Diamond Jubilee Cup Quarter Final

Blairgowrie V Dundee West Royals

 

Starting Line-up

GK - McColl

LB - Tennant

CB - Singer

CB - Hughes

RB - Chalmers 

LW - Clark

CM - Johnstone

CM - Smart

RW - Mitchell

AM - Smith

ST - McManamon

 

Substitutes

Nixon

Crabb

Paton

Storrie

Gilmurray

Morris

 

MATCH REPORT

Having been called off 2 weeks prior, Dundee West Royals travelled up to Blairgowrie again, to face them in the Diamond Jubilee Cup Quarter Final. Having crashed out of the Scottish Cup through in Bishopbriggs the week before, the boys were determined to try and advance to the Semi Finals, but were aware they were facing one of the best sides in the league.

 

West began the first few minutes of the match, linking up well in midfield and trying to push up on Blairgowrie to take a foothold early.

 

4mins in Blairgowrie sprung into life, hitting on the counter up their left flank, but McColl was alert at his near post to hold on to the shot.

 

2mins later, Blairgowrie forced another good save out of McColl. Their striker bust through onto a ball which caught the West centre halves off guard, but McColl was quick off of his line to save to feet and hold the ball.

 

On 7mins, West almost broke the deadlock, when McManamon was released down the left hand side. With the defenders beaten, he skipped past the advancing keeper and tried to cross into the box, but unfortunately the cross never beat the first man and was headed clear.

 

Almost immediately, West were gifted a golden opportunity to score, when a deflected clearance fell for McManamon, but the Blairgowrie keeper was quick to react and rushed out and saved well to feet to deny a goal.

 

9mins into the game, West continued to apply pressure, with McManamon playing a great ball through up the right side for Smith, who’s attempted cross was blocked, but the ball was picked up by Clark who released a first time effort, but the shot was also blocked, as Blairgowrie hung on in the early stages.

 

0-1: After Dundee West controlling the opening 10mins, Blairgowrie hit on the break on 11mins to open the scoring. The ball was played into their forwards feet, who was able to hold up well and shrug off the West defender, leaving him one-on-one. Despite McColl reacting quickly, the striker was able to pick his spot and slot the ball into the bottom corner past the keeper. 

 

1-1: 5mins after going down, West levelled the game. Tennant found space on the left hand side, and rather than go outside, he found Smart in the middle of the field. Smart had time to look up and slot in Smith on the right hand side of the box, and he was able to settle the ball and smash it high past the keeper into the right hand side of the goal. 

 

3mins after the equaliser, Blairgowrie looked to gain the upper hand again, with some neat play down the left. However, Tennant challenged perfectly to deny any crossing opportunity and put the ball behind for a corner. Blairgowrie took it short and fired in a first time cross, but McColl was able to catch comfortably and deny any shot on goal.

 

West continued to apply pressure from the front, closing down the opponents poor goal kicks and keeping them contained in their own half.

 

On 25mins, Blairgowrie almost broke free through the middle again, but Tennant was able to cover across from left and tackle excellently just inside the box.

 

1-2: Blairgowrie regained the lead with another simple goal. With their strong striker causing problems for West, he took the ball into feet again and was able to turn the defence using his strength, shrugging off any attempts to tackle. With only McColl to beat, he finished well low into the bottom right, leaving the keeper no chance.

 

Half-time: Dundee West Royals 1 – 2 Blairgowrie

 

Substitution HT = Mitchell off, Gilmurray on.

 

Almost from kick off, West had a good chance to equalise, when a great cross from wide on the left fell at the back post for Tennant, but he was unable to keep his header down and direct it under the bar.

 

2mins into the second half, Smith almost capitalised on yet another bad goal kick from the Blairgowrie keeper, but his snapshot was wide of the post.

 

1-3: A minute later, West went a further goal behind. After a foul down the left, West seen themselves concede from another direct free kick from a wide position, with McColl helpless to stop the ball sailing high into the net.

 

On 43mins, McColl denied Blairgowrie from putting the game to bed, with an outstanding save to feet inside the box, and Chalmers reacted swiftly to steer the ball behind for a corner.

 

As the game grew into the closing third, both teams were playing some good football, and challenging for every ball in the middle of the pitch. Some heavy challenges by Blair were waved for play on, but West reacted well by keeping their cool and continuing to try and press the opposition.

 

2-3: After some good pressure, Dundee West scored a fully deserved second to get themselves back into the game. After a bad challenge wide on the left, Smith stepped up to float the ball in to the box, and with no-one meeting the ball to head, McManamon was able to somehow bundle the ball over the line, past the keeper.

 

Blairgowrie tried to push up from the resulting kick-off, but a hopeful longshot sailed high and wide

 

Substitution 55mins = Singer off, Crabb on.

 

Substitutions 58mins = Smith & Clark off, Paton & Storrie on.

 

2-4: With Wests defence coping better with the Blairgowrie forward line, they were forced into long shots, but unfortunately scored their fourth with a powerful strike from outside the area. McColl got a good hand to it, but was unable to get a good enough hand behind it to guide the ball past the post.

 

In the dying stages of the game, Gilmurray showed great desire to keep the pressure on and try and salvage something from the game, but was unable to force any clean opportunities despite closing down the Blairgowrie defence and forcing them into errors.

 

With a minute to go, Gilmurray almost got his reward for pushing up on the opposition, when McManamon played in Storrie up the right, but his resulting cross was mishit by Gilmurray.

 

Substitution 69mins = McManamon off, Clark on.

 

 

Full time: Dundee West Royals 2-4 Blairgowrie

Scorers: Smith, McManamon

Man of the Match: Tennant

 

Dundee West will feel hard done by, but were ultimately punished for simple defensive errors, against a very good Blairgowrie side which they match almost all over the pitch. As gutted as they will be, they can take positives from the game, and be confident they can get a better result when the sides meet in the league.

 

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