Belhaven 0-9 Dunbar Grammar

After last week's excellent performance against Merchiston Castle the lads were bubbling in anticipation for today's game against Dunbar Grammar. This group of boys is the first to have come through Belhaven Hill School for several years with organised football matches on the back of weekly training sessions for two years. This would be the last match for the Class of 2010 and we knew it would be tough.

We hadn't played a school before where football is the first sport, and in a large catchment area too, Dunbar Grammar can command a reasonably large pool of boys from which to choose.

I reminded the team to improve on what we didn't do so well last week; the goalkeepers closing down oncoming attackers more quickly, defenders pushing up as one movement, midfielders getting stuck in and challenging for every ball and forwards running their hearts out in pursuit of openings.

Within fifteen seconds of the start the tone was set for a hard afternoon as Dunbar sliced right through the Belhaven defence with precious little challenge as our boys froze from the off. Five minutes later it was two as Dunbar played their way attractively into positions from which to shoot.

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At this point, and after much shouting, Belhaven finally got into their stride. Mr. Curry recently read somewhere that if one were to shout constantly for a certain length of time (I think it was a year or so) then you'd have produced enough heat energy to make a cup of tea. I feel it must have looked as if Mr. Curry were somehow trying to prove this point. In any case, Douglas had a great shot from outside the box saved and soon after Freddie provided some beautiful interplay with his brother to go clean through, only to fluff his shot at the last.

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Douglas was beginning to drop back and provide a link between Caspar and the midfield and this was paying off well. George Cuthbert was fighting for every ball and Tom was having his best game this year. It was unfortunate that Belhaven conceded a third just before half-time but to be fair the pressure on the home defence was intense as chance after chance was created by Dunbar, but either saved by Dougal, cleared, last-ditch-style by Edward or Leo, or missed by Dunbar.

3-0 at half-time then and a chance to rest some tiring legs. Dunbar had played the ball around nicely and our boys were feeling the heat a little but a reminder that this would be their last 25 minutes in a Belhaven shirt and the boys were soon off, ready to give their all. And their all would certainly be needed.

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Half-time

Within four minutes of the restart a good cross was turned into his own net by George I.K. and soon after a slick passing move scythed open a Belhaven defensive line which had begun to lose its shape. The main point of improvement I would offer these boys as they move on to senior schools is to maintain their positions, and as a defender, that means sometimes, holding your line, and your nerve.

Edward slides in with a crucial goal-saving tackle. No matter, a sixth goal flies in as our positions are shown up lacking again. Tom makes another tackle, perfectly executed; with such technique it is only a shame his skills could not better be used in creating attacks rather than trying to nullify the opposition.

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Lovely technique from Caspar.

Belhaven continued to try to play the ball wide with the Rogers twins showing good understanding in strong performances and we threatened to break clear, only to be denied by the last man a couple of times. A couple of late goals added gloss to the score from Dunbar's point of view but Belhaven ended the game as they had tried to play for the past two years; we broke up play with yet another commanding tackle for George C. before we played the ball out to the wing through neat, short passes which found their man but lacked just a little conviction and awareness to get the ball over the line.

Very well tried boys; I have enjoyed working with you these past two years, I thank each and every one of you who has played for your effort, I commend you for your improvement and I wish you all the best as you move onto places where you may get the chance to play the beautiful game some more.

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