SALVESEN  Boys Club under-14s suffered what appeared to be a great injustice in their Eastern Region League Cup final against Bonnyrigg Rose at the poorly maintained local Junior ground. After falling behind 3-0 in the first half, the Salvesen side raised their game considerably in the second  half and got the score back to 3-2. It took a lot of effort and bravery to get to this stage and they looked as if they could have gone on to square the match, then came the terrible blow that more or less ended their bid to win this trophy.

Bonnyrigg front runner, Roni Fleming cut in on goal from the left and he let fly with a thunderous shot on the run and the ball smashed in to the face of the outcoming Salvesen keeper, Ryan Brown. The unfortunate youngster was poleaxed in the incident which happened in front of me in my place behind and to the left of the Salvesen goal. With the distressed young keeper rolling about in agony on the ground, instead of stopping the game immediately, match referee John Knox allowed play to continue the ball and the ball, which had rebounded off the keeper’s face fell in to the path of Douglas Ashall and he was allowed to fire the ball in to the empty net to make it 4-2.

Meanwhile, the young keeper’s agony continued until he was attended to by the Salvesen physio. The game was stopped for fully five minutes until Ryan regained his composure and felt well enough to regain his place in goal. I have seen many funny decisions in youth club football over many years, but I don’t think I have seen such blatant unfairness to any team as the loss of this goal which more or less ended their great fightback. These games involve young players and the prime concern for referees and everyone else involved in the game at this level is the safety and well-being of the youngsters taking part. This game should have been halted as soon as the Salvesen goalkeeper went down in agony.

Why the referee did not take this course of action, only he can answer but I think the Salvesen goalkeeper and the rest of the boys in their under-14 team deserve an explanation from Mr Knox, at the very least. By allowing the game to continue with the stricken goalkeeper lying on the ground unable to defend his goal and thereby allowing Bonnyrigg to score what was essentially a clinching goal, is indefensible for a referee. It was blatantly unfair to allow the game to go on in my opinion. Thankfully, the youngster who took the ball in his face was not badly hurt. And, to my even greater surprise, the Salvesen contingent did not make a song and dance about it and they showed great sportsmanship in carrying on with the game.

One club spokesman did say, however; “We (the coaches) think the game should have been stopped immediately, but we just have to accept it.” Thankfully, the Salvesen goalkeeper, too, returned to the fray and he saved another net- bound shot with his feet, but the game was more or less over when the fourth goal was fired in to the empty Salvesen net. Prior to this unfortunate incident, Bonnyrigg had established a 3-0 lead by the break with some wonderful goals coming from quick breaks. Greg Tulloch opened the scoring with a powerful left-foot shot that Brown got his hands to but could not stop the ball crossing the line. That goal came in the 15^th minute of the game on the big pitch belonging to the local Junior side and it was followed by another in the 24^th minute, with Ashall heading a cross from the right in to the net from about 1yd out. In the 32^nd minute, Bonnyrigg deservedly went 3-0 ahead, this time a speculative shot from Roni Fleming taking a funny bounce in front of the diving Salvesen keeper and going over him in to the net.

It must be said that Salvesen were lucky to be trailing by only three goals at the break. But the second half was an entirely different story with the ‘visiting’ team reducing the deficit to 3-1 with a well-taken goal from the impressive Steve McGinn. While Bonnyrigg were scorning good goal-scoring opportunities at the other end of the pitch, McGinn it was who smashed home another tremendous goal for Salvesen to bring the score to 3-2. But time after time, Bonnyrigg failed to put their chances away, leading up to the incident that resulted in the Midlothian team scoring a very fortunate fourth goal. Rose were the better team throughout the game and created far more and better chances that Salvesen, but Bonnyrigg missed so many chances to put themselves out of sight. They certainly got a real break when Mr Knox allowed Ashall to fire the ball in to the empty net while the Salvesen keeper was rolling about in agony on the ground. Should that have been allowed to happen in under-13 youth club football? Certainly not, in my opinion!

 

*Another remarkable story emanating from the Bonnyrigg camp was revealed prior to the game starting when young defender, Alex Brown, stood immobile in his full strip while his mates warmed up. This terribly unfortunate youngster is facing being out of the game he loves for up to two full years while he recovers from a Cruciate ligament injury. A pupil at Drummond High School, Alex’s right leg is in a brace and he gets treatment every week on his damaged leg. Douglas Ashall, a parent of one of Alex’s team-mates, said: “Alex picked up his injury in a game a few weeks ago. It was terrible to see the state of his leg when we carried him off the pitch. The poor boy was devastated, crying his eyes out. Alex’s latest injury to his right knee came almost a year after he broke his left leg. He was just getting over that when this happens to put him out for an even longer period.” When Alex was asked if he ‘still loved football’ after going through two such traumatic injuries, Douglas chipped in to pose the question: “Does football love Alex?” After the presentation of the trophy and medals, the Bonnyrigg squad allowed Alex to take his place in the centre of the front row, giving him a chance to show of his brace!

 

Bonnyrigg Rose – Kyle Rankin, Tyler-Jay Nisbitt, Liam Wilson, Douglas Ashall, Mark Ferguson, James Duffy, Ryan Chapman, Roni Fleming, Greg Tulloch, David Hamilton, Michael White, Alex Brown, Ross Watters, Andy Miller, Neil Watson, Christie Brown.

Salvesen – Ryan Brown, Callum McDonald, Fraser Greig, Kyle Thomson, Steve McGinn, Ben McGregor, Scott McLeod, Daniel Campbell, Gary Thomson, Dale Heatlie, Liam Hope, Marc Hunter, Benji Macinnes, James Elliot, Sam Jordan, Scott McLaughlin.

Referee – John Knox.