MATCH REPORT
Date : 5th November 2022
Opposition : Edinburgh South
Venue : Home
Scorers : Craig Bell (2), Drew Cummings
Booked : Kieran Cromarty, Melvin Sebastian, Michael Robinson
Sent Off : None
Attendance : 91
Team Lineup :
Niall Frampton
Kieran Cromarty
Craig Heath
Evan Smith
Rhys Dixon
Melvin Sebastian
Rhys Bloomfield
Drew Cummings
Regan Graham
Craig Bell
Michael Robinson
Subs :
Kyle Wood on for Regan Graham 88 mins
Jay Atkinston on for Craig Bell 81 mins
Jack Forster on for Melvin Sebastian 49 mins
Jordan Crombie
Joao Vieira
Match Report :
Another eventful game between these two teams. When they met in a Cup tie back in August, South came back from 4-0 down to win 5-4. This time, they again came from behind to draw despite finishing the match with only nine men.
FIRST HALF
Tweedmouth opened confidently with some well constructed attacks but were unable to convert any of the chances created. The visitors needed a full 15 minutes to launch their first serious raid on the home goal. Two Rangers men were beaten on the right from where a cross was delivered to Declan Roose, only Kieran Cromarty’s intervention stopping him from shooting.
At this stage, Edinburgh South won a couple of corners. Tweedmouth had to wait another ten minutes for their first but within a jam packed box there was little chance of cashing in on it.
Another good lead up saw Rangers go ahead in the 35th minute. Taking Michael Robinson’s pass from the left, Regan Graham cut inside to feed Craig Bell for a convincing finish.
The visitors almost hit back immediately, Joe Kerr just wide following a free kick, but were soon in trouble again. Goalkeeper Ross Gilpin was sent off for bringing down Bell as he bore down on goal. Outfield player Kieran Fox took over between the posts.
Rangers soon extended their lead. Drew Cummings, Rhys Bloomfield and Robinson all involved before Bell got his foot to Graham’s pass, the experienced Scott Sutherland playing as a trialist at centre half unable to prevent the ball travelling on into the goal.
Exemplifying their fighting spirit, South pulled one back. Stuart Martin was on his own when the ball reached him, again from the right, but he took on three defenders with his silky footwork before potting a slide rule shot low into the net.
SECOND HALF
It took Tweedmouth just three minutes to restore the two goal gap. Robinson was fouled a little outside the penalty area. Cummings sent the free kick over the wall and beyond Fox to make it 3-1. However, as the hosts struggled to reproduce the fluency of the first half, Fox was not seriously troubled again.
Instead, it was home custodian Niall Frampton who went low to turn away another Martin shot. William Scott latched on to the rebound but it came back down off the bar. He didn’t have to wait long though for some success and reduce the home lead back to one goal again.
As and when required, Edinburgh had everyone back bar Scott as they successfully snuffed out Tweedmouth’s efforts to score again. They also went looking for an equaliser. Scott held off defenders before firing wide of the post whilst good positioning by Rhys Dixon in front of goal saw him boot away a threatening cross from the same player.
Twelve minutes from time, Edinburgh lost skipper Jordan Cropley, red carded for ‘foul and abusive language’ after an incident for which home men Cromarty and Bell were shown yellow cards. The further reduction in numbers didn’t stop the Colinton-based team from getting a late third goal to tie the game. Scott was again the scorer, a corner ball dropping off his head into the far corner of the net.
SUMMARY
Edinburgh South would have left Old Shielfield the happier team but the point taken by Tweedmouth extends their unbeaten League run to four games. They have already garnered more points ( 20 ) than in the whole of last season ( 18 ).