Young Guns downed by EMS in District Cup
/Kelburne Men’s 2s v Erskine Stewarts Melville Men’s 2s
9/10/2022 - 15:00pm
Kelburne M2s 2-3 ESM M2s
Scorers: Stephen Berry (2)
It was the Kelburne Mens 2s second game of the weekend, taking on Cup opponents Erskine Stewarts Melville in Edinburgh. With a few regulars missing Coach Caldwell had to put out a much changed team against a fresh ESM who had the Sat off which saw Coach Caldwell pulling on the shirt for his first game of the season.
It was a somewhat scrappy start which saw the Kelburne players adjust to different roles. Goalkeeper Ally Glen had to be vocal early on and did well organising the new look defence. In the second quarter, Kelburne finally got into the game as debutant Luke Palmer's direct run into the 23 caused panic in the ESM ranks. He managed to work the ball to JG Shepherd who smashed the ball into the top of the D for Stevie Berry who got ahead of his marker to deflect into the bottom right corner. 1-0 Kelburne.
The game ebbed and flowed thereafter and after a sustained period of pressure, ESM won a penalty corner. The shot was tame but somehow it managed to bounce into the goal past a static Kelburne defence to make it 1-1.
Uncharacteristically, the young Kelburne couldn't keep control of the ball and after another breakdown of play ESM broke forward. The attacker seemingly controlled the ball with his thigh but the referee waved play on and after an interchange the ball ended up in the goal. Despite the protests, the goal was given and it was 2-1 to ESM. This unsettled Kelburne and before halftime another loose pass saw ESM break into the D from the right. The shot was heading wide of goal but an onrushing striker managed to control it and proceeded to smash it into the goal to make it 3-1 to the hosts at half time.
Kelburne regrouped at half time but the second half started in a similar fashion with a loose pass leading to another penalty corner to ESM. Goalkeeper Ally Glen got a strong palm to it to make a brilliant save. That was finally the wake up call Kelburne needed and began fighting for every ball. A little too much for the umpires as a flurry of cards for both teams interrupted Kelburnes come back attempts. Martin Byrne saw green for a stick tackle followed soon after by JG Shepherd who harshly had his upgraded to yellow for pleading his defence with the umpire.
Soon after Kelburne got back to full strength, they began to look their dangerous best.
Martin Byrne broke from midfield and played a through ball to Coach Caldwell who played a quick one-two in the D with Adam Jack then with the goalkeeper to beat, unselfishly passed to the back post where a diving Berry slotted it in to the empty net.
It was all Kelburne for the remainder of the game as they tried everything to find the equaliser but the ball just wouldn't drop kindly for them in the D. Five failed penalty corner attempts summed up their luck on the day but they can take consolation that they will drop into the Plate Competition where they will be looking to go on a run into the latter stages.
Coach Caldwell said "It was disappointing to lose but we play them again on league duty after the October break and I'm looking forward see if we can learn from this game and continue our development."
