POSTAL ALC 2 - RATTRAYS XI 2- FRIENDLY - 17/10/2020

TEAM - 1. R.LAING. 2. S.CLARK 3. P.COUTTS 4. M.STEER 5. B.PATTERSON. 6. A.TAYLOR. 7. S.CARTER. 8. S.ROBERTSON. 9. N.CAIN. 10. P.FRAMPTON. 11. R.INSCH 12. M.HUNTER. 14. K.DOWBEKIN. 15. L.MACKIE. 16. P.WOODWARD. 17. S.COTOVICI.

OPPOSITION MOTM – N/A

The Postal players will have been stung by the criticism, however mild, dished out last week after the friendly defeat to Lads Club and thankfully they responded positively when premier division Rattrays XI visited Webster Park yesterday.

The management team rotated the players again to get more game time into the legs of the large Postal squad. Postal welcomed back Coutts, Steer, Cain, Dowbekin and Cotovici with a debut given to Woodward. Ure, Maciver, Law, Mewse, Riddell and Beattie dropped out.

Postal started the game with intent against a physically large Rattrays team. On 2 minutes Postal forced Walker, in goals for Rattrays, to push the ball out for a corner after a good ball by Frampton played in Cain behind the Rattrays defence but his shot was saved.

On 12 minutes, Cain thought he was in on goal again after a headed flick-on by Robertson fell into his path, again, in behind the flat defence. Unfortunately he was caught marginally offside and the referee correctly blew to halt the attack.

Postal were competing well at this point and the game was looking like anything but a friendly. It was the premier side who took the lead, though, on 15 minutes after some schoolboy defending by the home side. A very simple ball over the top of the Postal defence, standing on the 18 yard line, found a Rattrays forward looking suspiciously offside. The Postal defence clearly thought he was offside and stood like statues with their hands in the air looking at the referee while the forward played to the whistle and put his side in front. Criminal defending from an experienced defence not to play to the whistle and react. 0-1.

Credit though, Postal recovered and were more than matching Rattrays. Taylor was next to see the Rattrays keeper thwart him when he found himself in on the keeper but his shot was saved on 30 minutes.

The game was getting a bit “competitive” at this stage in the game but Postal were standing up for themselves with Robertson and Carter, in particular, putting their stamp on proceedings in the middle of the park.

Rattrays should have doubled their lead on 38 minutes when the ball broke to one of their players about 12 yards out on the left of the Postal goal. Postal stood looking at him, for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally shot, unchallenged, and his shot, thankfully from a Postal point of view, sailed over the bar.

HALF TIME – POSTAL ALC 0 – RATTRAYS XI 1

As per the recent friendly games, Postal swapped in all of the 5 subs at half time and it only took 2 minutes before they were back on level terms.

Dowbekin did really well to bully his way through and brought out another good save from Rattrays' Walker after getting his shot away to force a corner. From the resulting corner Robertson for Postal headed home for his first of the season. 1-1.

5 minutes into the second half and the away side regained their lead. Slack play on the left of the Postal defence allowed the number 8 to retrieve the ball and lay it into the path of another Rattrays forward who delivered a great shot from just outside the box, giving Postal keeper Laing absolutely no chance. Excellent finish but Postal should have done better so stop the ball earlier. 1-2.

On 15 minutes of the second half the Rattrays keeper made his fourth save of the match, after Dowbekin found himself one-on-one. From the resulting corner, Hunter headed the ball down at the back post and was unlucky to see it hit off the post and go out for a bye-kick.

Ten minutes later though and Postal equalised. A great run by Frampton on the right saw him bare down on goal to get his shot away from a tight angle. Walker again saved but this time the ball rebounded out to the middle of the 6 yard box where Cotovici was waiting to keep his composure and calmly knock the ball home. Well done. 2-2.

A stramash on 30 minutes after a Rattrays player won the first header from corner looked like Rattrays would score but keeper Laing did well to stop a point blank effort to deny the away team. Good stop.

The game was competitive till the end but no more goals.

Overall, night and day, in comparison to the second half display last week. Postal were combative against a physically large Rattrays XI team. They were rapid on the counter-attack and for the most part organised at the back. Well done.