Dundonald Chase Football Club

Ed's goal never got a chance to hit the back of the net

Adrian calmed things down in midfield

NC Royals came to Dundonald knowing that what with this being the only fixture in division 9, it would see them go top if they can win here for the first time. We've had a miserable time visiting the former Royals ground at Overton Rec., losing 6-0, 7-1 and 2-1, but have managed to contain them at home up until now.

There's no getting away from it though, today we were ordinary, very ordinary, we really did look like we are still suffering from the festive seasons hangover. We didn't offer a lot and at half-time were lucky to be leading at all. Despite all this, ironically we can look back and say that we should have put more chances away, that would kind of say in a contradicting sort of way that we should have won this game ! Of course Royals had more chances themselves and could probably have put at least a couple more away as well, but we seemed to miss the more glaring opportunities again, something we seem to do week in week out and it is frightening to look at out recent run of results and calculate just how many points we have thrown away, from simply not taking our chances.

For a side that finds losing a weekly habit, we never seem to lose by anything more than the odd goal these days. As much as this is hardly an achievement, we can look at this as a positive, something to work on. We have also played all the better sides in the division recently and have competed with all of them.

Our start to the game was as good as you can get, a goal in the opening minute. After winning a free kick, Ed the long range specialist, kept up his good record to score from all of 25 yards, in fact the goal came so quickly that the groundsman didn't even have time to put the nets up! We almost seemed to have an extra player, as the groundsman, had his chair on the pitch while still putting up the other net, while Royals were trying to take a corner!

After a lethargic performance in the first half, we seemed to be even less inspiring at the start of the second. It was almost as if NCR had taken a quick shot of caffeine while we opted for the sleeping pills! It really did seem that a number of players weren't up for it, however Matty got better as the game went on, putting in some vital challenges, he ran his socks off bless him! Geoff although shaky at times, made a number of decent stops including dealing with a shot which 'swerved all of the place' before punching over the bar. Adrian came on for a knackered Gary H, although to be fair a number of other players were struggling at that point. Ade got stuck in well and helped pass the ball around nicely, in attempt to get things moving, but Royals weren't going to allow us any time on the ball, if it was part of their game plan, it definitely seemed to work!

We were fortunate enough not to conceed in the first half, but the inevitable finally happened with less than 10 minutes of the second half gone as Royals lashed onto our inability to clear from a corner. The second goal was much the same, resulting directly from poor defending at the back. Geoff helped to keep the scoreline down, but we had a good chance to equalise with only a matter of minutes remaining as Leroy's cross found Rob's head, although the ball agonisingly sailed high and wide.

No moans or groans this week, reality was we barely deserved anything better than we got. We've performed well up until now, but definitely missed that competitive edge today. Christmas is over, 2005 has just begun, let's push on.