After a BYE week, we lined up against an in-form Forest team who are finally putting together some decent results after 4 years of mid-table finishes. The two week gap in football showed with two sluggish starts which immediately put us on the back foot and ended in two disappointing results on Saturday. There were moments of quality play in the Ressies which is positive but a gap in intensity which was telling. The Firsts played quality football and were only denied by the individual brilliance of Forest’s goal keeper, who kept Forest in the game. Lots of positive takeaways from both matches, and plenty of opportunities to improve over the last 9 matches.
FIRSTS
In the week leading up to our big derby clash against our ex club, Forest, excitement and eager anticipation had been building up in the BTH camps. Come match day, there were beats and banter in the warm-up which has become our pre-game ritual. Unfortunately we were not warm enough after the whistle had been blown, with an unexpected goal to Forry’s name in the first minute of the game!
But rather than turning on ourselves, the group collectively laughed off the incident and went forth with hunger for a victory. We toiled hard in the first half, coming off winners in spirit though 1-0 down on the scoreboard. We had a better start to the second half but sadly conceded a penalty goal with Isaak taking out a striker only moments before shooting an open goal. Nonetheless, the raiders hauled ass and got back a cheeky goal late in the second half to put us right back into the game. Unfortunately our efforts were not enough to overcome the strong Forest outfit, who put the nail in the coffin with a final goal to seal the deal to a 3-1 victory.
An otherwise entertaining and intense game was marred by a genuinely disgraceful moment, when one of the Forest players, who had been fouling players all game and sitting on a yellow card, went in hard to take out Sam with his eyes firmly fixed on taking out the player and not even looking for the ball. The commentary from the Forest bench went uncharacteristically quiet at that moment, clearly ashamed of their players unsportsmanlike actions. It was a disgusting act that should have been reprimanded by the Referee, who it seemed was waiting for a broken leg to ensue before issue an appropriate response to such dirty play. Thankfully, Sam was more than equal to this low-life act, and swiftly dinked the ball and his body out of the way of the oncoming assault which left the attacker on the side-line looking foolish.
Though we lost this match, the boys fought well and came off with a smile. A bit of luck goes a long way in these derbys, and with credit to their Goal Keeper who had three match winning saves, that on any other day, would have had a different result. Unfortunately on this occasion, we dropped points, but can be proud of the performance and the manner in which we conducted ourselves.
Next week we go again lads.
Thanks to Javed for the write-up
RESSIES
After a big 2 week build up leading into the derby, we did not get off to the start we needed too if we were going to put the league leaders under pressure. After a choppy first 5 mins the Forest Killarney teams game plan become pretty clear, put their wide players through and load up the channels to one side. Our boys just couldn't adapt and conceded a well worked play within the first ten minutes. The second goal came through the opposite side of the pitch with the same through ball and a well-placed cross that led to some confusion between the backline and keeper and our very own Jake getting off the mark with his first goal in over 8 years, and in his debut game for this season (albeit the wrong end of the field!). BTH failed to respond to the challenge early and again conceded to be down 3 goals in the first 20mins of play.
Instead of crumbling, we started to pick up the intensity and took it to the forest team in the second half. Neno, Luca, Spuddy all winning every 50-50 they went in for. We had a few great chances falling to Michael, who looked like he skinned their whole team twice before narrowly missing, and Lachie who was making great runs down the right side of the pitch. We were well on top of the physical battle and playing very good football, when against the play we conceded a well taken chance. Even when 4-0 down the team continued to work hard and move the ball well. If we had started the way we finished it could have been a much different ball game and result.
Thanks to Dan for the write-up
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