Thursday 29 October 2009

Bonargrove 3 Harlequins 3 AET: 7-8 on pens

The whole team attending a party the night before probably wasn't the best idea as another poor performance meant Bonar exited the League Cup at the 1st round stage. Numbers were low again, with only Scrimmy and Gary on the bench. Lee, Rada and Mussy were amongst those missing.

Conditions were fairly bad with the wind blowing down the Claypotts brae and Harleys were on top in the first half and earned themselves a 2-1 lead at half-time. Ascot Dave increased his lead at the top of the goal scoring charts with a well taken goal.

Deek pulled up injured in the first half and Scrimmy again had to deputise and with the score at 2-0 pulled off another penalty save.

Despite playing down the hill in the 2nd half, Bonar managed to find themselves quickly 3-1 down but managed to turn it around with a long range miskick from Dunny and a header from Gary. Bonar dominated the rest of the 2nd half and the majority of extra time but couldn't find a way through a resolute Harleys defence. Chico had to come off injured meaning Bonar played the last ten minutes without him.

It came down to the lottery of penalties and despite having an impressive record of saves Scrimmy couldn't win Bonar the game as misses from Gav and Craig Stevens meant Harleys progressed to the next round 8-7 on penalties.

Craig Stevens penalty was captured on a supporter's phone...




This week's ratings and comments come courtesy of club captain Andy Cameron...

Deek 1 - game to forget
Stanton 6 - few hairy moments
Gav 5 - all over the shop!
Andy 5 - drunk and all over the shop
Scotty 6 - solid and good passing
Dunny 6 - some ping!
Dave 7 - on fire!
Chico 6 - still drunk
Robbie 4 - not at the races
Scheva 6 - always a threat
Craig 5 - worst pen ever

Scrim 8 - MoM
Gary 7 - live wire, took goal well

Thursday 22 October 2009

Scottish Cup 3rd Round

Away trip v. the winner of the Lochgreen/Strathclyde Business Park tie. Both teams are West coast based I think.

Clashes with Dundee's cup final though.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Lochee Central 4 Bonargrove 3

Bonar's problem this week was that they had no goalkeeper. Or defence, midfield and forwards! Deek was away at his idol Stephen Gately's funeral and missed the game meaning Scrimmy pulled on the Admirals this week. Scotty and Chico were missing through injury meaning an unusual look to the team. Lee shifted to left back, Andy played at sweeper, and despite his match rating of 3 last week Mark "1995" Stanton kept his place.

The first half was pretty much as bad as Bonar could play and they found themselves 4-0 down at the interval. Scrimmy was beat by a 25 yard free kick down the middle for the first and then was chipped from 30 yards when he was standing on the line. Lochee's number 9 was finding plenty space and helped himself to a hattrick as Andy looked like he was still on holiday.

The management team weren't happy as you would expect and this led to a slightly improved 2nd half performance. Bonar pulled it back to 4-2 fairly quickly through an Ascot Dave penalty and an excellent volleyed finish from Scheva. Lochee never looked in real danger though and the game finished 4-3 with Dunny grabbing Bonar's other goal.

Highlight of the game was Ascot Dave rugby tackling a Lochee player half his height after a bad tackle. A brawl assumed with Celtic Bill sprinting onto the pitch to confront Dave. Someone held him back luckily.

This week's match ratings and comments come courtesy of Stants.

Ratings

Scrim 6 - lobbed again
Lee 4 - better playing his sister
Andy 6 - still in holiday mode
Gav 6 - made some crazy tackles
Stants 5 - 95 preds still got it
Dunny 3 - huffy wee dick
Robbie 6 - did his best
Ascot Dave 7 - started riot!
Mussy 6 - not the worst
Scheva 6 - take a bow son
Craig 5 - no service

Rada 6 - different attacking option
Gary 6- decent debut
Bonar Sidelines 10 for watching that shite

Sunday 11 October 2009

Bonargrove 5 Lochee Central 3

When you see Tommy King singing "Scheva's Going Home" at Claypotts then you know it's Scottish Cup time for Bonargrove. Last season, Bonar reached the last 16 where they unluckily lost to the eventual finalists and after beating Olde Mill in the first round they faced Lochee Central in the 2nd round.

Central came into the game on the back of a good win over in Tayport but despite looking good in spells they never really looked like winning and Bonar ran out comfortable winners. Lochee, who lacked any real height, looked to play the ball along the ground at most opportunities but most of their attacks were snuffed out and Bonar had the better of the chances in the game.

Bonar lined up in a familiar 4-4-2 formation but had notable absentees in Mussy, Andy and Craig Stevens. Tommy King slotted in at the back; Chico played in centre mid; and Rada was offside.

Lochee Central made a good start when Deek made a rare mistake by fumbling a weak free kick and the striker bundled the ball home. The Central players were delighted and celebrated accordingly.



Bonar hit back in rapid fashion when Scheva knocked in a goal, and Rada burst clear to give Bonar the lead after 30 mins. Central made it 2-2 soon after when Scrimmy lost his man at the back post. However, it was 3-2 at half time as Tommy slotted home a pen when Ascot Dave was assaulted.

The 2nd half looked like it was going to be tough for Bonar with them shooting up the hill and into the wind but they got off to a flyer and were 5-2 up inside 10 mins of the 2nd half. Top scorer Ascot Dave grabbed both, one from the spot when Rada was upended and the Central player was lucky not to be red carded. Lochee grabbed a consolation with 10 mins to go with a long range strike but Bonar held on and now progress to round 3.

This week's match ratings come courtesy of Scheva, word for word:

Deek 6 - flogged @ least one, gr8 keeper tho
Stants 3 - awful, broke new boots in with a wimper
Gav 7 - solid
Tommy 8 - calming influence long live the king
Scotty 7 - above average
Dunny 5 - worse than man short
Ascot Dave 8 - on fire
Chico 6 - dominated by midgets
Robbie 7 - worked hard as always
Rada 7 - missed a few but constant threat
Scheva 7 - average, probably still drunk tho....

Deko and Scrim (not used) - if Carlsberg made subbies

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Bonargrove 9 Angus Thistle 2

Another week where Bonar only just managed to scrape together 11 players but luckily Angus Thistle couldn't even get 11 as they played the first half with 10 and the second half with 9. This led to a pretty dominating performance from Bonar, although Thistle did lead for the majority of the 1st half and were level 2-2 at half time.

Bonar had many notable absentees with both Gav and Ascot Dave working, aswell as Dunny not turning up. Assistant Manager Andy was missing too but he had a reasonable excuse as he was filming Soccer AM the previous day.

Scrimmy was forced to play and formed a defensive partnership with Scotty whilst Mussy made his first start in a Bonar shirt on the wing. Craig Stevens was partnered by Robbie up top as Scheva was dropped into a midfield role.

Bonar got the game off to a flyer as they scored straight from kick off when a flowing move was finished by Craig Stevens without a Thistle player touching the ball. The lead was short-lived though as Angus Thistle scored a goal soon after despite the striker being a clear 5 yards offside. Mistakes from the referee were commonplace in this game though as he seemed to take sympathy on the side who were men short and numerous offside decisions at both ends were given in Thistle's favour.

An error from Scrimmy led to Thistle taking a 2-1 lead but fortunately Scheva chipped in an equaliser on the stroke of half time. Scrimmy wasn't happy at half time and bemoaned the players for thinking it was easy due to them only having 10 men. However, after Bonar scored straight after half time Scrimmy could be heard shouting "let's get abodys name in the tele"!

Shooting down the hill and with the wind Bonar could have scored 20 but had to make do with 9 as Mussy (1 goal) and Chico (2 goals) ran riot down the wings. Mussy didn't pass once. Craig Stevens completed his hattrick in the 2nd half to move joint top of the scorers list. Robbie and Lee completed the scoring, with Lee scoring with his only touch of the 2nd half.

Victory means Bonar have got off to a good start in the Alex Smith Section with 6 points from 6 and next up is a tough game against Lochee Central in the Scottish Cup.

Match Ratings

Deek 7
Stanton 7
Scrimmy 6
Scotty 6
Chico 7
Mussy 7
Lee 5
Scheva 7
Robbie 7
Craig Stevens 8