Halliburton 1 - Postal ALC 1 - Division 2 North - Lawsondale Grass - 07/01/2023

TEAM - 1. D.Cruickshank 2. R.Webster 3. N.Willey 4. S.Carter 5. B.Patterson 6. M.Hunter 7. A.Clark 8. J.Steele 9. L.Melia 10. B.Webster 11. P.Frampton 12. E.Martin 14. M.Maciver. 15. D.Aitken 16. K.Khorasani 17. B.Schrader

OPPOSITION MOTM – B.Patterson

Postal kicked off 2023 with an away league game at Lawsondale again Halliburton. The last game was over a month ago so good to be back in action.

Only six out of the 11 who started against Kemnay would start today. Postal welcomed back Cruickshank in goal, Ross Webster to right back, Hunter in midfield, Melia centre forward and Willey returned from his journeys in South America to an unfamiliar left back slot.

Postal started the game very well with 3 corners within the first 2 minutes putting pressure on the Halliburton backline. One of the corners was cleared but only as far as Steele. His through ball into the box was laid into the path of Bruce Webster who made no mistake in firing past the keeper. 0-1.

Unfortunately Postal would give an equaliser away almost straight away from the kick off.

Postal’s Carter was caught dilly-dallying on the ball on the right of the Postal defence. The home side player who robbed him of the ball then cut in and got his shot away. Cruickshank did well to save the initial shot but the Postal defence were sleeping to the rebound and a Halliburton forward had an easy task of heading home the rebound inside the 6 yard box. Really poor poor goal to lose and it knocked the wind out of the good start Postal had made to the game. 1-1.

The rest of the half was fairly even with both sides losing the ball almost as quickly as they were winning it back. Postal trying to hit far too many long “passes” which invariably found no players in red.

Frampton on the Postal left was caught a couple of times. One which he did well to hurdle out of the way and the ref played on, and the other he was unfortunately caught and the same player was finally booked.

Melia had a chance on 41 minutes when Webster did well to play him in but his snapshot was sent just wide.

HALF TIME – HALLIBURTON 1 - POSTAL ALC – 1

Postal started the second half better and much more intent to get the ball down on the floor and shorten the passing up.

Ten minutes into the half Patterson won a header from a corner but it sailed over. Definitely a feature of Postal’s first half of the season that we are not converting enough set-pieces into the box despite our height advantage all over the pitch.

A couple of minutes later a Halliburton player would be through on Cruickshank but he did well to save and push it away to safety.

On 14 minutes, substitute Martin was sent one on one with the Halliburton keeper but the keeper saved.

On 23 minutes of the second half, Melia had the chance of the game when he was sent in one on one with the keeper but, again, the Halliburton produced a good save to deny the big striker.

Halliburton had two chances in succession when Postal didn’t match their runners into the box from flighted free kicks. Fortunately Cruickshank saved their blushes, but again poor defending and a lack of basic concentration defensively.

On 40 minutes Carter did well to connect with a corner but his left foot volley went wide.

The game would end with no more goals.

Overall 1-1 was a fair result with both sides looking rusty after 5 weeks of no football but Postal will view it as 2 points dropped with league leaders Kemnay making no mistakes in picking up all 3 out at Stonehaven.

Good to be back, though, and still all to play for with 13 league games to contend.

For Halliburton’s view of the match see:

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/halliburtonafc/teams/220692/match-centre/0-5510175/report