Match reports for 23/8/08

East Kilbride 0
Falkirk GHG 7

Falkirk got their preseason off to a winning start with a comfortable victory at East Kilbride. The visitors got off the mark with an early penalty corner conversion from Michael Watson, and quickly doubled their lead from a Stafford Dickson penalty after Chris Anderson had been fouled. James Moran went close with a reverse stick shot that narrowly missed the top corner, and although East Kilbride countered with a few quick breaks and penalty corners of their own, they were unable to find a way past the Falkirk defence. Richard Grey provided a great opportunity for Falkirk to extend their lead with a diagonal into the box that only required a touch, but skimmed past the far post by inches with the forwards on their heels, and on the stroke of half time, Iain Fraser was denied by a goal line clearance. Despite the half-time lead, Falkirk had only shown glimpses of their best form as they struggled to inject some pace into a game where play was continually being broken down, but a stronger second half performance gave a better indication of what they are capable of. The visitors started to move the ball around the park a lot quicker than they had done in the first half, and as East Kilbride struggled to keep up, gaps appeared. Watson got his second and Falkirk's third from another penalty corner, before Stafford Dickson strode into the box and unleashed a shot past the keeper for his second of the game. Robert Thomson kept his clean sheet with a hat-trick of good saves and Watson, Moran and Grey all saw chances fall the wrong side of the post before Gordon Anderson got number 5 after strong play from Chris Anderson on the right wing. Iain Fraser netted the next goal with a shot from 10 yards into the bottom corner and Sandy Rennie had 3 opportunities to score from the top of the box, but was blocked on each occasion. Falkirk completed the scoring with a quick break after East Kilbride over-committed to attack. Gordon Anderson's long pass found Watson on his own in the EK half, and as the keeper came out, Watson squared to the onrushing Chris Anderson, who was fouled from behind just as he was about to score into an empty net. Dickson converted his second penalty high to the keepers left to complete his hat-trick, and round of a reasonable performance from Falkirk.

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