14th April 2007 - Round 1: Scotch vs. Pembroke

A result - Scotch 0 vs Pembroke 5 B result - Scotch 0 vs Pembroke 4 A's game summary A tough 1st match played against last year's A1 3rd place-getters meant that we were down early in the match before really finding our feet. Defensive mistakes by Scotch were punished with aplomb by the Pembroke attack, with a couple of diagonal passes splitting our last line and leaving first-time keeper Lachlan Ravescroft with some tough 1-on-1s with a particularly skilled Pembroke striker. This was compounded by our general disarray, with players neither providing options off the ball nor looking for them on the ball. It wasn't until 2/3 of the way through the 2nd half that we started holding possession and stringing passes together. Despite being down 0-4 at half time, it was a different side which fronted Pembroke for the second 45 minutes. Play was distributed more evenly and we used Mitris and Geordie much better down the wings. We still struggled to put boot to ball in the Pembroke area; Fergie being the only player to post a shot on-target for the length of the match. In the end, Pembroke did well to hold us to nil - Paps being denied from the penalty spot through an unbelievable full-stretch save by the Pembroke keeper after a late challenge inside 18 yards. In the end, it was a hard-fought game, only made harder to bear with such a one-sided scoreline. Although it was a comprehensive routing, we can take solace from a much improved performance during the course of the game, and the knowledge that 3 Pembroke goals were scored on the back of first-game jitters amongst the defence and midfield of our squad. 3 votes: Nick Ferguson 2 votes: Fabian Moison 1 votes: Warren Farrington