December 12th 2009 – Home

League

Orangefield 1st XI v Bloomfield

After a recent run of good results it was important Orangefield didn’t slip up in the first match of the season against their local rivals Bloomfield. Today’s derby match was a must win for both sides, with Orangefield looking to keep up a challenge in 2nd place, and Bloomfield trying to stay clear of the relegation zone.

Both teams started brightly enough, without much incident at either end for the first 20 minutes. Indeed it took a mistake at the back for Bloomfield to open the scoring, much to the delight of the home fans. A low corner swung in by Jonny Gibson was knocked into his own net by a Bloomfield defender, giving Orangefield the lead in a pretty even contest. The home team were lifted by the 1st goal and started to play with more confidence, creating a couple of chances. Dean Cousins played a good pass into Gibson, but his shot went just wide.

From a Bloomfield set piece, Orangefield had cleared the ball and were pushing out, when the ball came back over the defence. The referee missed a clear offside and let the play go on, resulting in a good finish by the Bloomfield striker to make it 1-1.

After some protesting, Orangefield got back into the game and tried to create another opening before half-time. With some good build up play on the right hand side, Harvey got the ball just inside the away box and stepped inside his Bloomfield marker before striking a left foot shot into the far top corner of the net. The celebration was better than the goal as he sprinted half the length of the pitch to celebrate with the manager and anyone else who was around that side of the pitch.

Half-time: 2 - 1

Bloomfield came out stronger in the 2nd half and put the home team under some pressure, looking for an equaliser from early on. But for some great goalkeeping by Taylor who was again in fine form, and some solid challenges by the home defence, the away team might have got what they were looking for. One shot by a Bloomfield forward was touched in by another, but the latter was offside and Orangefield got away with it.

The game finished with a home win, and even after not playing so well in the 2nd half showed that the team is building good character and starting to grind out results.

Full-time: 2 -1

Lineup: G. Taylor, R.Hardy, S. McNaul, A.D’Arcy (Capt), D.Wilson, B.Reynolds, J.Gibson, T.Craig, D.Cousins, C. Dempster, C.Harvey Subs: D.Finlay, R.McNaul, S.Hamilton