03/08/2009

Glendale 3-2 Glendale Youth

Sat 1st August 2009
at Maryculter

Scorers
Glendale - Neil Taylor, Chris Garden and o/g ( Mark Henderson ).
Glendale Youth - Craig Birnie and Aaron Brown

Man Of Match
Glendale - Neil Taylor
Glendale Youth - Craig Birnie.

The season opener in Div 1 East was the first time that Glendale had ever faced a Glendale offshoot in competitive football.
Although Glendale played some decent football in the early stages, they failed to get anyone on the end of the dangerous crosses played into the box.
Eventually they paid the price for not taking their chances when Birnie latched onto a Kilminster clearance to shoot home with a drop volley from almost out on the touchline.
Youth seized the initiative for the next 15 minutes and added to their lead when sharp movement by Birnie and Brown saw the latter break free of the Glendale defence to cleverly prod over keeper McKinnon.

Glendale made a bit of a recovery before half time. Taylor and Dickson may both have done better when having clear opportunities, while McConnachie　saw his　long range effort go narrowly wide.
However the first half ended 0-2 for Glendale Youth, who gave Glendale a lesson in finishing.

The 2nd half was evenly contested in the opening 15 minutes, but Glendale seemed much more direct once substitute Mullen came on for Kilminster with 30 minutes to go.
His impact was almost immediate as he fired a dangerous free kick into the box for Taylor to head the goal that eventually got Dale back into the game.
Dale were now on top and equalised soon afterwards.
Taylor sped down the left and　his cross to the back post looked　harmless until　Mark Henderson, who had until then been quite steady for Youth, headed into his own goal.

It was unfortunate for Youth but was the spur for Dale to go on and win the game when another cross from the left, this time from Dickson was rammed home by Chris Garden who was racing in at the back post.

Youth may well feel that they didn't deserve to lose the game, but they did contribute to what was an entertaining and sporting match.
They had several good performances, notably John Chalmers, the keeper Barry Robertson who had 2 or 3 very good saves　and Craig Birnie whose neat flicks and movement off the ball, as well as his goal, earned him man of the match.
Glendale though showed the same sort of resilience that saw them win Div　2 East last season, digging deep to come from 0-2 down to win the match.
They clearly had the break with the own goal, but they had worked hard to earn the break.
Good performers for Dale were Steve McConnachie, Mark Dickson and Stuart Hay, but Neil Taylor took man of the match for tirelessly leading the line for Glendale.