Real Tuesday 1 - 2 The Moonies

Keith MacKenzie

Agree that it's a good review from David. At the time I thought maybe we didn't deserve to win, but the more I looked back at the match, the more I though 'we wuz robbed' - 2 jammy breakaway goals, 90 minutes of long
balls versus our more 'continental' passing game. I was watching the Man U game last night, and some of their passing was very similar to ours ... honest! Graeme was top man, but David and Gary were pretty close too. And Lee did a great job in goals. Even if the result went against us, the performance is probably the best I've ever seen from Real - a bit more luck and we'd have stuffed them. Where are the Stu-Mel boys now we've got some form?

They were a pretty tough team. Apart from the astro burns (I spent yesterday in London trying to unstick my trousers from my knee) I've got a couple of cracking bruises, one which was under my shinpad. Big pitch too, so I'm still a bit stiff (oo-er).

Thought Archie did well at reffing the first half - he got plenty of decisions wrong, but he's got the obstinacy that you need to be a ref. Craig probably got more things right in the 2nd half, but is too nice to be the 'man in black'. I think he probably called their second goal right - the boy was probably offside, but it'd have taken a linesman to say for sure, so in that case it should probably have stood as a goal.

So, not the win you'd hoped for, but still a good performance.

Keith

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All

I was going to write a wee review of last night's game, as per usual, but I'm delighted to say that Dave 'I've always been a centre forward really' Carruthers has beaten me to it!

I can only amplify what Dave has said below - that was the best Real performance I have seen in ages, and we very unlucky not to get at least a draw from the game. I think we all agreed that Graeme was Man of the
Match - the man was immense - while things just felt all round safer with Lee between the sticks - even if we DID think he'd scored an own goal when he pawed that high ball over the crossbar! To think we shipped NINE goals against the Moonies last time ....

And thanks to John and big Craig for reffing - that would have been a thankless task, anyway, but the fact that you were also our subs for the game made it even worse!

Thanks to all those who took part - enjoy your close season break (tonight!) and I'll see you at Saughton next week! I'll be arranging a rematch with the Moonies in the Spring.

Cheers

Bill

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Morning Bill,

Following our chat last night, and having had time to replay the game over and over again in my sleep, I would just like to say that I am still totally gutted at losing last night's match. It was a closely contested encounter. 0-0 at half time??? When has a Real game EVER been goal-less at half time?? Unheard of. And, I know I may be
slightly biased, but we played the better football in the second half.

The defence were solid. Big Graeme was immense. Al also played very well, and yourself and Keith proved more than able in the left back and right back positions. They didn't really look like scoring in the 1st
half, and any time they did have a shot, Lee dealt with it easily. It made a real difference having a keeper - even for the basic things such as the goal kicks and general distribution of the ball. The clean sheet in the 1st half reflected on a superb performance by the back 4 and the keeper. I also think the midfield were a lot tighter than we have been previously, providing more support to the defence.

Going forward, we didn't do too much in the 1st half. I think at times we looked for the more difficult pass when the easy ball option was available - something we did very well in the 2nd half with plenty of short passes and plenty of movement.

So, the 2nd half. We were playing well, yet because we had subs and as it was something we had agreed on, we made a couple of changes. Was there a real need for the changes? I don't think so. Would it have been fair to leave the guys on the bench? No. I don't know what we do as regards subs. It is always risky going with no subs. Big Al going off injured showed that they are required. I just don't know how we work it. I certainly wouldn't like to turn up as a sub and then only get 10 mins. Something for the Real committee to ponder over ...

Anyway, the 2nd half. Certainly we passed the ball a lot better. The 1st goal we lost was unlucky - the ball deflecting to one of their players. The equaliser (a header from Dave) was a thing of beauty and will remain vividly implanted in my memory for a long time. Following that, we continued to press forward, with the opposition relying on the long ball option and looking to hit us on the break. Eventually they caught us out. It looked offside, but Al said it was tight, so I'm not going to argue. Even following that, we didn't give up and continued to push for another equaliser. Tiredness and the clock were against us however.

So, the season has ended without an 11's victory for Real. We didn't deserve to lose that game, with a draw being a fair result. We played more as a team in this game than in any of the previous games this season. Everybody gave 100%. Were we to play against these guys next week, with the same team, we would win. Carry this into 2005, and we will most certainly see some winning performances in the 11's.

Hope nobody is in too much pain today - Graeme, you're probably still bleeding, so I'd avoid slide tackling anybody at your work!

See you all next week at 5's.

Dave

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Match Stats

Result	Lost 1-2
Sequence	0-0 (half time), 0-1, 1-1, 1-2
Scorers	Carruthers
Cards	None
Team	Hearl; McNie, Proudfoot, Frame, MacKenzie; Stewart, Campbell, Carruthers; Dickson; Eastwood, Lees (4-3-1-2)
Subs	Lawson, Girdler
Referee	John Lawson / Craig Eastwood
MoTM	Graeme Proudfoot