GLENTANAR REFLEX 3 - POSTAL ALC 2 - DIVISION TWO NORTH.

TEAM - 1. R.LAING. 2. S.CLARK 3. L.Mackie. 4. M.STEER. 5. B.PATTERSON.

6. S.STUART. 7. R.INSCH. 8. S.ROBERTSON. 9. C.SHIELS. 10. L.BEATTIE.

11. A.TAYLOR. 12. M.MACIVER. 14. C.COOK. 15. G.DAVIDSON. 16. P.COUTTS. 17. R.LAW.

OPPOSITION MOTM – S.ROBERTSON

Postal travelled to Hazlehead still smarting from their heavy defeat the week before to play Glentanar Reflex in this Division Two North League game.

The managers plans were changed slightly when midfielder Law turned up late and was named on the bench. But Postal still had a very strong team on the park and a full complement of 5 subs to choose from.

Postal started the game poorly.

With only a minute on the clock, Steer fluffed a clearance in the Postal box. Luckily Taylor saved the defender’s blushes with a last gasp interception just as the Reflex forward looked like he was about to score.

It wasn’t long till the home side had taken the lead though with the Postal defence all over the place at the back. One ball over the top down the Postal left saw the Reflex number 8 stride in un-challenged to dispatch a good finish past Laing low to his right hand post. Poor organization and marking from a Postal defensive point of view. 1-0.

Postal were looking OK going forward without setting the heather alight. Playing with Shiels up front on his own was leaving him looking isolated as the midfield struggled to get up beside him on a regular basis.

On 10 minutes Postal had a good chance to score when Patterson connected with a corner from the Postal right but his header hit the ground and went over the bar (with a suspicion of hand ball to help it over from a defender it must be said).

From the resultant corner it was Robertson’s turn to have a go but his header went just over the bar from a Beattie corner.

On 21 minutes Postal survived another scare when Mackie miskicked a clearance but luckily the Glentanar forward, who collected the ball, put the shot past the post much to Postal’s relief.

29 minutes into the half and Postal gifted the second goal. Another ball over the top of the Postal defence, this time down the Postal right, saw the cross coming in to the Postal box far too easily, unchallenged. And with the Postal central defence posted missing a Glentanar player ran into the box to meet the ball and strike home to double the home side’s lead. 2-0.

Postal huffed and puffed for the remainder of the half but never looked like causing the Reflex defence many problems.

HALF TIME – GLENTANAR REFLEX 2 – POSTAL ALC 0

Postal shuffled their formation slightly in the second half and looked a lot better for it. They dominated the second half with wave after wave of attack to get back into the match.

The first chance came 5 minutes in. Clark run forward from right back and hit a great shot from distance which unfortunately for Postal smacked off the bar. Ryan Insch did well to retrieve the ball and work his way into the box but when he cut the ball back there was nobody there to shoot.

On 14 minutes Shiels collected a good pass from Robertson and found himself one-on-one with the Glentanar stand-in keeper but the stopper made the first of a number of saves this afternoon to deny Postal.

A minute later and Postal had a lifeline. Law (now on as a sub for Steer) collected the ball in midfield. His through ball to Insch saw the forward keep his composure to round the keeper and pass into the empty net. 2-1.

7 minutes later it was all square. Postal were now dominating everything and Reflex were dropping deeper and deeper and the half was going on. Insch collected the ball on the Postal left sent in a decent cross which saw Stuart sneak in at the back post to knock home for the equaliser. 2-2.

On 26 minutes, Insch had a decent chance when a header from outside the box was sent into his path running into the 6 yard area but he couldn’t connect with the ball and it bounced away to safety.

Next up it was Stuart with the chance of the second half. He collected the ball in the Reflex box on the Postal left drove in on the goalkeeper one-on-one, but shot directly at the keeper who saved to deny Postal again. A good save but that should have been in the back of the net by the Postal player.

On 32 minutes Postal had the ball in the net but the referee deemed Maciver had been in an offside position when he tapped it home. To be honest, the ball was probably going in the back of the net anyway if Maciver hadn’t touched it so really unlucky for Postal.

Postal were absolutely battering the home side at this point and it only ever looked like there would be one winner, but unfortunately, if you don’t take your chances these things tend to come back and bite you. On 45 minutes of the second half, Postal got well and truly bitten.

Slack play on the Postal left saw the ball allowed to come into the Postal box too easily. Mackie, standing in the middle of the box allowed his man to head the ball first and it agonisingly sailed over the head of Laing in goal. Bit flukey, maybe, but Mackie and Laing should be doing better with concentration the watch-word before the game not being applied.

Postal pushed on to try and get a goal back but time ran out.

Overall, losing a last minute goal to lose a game is always sickening. The defending in the first half was poor for the two goals and a combination of poor finishing/good goalkeeping also contributed to the loss today.

To be honest, though, the management must also take a large amount of the blame for not changing the formation earlier which clearly wasn’t working today.

Second half, though, on a positive note, was excellent today. Really impressive attitude/character to come back and dominate with some good football as well at times today. If Postal can keep their heads up, get through this mini loss in form/results and play like the second half, more often than not they’ll pick up points.

Unlucky lads.

Next up, high flying, Glendale at Crombie Park.