Upper Deeside v Huntly 14's

Today we faced the long seemingly endless trek of winding roads to take on bottom of the table Upper Deeside at Aboyne. On a personal note I was breaking new ground as for the life of me I can not recall ever setting foot in the place previous, however it was a nice setting in pleasent surroundings but unfortunetely the match just didn't quite live up to expectations. We feel the lads just had it in their heads that this was to be a meer formality and just a case of turning up to claim all three points, however credit to Upper Deeside who had other idea's and made them work all the way to acheive the end result. We changed the team around a little today to accomodate a few of the lads who have been on the fringes of late mainly due to a spell of tough matches,first half was pretty much a midfield battle and although we were seldom troubled, we didn't really create much in front of goal ourselves either until the 27th minute when up stepped Liam Henderson who latched on to a loose ball and sent a thundering effort high over the keepers head and into the net to give us the lead. HT 0-1. The lads began the second half in much more determined mood and were well in control pushing UD on to the backfoot and playing much better football than that of the first half, soon extending their lead when Liam Robertson controlled the ball before spinning and unleashing a shot which eluded the hapless keeper who could only help it into the net 0-2. This should have opened the flood gates but instead complacency took over and allowed the Deesiders back into the match when they scored a goal which really was a poor one to loose from our own point of view 1-2, but they seemed to grow in confidence after that putting our defence under some pressure by creating a few more chances before James Brooks latched on to a good through ball and drove it low past the keeper for a fine finish and effectively ended the match as a contest FT 1-3. Overall happy to get all three points despite this match being a potential banana skin for us, and it was pleasing to get a good run out for the lads who've been on the fringes of late through one thing or another.Best performances today came from Liam Henderson for a good midfield performance linking up well and which included a spectacular goal, Billy Blanchard who unselflishly dropped to the bench to give others a chance came on and showed great enthusiasm for the team and he's fast becoming a real player for us, but man of the match today was Ritchie Gibb who's ability not only to defend but also to get up and support in attack and his forming of a good understanding with Andrew on the right is proving invaluable to us. Well done Ritchie for a good performance. Today's team 1/ Jordan Ogg, 2/ Ritchie Gibb, 3/Aidan Bowie, 4/ Jack Duncan, 5/ Lee Inglis, 6/ Liam Ferguson, 7/ Andrew Munro, 8/ Liam Henderson, 9/ Aidan Bowie, 10/ Craig Jones, 11/ Liam Robertson 12/ Matthew Anderson, 14/Billy Blanchard, 15/James Brooks..