LOCATION:Hamilton

       TEAM: SOAPY, ANTS, DANNY,ROBERT, JACK,MICHAEL, RAYMOND, JORDI,GRANT,BILLY, KEV

 SUBS USED:  SEAN, ROSS, JOE

GAME SUMMARY: H/F time 0-2 F/T 0-2

Match report by Innes

Abronhill welcomed the students from Strathclyde Uni to Hamilton Palace in what was the match of the day in GDSML division 2 played in front of a record attendance of 15 (maybe even 16 at some point).

Manager Spiers had a full strength team to pick from and made only one change from the team that defeated Parklife the previous week, it was a 4-5-1 formation again with Grant coming back into the side replacing Tam who is in New York shopping.

The game started brightly with both teams trying to gain the upper hand in the early exchanges, on the subs bench Rosco decided it was time to open the buffet and started to eat his 1st banana after only 3 minutes.

Abronhill came closest to opening the scoring after 6 minutes when Jordi controlled the ball on his chest just inside the box before turning the Strathclyde Uni defender only to see his shot go narrowly past.

After 17 minutes the deadlock was broken, some good forward play from the students forced Abronhill to concead a corner kick, as the ball was swung into the box the referee penalised Danny for shirt pulling and awarded a penelty kick which the students duley scored.

The game continued to be played in a hard but fair manner with both teams looking to create chances, Abronhill almost grabbed an equaliser after 42 minutes when Raymond headed over the bar from a floated free kick by Rab.

60 seconds before half time the students struck Abronhill with the sucker punch, following a neat move the Strathclyde Uni No.7 found himself in space and had shot at goal which Soapy was unable to hold, as all good strikers do he followed up his shot and managed to stab the lose ball into the net and double the students lead. (the No.7 clearly enjoys playing against Abronhill as he has scored in every game against us this season).

Before the restart Rab was booked for protesting to the referee a bit to strongly.

Half Time: Abronhill Intrans 0 Strathclyde Uni 2

The 2nd half was again well contested but neither team really managed to pose any serious threat to the goalkeepers with the game mainly being played in the middle of the park.

Abronhill made a couple of changes, after 55 minutes Sean replaced Jordi and after 63 minutes Rosco fresh from eating yet another banana replaced Mikey, despite the fresh legs the Strathclyde Uni defence held tight and limited Abronhill to few opportunites in what was becoming a frustrating afternoon for everyone concerned.

By this time Abronhills 3rd choice coach Steven McGowan was on the touchline shaking his head in disbelief and what he was seeing unfold in front of him, after 73 minutes Danny became the 2nd name into the referree's book when he was booked for bringing down the Strathclyde forward following a dangerous run.

After 76 minutes Joe made his return to the team after a few weeks lay off recovering from injury and the birth of his daughter to replace the injured Danny, Joe slotted into right back with Rab moving to central defence to partner Jack.

In the closing stages Raymond blazed a shot over the bar and Soapy denied Strathclyde on a couple of occasions with some solid saves.

Full Time: Abronhill Intrans 0 Strathclyde Uni 2

Summary: This result has dented the promotion aspirations of Abronhill big time, a game where despite playing some nice football at times little was created up front with Kev being starved of any decent service and to many of the lads playing below par on the day, nevertheless we have another big game next week with a cup semi final against Garnethill Rovers to look forward to and the opportunity to get back to another cup final and back into the winning routine. (and Ian Martin cant wait to finally play a game in his new boots).