MATCH REPORT
Date : 25th August 2023
Opposition : Edinburgh United
Venue : Home
Scorers : None
Booked : Jack Forster, Christian Temple
Sent Off : None
Attendance : 205
Referee : Frazer Bushell
Team Lineup :
Euan Robertson
Rhys Dixon
Craig Heath
Evan Smith
Christian Temple
Ciaran Hatsell
Jack Forster
Jack Cummings
Sam Straughan
Rhys Bloomfield (c)
Michael Robinson
Subs :
Leighton Robertson
Ryan Dunn
Adam Deans
Brad Smith on for Michael Robinson 75 mins
Jake Gibson
Match Report :
Tweedmouth’s prospects of picking up their first point of the season were scuppered by two goals in 90 minutes plus stoppage time.
The teams were evenly matched in the opening 45 minutes with the visitors looking the stronger for much of the second. Even so, disastrous as the two late scores were, the home team was left to regret the failure to probably sew up the points with two costly misses in the final 20 minutes of normal time, one of them after United were reduced to ten men with the dismissal of Calum Henderson for a second yellow card for deliberate handball.
Craig Heath was back in the Tweeedmouth team for the first time since injury in a pre-season game but a number of other players were missing for various reasons including front men CraIg Bell and Jay Atkinson, scorer of two goals the previous week.
There may have been no goals but there was plenty of action in the first 45′ to hold the attention of a decent sized Friday night crowd. Michael Robinson featured in three instances of note, combining early on with Rhys Bloomfield on the left side of the pitch before cutting inside to fire over the bar from just outside the penalty area.
On 26′, after running on to meet another Bloomfield pass, his shot struck an Edinburgh leg to produce the hosts’ first corner. Two minutes later, his own through ball set Sam Straughan towards goal but, with keeper Andrew Smith already beaten, Rangers’ winger was stopped by Kieran Richmond’s exemplary tackle.
Tweedmouth really should have taken the lead ten minutes before the break when Bloomfield’s corner kick reached the unmarked Ciaran Hatsell in front of goal but he headed wide. After taking a pass from Hatsell, it really was a case of bad luck when a powerful long range attempt from Christian Temple shook the metalwork.
United’s Declan Paterson tested Euan Robertson with a ground level effort which Rangers’ keeper initially fumbled before tucking into his chest. Tweedmouth were catching their opponents offside more than the other way round but not so when the city boys launched a quick length of the field counter attack worthy of a better conclusion than Sulaiman Ashraf’s tame bid to find the net.
The second half was just a few minutes old when Robertson saved twice when the referee was unconvinced by Rangers’ shouts for another offside decision. Next, Temple’s clearance kept Edinburgh at bay but it was soon their turn for an inexplicable miss. Almost on the goal line, Euan Donaldson sent Ashraf’s excellent left wing cross skywards.
Rangers’ first glaring miss of the half followed. Robinson’s ball work in the lead up was impressive but it counted for nothing when, with the goal at his mercy, he hit the post. Gamely carrying on after injuring his foot, he was eventually forced to quit. Replacement Brad Smith also missed a sitter after the visiting defence was again cut open, this time the ball ending up beyond the post.
Centre back Jordan Keenan chanced his arm from 40 yards, the ball running just outside one upright, United striking the other on another occasion. Evan Smith was very effective in cutting out the threat posed by the marauding Jack Egan and when he eventually got in a shot, Robertson looked to have ensured a home point by tipping it over the bar. As the match entered overtime, Egan got another chance and fired low into the corner of the net.
The thirty plus young Edinburgh United ‘Ultras’, who had made plenty of noise up to this point, turned up the volume even louder. They hardly had time to calm down when a shellshocked home team conceded again, Nathan Leicester the scorer.