MATCH REPORTS 2006/7



 

Tarbert progress to last 16 of Coronation Cup

 

On Saturday 14th October, Tarbert travelled for yet another away cup tie, this time in the shape of East Kilbride YM in the Coronation Cup.  The conditions were ideal and the park was fairly even, allowing for slick passing and some good football.  Due to a series of injuries and players away on ‘international duty’, the squad was a little depleted and manager AJ was required to ring the changes.  The game began and was one sided as Tarbert ventured forward time and again looking for the breakthrough.  Bobby  MacTaggart, making his debut for the club had 3 great chances in the opening half hour but unfortunately failed to convert.  The opener came on the 35 minute mark as good work from MacTaggart set up James Prentice for a fairly easy finish and his 7th goal of the campaign.  East Kilbride were struggling to produce any form of attacking football, but with one long ball two minutes before half time they scored an unlikely equaliser.  The defence had been solid and was caught out by a hopeful lump forward.  It was nearly 2-1 to EKYM on the stroke of half time as Billy ‘Hands’ had to make a point blank save to deny their striker a tap in.  Stern words at half time and the 2nd half continued as the first had ended – waves of Tarbert attacks.  It didn’t take long for Coco to notch his 8th of the season as he turned his man in the box and finished sweetly with his left foot.  The rest of the game saw Tarbert doing most of the attacking and although failing to kill the game off they held out for another cup win.  This sees them into the last 16 of the coronation cup once again and looking forward to the next tie.

 

Team – Hawthorn, Johnstone, Martin, Guy, Robertson, N macDougall, D MacDougall, A McMillan, I Johnson, MacTaggart, Prentice. Subs – Smythe, Elliot

 

 

 

Match report for Saturday 7th October 2006

 

 

Tarbert in Scottish Cup Thriller

 

Tarbert once again drew a tricky away tie in the soccer world Scottish Cup, with this year’s opponents being Wishaw HSFP.  With Tarbert still having a few injuries, they travelled with a small squad to try and end a barren run of Scottish cup results over the past few years.  The game began in ferocious fashion, with both sides keen to take an early advantage, although the blustery conditions were making life difficult for both teams.  Wishaw had a couple of early chances and scored after a free kick came back off the defensive wall only to be lofted back into the box and neatly finished into the bottom corner.  There was some controversy as their striker seemed to be well offside from the rebound.  Nevertheless, Tarbert regained their composure and started to string some neat passes together, just as they had done last week.  The equaliser arrived before the half hour mark as James Prentice set up Nikki MacDougall and from a tight angle he slotted home at the near post. 1-1. This seemed to give Tarbert a lift and they kept pressing looking for the lead, although Wishaw’s number 10 was giving the Tarbert defence a torrid time also.  A crucial goal was scored not long before half time and it went to the away side as David Ronald smashed an unstoppable shot past the keeper into the roof of the net. 2-1 to Tarbert at half time.  Manager AJ was pleased with the work rate and asked that it continued into the second half and that was what happened.  Corners were proving the thorn in the side of Wishaw and another devastating delivery saw a simple header for TT to make it 3-1 to the away side much to the delight of their support.  The game was slightly soured in the second half with two injuries to David Ronald and J D McMillan but Tarbert continued to press their advantage.  The game was in danger of turning as TT contrived to miss a glorious chance from 6 yards with the keeper seemingly away on holiday, and Douglas Guy rashly challenging a Wishaw player which looked to be resulting  in a second yellow card as the referee itched his back pocket but produced no card.  The game was left on a knife edge with about 15 minutes to go as an innocuous cross into the box was diverted by the head of Douglas Guy into his own net, making it 3-2.  More pressure followed from the home side but Tarbert looked the more likely to add to their lead.  However, the game ended after about six minutes of injury time and Tarbert recorded a good scalp in the cup to gain a place in the 3rd round.  Manager AJ was undoubtedly delighted at the performance and the result and now looks forward to another away cup tie this week.

 

 

Team: Billy Hawthorn, Douglas Guy, Craig Martin, J D MacMillan, Scott Robertson, Iain  Johnson, David Ronald, James Smythe, Nikki MacDougall, Duncan MacDougall, James Prentice, Andrew MacMillan, Malcolm McIver.

 

 

 

 

Tarbert Regain Top Spot

Tarbert welcomed Duncanrig FP to Cil Andreas on Saturday 30th September and
were looking to bounce back following the previous week’s disappointing
display in the local derby.  Tarbert were back to full strength with Captain
James Prentice available and Scott Robertson starting his first game of the
season.

The first real effort on goal arrived shortly after the first whistle when
David Ronald cut in off the wing and had a great left foot effort tipped
over the bar by the visiting keeper.  The keeper was in for a busy afternoon
and he had good save from Nikki McDougall after 10 minutes, swiftly followed
by another good block from an Iain Johnson effort.

The keeper was beaten after 20 minutes when James Prentice hit a trademark
free kick from 25 yards only for the crossbar to come to the keeper’s
rescue.  Coco was not to be denied however when on the half-hour mark he was
fouled in the box and won a penalty.  He picked himself up of the deck and
opened the scoring by firing in to the bottom left corner.

Half time: Tarbert 1 Duncanrig FP 0.

Manager Alec Johnstone was looking for more from his team in the second half
and they duly obliged straight from the restart when Iain ‘Fish’ Johnson
slipped past 3 Duncanrig players before squaring to Coco who hammered home
his second from 8 yards.

The Tarbert fans were now looking for Tarbert to keep the goals flowing but
on 55 minutes Duncanrig sneaked a goal after a defensive lapse allowed their
number 10 to smash a shot in at the far post.  This served as encouragement
for the visitors who swiftly followed the goal up with a fine strike from 15
yards which was heading for the top right hand corner until keeper Billy
Hawthorn pulled off a stunning save that allowed Tarbert’s lead to remain
intact.

On 65 minutes Tarbert were awarded a free kick 30 yards out when the
Duncanrig defenders decided that there was no chance Iain Johnson was going
to dribble past them for the umpteenth time so he was on the receiving end
of a brutal challenge.  James Prentice again stepped up and hit a sweet shot
that the keeper could do nothing but palm into the path of Duncan McDougall.
  He took one touch before calmly firing high into the roof of the net.

The scoring was wrapped up on 80 minutes when James Prentice skipped past
two challenges on the edge of the box before firing into the bottom corner
of the Duncanrig goal.  This finished off Coco’s hat-trick and rounded off a
good display on the Captain’s return to the team.

In the last 10 minutes AJ replaced himself with Andrew McMillan, Duncan
McDougall with Malcolm McIver and also Scott Robertson with Colin Maxwell
after Scott received a nasty head injury after a heavy collision.  In what
was a good team performance the man of the match was the hat-trick hero
James Prentice whose goals allowed the Dookers to move back to the top of
the league table.

Team:  B Hawthorn, D Guy, C Martin, A Johnstone, D Ronald, N McDougall, J
Smyth, I Johnson, S Robertson, D McDougall, J Prentice.  Subs:  C Maxwell, A
McMillan, M McIver.

 

 

 

 

Tarbert v St Patricks AFC

 

So… here we are again, the beginning of a new season for Tarbert AFC after their impressive run of form last season saw them promoted to the next division.  This year, the league is filled with quality teams and also contains the mighty red star.  Surely the aim this season is two wins in the derby matches and finish above their fearsome rivals. NO! The objective of this season is to aim for as high a league position as possible and forget all about red star (apart from two days this year when we beat them).  Everything looked positive for Tarbert after their triumphant season last year but a few setbacks were imposed before the opening day of this campaign.  Firstly was the double ankle break of keeper Allan Blair, news that devastated everyone involved, but even more bad news followed.  Young Kaiser then announced his six week absence would commence after fixture 1 of the new calendar due to a hernia operation.  As well as this, manager AJ contrived to stick a plastic knife through his arm and sever a hair which could rule him out for a further 4 weeks following his suspension. Two other factors – the suspension of wee tweed for the opening two fixtures and also the spillage of ribena from Mr Boneyins legs were going to be huge setbacks for the team.  However, it was business as usual as St Pats arrived in Tarbert for the opening fixture.

 

              The game began in fine fettle with Tarbert playing some excellent football and St Pats being forced to do a lot of defending.  It almost looked like Tarbert hadn’t been away from football for the summer as they continued to play as they had done in the Oban tournament a couple of weeks earlier where they were only denied in the final by a Dunoon side that beat the boys 8-0 on the opening day also.  Coco opened the scoring in the match not even half way through the first half with a neat finish.  You then would have thought that St Pats would have sparked into life but in actual fact it was Tarbert who surged forward and soon had number two courtesy of Coco setting up the Cowa for his first of the season aswell.  Coco played a lovely chip through to Jimmy Mo who expertly lobbed the keeper from 20 yards with his weaker foot. ABOOF!  More excellent work from Coco followed and almost produced another goal.  Coupled with this excellent attacking, the defence were also doing a sterling job with Craig Martin mopping up any nonsense at the back, Dugay muscling his way around and Kaiser somewhat surprisingly sticking his big mutton heed onto everything in sight.  Then a sour moment in the game as one of the St Pats players took it upon themselves to land a blow onto Iain Dowie’s noggin and gain themselves a red card for their troubles.  Even more momentum for Tarbert now as their one man advantage allowed Coco even more precious space which he exploited and expertly set up the big fish for number 3 and gave Tarbert a 3-0 lead.  In all honesty this was a major shock for everyone as it was anticipated to be very close against the reigning champions.  However things got even better for Tarbert as Coco carved out yet another goal for himself and made the game 4-0 for Tarbert.

 

               Half time arrived with Tarbert cruising but manager AJ underlined the fact that complacency wouldn’t be tolerated and the pressure needed to be kept up on the away side.  The second half began as the first ended with wave after wave of Tarbert attacks and solid defending by the home defence any time St Pats ventured forward.  More chances were created but none were converted and after 75 minutes St Pats scrambled what was thought to be just consolation.  However, 5 minutes later after more Tarbert pressure, St Pats played a through ball to their striker who appeared to be 5 yards offside, but was allowed to continue by John Scott and convert their second goal for 4-2. Now the nerves were starting to twinge and AJ made a couple of substitutions in order to try and steady the ship.  It was all to no avail though as St Pats surged forward and by virtue of another dubious decision by the referee scored another goal to make it 4-3 with only a couple of minutes left.  It seemed an absolute eternity for Tarbert as thoughts were cast back to only a couple of seasons ago when a 4-0 lead ended in a 4-4 draw, not the desirable outcome today.  John Scott indicated that the game was in injury time but still it didn’t end.  Timing officials at the side of the park gestured that over 50 minutes had been played in the second half and yet the referee continued the game for another two minutes.  All that everyone wanted to hear, especially our number one fan, Coco’s mum, was that shrill from John Scott’s mouth, and finally it arrived.  The crowd and the players all went wild as Tarbert had secured a famous 4-3 win over the champs and gained three valuable early points in their bid for another cracking season.  Top of the table after day one and playing some nice football, there must be some fear instilled into teams when they travel to Cil Andreis in the future.

 

by Alby

 

 

DOOKERS WIN AGAIN

Tarbert AFC travelled to Stepps on Saturday 26th August for their first away game of the season against Cambria B hoping to gain another 3 points after last week’s excellent performance that resulted in a 4-3 victory over last year’s champions St Pat’s B.

 

The home team were the quickest to settle, moving the ball neatly around the top-class playing surface without seriously penetrating the Tarbert defence.  They had the first clear-cut chance of the game after 20 minutes, the big number 10 firing on goal from close range after good build-up play only to find keeper Billy Hawthorn equal to it with a fine diving save.

 

This served to encourage Cambria who put Tarbert under pressure for the next 10 minutes but by defending as a unit Tarbert rode out the storm.  The break down of one of Cambria’s attacks made the best chance of the first half for Tarbert, a long ball out of defence found the impressive James Prentice whose shot was parried by the home keeper only to find David Ronald who hit the post from an acute angle.  Half time came with the teams tied at 0-0.

 

Whatever manager Alexander Johnstone said to his players at half-time certainly had the right affect as straight from the kick-off Iain ‘Boneyin’ Johnson went on one of his mazy runs to fire on the Cambria goal only for the keeper to pull off a good save.  Tarbert’s increase in tempo soon resulted in the first goal after 50 minutes, good work by Douglas Guy down the right found James Prentice who was fouled in the box, Michael Connor stepping up to fire the resulting penalty low past the keeper.

 

There was no stopping Tarbert now as they scored 2 goals in quick succession, the first arriving from James Prentice who fired through the keeper’s legs from 15 yards after good work down the right by Douglas Guy.  The third was scored by man of the match Nikki McDougall who swept home a James Prentice cross after 65 minutes.

 

As comfortable as Tarbert looked Cambria were back in the game within 10 minutes as the scored twice, the first a header from a corner and the second an unstoppable shot from 25 yards that skidded into the bottom corner.

 

However, any nerves that arose in the Tarbert camp were quickly extinguished after 80 minutes when James ‘Steven’ Smyth drilled a powerful strike into the Cambria net after Captain Duncan McDougall had a shot blocked on the edge of the box.

 

With the score 4-2 manager Johnstone brought on fresh legs to see the game out, Darren Mair and the McMillan brothers helping the Dookers gain a valuable 3 points. 

 

Team:  B Hawthorn, D Ronald, D Guy, C Martin, C Maxwell, N McDougall, J Smyth, D McDougall, I Johnson, J Prentice, M Connor.  Subs:  D Mair, A & J McMillan, Calum Elliot
 
By Clam