GMA 2nd 0 – 7 Aberdour
Aberdour Scorers: Angus Thorburn 16, 60, Roddy MacColl 49, David McDougall 57,75, David Mackenzie 63, Ruairidh Reid 85
South Division 1
Referee: Ross Brown
14:30 Saturday 20th July 2019 @ Yoker

After suffering their first league defeat of the season last week at Inveraray, the 1sts went to Yoker looking to get their title challenge back on track. They certainly did that with a comfortable 7 – 0 win over GMA who despite having several key players missing, also had some young promising players stepping up.

The first half was a comfortable affair for the Dour defence; goalkeeper Craig Callaghan not registering one single touch of the ball. At the other end of the park, the GMA defence were putting up a stern test for the Dour forwards. None more so than GMA keeper Jonathan Oates who was vital in keeping wave after wave of Dour attacks out. There was no let up for GMA as every time they managed to clear the ball, it would come straight back from the Dour midfield who were winning everything. Despite the relentless attacks, the only goal of the opening half came when Roddy slipped a ball through to Gus who fired it home on 15mins.

The half time team chat was simple; keep doing what we were doing and the goals would come.

The first half started almost disastrously for the Dour. With GMA’s first shot on target, the ball squirmed under goalkeeper Craig’s feet and got held up in the muddy goalmouth agonisingly short of the line. Had this gone in the game could have gone differently with Dour heads dropping with last weeks defeat still fresh in their minds. The opposite was to happen though and this wobble would spring Dour in to life. The next 45 minutes was a masterclass in attacking play with all the Dour forwards linking up well but crucially starting to take their chances. Roddy scored on 49 minutes to settle the nerves before strikes from David McDougall, Angus Thorburn, David Mackenzie to make it 6-0. The returning Ruairidh Reid would replace Roddy on 75 minutes and grab himself a late goal to finish the scoring.

Man of the match was tough as it really was a whole team performance today and they stepped up together after last weeks disappointing result. But the leadership, composure and level headed play dictated by John Martin sponsored by @Strathcarron Brewery in the Centre was crucial. Many players have made huge sacrifices this season to the team despite prior commitments, today included. Well done lads let’s keep it up!

Thanks to GMA for a very sporting game and we wish them all the best in the Bullough final in two weeks time. The 1st team have two weeks off and will then look to seal the title in what will be a very tough run in with games against Col Glen, Ballachulish and Lochside Rovers.