Match reports for 1/3/08

St Andrews University 0
Falkirk GHG 2

After a superb performance to defeat the league leaders last Saturday, Falkirk struggled to string two passes together at times this week in a poor match at St Andrews. In an uneventful first half where the visitors failed to get a single shot on target, the most notable contribution was from Robert Thomson, as the Falkirk keeper pulled of a fine block to keep his goal intact after a quick Uni Break. After a frank team talk and subtle tactical change, Falkirk's second half performance was better, nowhere near the standard of previous weeks, but on this occasion, good enough. The visitors started to create chances around the St Andrews goal, Douglas Nicol shooting narrowly wide from the top of the box, and defensively they were a lot stronger, restricting the students in the middle of the park, and preventing quick breaks against the back line. Falkirk eventually broke the deadlock when Gordon Anderson and Douglas Nicol worked the ball into space from a corner, and Anderson's cross from the left was deftly deflected past the diving keeper and high into the net by Michael Watson. The visitors doubled their lead 4 minutes later, when Stafford Dickson slammed home his eighth goal of the season from a penalty corner that hadn't gone quite to plan. The students were understandably frustrated at being behind given the amount of possession they had, but an excellent defensive performance from Falkirk prevented them turning pressure into clear chances, as time and again the visitors cleared their lines. The one occasion the students did get a clear sight of goal was from penalty corner, but once again Thomson made a good save to deny them. St Andrew's annoyance at their inability to penetrate the Falkirk defence started to manifest itself in challenges that were getting made after the ball had already moved on, and despite a warning after the first handful, continued late challenges finally raised comment from the visitors. It was unfortunate that it was at this point the umpire decided to take action, although ignoring the late challenge and focusing on the dissent penalised Falkirk twice, as they found themselves down to 10 men, had play pulled back 50 yards from a position where they were about to score with a 2 v 1 on the edge of the box, all because one of their players had been on the receiving end of a late tackle. Despite the numerical advantage, St Andrews were still unable to find a way to Thomson's goal, and Falkirk hung on to keep the clean sheet and three points.

Falkirk GHG III 1
Carnegie IV 0

In recent years Falkirk’s 3rd XI and Carnegie’s 4th XI encounters have always followed the same pattern- both teams winning their respective home ties. This trend looked on course to continue with Falkirk having been beaten in Rosyth earlier in the season but going into their home tie in excellent form. With only one defeat and four straight wins in the month of February, Falkirks 3rd XI were in confident mood. They fielded almost the same side that had beaten Inverleith the previous week, with only Ross Anderson dropping out to be replaced by Dougie Smith. As the first half got underway, Falkirk seemed to start the quicker of the two sides, with the front two of Gibney and Jeffrey combining well early on. A magnificent through ball from Gibney was collected by Jeffrey, who looked to nip the ball under the advancing goalkeeper, but the Carnegie player was lively and got down to save well at his feet. Iain Cameron was next to test the goalkeeper, when he met an Alan McDonald cut back first time, but the Carnegie keeper was again quick to get down and block the shot. Falkirk were looking the livelier of the two sides in the early exchanges but it wasn’t long until Carnegie were to lift their game and the defensive line of Macdonald, Smith, McNeill and Morley were doing a fine job in preventing Carnegie from finding any space in the home sides D. Towards the end of the first half Falkirk took a deserved lead with Gibney and Jeffrey again combining. When the ball broke to young Jeffrey he played a slide-rule pass behind the Carnegie defence and into the path of Gibney. Gibney’s first touch rounded the Carnegie goalkeeper and his second flicked the ball into the bottom corner of the goal to give Falkirk the lead. On the stroke of half-time Craig Malcolm was required to make an excellent stop at a penalty corner. Defending a single goal lead is not something that Falkirk GHG Hockey Club are particularly successful at. Playing into the howling winds in the second half was always going to make this defensive job even more difficult. From early in the half, Falkirk set out their stall to make it difficult for Carnegie, whilst always looking for the pace of McDonald and Jeffrey from a quick attack. Carnegie immediately lifted their game and came out attacking. They were met by a Falkirk defence who were playing extremely solidly and were helped out by strong midfield tackling from ever-willing Chris Dyer and his midfield colleagues Alan McDonald and Ross Dickson. Ewan Jeffrey almost ensured a win for the home side, when a well worked penalty corner found its way to him, but he was to see his shot well saved. Carnegie’s striker then broke up field going on powerful run before firing a seemingly unstoppable shot towards the goals, but lady luck seemed to shine on Falkirk when the ball pinged of the inside of the post and landed safely at the feet of the Falkirk defender. In the dying seconds Carnegie attacks seem to be as frequent as waves in the sea, but Malcolm in goals and his well organised defence managed to hold out to prevent Carnegie scoring. This game of hockey was certainly not one for the purists. The gritty determination of the Falkirk side, who game everything they had, ensured that they went on to their 5th successive victory, which now arithmetically ensures they are safe from relegation and will be playing division two hockey next season.

[Home Page] [Results Page]