REPORT:-
Match
day one of season number twenty six for Halliburton began at a sun drenched
Hazlehead when we faced Highland Hotel in our opening fixture. A large squad was
gathered together and with Gary Longmuir out of the country and Ewen Milne
suspended it meant that the centre of midfield would have an unfamiliar look to
it this afternoon. Stuart gave the expected speech regarding the squad rotation
and of course the need to get off to a good start and focused on the excellent
display we had put together in our pre season match last Tuesday. This should
have had us brimming with confidence as we went out to kick off the season for
real. We lined up with Michie getting the keepers jumper ahead of Andrews,
N.Milne, Robertson, Fulton and Shaw forming the defence. N.Wood wide right
alongside the central pairing of Captain Keith and Morgan who had M.Wood on
their left. Up front G.Woods partnered Graham. Subs, Merchant, Sim, Quirie,
Marlow and Andrews. Highland are a very young side and they were far more mobile
than we were. We got off to a bad start when in 5 mins. Robertson toiled to get
his head onto a long ball forward and could only turn it back towards his own
goal. Michie should have been able to collect it but pulled out sheepishly
allowing the in rushing forward to fall down then shoot home as N.Milne looked
on. Michie then redeemed himself .The keeper showed a lot more courage as he
dived into the action in amongst boots to thwart a couple of attacks. Robertson
then "mistimed " another header but this time Michie was alert to
clear. Highland went two up when a ball through was shot low under Michie. We
were being pissed on as we failed to even test their keeper. Right on half time
Robertson gave us a life line when he was well positioned for a defender to
blast the ball against his foot and into the net, they all count! (H.T 1-2)
Halli started brightly in the second period and did manage to get in a shot,
however it flew over the bar. Morgan was now battling away and Keith then linked
with him to set up the forwards, the ball into Graham saw him hesitate and it
was belted clear. Shaw stormed into a number of challenges as he tried to lift
the team. We lost the ball wide right and the seas opened up as we back tracked
and invited the forward to shoot a cracker into the net. Game over, as we now
went right out of it. Highland continued to play at pace and we could not live
with it. We did hit the bar from a Robertson header but still we had to test the
keeper. They got a fourth we fell asleep at a throw in which was quickly taken
and once more we fell off the attacker to allow him an almost free run in on
goal to score. Merchant And Quire were sent on for Graham and M.Woods however
the pattern of play continued to be all out attack by Highland and absolutely
nothing from us! They went nap towards the close of play in an almost carbon
copy of goals number 3 and 4 when we backed off and let a shot in far too
easily. Michie did well to save but the rebound was tapped home. (F.T 1-5)
Terrible start to the campaign. In truth we were soundly whipped by a better
side who kept up the tempo for 90 minutes. A combination of poor defending and
non existent attacking contributed to this defeat. Keith, N.Wood, Shaw and
Morgan did well.