Real Tuesday 9 - 0 Balerno Dads

The Real got their Winter League campaign firmly back on track with a comfortable victory over Balerno Dads at Meggetland.

The game saw 11s debuts for a couple of recent 8s recruits, with Mark Fyffe partnering Greg in central defence and James Trysburg starting up front with Jay. With Robbo asking to begin on the bench due to a perceived lack of match fitness, we started with a rather lop-sided midfield four of Gus, Yass, Craig and Ted.

We were on the front foot almost straight from kickoff. After 5 minutes, a throw in saw Jay making ground up the left wing before swinging in a cross that James converted into a low drive that the Balerno keeper did well to seal with. Yass then tested the keeper with a fairly soft header from the resulting corner.

Craig was next to test out the keeper, running clear on goal on the 14 minute mark before attempting a lob that the keeper once again saved.

We kept up the pressure, earning a couple of corners around the half hour mark. Gus took them well, but the Balerno defence cleared their lines effectively.

Balerno's first solo mention on my notepad wasn't a particularly productive one - they recorded the first foul shy of the game on the 33 minute mark!

Our pressure finally told a minute later, after James used his blistering pace to nick the ball from a Balerno defender. His subsequent shot came back off the post but Ted was there to tap in the rebound: 1 nil to the real.

Gus nearly doubled our tally one minute after that, heading just wide after we won a free kick.

We then did manage to double our tally on the 39 minute mark, James latching onto a through ball before firing the ball past the keeper into the top right hand corner of the goals.

James's strike partner got in on the act a couple of minutes after that, Jay converting a high cross fired over by Ted from the left wing.

James then claimed his second on the verge of half time. An immense defensive header from Sam on the left led to Gus rampaging up his wing once again. He then hit the byline before squaring the ball for James to tap in. That made it 4 nil to the Real.

We emptied our bench at half time - not that it took much emptying, as Phil was the only sub of note after late call offs from Stu, Roddy and Kev Valentine. Robbo replaced the tiring Yass in the middle of the park.

Ross made his first save of the game shortly after the restart, then Sam was pinged for a foul shy ten minutes after that - had we taken our foot off the gas? Er, no - three minutes later, Robbo flicked one of Sam's long range throw ins on to Jay, who turned and scored with a neat shot to make it 5-0.

Ally then scored his first goal for the Real three minutes after that, bursting into the Balerno box before sending a lovely looping shot round the keeper.

A minute later and it was 7-0, Robbo tapping the ball home after the Balerno keeper blocked a shot by Gus.

It was pretty much one way traffic by this time, though Ross had a second save to make about 30 minutes into the second half.

We managed to add another couple of goals in the final minutes of the game. The pick of these came after Robbo and Greg executed a 1-2 that saw our illustrious captain through with only the Balerno keeper to beat. Rather than try anything too fancy, Greg simply passed the ball to an imaginary team mate standing ten feet to his left, ran after the ball then hooked it past the bemused keeper with his left peg after falling over. Genius!

The final goal of the game was claimed by James, who got his head on the end of another pinpoint cross from Gus to send the ball into the net off the keeper's flailing hand.

Ted and James then swapped position for the last few minutes, as Ted had definitely earned some time in the limelight after a rather frustrating shift out on the right wing.

We shouldn't read too much into this victory, as it was Balerno's first game in the Winter League, and they had only played three friendlies against Willie's Wanderes before now. They will doubtless learn from the experience, which was very reminiscent of our first league game against PWC.

That said, this was a thoroughly professional performance from the Real, with Jay and James working really well together up top, Mark putting in a great shift in central defence and Craig and Yasser running themselves into the ground in the middle. Gus also put in a fine shift on the left wing, linking well with Sam and swinging over some enticing crosses.

Bill

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