2-3: M1s vs Inverleith (Scottish Premiership) - 05/11/22
Gifting 3 points is one thing, having that mullet is another.
A miserable morning turned into a muggy sweat fest of a warm up for Hillhead. The intensity was there, and the pre game yoga was making their groins and hips feel buttery smooth.
After a delayed start, due to some Inverleith keeper helmet malfunction, Hillhead started off with the quality of Instagram advertised clothing. It wasn't great. 10 minutes and a goal from Inverleith had sparked Hillhead to up their game. The purpose was there, the want was there, the lust was there.
From being 1-0 Hillhead answered back with a quick succession cannon of an aerial from Iain Hilton down to Matthew Carder in the bottom corner, who shelled the ball a cross D for the tap in from John Reid, this is the stuff Hillhead had been working so hard for in training sessions past. 1-1.
The following minutes was some of the best hockey Hillhead has seen, and it was turning out to be the performance they had been looking for.
A flurry of short corners had been testing to Hillhead with nothing more than a long corner being awarded to Inverleith due to some spectacular saves from Iestyn Rhys-Howorth. Then came short number 27.. A drag flick placed bottom right slotted into the goal. Exactly what Matthew Carder claimed the day before, would never happen. £5 fine surely. 2-1 Inverleith. Meanwhile Hillhead had no calls going their way, and actually ended the game with no shorts given.
Hillhead continued to play with grit. Precision pressure pickups from Andrew Black, feisty crunch tackles from Sean Horgan, clever body work from Iain Hilton, and some not so clever body work from Andrew Sinclair, who took a dive while man marking, with no card to show for it, making him look like an absolute donkey, and that forwards bitch.
Hillhead's equaliser was similar to the first, this time on the left. Threading the needle with a bullet train, Sean Horgan drilled the ball to our forward line John Reid, laying to Ruari Thomson, who so eloquently slotted the ball past the keeper into the net. 2 goals the team had been dreaming of on match day. Moral was high, and we were well in the game.
In the closing minutes, Inverleith were on the attack. Desperation, lack of focus we don't know, but after not being 5m from a free hit, Inverleith were able to penetrate the D, and bang in a 3rd goal. Not fun.
The final seconds concluded and Hillhead ended with a loss. A well fought game, and an insight into how well Hillhead can play. On another day, this would have been a win.
Man of the match: Iestyn Rhys-Howorth
DoD: Andrew Sinclair