Written by Andy Malliff, Saturday 10th September 2011.
The St. Andrew's side has not looked this good for sometime! With fresh faces and under the watchful eye of new coach Fraser McLachlan, the team put in a performance that ended in a comfortable win.
The game got off to a good start, both teams in good spirit and excited by the prospect of a new season. For the first few minutes, it was all St. Andrew's and the pressure the team applied resulted in a couple of good opportunities and then three corners on the trot. Each of them was tentatively seen behind by the St. Joseph's defence. On the 10 minute mark, Andy Malliff whipped the ball in for the third time and Liam Rackstraw managed to get a head on, but couldn't direct it towards goal, only straight up in the air. Scott Chapman seized the opportunity and headed the ball over the now stranded keeper and into the back of the net. St. Joseph's 0 -1 St. Andrew's.
St. Andrew's continued to apply the pressure for another 10 minutes, completely dominating possession, but with no reward. As the pace of the game slowed down, St. Jospeh's came into it a little more, but failed to create a single chance when they did have the ball. St. Andrew's continued to have pressure around the area without creating a clear-cut chance, despite the opposition looking very frail at corners. With 30 minutes now on the clock, Charlie Whitfield received the ball at left back and played it into Fraser McLachlan in the middle of the park. Fraser played the ball along the ground into the feet of Andy Malliff, who moved with the ball down the left side of the pitch, with nowhere to go and faced with two defenders in front of him he moved the ball inside to Scott Chapman. Still 30 yards out, Scott took one touch to move it out of his feet and then uted the perfect lobbed shot, leaving the keeper stranded as the ball went into the back of the net. St. Joseph's 0 - 2 St. Andrew's.
No more than 5 minutes later, the St. Andrew's dominance had it's first hiccup as there was confusion between defensive midfield, centre backs and keeper. With no danger at all and comfortably in possession in the middle of the park, the ball was moved back towards the defence in order to re-group, relax and get some space. Unfortunately, at the same time came a catastrophic communication break down, where everyone seemed to leave the ball for everyone else, except the St. Jospeh's striker who ran in and with a single touch, poked the ball along the ground and into Martin Officer's net from 25 yards out. It was a shame, as Josh Caine and Liam, at the back, had started some beautiful moves off and had been so comfortable playing the ball along the defensive line. St. Joseph's 1 -2 St. Andrew's.
Half-time came shortly after and teams went in to workout the second half's plan of attack.
St. Jospeh's came out very positive, but it was no more than a minute before St. Andrew's settled into their groove again, moving the ball around freely and maintaining possession. With Jake Robbins continuing to cause trouble down the right and maintaining possession well, St. Andrew's began to attack down the flank. Jake pushed the ball into the path of Andy Malliff on the corner of the 18 yard box, who was then wiped out by one of the St. Joseph's midfielders. Free kick was given and as it was a bit too close and not straight enough for Scotty to drive one toward goal, Andy stepped up to have a go on goal with his left foot. With the wall prepared and both teams waiting, Andy curled his shot into the far top corner, leaving the keeper standing there watching. St. Joseph's 1 -3 St. Andrew's.
Only two minutes passed and St. Jospeh's were back in the action again. Their one-dimensional approach of launching the ball forward from the back was being comfortably dealt with by the St. Andrew's defence, until there was the second mix-up of the afternoon. With the ball bouncing around, begging for either an attacker or defender to put their foot through it, it was St. Jospeh's who duly oblieged and manage to direct the ball towards goal, with just enough pace and just far enough away from the grasp of Martin Officer, for it to limp across the line. St. Joseph's 2 -3 St. Andrew's.
With just 50 minutes on the clock, the second half had already been dramatic enough, but St. Joseph's had obviously been watching the first half defensive mistake of St. Andrew's and decided to give it a go themselves. As Dave Sheppard played the ball in from midfield towards the attackers, their defense failed to deal with it properly, only guiding it into the path of Max Britton, who in identical style to the first half St. Joseph's strike, poked the ball along the ground to the left of the keeper, from 25 yards out, and into the back of the net. St. Joseph's 2 -4 St. Andrew's.
With the breathing space back, St. Andrew's continued to dominate possession, often keeping the ball for long periods of time. When new additions Alex Churn and Hugh Lynch came on, the team managed to create a handful of very decent chances, without converting one, though coming very close on at least two more occasions. With the fresh legs of both of them, and Zach Keenan too, who came on for the last 10 minutes, St. Andrew's held the ball consistently until the final whistle.
It was a game played in fantastic spirit and was a great start for the St. Andrew's team. Even with a couple of areas that could be improved on, it was a very promising start to the season.
