TEAM:-

REPORT:

Scottish Cup Fever gripped the squad this afternoon as we travelled to our away tie in the 2CND Round to meet A.A.F.A.Divison (2) North side M.S.United at Woodside. We had received a blow in the morning when Craig Robertson called off with an injury then later on Bob England also intimated that he would be unavailable. We did however, eventually, have 15 players on hand when they all finally appeared at the venue. Our long road to Hampden started now and the following players were entrusted with the task of ensuring we did not crash at the first hurdle. Andrews, searching for a 2cnd consecutive clean sheet, was in goal. Fulton, Shaw, Michie and N.Wood were in defence. Graham found himself in an unfamiliar central midfield role alongside Longmuir with Keith and M.Woods wide on the flanks. G.Woods who has recently gone on a bit of a goal spree partnered Merchant up front. We had four substitues, Sim, Marlow, Quirie and N.Milne. M.S.UTD. have put together a 4 game unbeaten run in the league and so they came into the game in a confident mood. The very uneven park made free flowing football near impossible however Halli tried whenever they could to get the ball down and play a passing game. A super move was put together by the Woods brothers, Mike making a strong left wing run before swinging over an inch perfect cross which was well met by Graeme, his powerful header was turned over by the home keeper. We were looking particularly dangerous at set pieces and Michie got up well to meet a corner square on, he was unlucky that the keeper was well placed to save. Graham then did well to get onto a Longmuir throw in but once again the keeper was in the right place at the right time. We took a deserved lead through top scorer G.Woods in 20 minutes. A tried and tested format, Longmuir throw in G.Woods header. M.Woods was having a great game and seemed to anticipate every ball around him whether it was from a team mate or an opponent. Time and again the Chris Waddle styled midfielder picked up and made dangerous passes forward. M.S. came close in 30 when a lobbed shot stotted along the bar a couple of times before Michie hacked it away. The centre back was then lucky to miss out on at least a yellow card when he made a clumsy challenge just on the edge of the box. Great play between Fulton and Keith set up another attack which was scrambled away. G.Woods got back to defend a corner rising majestically to head clear as Andrews flapped at his back post.(H.T.0-1) It was vital that we kept up the momentum and right from the off Merchant chased a lost cause but forced the sweeper into a slack clearance. For around 15 mins the home side had us pinned back a little but in truth this was more to do with us sitting back than them forcing the issue. The game was over in 65 when a Longmuir throw was headed back across goal by G.Woods and Graham was on hand to nod it home. Shaw did well to recover after a fresh air clearance then we created a number of good chances. N.Wood went for glory after getting past his man when a square ball was on, Keith headed back across goal when he could have tried a more direct approach then G.Woods and Graham had powerful drives blocked. Andrews made a double save to keep his goal intact then as the game started to boil over a little Shaw was poleaxed out wide. He was replaced by Marlow, then Quirie entered the fray for Graham. N.Milne had earlier taken over from the injured Keith. We still had time to grab a third which our superiority had deserved. Merchant battled the ball wide to M.Woods and he rolled it across perfectly for G.Woods to control and strike home, his 6^th goal in 4 games! (F.T.0-3). Hampden here we come ? Perhaps not, but regardless of how far we eventually go in the competition this was an excellent result gained by an all round team effort. It never does a team any harm to notch up a run of clean sheets and credit goes to the defence and the keeper. Longmuir was as usual a driving force and M.Woods had his best game for us this season, however it was Graeme Woods who really caught the eye both in attack and when required in defence to be Hallitopman.