POSTAL ALC 2 - BSFC 1 (Match Abandoned on 97 mins) - DIV 1 NORTH - WEBSTER PARK - 9TH SEP 2023

TEAM - 1. G.Cormack 2. K.Dowbekin 3. S.Stuart 4. A.Baxter. 5. L.Giulianotti 6. T.Raynard 7. A.Clark 8. N.Willey 9. P.Frampton 10. B.Webster 11. S.Abel 12. L.Melia 14. M.Hunter 15. R.Webster 16. N.MacDonald 17. M.Maciver 18. S.Walker

OPPOSITION MOTM – N/A

An absolute scorcher at Webster Park today as Postal welcomed BSFC.

Patterson was suspended, Carter was away watching Scotland and Steele was in Glasgow which gave starting slots for Baxter, Raynard and Willey.

Postal didn’t really get started in the first half. Far too many hopeful high balls going nowhere. Luckily the away side weren’t too much better as they tried to go from back to front to their tall target man.

The away side took the lead on 19 minutes. The ball was allowed to be crossed from the Postal left, far too easily without any pressure on the ball. It was then knocked into the path of a BSFC midfielder who hit a long range strike from about 25 yards where Cormack could only palm it into his own corner. 0-1.

2 minutes later Postal were handed a lucky break. Frampton was sent one on one with the keeper. His first shot was hit directly against the keepers legs but the rebound hit Frampton’s shins and rebounded into the corner of the net. 1-1.

Postal should have taken the lead on 23 minutes when a nice cross into the box from Frampton should have saw Webster score, but he must have shut his eyes and the ball went by his head to safety.

As it was so hot, the ref decided to have water breaks midway in each half. The players were left with no illusions about the importance to start passing the football on the floor after this first break.

The second 20 minutes was marginally better in terms of attempting to get the ball down but generally both teams play was pretty unimpressive.

On 43 minutes Frampton was sent one on one, again, with the keeper. His shot was hit directly at the keepers feet who saved.

A minute later and Postal took the lead. Abel sprung the BSFC offside trap ran straight into their box then unselfishly squared it to Frampton who knocked home. Good goal at a good time of the match, just before half time. 2-1.

HALF TIME – POSTAL ALC 2 – BSFC 1

Melia came on up front for Postal at half time replacing Raynard.

6 minutes into the half he managed to force his way into the box but his shot was saved by the away keeper.

3 minutes later, a Melia header into the path of Webster saw him volley the ball towards goal, but again the keeper saved.

That was about as good as it got for Postal. The rest of the match saw us retreat further and further back, hitting high ball after high ball and generally playing little to no football on the grass as requested.

BSFC also huffed and puffed and put pressure on the Postal defence without really creating any serious chances. Anything they did create, Cormack did well to snuff out in goal for Postal today.

With the game almost finished (the referee would later tell the Postal management that if the ball had been kicked into the pitch he would have blown his whistle for full-time) it looked like Postal had played badly but picked up all 3 points. With the ball in the Postal keeper’s hands a BSFC player went down in the box. Cormack kicked the ball out for a throw-in to allow treatment. Unfortunately for the BSFC player (and Postal) he never got up again, until an ambulance arrived later, and the game was abandoned.

Overall Postal were poor today. You can blame the heat, to an extent, but the decision making was off today and certainly nowhere near the football we are capable of. A win’s a win which is the most important thing, but we will need to be braver on the ball when we play the better teams in the league.

On the positive side, we dug in and put in the effort, in the sun, to win the game (although the game will bizarrely need to be treated as a friendly and replayed due to the injury/abandonment so we didn’t get the points).