

The second half started with Harvest trying to increase their lead but it was Victoria who got an equalizer in the 48^th minute when they were awarded a penalty of their own after the referee had adjudged that Steph brought down the Victoria winger inside the box, the player introduced at half time stepped up and fired the penalty low in to the left hand corner of the net. Both teams kept pressing forward looking for a breakthrough but the game became a bit scrappy as it was halted time and time again for fouls committed by both teams. Harvest did grab the lead in the 63^rd minute, the ball was whipped in to the Victoria area, and came of the head of a defender straight to the feet of Rab Roy and once again from a tight angle he fired a fierce shot goal bound which nicked off the head of the same defender and flew past the keeper to make it 3-2 to Harvest. Victoria were dangerous on the break and a few long balls over the top of the Harvest defence were threatening but up until this point Harvest managed to cope well with the tricky Victoria forward. The Victoria forward did get behind the Harvest defence on one occasion when he made it to the bye line but has he cut inside he fired his shot low to Shug’s near post but Shug was well positioned to save the shot. Victoria managed to get themselves back in to the game with another equalizer after Harvest were unable to clear a corner and the ball found its way in to the box and the Victoria striker was able to thrust a foot forward and toe poke the ball past Shug in to the bottom corner to make it 3-3. As the game drew to a close Harvest had a great opportunity to take the lead for the 3^rd time when good work on the edge of the Victoria area saw the a through ball played to Des on the left hand side of the area and his shot beat the keeper but cannoned off the base of the far post and the danger was cleared. Victoria then snatched a winner with only 2 minutes remaining after long hopeful ball was played over the top of the Harvest defence to the feet of the striker and despite Steph’s best efforts the striker took the shot early and fired the ball past Shug in to the net to make it 4-3 to Victoria a snatch the 3 points. Despite their efforts in the last couple of minutes Harvest were unable to get an equalizer as Victoria done a good job of keeping the ball in the corner and the final whistle was blown.

Unlucky today guys, it was hard at times and I think we done well against a good organized team. What had to be said was said in the dressing room and is not for this report but we’ve got to be stronger in the tackle and stop giving the ball away too cheaply. Heads up guys as Hammy said he couldn’t ask for anymore in the terms of efforts, let’s learn from this and take what we’ve learned in to next weeks game. There should be no embarrassment in that defeat today Victoria have only lost one league game this season and there won’t be many teams will give them a game the way we did.