TIGHT, TOUGH AND TESTING

17th December 2016 - Maine Road 1 v 0 Barnton FC  - I always arrive early at football matches, it gives me time to settle in, swill down a cup of tea, chomp on a chocolate bar and make pre-match notes.  Today was a steel grey affair that held one of those surreptitious chills that pervades by slow degrees but ultimately gets one shivering to the entire marrow.  I only wore my hoodie (more fool me) and hoped the impending match would radiate a few thermals of excitement to keep my mind off the lowly temperatures.  The teams warmed up (lucky gits), distant corvids squawked, the time for another non-league fix arrived.

The opening play saw Barnton just shading matters but no team strung any decent passage of play together with too much rushing and pushing the order of the day instead of some crucial composure.  The Road eventually got to grips with the game and started to attempt to play proper football with one or two tidy moves deserved of a positive end product rather than the nothing they turned into.  A few tasty tackles came, disputes from both benches followed but nothing untoward was happening.  The first real chance came the way of the away team when a corner led to an in-box scramble and it was down to the home side's netter to save a shot and keep things all bare and square.  Road broke immediately and won a corner of their own but the result was sweet FA and I once again pondered the prospect of a zero/zero game.  Barnton's No 7 was working mighty hard and a good break by himself saw him beat 2 players and look for triumph but a last gasp tackle denied him any glory and the stalemate continued.  The game was filled with hard labour but lacked a certain calm head and with a tetchiness creeping in it seemed a moment of fortune would be needed to break the deadlock.  It came when Barnton were beginning to moan a little too much and lost true focus which allowed the home chaps to break with pace after a great ball from Joshua Tinker saw a cross come and the ball luckily dropping at the feet of the No 8 (Matthew Morgan) to coolly tap home and break that tenacious deadlock.  From here though the game slumped a little but good perspired work from that No 8 in blue led to a Barnton botch up which saw their keeper go walkabout and duly lose the ball with a long lob netward just missing the target - phew, one could warm ones hands on the sigh of relief that came from the Barnton players.  Not long after this moment the ref blew and all and sundry dashed to the clubhouse for that much needed warm drink and, in some cases, steaming pie.

A chinwag with a Barnton fan, a realisation that the raffled bottle of wine was not to be owned by yours truly and back out to await the second 45 minutes.

The match continued in the same vein with Barnton hustling but seemingly having few options in the final third and with Maine Road always seeming to have that extra man.  Early shots came at both ends but the ball seemed allergic to making any contact with the netting.  Barnton did eventually find the net after after a well worked move but the offside decision came and in truth, was the correct call.  As in the first period Maine Road began to grow into the game and as a free-kick was won (and wasted) one did expect a proper shift in balance to come.  It didn't, more chances were thrown away by woeful finishing and duff final balls and the home team held on to their precarious 1 - 0 lead due to nothing more than dogged resilience and a fine fighting spirit.  The match advanced, no team could provide that glittering moment to add another goal to the stagnating melting pot and it transpired that the resolve and applied pressure by the boys in blue would win the day and deservedly take all three pre-Christmas points.   There is not a lot I can add to this one, it was an intriguing half albeit lacking in those frilly touches and net bursting moments and sometimes, teams are just too well-matched for their own good.  Man of the Match today has to go to Road's No 8 (Matthew Morgan) has he ran his knackers ragged and epitomised everything positive about his team.  Keen to be on the ball and make space, willing to work off it (which is the greater part of the game) and providing that much needed goal to win the day for his comrades - a very appealing effort all round.

FINAL THOUGHT - Like the sun-baked arse of Judith Chalmers this was a case of that which is tough and tight.  Both teams got stuck in and contributed to a hard fought affair but it was a taut match throughout and one moment only separated the two teams at the end of 90 minutes. When these teams meet again you would be wise not to place a bet either way as it would be anyone's call as to the outcome.  In fact I shall stick to pondering the width and shade of the aforementioned peregrinating celebrity and avoid the bookmakers with sagacious insight.  To add, both teams will be somewhere around mid-table come season end and Ms Chalmers will not be used in any future reports.