Fight back earns three points

Mar 6 2009 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

DUMFRIES travelled to Ayr with a strong team and were hopeful of getting back to winning ways after four defeats in a row in the league seeing them slip to fifth place in the table.

Dumfries lined up in a familiar 3-4-3 formation and started the game much the better team seeing them pass the ball well around the pitch.

Dumfries created numerous chances early in the game but couldn’t find a way past the Ayr keeper who pulled off some outstanding saves. Not to be out done by his opposite number, Stuart Moscrop in the Dumfries goal pulled off a top class save to stop the ball flying into the top corner of the net, keeping the score at 0-0.

The Ayr team were spurred on by this and came back into the game strongly and created numerous chances which were defended well by the Dumfries players.

The opening goal came after a corner from Dumfries broke down on the right side and Ayr cleared the ball from their defensive area, only for John Bennett to collect the ball in the centre of the park and win a free hit.

Iain Callander held a deep position on the back line and Bennett struck the free hit hard in his direction. The ball was not controlled by the Ayr defender and it was volleyed past the keeper by Dumfries forward Toby Austin.

The remainder of the half was end to end and both teams had chances to score but neither team could find the killer touch.

The second half started as the first half ended with both teams creating chances.

Ayr were rewarded with a number of penalty corners and finally got one past the Dumfries defence.

The ball was saved by Moscrop but the loose ball was pounced on by the Ayr player to force the ball over the line and into the goal. Only 30 seconds after giving away the lead, Dumfries sloppily gave away a second goal and found themselves behind in the game.

A slack pass in the middle of the pitch saw the Ayr team break down the right and a diagonal pass fell to the unmarked forward who coolly lifted the ball over the on-rushing Moscrop and into the goal.

The Dumfries players got fired up and got themselves back into the game and pressed the Ayr team back into their own defensive area.

The pressure was paying off as Dumfries won numerous penalty corners but Callander could not get his efforts past the Ayr players on the line.

After a third penalty corner in a row, Callander’s effort struck a defender’s foot on the goal line and deflected onto the post and wide.

The umpire somehow denied Dumfries a penalty stroke and awarded another penalty corner which clearly stunned the Dumfries players.

The resulting penalty corner was misplaced by Bennett and came to Scott Robertson whose shot was saved by the Ayr keeper but fell straight to John Bennett who slammed the ball past the keeper and into the goal.

Not settling for a point Dumfries continued to press for the winner and were rewarded with a penalty corner which, this time, Callander did get past the Ayr defence.

He controlled well and a slight lift on the shot towards goal saw it past the defender before he could move.

The remaining five minutes saw Dumfries settle into a 4-4-2 formation, with Callander moving to defence and Robertson into midfield to soak up the pressure from the Ayr team until the final whistle.

In the closing stages of the game, Dumfries did have a couple of chances on the break but after so much hard work the two forwards found the support from midfielders a little slow in getting up to them and were dispossessed.

Dumfries held on until the final whistle and earned a valuable three points which could see them jump to fourth place in the table, depending on results of the teams above them in the table.

Dumfries play at home this Saturday against Hillhead IV’s at KGV Park, Dumfries with push back scheduled for 1.15pm, all selected players are asked to be ready for 12.30pm.

Team: S Moscrop, R Wilson, G Edgar, J McCoskry, I Callander, J Bennett, R Hopkin, A Ross, S Robertson, J Aitken, T Austin.

Anyone interested in playing hockey is welcome to club training sessions on Tuesday nights from 6pm-8pm at the KGV Park, Dumfries.