POSTAL ALC 8 - WESTEND UNITED 1 - DIV2 NORTH - WEBSTER PARK - 3/9/2022

TEAM - 1. D.Cruickshank 2. C.Reith 3. R.Webster 4. S.Carter 5. B.Patterson 6. M.Hunter 7. S.Ahmed 8. A.Clark 9. L.Melia 10. B.Webster 11. E.Martin 12. N.McDonald 14. K.Dowbekin 15. N.Wiley. 16. Luca Giulianotti 17. M.Maciver. 18. B.Campbell

OPPOSITION MOTM – L.Melia

It may be September but the weather was excellent again today as the sun shone down on a newly cut Webster Park.

With some boys missing or injured, Postal had to shuffle the pack again. Reith came in at right back with Ross Webster moving over to left back. Martin and Melia came back into the starting line up.

A lot was made of the slow start to last Saturdays match so it was very pleasing, from a Postal point of view, to see them dominate the opening period of the match. Hunter, Clark and Ahmed were putting together some nice passing in the middle of the park and the football was a pleasure to watch at the start of the game.

Postal had their first chance, 6 minutes into the half. A cross into the box from Ahmed found Melia at the back post but his header sailed over the bar.

A minute later and the home side took the lead. Martin did well on the Postal left to fire in a low ball across the face of the Westend 6 yard box and Melia was on hand to shoot the ball low into the corner past the keeper. 1-0.

It was all Postal for the first 20 minutes of the match but the home side weren’t creating that many clear cut opportunities and the worry is always, at this level, when you don’t capitalise on your domination, the other team might nick one.

On 20 minutes, Bruce Webster did well to force his way through the away box until he found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Unfortunately for Postal he slammed his shot wide.

On 26 minutes, a nice ball from the midfield into the feet of Martin, saw him spin his marker and play in Melia who slotted low into the bottom corner for his, and Postal’s second of the afternoon. 2-0.

At this point in the game, Melia was causing the away side all sorts of problems with his powerful play up top and it only took 5 more minutes for Postal to add another. Melia had bombed forward and got his shot away. When the keeper saved, Bruce Webster was on hand to slot home the rebound for his second goal of the season. 3-0.

5 minutes later, the game was over as a contest. Another ball into Melia saw him lay the ball into the path of Ahmed who took his time and calmly dispatched the ball past the keeper from around 8 yards out for his first goal in Postal colours (the first of many hopefully). 4-0.

Postal rounded off a terrific first half display on 40 minutes when they scored their 5th. A ball across the face of the Westend defence saw it deflected in off one of their defenders. O.G. 5-0.

HALF TIME – POSTAL ALC – 5 – Westend 0

Postal replaced Bruce Webster at half time with Dowbekin as the front man was feeling a strain.

Five minutes into the second half and Postal scored their 6th. Martin had been impressive all afternoon and when he danced through the away defence, after coming in from the left, he calmly slammed the ball away past the keeper giving him no chance. 6-0.

Five minutes later, and Melia got a much deserved hat-trick after he forced his way past the Westend defence to slam low into the corner. Another excellent, man of the match, performance from the big man who has now notched 7 goals since signing for the club in the summer. 7-0.

Postal took the opportunity to get some more subs on at this point with Wiley replacing Ahmed, McDonald for Ross Webster and Giulianotti for Carter.

On 25 minutes, Westend pulled a goal back. A ball floated into the box saw Hunter leave it to go over his head. It landed at the unmarked Westend player who stroked it home. 7-1.

Postal had stopped playing the nice passing style of the first half but were continually creating chances. Hunter had a couple inside the 6 yard box that he couldn’t get on to and Dowbekin had a few.

The scoring was completed 40 minutes into the second half with a great individual goal from Wiley. He collected the ball on the right , raced into the away box and stroked the ball into the far corner of the net. Well deserved from the big man who is getting better and better each week as his fitness levels improve. 8-1.

Overall a terrific performance today from Postal. It’s no exaggeration to say we played some of our best stuff in years in that first half. Some really nice passing football with clinical finishing. Second half, with so many subs possibly disturbing our rhythm, wasn’t quite as good but we still created lots and lots of chances.

Well done today. Keep it up.