Post by Michael Gray on Apr 29, 2008 15:41:46 GMT
United struggled to overcome a plucky Tongue side in this Highland Amateur Cup preliminary round tie. United have a proud tradition in the competition but for long spells it looked as if they may fall at the first hurdle and there was no doubting it was the side from the West Sutherland League that took the plaudits. The Dunnet side arrived in Bettyhill to be greeted by a gusting wind going straight across the park and a surface that wasn’t exactly conducive to fast flowing football however it was the same for both sides. Manager Gray made a few changes from the side who defeated Swifts on Monday Kenny and Manson were unavailable whilst Willie Inrig failed to recover in time from his knee injury meant into the side came John Skinner, Gary Bell and captain for the day Tony Farquhar. It was also the day after Grant Budge’s wedding and the happy couple duly arrived a little dishevelled along with Grant’s bride Sarah. Right from the kick off United’s game plan was to press Tongue high up the park and try and get the ball into the area nice and early to be fair the build up play was pretty neat but the final ball was lacking in the early stages and in all honesty probably throughout the whole game. Tony Farquhar has spent the winter with Brora Rangers this year and looks a leaner model than this time last year however after 7 minutes he missed a great chance to open the scoring as he soared above the Tongue defence to power a header goalwards, which looked a winner but was hacked off the line with keeper Sutherland beaten. This did not deter the visitors as they continued to make the early running without carving out any great chances and a lack of composure was causing them to squander possession in good areas. Darren Mackay looked to follow in his father Terry’s shoes getting on score sheet after quarter of an hour when his brother Gary picked him out with a sublime through ball the midfielder headed the ball across the keeper but couldn’t believe his luck when the ball struck the post and came back into play. Although spending the majority of the half defending Tongue did occasionally break out and after a couple of corners they missed a decent chance at the back post where Mackay nodded wide under pressure. Newly wed Budge then came close when he crashed another shot off the post when after attempting a one-two on the edge of the box the ball sat up nicely for a volley from 20 yards beating the keeper but not the post before flying back across goal and away to safety. Any notion that United just had to turn up was now forgotten about as their luck seemed to deserting them as Tongue started to grow in confidence. James Murray has been an impressive performer in his first two games for United and he set off on one of his trademark runs twisting in and out of defenders before firing in a left foot shot that was comfortably dealt with what wasn’t was the crunching challenge felt by the youngster after the ball was gone.
Half time
Tongue 0-0 Pentland United
Manager Gray was probably more disappointed than anything else after the positive end to the game on Monday night the first half was something of a damp squib if he was hoping it would turn after the break he was sadly mistaken he re-jigged the formation and personnel but to no avail the pattern had been set. The best of the early chances fell to Jimmy Budge when Tony Farquhar and Gary Bell linked up well down the left allowing the full back to cut along the bye-line and cut back for the normally deadly striker but his shot went high over the bar. That was probably the single most disappointing part of the United performance was the inability to hit the target for all the possession and pressure they rarely forced the keeper into a save. Skipper Farquhar promptly followed his strike partners lead when a Murray cross fell to him but again the ball came back to earth with snow on it as the anxiety started to creep through the team. Murray the provider minutes earlier then missed a snip on the hour mark when the goalkeeper bravely blocked Farquhar but the youngster in trying to improvise with his head to knock the ball home failed to get any purchase on the effort and once again United were foiled. United’s wayward finishing continued moments later when Grant Budge from a good freekick position on the edge of the box could only fire tamely at the Sutherland. The Tongue resistance was finally broken with 20 mins left in the game Farquhar evaded his marker down the left before clipping a cross over the keeper which seemed to be heading into the net until a miraculous intervention by Mackay however Lee Sutherland following up powerfully finished from the edge of the 6 yard box and a collective sigh was breathed through the United camp four minutes later the victory was sealed James Murray whipped in a vicious corner for Gary Mackay to break his scoring duck with a powerful header from 6 yards leaving the keeper helpless. Manager Gray quickly started to rattle the changes Farquhar replaced by Thain, Jimmy Budge replaced by Michael Smith and finally Gary Mackay with Gordon Mackenzie. The visitors continued to plod away but without any real cutting edge in fact no real different to the rest of the match although Thain, Smith and Mackenzie certainly injected some life into the performance it was left to the home side to have the only shot of note with Keith warming Gray’s gloves from fully 30 yards.
Full time
Tongue 0-2 Pentland United
1. M Gray 2. G Mackay (G Mackenzie 82) 3. G Bell 4. G Steven 5. J Skinner 6. D Mackay 7. L Sutherland 8. T Farquhar (c) (B Thain 75) 9. G Budge 10. J Murray 11. J Budge (M Smith 79)
Subs unused
W Inrig
View from the goal
Well what can I say a real struggle for one reason or another we just never got going at all today. I know conditions were not great for football and possibly other events over shadowed the game but some of our finishing was appalling. There was a real danger if we went behind that we would not have been able to recover but fortunately we got over the line but that kind of performance will not do and we will have to rectify that at the earliest opportunity. Fair play to Tongue they set out with a game plan to disrupt us at every opportunity and it worked I would imagine they are more than a little disappointed after getting so close but it has left us with a lot to think about ahead of a tough league match in Thurso on Monday.
Half time
Tongue 0-0 Pentland United
Manager Gray was probably more disappointed than anything else after the positive end to the game on Monday night the first half was something of a damp squib if he was hoping it would turn after the break he was sadly mistaken he re-jigged the formation and personnel but to no avail the pattern had been set. The best of the early chances fell to Jimmy Budge when Tony Farquhar and Gary Bell linked up well down the left allowing the full back to cut along the bye-line and cut back for the normally deadly striker but his shot went high over the bar. That was probably the single most disappointing part of the United performance was the inability to hit the target for all the possession and pressure they rarely forced the keeper into a save. Skipper Farquhar promptly followed his strike partners lead when a Murray cross fell to him but again the ball came back to earth with snow on it as the anxiety started to creep through the team. Murray the provider minutes earlier then missed a snip on the hour mark when the goalkeeper bravely blocked Farquhar but the youngster in trying to improvise with his head to knock the ball home failed to get any purchase on the effort and once again United were foiled. United’s wayward finishing continued moments later when Grant Budge from a good freekick position on the edge of the box could only fire tamely at the Sutherland. The Tongue resistance was finally broken with 20 mins left in the game Farquhar evaded his marker down the left before clipping a cross over the keeper which seemed to be heading into the net until a miraculous intervention by Mackay however Lee Sutherland following up powerfully finished from the edge of the 6 yard box and a collective sigh was breathed through the United camp four minutes later the victory was sealed James Murray whipped in a vicious corner for Gary Mackay to break his scoring duck with a powerful header from 6 yards leaving the keeper helpless. Manager Gray quickly started to rattle the changes Farquhar replaced by Thain, Jimmy Budge replaced by Michael Smith and finally Gary Mackay with Gordon Mackenzie. The visitors continued to plod away but without any real cutting edge in fact no real different to the rest of the match although Thain, Smith and Mackenzie certainly injected some life into the performance it was left to the home side to have the only shot of note with Keith warming Gray’s gloves from fully 30 yards.
Full time
Tongue 0-2 Pentland United
1. M Gray 2. G Mackay (G Mackenzie 82) 3. G Bell 4. G Steven 5. J Skinner 6. D Mackay 7. L Sutherland 8. T Farquhar (c) (B Thain 75) 9. G Budge 10. J Murray 11. J Budge (M Smith 79)
Subs unused
W Inrig
View from the goal
Well what can I say a real struggle for one reason or another we just never got going at all today. I know conditions were not great for football and possibly other events over shadowed the game but some of our finishing was appalling. There was a real danger if we went behind that we would not have been able to recover but fortunately we got over the line but that kind of performance will not do and we will have to rectify that at the earliest opportunity. Fair play to Tongue they set out with a game plan to disrupt us at every opportunity and it worked I would imagine they are more than a little disappointed after getting so close but it has left us with a lot to think about ahead of a tough league match in Thurso on Monday.