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Bridge of Don Thistle 1-2 Newmachar Utd
We made the short trip into Aberdeen for this McBookie.com North Region Premier League game to take on Bridge of Don Thistle. Calum Reid made the squad after missing 2 weeks and Ryan Whelan came back in after 3 weeks away. Ross Gibson, Kyle Munro, Jamie Gammie, Craig Robb, Ronan McMillan all missed out due to injury with Jason Davie suspended and Jack Cowie on holiday.
BoDT kicked us off and started fast, looking for an early opener. After creating a few half chances they were awarded a penalty with Stevo Young adjudged to have fouled the BoDT striker in the box.
Simon Mitchell guessed the right way and saved low to his left to kick off what was to be a man of the match performance.
Stewart Gerrie came off injured to be replaced by Calum Reid early on with a hamstring issue.
BoDT were knocking on the door with a few half chances but we took the lead on the half hour mark as Lewis Robertson whipped in an inswinging corner straight into the side netting.
2 knocks to the head saw Ryan Cormack off to hospital with concussion and he was replaced at half time by the Euan Dryburgh as he continues his road back to full fitness after his leg break.
HT 0-1
The second half started much the same. BoDT having much of the ball as we were happy to sit in our compact shape and play on the counter.
It proved fruitful as Greg Wood chased down a BoDT CB into the box and won the ball back only to be pulled down for a penalty which Ryan Whelan stepped up to send the Salmon in the BoDT goals, the wrong way and put us 2-0 up in the 57th minute
BoDT were again knocking on the door and another 2 great stops from Simon Mitchell in our goal kept them out. The cross bar saved us from a 20 yard wonder strike with the BoDT midfielder unfortunate to see it come back off the bar and cleared to safety.
We were causing BoDT problems with the pace and aggression of Tait Duthie & Greg Wood but decision making, good defending and the final ball just letting us down a little.
We would concede however as a long ball bounced through and the Striker got the wrong side of our defence and smashed home from a tight angle to set up a nervy last half hour.
A gritty, mature performance saw us manage the game well until the 95th minute, the BoDT striker turned Peter Melvin in the corner of the box and as he pulled him to the ground, the referee had no option but to award the spot kick.
Simon again dived low to his left to save his second penalty of the day and cap off his man of the match performance on a day where it could’ve been awarded to anyone of the squad.
We held out under pressure to claim a massive 3 points and put an end to a run of 6 defeats and a draw in the last 7 games.
FT 1-2
NUFC Team – Mitchell, Young, Melvin, Robertson, Reynolds, Watt, Gerrie, Wood, Cormack, Whelan, Duthie
Subs – Collins, Reid, Munro, Walton, Robb, McMillan, E Dryburgh
We caught up with the gaffer after the game to get his thoughts…
Huge relief. Not entirely a surprise as i know we’ve got that in us. Most people probably didn’t see it coming after the run we’ve been on but i felt a change in the atmosphere at training through the week. No footballer likes a run of 7 games without a win and the performance showed that.
Listen, on another day BoDT score 4 maybe 5 goals but i think it was our turn for a rub of the green and i think we probably earned it with the work rate and bodies on the line type performance. I think it’s fair to say every player put in a 7 or higher. Most were 8s and 9s. It’s great for the team spirit to get that result with so many boys missing. 2 coming off injured in the first half and only really 2 properly fit subs.The players have set their standard again after a tricky start. We’ve probably been licking our wounds for a few weeks but hopefully now we can kick on and get some more points on the board to keep us in the league.