The Nicolson Institute senior boys team learned first hand how cruel
a game football can be as they lost 4 1 to Ellon Academy in Dingwall on
Wednesday (5/6/13). The result was particularly harsh on the Lewis lads who had
been the team pressing for the whole second half, whilst trailing 1 2, only to
be further undone by a couple of breakaways in the last few minutes.
Prior to the match the two teams observed a minutes silence in memory
of an Ellon student who had tragically lost his life the previous weekend. The
Nicolson started the game brightly and went ahead after 4 minutes: Colin Maclean
received the ball at the left edge of the box, cut inside on his right foot and
arrowed the ball in to the far corner. It was a fantastic goal by Colin and
came at the end of a good passing move involving Jake Rivett and Innes Iain
Morrison. 2 minutes later Colin turned his man, straight from a throw, and hit
the underside of the cross bar with a lobbed volley-if only! After 10 minutes
Innes Iain had his right foot shot tipped round the post by the impressive Ellon
keeper.
As the half progressed, Ellon came in to the game more, particularly
down the left where their number 5 and number 9 were looking very dangerous.
Prior to the game the Nicolson team were warned to try and avoid giving away too
many set-pieces, given we were without two of our better header's of the ball in
Calum Dola and Gordon Maclennan. Unfortunately the warning went unheeded as
Ellon equalised from a header following a disputed free kick (20 mins) before
taking the lead after 25 minutes from a header following a flicked on long
throw. In truth this was Ellon's best spell of the game and the Nicolson were
grateful to Ali Macleod in goal who made a couple of great saves to keep us in
it.
After 36 minutes Innes Iain went on a run from near halfway and was
only thwarted by a last ditch tackle. 3 minutes later centre back Craig Macleod
came off injured following a late tackle, Cameron Macarthur came on in his
place. After 44 minutes, good interplay between Micheil and Colin led to Micheil
crossing to the back post where Colin saw his goal-bound shot deflected wide.
The message at half time was to relax on the ball and if we could get
at the back 4 we would certainly create chances for Wally and Colin. The boys
were reminded what a great chance they had to win the cup!
Unfortunately I didn't take many notes in the second half as I got
too 'in to the game'. Suffice to say the boys were brilliant: Chris Dempster and
Micheil Smith drove the boys on as the yellow's attacked in wave after wave.
Ellon were camped in their own half for 30 minutes, but weirdly, whether by luck
or Ellon's tactical design, the Nicolson couldn't get through the packed defence
(think Barca v Chelsea). The Nicolson got close to breaking through a couple of
times but the final pass or shot wasn't good enough. The Ellon keeper was very
good at catching/punching crosses which made it tough to get anything from set
pieces.
The Nicolson continued to press;Jason Guilmartin bombed on from right
back whilst Jake was nutmegging Ellon players from left back-we just weren't
getting a break up front! After 75 minutes disaster struck; as tiredness crept
in, a ball was lost in midfield, one pass over the top and number 5 tore away to
slip the ball under Ali - heartbreak! The Nicolson kept plugging away but in 88
minutes a slack pass in defence was intercepted and Ellon were able to compound
the Nicolson's misery with a 4th goal.
Soon after, the full-time whistle went; there were tears, cheers,
congratulating and commiserating. No matter how many times you hear "Really
unlucky", "You didn't deserve that", "You guys gave us a good game", "You did
well to reach the final", it just makes you more upset and angry. Football
sucks sometimes. Getting to a final and getting gubbed (on paper) sucks!
Or does it? Maybe school/junior/amateur football is more about the
moments; maybe it's about making the team, training in the snow, practising
penalties, missing open goals and the slagging that follows. Maybe it's about
trips away, great comebacks (coming from 4-0 down at Perth Grammer), improving
your game and working as a team. Maybe it's about Mr Macphee singing "Angels" by
Robbie Williams, Colin catching the ball instead of heading it in from an inch,
Andrew Macmillan missing from a yard, never giving up in games and dominating
the second half of the final. Maybe, just maybe, it's not such a cruel game
after all. Well done boys.
Ali Macleod:Jason Guilmartin, Chris Dempster, Craig Macleod Jake
Rivett: Kevin Flower, Micheil-Russell Smith, Calum Vann, Innes Iain Morrison:
Ally Maciver, Colin Maclean. Subs: Peter Macaskill, Cameron Macarthur, Josh
Harris, James "Jambo" Morrison.
