Sluggish start, definitely not on out toes today midfield and defence. We allowed them to have the ball, not enough intelligence lacking in football majority of the first half. Going down 2-0 inside half an hour but creating opportunities from set-pieces but not really using the width of the park. A difficult shift for players in centre of midfield especially winning & maintaining the ball. Good work down our left hand side of the park with a through ball by Zander McGhee which found Alistair Lannigan in space who took a shot which managed to find it's way into the net off the defender to make it 2-1. Giving us a little more drive, a hard working James James McGhee chasing down the ball into the box was fouled which the ref decided was a penalty which Lee Knox cooly finished to equalise 2-2 just before half time. An altercation in the middle of the park caused people to switch off allowing them to take a 3-2 lead at half-time. One change was made with Lanny being replaced by Steven Steven Hamill. We never really settled on the ball but still created opportunities, a free-kick just outside the left hand side of the box after Knoxy was fouled which Gary rifled into the top right hand corner to make it 3-3, a great finish! They broke through into box, ref decided it was a penalty and Michael Patton was unfairly sent off after a soft decision considering the ball was in Chrissy hands and the boy was already going down after the initial exchange with Robert Hughes; they scored resultant penalty to make it 4-3. After going down to ten men Marcus came on and Dean Small was replaced to restore the back 3. Woodpecker were finding more of the ball and after Marcus MacFarlane took one for the team in the box,Christopher Kelly made a great save. They made it 5-3 after finding space but another substitution a tired James being replaced by Gistel Bjorn which didn't take long to make it 5-4 with a finish to right hand-side outside the 6 yard box. The desire was there for an equaliser and if it wasn't for their defender on the line it would of happened and just in the dying seconds Gistel was through on goal and the referee blew his whistle.
A frustrating afternoon considering how well we have been playing football. We didn't look sharp, no urgency at all with play, no quick passing reluctance to play on the deck in comparison to pre-season. One positive is the fight back mentality going behind twice but still fighting for the result. Cleland on Thursday, everyone will need to be up for the game, we played better football on heavier park and I know each and every one of you can do so much better.
