Postal ALC 1 - Stoneywood Parkvale 3 - Webster Park - Scottish Amateur Cup - 4/9/2021

TEAM - 1. G.Cormack 2. A.Riddell 3. S.Clark 4. S.Carter 5. B.Patterson 6. M.Hunter 7. S.Robertson 8. R.Lamb 9. P.Frampton 10. S.Stuart 11. R.Insch 12. R.Law 14. G.Davidson 15. R.Laing 16. L.Mackie 17. L.Mewse

OPPOSITION MOTM – N/A

Postal welcomed Div 1 North’s Stoneywood Parkvale to Webster Park today for the first round of the Scottish Amateur Cup. While neither side have any chance of winning the cup, both sides would have been looking to get into the next round and the hope of that elusive, dream, bus trip away.

Postal welcomed back Insch and Robertson to the starting 11 with Carter moving back into defence for the suspended Black and Stuart switching flanks for the golfing Ure. Long term absentees, Law and Mackie also rejoined the squad on the bench today.

There was very little of note, action wise, in the first half, from a Postal point of view. Stoneywood offered very little quality, either, but probably just shaded the half, performance wise, and would walk off at half time 0-2 up which was a little unfair on Postal.

The first chance fell to Stoneywood just 3 minutes into the first half. A free kick from the Postal left was floated into the Postal box. Clark lost his man, but luckily the header went safely past the post.

It was 7 minutes before Postal created their first half chance. A Riddle throw to Carter saw him stride out of defence and hit a long shot from 20 yards out but it went over the bar.

At this point Postal were struggling to get their usual flowing/passing style of football going at all with the ball being lumped into the air by both teams on too many occasions.

Stoneywood took the lead on 18 minutes and it was a poorly defended goal by Postal. A simple enough set-piece into the box saw Postal miss two headers and Cormack could only palm the ball into his own net as the second header looped over his head and into the net. Poor defending from a defence which has handled set-pieces without a problem this year so far. 0-1.

Not much more to report from a first half which saw Postal create very little going forward but not much from the away side either until the 42nd minute.

With Postal looking to get in at half time and re-group, they lost the 2nd goal from another set-piece. This time it was a corner from the Postal right. Poor marking saw the first shot come in which was saved by Cormack but it fell to another Stoneywood player, again criminally unmarked, who made no mistake to blast it high into the net. Poor poor marking from Postal again.

HALF TIME – POSTAL ALC 0 – Stoneywood Parkvale 2

Postal started the second half, playing up the slope, well. Much more positive, attacking and less timid of their higher league opponents than they had looked in the first period.

On 3 minutes Hunter collected the ball and with memories of last weekend, hit a shot from distance which unfortunately this week bounced off the bar and away to safety.

A Lamb free kick on 11 minutes looked to be heading onto Frampton’s head in the 6 yard area, but he must have shut his eyes and it bounce away to safety for the away side.

The game was over as a contest on 15 minutes when Stoneywood scored the killer 3rd goal and it was the worse of the lot. Another set-piece free kick bounced straight down the middle of the Postal box. No challenge, no marking, shouts for offside with hands up in the air and looking at the referee while Stoneywood did what they should have been doing and stuck it in the back of the net. Terrible defending. 0-3.

To their credit, Postal didn’t take their foot off the gas and kept at it, probably dominating open play.

They were rewarded with a goal 20 minutes into the half. Persistent hassling up front by substitute Mewse saw the ball get hacked across the face of the away defence, bouncing off of Frampton, over the keepers head and into the net. 1-3.

Postal huffed and puffed for the remainder of the half but Stoneywood used their experience to slow the game down when they needed to and shut the game down.

Overall, probably a predictable result but not a predictable performance. Postal didn’t actually play that bad today and it wouldn’t have been obvious to the large crowd watching, which team were the 1st Division team. It’s only results that matter in the cup though and Postal cant be giving teams a 3 goal head start and expect to progress. We must be better defensively next game. Good luck to Stoneywood in the next round.