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Dunipace Junior Football Club
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Blantyre 1 - 0 Dunipace |
06/09/08 - Castle Park, Blantyre |
Central League: Division 2 |
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Substitutes
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Dunipace travelled to Castle Park, Blantyre for their first away game of the league season and a fixture between the two sides the bookmakers see as favourites for the league title. Given this to be the case, a close fought game was anticipated and this was to be exactly the case as the two sides cancelled each other out in a first half that ebbed and flowed from end to end with neither side managing to create any clear cut opportunities and neither keeper called into action for anything more than dealing with cross balls. 
The similarities between the teams in the first period, both with a strong front man capable of taking the ball in and bringing others into play along with strength at the back and strong midfield's made for a pretty dull first 45 minutes, with the official the main talking point for both sides at the break following a number of questionable decisions in a game that was keenly contested but by no means dirty. And indeed that was to be the story at the start of the second period as well, when much to the annoyance of both sets of players, coaches and fans alike the whistler sent the two sides out onto the field and waited a full 5 minutes, leaving everyone standing waiting, before appearing himself! The second half, when it did get underway, started at a much higher tempo and Dunipace were to enjoy their best spell of the game in the opening 20 minutes. Grant who was finding time and space on the ball in the middle began to orchestrate the play, feeding in Cairney with a wonderful ball over the shoulder of the defender. Cairney though could only slam against the defender for a corner. As the tempo quickened, so did the tackling and Michael Cullen, reacting to an off the ball incident missed by the official, picked up a booking for hacking down the opposition number 8. 
The number 8 duelly retaliated and had an equally tough challenge on Cullen 2 minutes later, also picking up a yellow. And indeed the player was fortunate 5 minutes later when a terrible tackle on Grant was allowed rightly to go by the oficial as Dunipace were still breaking in possesion, but when the ball broke down the referee forgot about the initial challenge. And when reminded of it by Warner Devlin, he booked the defender for pointing out his mistake, for the second time in the game after booking McPhail in the first half for claiming a throw in. Overall though, despite a period of dominance in the middle of the park, Dunipace never created any real goal scoring opportunities and it was in fact the home side who managed to create the first real opening of the game. A long ball floated over the head of the defence was pulled down brilliantly by the forward, but his strike from 8 yards was superbly saved by Strachan who was involved in the game for the first time. |
 
Being as tight as the game was, it was clear one goal was going to settle the affair and it came for the home side 20 minutes from time. The forward capitalised on a slip wide on the half way line and drove toward goal. Dunipace will undoubtedly be unhappy with the defending that was to follow as the ball seemed to bounce and bobble through 5 players with the striker without a sucessful challenge. When confronted with Strachan he fired coolly into the corner. Dunipace tried to fight their way back into the match, but were finding it very difficult to create anything against the hosts and it was Blantyre who created another chance. Strachan sliced a clearance straight to the forward, who squared to his teammate, but Strachan managed to get back to make the save and pounce on the loose ball before the striker. 
With Blantyre dropping deeper in order to protect their lead there was a sense that Dunipace would create at least one chance and it duelly arrived when Nairn rose above the keeper to flick on a near post header. Michael Cullen rushed in and got above the centre half to head the ball over the line, where the Blantyre defender volleyed back out, the ball having crossed by at least a foot. Continuing with the day he'd had up to that point though the referee, who was in a great position to see what everyone else had, failed to give the goal. As the ball left the field of play James Orr was quietly asking the official about the decision, to be sent away. Saying nothing else the defender did as requested and jogged away, only to be called back by the official when he decided he did want to discuss the decision. And when asked by the referee what he was complaining about and giving his answer, he was booked for talking back - after being called over by the oficial! 
The official's performance aside, even the most ardent Dunipace fan will admit they didn't do enough to win the game. Overall a draw may have been a more fairer result, but in fairness to Blantyre on the weight of chances created the certainly had more than Dunipace and on that alone they may feel they deserved to win what was a very tight game between two evenly matched sides. |
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