5-3: M1s vs Dunfermline Carnegie (Premiership) - 24/09/22
A horrible 4-1 opening day defeat to Clydesdale added extra pressure on Hillhead’s 1st XI to get points on the board in their first home game vs Carnegie. An extra layer of intrigue was added to the fixture by most of the previous weeks back four being unavailable, meaning captain Fraser Ward took to the field with a slightly broken foot and Tom Kemsley, quickly building a reputation as one of the worst tacklers in the league, stepping into the back line. Luckily Craig Hilton and Andrew Sinclair also stepped into the team and produced solid performances.
Hillhead exerted early pressure and spent a lot of time in the opposition circle, but it was Carnegie who took the lead. More pressure from the home side however brought a flurry of corners and after a few misfired attempts Andrew Sinclair opened the scoring with his trademark slingshot, so hard to read it found the backboard despite being straight down the middle. Hillhead then took the lead before halftime after the ball fell to man of the match Marcus Macintyre-Kemp in the D who composed himself to hit a clean reverse past the Carnegie keeper who was hard to beat all day.
The halftime team talk from Keith Joss called for more of the same, with the number of chances being created it was felt just some improved finishing would take the game beyond the visitors reach. Carnegie brought things back level shortly after the break however and the match remained tight, the visitors determined to keep the pace of the game as slow as possible. But the breakthrough came with John Reid showing no signs of the eye trouble that has had him sidelined recently connecting with a rebound from young Kyle Flockhart to put the home team 3-2 up. Returning captain Ward had a couple of nice reverse passes in the game, the most important being flashed across goal to find Ruari Thomson on the back post to deflect in and take the score to 4-2 before stumbling backwards in ecstasy and ending up in a heap. Ward then took one for himself with a drag flick to the bottom right hand corner giving the home side a three goal cushion and notions of a comfortable run in.
Not to be. Hillhead spent some time with men off the pitch, first a green for Jude Boslem for a perceived push, a green for Craig Hilton for failing to stop dribbling in time after the whistle and a yellow for Tom Kemsley for tackling from the wrong side. Captain Ward then went down in obvious pain as his foot finally had enough and snapped properly. Carnegie took advantage and brought the game back to 5-3 making for an incredibly sweaty last quarter, especially for those in the team struggling to keep track of the score. Hillhead regathered however and got over the line to take their first points of the season.
MoM - Marcus MacIntyre-Kemp
DoD - Tom Kemsley
