Match Reports 2008/09
22/11/08 St. Mary's 3 Shawbridge 2 SSMFL Division 1 Hamilton Palace
St. Mary's beat Shawbridge 3-2 on Saturday at Hamilton Palace to move up to 2nd place in the table behind the impressive NC United who hammered Forest 7-0. It's the same position the two teams finished the 2nd Division last season and it just goes to show the standard coming into the 1st Division is getting better and better. Shaws 1st league defeat in 4 saw them drop 1 place to 7th in a game where they really should have taken something. Credit to St.Mary's who came out the blocks rapidly looking to make up for the two heavy defeats sustained by the Shaws, 6-0 and 5-0 respectively, and they started by far the better side. They looked well up for it, winning 1st and 2nd balls all over the pitch. They were also breaking with pace causing us real problems. St. Mary's got their rewards early on when a slack clearance from skipper Archie Bryce fell to Mark Tait 25 yards out. The St. Mary's forward, who had an excellent game, let rip leaving Pidge with no chance. Shawbridge started to claw their way back as the game wore on and probably finished the 1st half the stronger of the two teams. Strikers Paul Atkin and Barry Scally both had decent chances to level but failed to hit the target. More desire was required in the 2nd half and thats what we got but following a slack pass by David Cole the Shaws were hit with a sucker punch and were 2 down. This seemed to be the kick up the backside we needed as from this point on the Shaws dominated the match. Our movement improved dramatically and we were causing St. Mary's all sorts of problems. Barry scally got on the end of a sublime Stevie Scott through ball to make it 2-1. Then with 15 minutes left, following a long throw by Willie Allison, Andy Murray ghosted in at the back post to score his 1st of the season and make it 2-2. It looked as though there was only going to be one winner but with a few minutes to go St. Mary's snatched the 3 points. Some slack play on the right allowed the ball to be played into the centre and with the Shaws defence unable to clear the St.Mary's player had all the time in the world to pick his spot from 6 yards out. St. Mary's held on for the win for and a valuable 3 points. It was a sore one to take as we certainly deserved something from the match. We seemed to get punished for every mistake we made on Saturday but thats football sometimes and you have to give St. Mary's credit. I believe if we had started the game the way we started the 2nd half it would have been a different story, however it's all "if's and Buts" really! We must take heart from the way we played in the 2nd half on Saturday and be looking to take THAT sort of performance into Saturday's very difficult match against an on form Greenhills Dynamo.
08/11/08 Shawbridge 5 Grennbank United 2 SSMFL Division 1 Hamilton Palace
Shawbridge made it 3 wins from 3 following their 5-2 win over Greenbank Utd. at Hamilton Palace on Saturday. The win moved the Shaws up to 5th in the table. A hat-trick from the excellent Barry Scally was added to by skipper Archie Bryce and David Cole to secure the points. Big Barry has returned to form in the last few weeks and his attitude is a reflection of that. His 3rd goal was a peach of a strike on the left foot from the edge of the box........vintage. Not to be outdone, captain Archie Bryce scored an over-head kick, his 2nd in 2 seasons! He didn't connect as sweetly as last seasons against Greenhills at the Murray but it was a quality finish none the less. Cole "the goal" popped up to seal the win late on with a trademark run and finsh. We could have scored more but Greenbank had their chances too. At 4-2 their big striker missed a sitter from 4 yards out following an excellent corner from the left. That could have changed the game as there was still 10 minutes left. Greenbank's delivery from corners and set pieces was excellent. Each one carried a threat as they were hitting dangerous areas with pace and whip. Overall, it was a well deserved win with good attacking play from the Shaws. We played some of our best attacking football of the season on Saturday so hopefully we can build on that. We looked vulnerable from corners and set-pieces but I think that was mostly due to the quality of the delivery from Greenbank. It is the only goal we have lost from a corner this season as we are normally disciplined at defending them. Special mention to stand in keeper Kevin Tait who had a very good game, making a few good saves and looking assured. Hopefully we can make itn 4 from 4 when we resume league duty!
