Kelburne Men's 4s Beat Giffnock 1s 5-2

On Saturday 26.1.19 - Kelburne Men's 4s looked to round off their first half of fixtures with a game against Giffnock 1s at Glasgow Green. The game saw 2nd v 3rd with 3 points for Kelburne seeing them stretch their lead in 2nd place and a win for Giffnock would see them retake 2nd place from the 4s after a 1 all draw with Greenock the week before. The game began at a frantic pace with Giffnock having the best of the early exchanges mainly thanks to Kelburne being wasteful when in possession. Giffnock continued to have the best of the play and started to increase the tempo leading to several opportunities but no final outcome. That was until mid way through the first half when Giffnock benefitted from a dubious call to slot past the keeper and take the lead. As the half wore on Giffnock continued to have the best of the ball and started to have more chances - on the stroke of half-time they won a short corner, due to Kelburne giving away possession, and duly slotted home to head into half time 2 goals to the good. Being behind at half time is nothing new for this Kelburne side with 4 wins coming from a losing position at half time. The message at the break was to ‘‘..be confident and let’s play hockey our way, the Kelburne way!..’’ The message was received well and Kelburne came racing out of the blocks and were back on the hunt - within 5 minutes with Colin Fairbairn slotting around the on-rushing keeper after some great build up play. This was to be a benchmark for a fantastic second half performance from the men in yellow as Kelburne were quickly back on level terms with great build up play between the Fairbairn twins and Mark Connor to allow for Colin to get his second goal with another shot slotting past the on-rushing goalkeeper. There was then along pause in the game due to a head injury sustained by the Giffnock Captain after the ball flicked up off James Currie's stick. The Kelburne players quickly rallied round and helped Ziggy who thankfully will not have any long term issues. After approximately 25 minutes the game was resumed with Kelburne continuing to dominate with a 3rd goal quickly following with some more great play allowing for Mark Connor to drill in from a Colin Fairbairn ball.

Giffnock came alive briefly in the game after Kelburne's 3rd and started to move the ball around earning 2 short corners, both which were saved on the line by skipper Ryan Wood. The pressure wasn't to last as Kelburne took hold of the game with Colin Fairbairn wrapping up his hat trick with some more great play between Kevin, Colin and Mark. The final touch was added courtesy of a short corner as James Currie drilled home from the top of the D before Shaun Jardine got himself carded, AGAIN, to bring a tough game to a climax. A fantastic second half performance from the men in yellow which sees them open up a 4 point gap between 2nd and 3rd and bring the gap between 1st and 2nd down to 5 points. Next week the 4s host Uddingston 4s at Glasgow Green with a 12pm push back.