1-4: M1s vs Clydesdale (Premiership) - 17/09/22

Game 1 of the 2022/23 season. After a solid pre-season which saw a number of last year’s 2nd XI stake their claim for a spot in the first team, an away match against last season’s 4th place finishers Clydesdale represented a really good challenge for the team and an opportunity to assess how far they’d come and/or how far they might have to go.

Clydesdale had the first early chance, driving into the circle down the left baseline, but were kept out by Ewan Campbell, who would have an outstanding game. Just moments later it was Hillhead attacking though, also down the left, and before anyone knew what had happened - bang, 1-0 up, Matt Carder the scorer. An amazing start, but this early deficit jump-started Dale Into gear and they started to up the pressure. A bit of defensive frailty saw an unmarked attacker with far too much time to pick his spot and the scores were 1-1 at quarter time, before a cracking reverse stick shot off a corner rebound had the home team going into the half time break 2-1 up.

Somewhere in the middle of that Tom Kemsley avoided anything more than a green for perhaps the worst tackle of the day, but he also provided plenty of strong outlet runs and was probably also the most fouled player of the day.

No cards though, and as new player coach Yan Adams had made explicitly clear, cards could and would be extremely costly to the team throughout the season, so must be avoided at all costs. Yan Adams. No Cards. Explicit.

Into the third quarter and the team seemed to lose their way a bit - some skill errors and losses of possession when playing out; not quite keeping the ball well enough in the final third - and was not helped by another green card, during which another corner was subsequently converted into Dale’s third. Campbell at one point made three back to back saves, on top of some more corner stops.

Hillhead had their chances too though, the returning Jude Boslem receiving the ball in exactly the sort of penalty spot position he’d have liked after some good work from teammates. If it hadn’t hit his foot on pick-up and the subsequent shot hadn’t gone wide, it would have been a great goal.

4-1 down and in the closing minutes of the game, Carder almost grabbed his and the team’s second with a typically scrappy chance at the near post, but this was well saved by the Dale keeper. Incredibly, despite the coach’s insistence, the team also found themselves finishing the game with 10 men, a yellow card having been awarded this time, much to coach’s disgust.

Full time, and a good lesson for this pretty changed team from last season about the level that will be required if they are to push for a top six spot this season.

MoM: Ewan Campbell, for an outstanding performance in goal (special mention to Sean Horgan for his strong performance as half back)
DoD: Yan Adams, for a green and then a yellow card.