Match reports for 8/4/06

InveRoss 0
Falkirk GHG 2

After waiting 6 months for a victory, Falkirk managed to get their 2nd win in a row at the weekend, earning their first away points and clean sheet of the season, and lifting them off the bottom of the league. This was a good team performance built on a solid defence that restricted Inveross to 3 shots on goal, no penalty corners, and had Robert Thomson failing to get a touch of the ball for the whole 70 minutes. Falkirk should have opened the scoring in the first half, but Stafford Dickson's flick narrowly missed the near post, before Michael Watson had a shot easily saved by the home keeper. Although Inveross had a fair amount of possession, they were unable to create any clear chances. Douglas Nicol was in perpetual motion in the Falkirk midfield, and aided by Craig Gove and Arthur Robertson, they put the brakes on a number of Inveross attacks, quickly countering to put pressure on the home side. The biggest surprise of the first half was that it remained goalless, but as this trend continued deep into the second half, the visitors started to get a bit anxious. Inveross almost snatched the lead in 55 minutes, but the lob went over Thomson and the crossbar. A pass from Dickson into the box was helped towards the far post by Watson, but was kept out by the toes of the home keeper, who had to make another sharp save after Douglas Nicol surged into the box, and set up Watson for a snap shot that was headed for the inside of the near post. With time running out, Falkirk finally made the breakthrough with under 4 minutes remaining. Arthur Robertson's ball found Chris Anderson virtually on the byeline, and he swept home from a near impossible angle. Within a minute the points were safe, as the bad luck that Falkirk experienced in the first half of the season started to level itself out. Craig Gove's pass appeared to be on it's way between Watson and the home keeper, but a despairing touch from a defender took it away from all of them, and onto the stick of Anderson who netted from a yard.

Inverleith B 1
Falkirk GHG III 1

The 3rd XI faced Inverleith B in this last league fixture of the season. After results last weekend, the Falkirk side knew they needed a win in this game to win the league, or a draw to be promoted to East Division 1.However, they faced a tough game against Inverleith who needed to win to remain in the division. Falkirk started the game sharply but couldn’t make a breakthrough against a packed defence. Gibney and Callahan both came close but couldn’t find the elusive first goal to calm nerves. Paul Paton came closest to opening the scoring when his goal bound short corner effort was deflected past the post by a foot. However, from a quick break Inverleith took the lead, scoring a scrappy goal, which eluded both the Falkirk goalkeeper and defender and found its way into the net. Falkirk looked to get back into the game and great play by Davie Gallagher won them a foul just outside the D and from the resulting hit, the powerful ball in was met by the stick of John Russell who guided it home to equalise for the visitors. The second half was all Falkirk’s attacking possession. Iain Cameron came close to scoring on two occasions and Ross Drummond was unlucky when his near post short narrowly missed the target. At the other end it Craig Malcolm in goal produced two top drawer saves from short corners to prevent further scoring. Outgoing captain Scott McNeill would like to thank everyone who has played and umpired for the 3rd XI during his tenure as captain.

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