On
a windswept and muddy pitch at Drumbrae Leisure Centre both
these teams served up an excellent and entertaining league 4
encounter played in a competitive and sporting manner.
With the wind at
their backs in the first half, Salvesen had the bulk of the
play in the early exchanges with good runs from Craig Page
and Lawrence Capobianco giving the City backline problems.
However City keeper Josh Cullerton was in tremendous form
and his confident handling and control of his box frustrated
the Salvesen front line time and time again. The best chance
of the first half however fell to City and following a snap
shot and good save by the Salvesen keeper Liam Douglas, the
rebound fell to Jordan Hunter, the City number 13, who saw
his effort agonisingly shave the outside of the post.
The second half
started with City pushing further and further forward with
the benefit of the strong wind and on the 41st
minute the deadlock was eventually broken. A long ball
played down the middle found Keith Buckley in acres of space
and his well measured shot looped over the advancing keeper
and into the net. Far from throwing in the towel and letting
their heads drop Salvesen then began to play some of the
best football of the game. The introduction of the slightly
built David McKenzie, whose runs up the right wing caused
City problems, changed the shape of the game and both teams
then tried to play a more passing and measured game. City
still threatened and Thomas Gates and Ewan Anderson both had
runs that with better finishing should have secured the
game.
However the final
whistle brought relief for City who probably just deserved
to win given that they created the better chances although
no one would have begrudged a point to Salvesen whose effort
and spirit were of the highest standard.
A great advert for
this particular level of football and the behaviour of both
the players and hard working coaches of these teams made it
an enjoyable, if not cold, Sunday morning game.
Salvesen : Liam Douglas, Sean Bull, Andrew Bruce, Connor
Thomson, Euan Geddes, Adam Gibson, Craig Page, Patrick
Casey, Lawrence Capobianco, Gareth Malloy, David McKenzie,
Fraser Paton, Michael Whaite, Andrew Crawford.
Edinburgh City: Josh Cullerton,
Stuart Smith, Keith Buckley, Thomas gates, Ewan Anderson,
Lyle Griffin, Elloiot Sheils, Glen McKenzie, Michael Soutar,
Craig McGoohan, Jordan Hunter, Ewan Campbell, Matteo
Diotaiuti, Liam Cassidy, Mathew Gibbons.
