challenging day at the office for 13s

A depleted U13s squad made the trip to Lochee Park to face a Dryburgh 13s team that they knew would be stronger than when they had played them at home earlier this season. After an unfortunate injury to regular goalkeeper Katherine, duties between the sticks were shared between Bernie in the first half and Abbie F. in the second. Both pulled off some very good saves, but there was no stopping the Dryburgh attack, especially when it poured forward in greater numbers in the second half.

Before the match started, both sets of players stood respectfully for a minute of silence in memory of the Monifieth Ladies FC coach, Justine Simpson, whose passing in the week has saddened the entire East Region footballing community.

Dryburgh opened the scoring after 7 minutes of the first half with a driven ball eluding Bernie's outstretched foot. While the home team was in charge of possession at this point, Jeanfield still looked dangerous on the break, but with the midfield being pulled in all directions were unable to capitalise on a couple of rare chances. The Dryburgh attack succeeded in moving Jeanfield's defence around and pressed hard when not in possession. Coming some six minutes after the first, the second goal was unfortunate, although not undeserved. A shot from the edge of the area that Bernie would have had well covered took a deflection into the corner of the net.

Nevertheless, Jeanfield's best play was yet to come, as on 20 minutes Louise made a break down the left hand side and found Abbie next to the Dryburgh 'keeper. Abbie's clever tap around the 'keeper brought Jeanfield back into the game, and for the rest of the half the Swifts continued to look as though they may explode into action at any moment. Ultimately they were subdued by a strong defensive midfield for Dryburgh, which mopped up Jeanfield's attempts to feed Abbie who was ploughing a lone furrow up front. Although Jeanfield's midfield captain Kim started to feed stronger passes forward, more often than not these simply ran down the hill through to the Dryburgh goalie, out of Jeanfield's attacking players' reach.

In the second half it was clear that Jeanfield would literally have an uphill battle as the slope that had caused the ball to run through a little too quickly in the first half now made it even harder for the away team to clear up field. With Eilidh on up front and Abbie in goal, Bernie switched to the left wing in place of Louise and quickly set about trying to find her striker with strong runs. The battle of the Jeanfield left and Dryburgh right was to set the tone for the rest of the match, however, as after a number of threatening passages Bernie was finally felled by a boot to the calf that brought her game to a premature end.

With Bernie gone, Jeanfield struggled to make territorial advances or feed Eilidh, who was well marshalled by the Dryburgh defence. As a result, possession became harder to hold on to, and as is so often the case, the team in charge of the ball took charge of the game; Dryburgh added three further goals, all sweetly taken. Indeed, if it had not been for some great athletic keeping by Abbie, the scoreline could have been even greater.

FT: Dryburgh 13s 5 Jeanfield Swifts U13s 1

None of the Jeanfield players acquitted themselves badly, but as a team they simply struggled to play what was in front of them, and were often unable to execute the plans they had in mind due to pressure from a strong Dryburgh team. With the next game against Forfar Flyers just a week away the Swifts will need to pick themselves up and move on. Back at home on familiar and more even territory, they will respond positively to what was a challenging day at the office.