Rose and Thistle 2 v 1 The Lamb           (Divison 3 League Match)

A belated Happy New Year to you all & hope you had a good Christmas too !

Well even in 2007 nothing changes, another Div3 match another game at Home !!

with the training sessions occurring over the Xmas period hardly any of lads put on weight except one... yeah you guessed it ...Fatso JD.. another 6lbs !! Bloody hell Davison..start losing it instead of putting it on. We were ready for the second installment of the 2006/07 season. The first took us to second in the table after a fantastic win Against Falcons, BUT what about The Lamb???

Well, it was a windy day and thankfully the pitch was in good condition. We were up against our old enemy , The Lamb. We lost 2-0 at their place and really we didn’t get going in that game. The team, well after the last performance it was going to be an unchanged side, BUT Gadsen & Leachy decided to have a lie in and so turned up after the team sheet had gone in. Beware I have a time limit and if you’re not there before I had in the team sheet then you’re sub! No moaning , after all I did say to be at the ground for 9:30. On that point well done for those that made at the time specified, I was 5 mins late and apologized but the didn’t see the rest of you doing the same.

Onto the game ...Starting line up Conetta, Gray, Oakey, Goacher, Winnard, Lindley, Harris, Marshall, Waygood, Bunce, Scales SUBS: Davison, Trigger, Milburn, Gadsen, Leach No Marsden out shopping for New Year Sales and no Dick Holman, still suffering from a tender foot.... arhhhh

1st Half - Winning the toss Thistle decided to kick against the wind, and a good chose that turned out to be. With Lindley playing out of his normal position he made the left wing his own. Some good link up play with Oakey and Scales made the left hand side a force to be reckoned with. The back 4 were pulling in the right direction with Goacher and Gray leading the way. Like against Falcons it was pretty even, Thistle only just ahead. However it was all to change when a superb build up on the left between Lindley and Scales found scales crossing the ball across the face of goal with Shinner Waygood there to Shin it home ..YET AGAIN... his 11th of the season. 1-0 Thistle. The Lamb looked a bit rusty after the break and felt deflated after that goal, but they still pushed on. Thistle keeping the game in their control added to their lead following a miss hit free kick from Gray. Marshall did well to keep it in and pulled it back across the face of goal for Awesome to hammer it into the net. You see Waygood, you can score goals without using your shin! 2-0 Thistle. At this stage it seemed the team, with the exception of the back 4 and Cup cake, decided they had done enough to win even though there was 20 mins still to play in the first half, and the whole of the second. Thistle rested on their laurels and that kept the back four very busy indeed. So busy that it was only a matter of time before Lamb scored. It was a mix up at the back from a free kick, bounced off Harris’ back into the path of the striker. 2-1 Thistle. Lamb nearly got the second towards the end of the first half but poor finishing let them down. So half time 2-1 Thistle.

2nd Half - One sub at half time, Oakey off Leach on - Oakey suffering from his boots being too small.

The second half found Thistle camped in their half most of the time, and with the breaks that occurred you would have hoped that Scales would have put one of the, away. Two subs were used, Harris and Winnard off, Milburn and Gadsen on. Lindley going to left back. Still not much change with Lamb looking for a point, the formation was changed to 4-4-1-1 but to no avail. Thistle caught offside to easily and guilty of not using their wingers enough to get the through ball going. That said the guys ground out their win with three more points in the bag when the final whistle went. Two bookings - Gray and Leach.

Again you showed that you want to win, and bloody hell its hard work... BUT its worth it, isn’t it???. We are no longer the underdogs, with that effort every week you’ll be winners for sure.

M.O.M - A very very tough call, Gray and Goacher both played well at the back and Dan Marshall fought hard during the game. But this week the award goes to Jonny Awesome, put in a position that was alien to him but still caused major headaches for The Lamb, scored a cracking goal and when called upon in the second half went to left back, again not his position and played well. Excellent Work Jon !