MATCH REPORT
Date : 13th April 2024
Opposition : Edinburgh College
Venue : Home
Scorers : None
Booked : Ross Aitchison, Rhys Dixon, Rhys Bloomfield
Sent Off : Sam Straughan
Attendance : 32
Referee : Callum McDonald
Team Lineup :
Ryan Dunn
Brad Smith
Rhys Dixon
Ross Aitchison
Christian Temple
Riley Lightfoot
Griffin Sabatini
TJ Adebayo
Craig Bell
Sam Straughan
Rhys Bloomfield (c)
Subs :
Niall Frampton
Jake Gibson on for Brad Smith 71 mins
Jay Baverstock
Leighton Robertson
Gary Robertson on for TJ Adebayo 62 mins
Match Report :
Kicking off without several regulars, Tweedmouth suffered a further player loss when Sam Straughan was shown a straight red for his part in an altercation with a College player a few minutes from half time.
For the second week running, there was a strong wind blowing, especially in the first half during which there was also a burst of heavy rain with which the players had to contend. For most of this period, Tweedmouth gave as good as they got, neither side yet able to stamp its authority on the game.
Edinburgh had a shot cleared off the line. As Ross Aitchison awaited any slip up, College keeper Matthew Robertson lunged forward to fist away a free kick from Aitchison’s centre back partner for the afternoon, Rhys Dixon. Ten minutes apart, Riley Lightfoot and Rhys Bloomfield each sought to utilise the wind with shots but to no avail.
Andrew Dempster needed no such help with a beautifully struck 35th minute ball which gave keeper Ryan Dunn no chance as it landed in the bottom left corner of the net.
The College threatened to score straight from the second half kick off but were prevented from doing so by Dunn coming out to block Max Snedden’s shot and then home player of the match Aitchison kicking the ball away from the danger zone.
The visitors’ next two goals both stemmed from errors made as Tweedmouth attempted to bring the ball out of defence. Dempster claimed his second on 50 minutes with Blair Ramage making it 3-0 twenty minutes later.
Though the wind had somewhat eased, the College made the extra man count, consolidating their grip on the second half when Iain Laver headed in a cross from the left wing.
A last gasp home consolation looked possible when the College goalkeeper was troubled by a corner ball but managed to drop on it before Christian Temple could stab it over the line.
Tweedmouth now face two crunch games against teams below them in the table as they bid to avoid relegation. First up is a visit to Edinburgh United next Saturday, April 20th, followed by a trip to Ormiston Primrose the following Tuesday, April 23rd, a side with a staggering five games in hand due to multiple postponements during the course of the season.