Relief
We approached this one looking for revenge following a ridiculous 5-0 battering a few weeks back, and with thoughts of a champions league 4th qualifying position in mind. The hot weather suited our carnival football style, and we had a strong squad out, plus they had only 10 men. Everything pointed to an Atholl 3 points. That is until they scored within 5 minutes of the kick off. I'm not sure exactly what happened but clearly we were still more concerned with our tans than defending and found ourselves a goal down. A deserved berating from the gaffer and others followed, had the desired effect, and Atholl got into gear.
Chris and Hardie offered effective target men as usual, Dennis was lively down the right, as was Dave B down the left, in spite of a skinful of Irish cheer from the night before. Our central midfield of Popey and Strats began to assert its superiority. Some useful chances were created, but alas Atholl preferred to save it for an exciting big finish.
As the game continued it was one way traffic. Beyond the first 15 minutes, our defence put in a solid, efficient performance, snuffing out their admittedly weakened but still dangerous attack. Our central defence of Atholl legends Pete and Damon is looking increasingly effective, and Ben made strides on his comeback to first team action from injury. He made way for James on the hour who took a place up front.
When a Milton handball won us a penalty, it looked to be the beginning of the inevitable comeback. Who would take this key spotkick? top scorer Speirs? set piece specialist Dave? Or perhaps Dennis, fresh with the Pope's blessing? Before any of these questions had been addressed, keeper Stu had motored the length of the pitch and smashed a superb conversion over the bar. Milton didn't know what was going on, and perhaps that is why their defender opted to place a splendid header into his own net with about 15 to play. That gave us the belief that it wasn't going to be 'one of those days' and shortly after, Dave Stratton showed battling persistence, and then composure to slot in the winner following a nice flick on by Chris.
A solid performance, the champions league dream still alive, and an enticing clash with thieving slags West End to come. Come on Atholl!
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Atholl 1965 FC Vs Clissold Park
04 September 2010
Scrubs
Meeting Point:
|
West End 0-6 Atholl 1965 FC
Sat May 22, 13.30pm |
| Pos |
Team |
Pld |
GD |
Pts |
| 4 |
Milton Rov |
14 |
-5 |
19 |
| 5 |
Iranian As |
14 |
-11 |
17 |
| 6 |
Atholl 196 |
14 |
-19 |
16 |
| 7 |
Northern T |
14 |
-10 |
15 |
| 8 |
Olympic Wa |
14 |
-15 |
10 |
 |
