Woodside BC 2 Maud PBC 1 (HT 0-0)

SYFA Scottish Cup Quarter Final

Saturday 23.1.10

Fraser; Fulton(50), Calder, Masson, Daniel(62); Robertson(35), McLean, Burr(62), Barbour; Anderson(50), Gibb

Subs: Cordiner, Deakin(50), Mair(50), McCafferty(62), Simpson(35), Turriff(62)

Maud travelled to the kingdom of Fife to face arguably their most challenging opponents to date in their biggest game of the season.

On a muddy, sloping pitch, not conducive to passing football, the lads gave a decent account of themselves but will be frustrated that they did not, at least, gain the replay they merited against a side they were definitely capable of beating.

The first effort on goal came from the hosts in the second minute but Cameron Fraser dealt capably with a looping header from 15 yards.

Maud’s first opening fell to James Gibb when he raced into the box and legitimately challenged the home keeper for a loose ball. Inexplicably the ref blew for a foul and reprimanded James. This set the tone for the official’s performance over the rest of the match, during which he seemed unduly concerned with not upsetting the sizeable and vocal home support.

Jack Daniel then did well to scramble clear under severe pressure, allowing Isaac Barbour to surge up the left flank and set up Gibb who cut inside and lashed a low effort a foot wide of the near post.

On sixteen minutes, Maud threatened again when Barbour won a 50/50 challenge wide left just inside the Woodside half and released Gibb to run at the right back. He beat his man and fired over an excellent cross which just eluded Lee Robertson who had made a great run into the box from midfield. A home defender then turned the ball behind for a corner only for a goal kick to be bizarrely awarded.

Woodside were then awarded a dubious free kick in midfield which they lofted into the box where Fraser palmed it away for Daniel to clear. The next chance saw a similar free kick cleanly plucked out of the air by Fraser.

At this stage the Fifers were pressing hard and Maud were relying heavily on Jack Fulton and Christopher Masson to break up the waves of attacks. Woodside’s best chance of the opening half saw Fraser again perform heroics in goal, hurling himself full-length to his postage stamp corner to palm a rising 25 yard drive around the post.

This seemed to inspire his teammates and Maud regained the momentum in the latter stages of the first half, creating a series of chances. First up, on the half hour mark, Barbour slipped a perceptive pass behind the Woodside left back four Gibb to surge onto. James sped towards the bye-line but there were no takers for the cross he swept across the face of goal. Next Ewan Calder mopped up a Woodside through ball and found Ryan McLean who pushed forwards to pick out Gibb on the left edge of the box. He set himself and fired in a rasping drive which the keeper did well to hold.

The last significant action of the half saw Barbour cut inside his marker, break clear and send a dangerous dipping drive just over the bar.

Maud rang the changes at half-time with Gavin Simpson coming on for Lee Robertson to take up the left midfield berth where he could threaten with his pace, strength and shooting power. To accommodate this, Nathan Anderson moved to right midfield and Isaac Barbour partnered James Gibb up front. Woodside also decided to change their keeper at this stage.

Within five minutes of the restart Maud were reeling from two sucker punches. Firstly, on forty-three minutes a Woodside midfielder gathered a long throw on the left and sent a looping shot over Fraser from just outside the box for 1-0.

They doubled their advantage almost immediately with a low snapshot from just inside the box.

Maud then introduced Blair Deakin and Stuart Mair to replace Jack Fulton and Nathan Anderson, Blair going up front and Stuart slotting into centre midfield to switch to a 3-4-3 formation.

This gradually allowed Hamish Burr and Ryan McLean to regain the initiative in midfield and Maud started to produce their best passing moves of the match.

Typical of this, on fifty-five minutes, Daniel counter-attacked quickly from left back, shifted the ball inside for Mair to find Gibb on the edge of the box. He intelligently played in Barbour at inside left and his blistering drive fizzed inches wide of the far post with the keeper beaten.

The remainder of the game brought a terrific team effort from Maud as they strove desperately to claw themselves back into contention.

On the hour mark, Mair won the ball in midfield and found Burr who drove forwards, drew a defender and slipped a pass to Barbour wide right. Isaac’s deep cross was claimed by the keeper as Gibb and Deakin attacked it.

Maud’s final roll of the dice then saw them replace Hamish Burr and Jack Daniel with Lee Turriff and Sean McCafferty.

It was then Masson’s turn to threaten when he won a loose ball in defence and stormed through midfield to hammer in a dipping 25 yard shot only for the keeper to produce an excellent save.

Woodside were now stretched to the limit as Maud battered their goal and the best chance of the game so far saw Deakin do everything right when he beat his man at inside right and send the ball past the keeper only for a covering defender to race back and pull off a brilliant goal line clearance.

A perfectly timed Calder challenge allowed him to push forwards and send Deakin down the right touchline. Blair held it up well and played it back to Mair who lofted the ball into the penalty area where Gibb met it to head narrowly past.

With five minutes of regulation time remaining Maud hauled themselves back into the game with the best goal of the match. Calder broke up a Woodside attack and rampaged towards the half way line to launch a ball into the opposition box. Deakin expertly chested the ball down with his back to goal and laid it back to the onrushing Mair who struck a first-time shot into the top left corner of the net.

Woodside threatened to make it 3-1 almost immediately but Lee Turriff stepped in with a brilliant interception and clearance to Sean McCafferty who played in Deakin to break into the box and send a cross/shot agonisingly wide.

Maud went on to create several further clear scoring opportunities in the dying stages, the first of which saw Barbour whip a low ball across the face of goal from the left only for it to evade both defence and attack.

Gavin Simpson then gathered a hurried Woodside clearance and slipped a pass to Barbour on the left who drove to the bye-line and sent over a driven cross which was headed off the line by a defender despite the joint efforts of Gibb and Deakin to force it home.

The last action of the game came from a Maud free kick deep in their own half which Calder lofted over their back line only for offside to be given despite the Maud forwards appearing to have sprung the now panicking defence’s offside trap to race clear on goal.

Maud’s players and coaches will be hugely disappointed by this result but they take great credit from an impressive Scottish Cup run. The players possibly don’t realise what they have achieved by reaching the latter stages of a national competition but they should take note that only themselves and Broomhill from the Aberdeen & District League remained in the cup this weekend (and Broomhill have yet to play their tie from the previous round).

You have done superbly boys and should be very proud of yourselves. Remember that you have only lost twice and drawn once in your fifteen games so far this season and neither of the teams you lost to were your superiors in any area. Use this fact, along with your cup run, as a platform to push on from and sustain your challenge at the top of the league for the rest of the season.