An insight into the matches played by the mighty
Joes by William
Smith (not of Boys Brigade fame) and Bruce Cormack (not
of goal scoring fame)
Joes
put through the Mill in home win banker
No match report as Bruce is
"too busy" at Dounreay"........
Millbank 7-1 Top Joe's
Scorer Martyn Campbell
Squad
Sewell, Cormack, Smith, Lannon, MacLeod, Miller, Cowie, Mackay,
Campbell,
Sutherland, Will and Banks.
Man of the Match - Sewell.
JOE'S FALL TO BOTTOM OF THE TABLE
AS DOUNREAY PROVE TOO ATHLETIC
Missing last night were Daniel Sewell, Davie Stockan and Alex Banks.
The opening goal for Dounreay came when ex Brechin City centre half
Bryan
Kenny beat Mackay in the air from a corner to make it one nil. It was
two
soon after when Munro ran through and beat Lannon. Joe's got a well
worked
goal back when MacLeod played the ball up the line to Smith who
nutmegged
Williamson and played the ball up to CAMPBELL who took it first time and
struck well past the diving Bell.
HALF TIME Dounreay 2-1 Top Joe's.
Joe's were a match for Dounreay now - in fact it was a very even affair.
Dounreay made it 3 midway through the half when Kenny scored another
header
from a corner when he out jumped Smith and placed it past Lannon. With
just
under 2 minutes to go, MILLER broke clear, flattened the defender and
lashed the ball past the keeper. Cowie made a good turn and fired well
wide before Dounreay hit Joe's on the break with Cormack being outpaced
by
his opponent who rolled it to Williamson who got goal side of Cowie to
make
it four.
FULL TIME Dounreay 4-2 Top Joe's
Cautions - Alasdair Will.
Goals - Martyn Campbell and Alistair Miller.
RATINGS
Lannon 6 Pulled off a few good saves - left the dribbling
for his mealtimes this week.
MacLeod 6 Attacked well from the back.
Cowie 7 Returning to form - unlucky with shot at the end.
Unlucky in that it almost didn't go for a throw in.
Mackay 6 Beaten in the air for the opening goal, good solid
shift
apart from that and worked hard.
Smith 7 Set up the opener with a good nutmeg and threaded
pass.
Beaten by Kenny in the air for their third goal. Doesn't understand
what
get your boots on means though....
Miller 7 Another goal and a fine performance.
Campbell 7 See above - does these two know each other?
Sutherland 6 Apart from the time he did a shimmy and left the ball
behind (!) - he played well again.
Sinclair 6 Few good balls into the box before his back,
knee,
hip and head got injured. All at the same time.
Will 6 Booked for a sliding tackle - worked hard and caused
problems for their defence.
Cormack 2 Only on for a few minutes - not sharp enough.
Atletico bank the points in nine goal
thriller
Well it wasn't the 10 goals for the Bankers (at least) as promised by ex
Joe's substitute Ranald Mackay, but it was an entertaining match.
Millbank
had a strong looking squad including players of the calibre of Andrew
Richardson, Graeme Scollay, Steven Sinclair and Gary Mackay. Luckily,
they
also had Ranald Mackay to balance things up a bit.
Joe's were missing the injured Davie Stockan, Stevie Mackie and Willie
Budge. Mackie is undergoing an intensive and demanding regime at the
moment, he's up to 15 chair reps a day now. Budge went on a 5 minute
run
on Sunday - this was only because the wind blew his wallet out of his
hand
(the first time it has been out of his grasp in 31 years and 10 months)
but
he managed to catch it before it left his garden. He is pleased to
announce he managed to catch the wallet and it's believed the value of
its
contents increased as upon further inspection, a rare family of moths
was
found to be inhabiting his girly purse.
TO THE MATCH
As expected, it was always going to be a tough shift for Joe's but they
matched up well to their illustrious opponents for the opening 8-10
minutes
but just as substitute Jamie Mackay entered the field of play, Millbank
rattled in 4 goals without reply.
Half time - Millbank 4-0 Top Joe's
A cool finish from Martyn CAMPBELL pulled a deserved goal back for
Joe's.
Millbank increased their lead when defender Michael MacLeod rolled the
ball
into the empty net. Further goals were exchanged between the sides with
BANKS bagging another header to add to his tally.
Full Time - Atletico Millbank 7-2 Top Joe's
Squad
Lannon 6 Gave spectators, and team mates several heart in
the mouth moments with his "dribbling". Made some good saves.
Cowie 7 Solid game from the big lad, held the defence together
at
times.
MacLeod 6 An own goal but had a good second half.
Banks 6 Another good header to add to his goal tally.
Smith 6 Took a sore one to his lug, probably deserved it.
Miller 6 Good battling performance, another youngster who
has fairly come on since the season started.
Sinclair 5 A composed performance from the veteran of
veterans.
Sutherland 5 Missed a good opportunity but worked hard.
Campbell 6 A cool finish, still trailing Alistair in the
goalscoring
charts.....
Mackay 6 He even managed to dribble past a couple of players to
much amazement. He admitted to being unsure how he did it though.
Sewell 5 For the 10 minutes (including the half time
break)
he was on the pitch, he looked fitter than expected.
Will 5 Put in a good shift and made space for himself -
unlucky
not to see more of the ball.
Goals - Campbell and Banks
Man of the Match - Kevin Cowie.
Cormack breaks his scoring duck
(pity its at wrong end)
A good battling performance from TJ's was not enough last night as the
impressive Junior Acks oozed class last night. Due to Acks wearing the
same colours as Joe's, Will Smith decided we would wear maroon so that
we
did not clash with their red tops.....
Joe's were missing several key men last night - Sewell , Stockan, Banks,
Campbell and Will. On a completely different subject from key men,
Willie
Budge may be available from next week onwards as he takes delivery of
his
new works vehicle tomorrow and will be hoping to claim mileage for its
use.
Starting line up was Lannon, MacLeod, Smith, Miller, Cowie, Mackay and
Sutherland with substitutes of Sinclair and Cormack.
TO THE MATCH
Joe's sat in and counter attacked their illustrious opponents.
Sutherland
up front was causing all sorts of problems for the defence with his
twists
and turns, trying to create something out of nothing. Cowie was trying
to
get up in support along with the wide men of Mackay and Miller. The
defence and midfield were working hard to close down their opponents and
crowd them out as often as possible. The movement of the Juniors caused
problems throughout the match, they always seemed to find an extra
attacker, even when they were matched up man for man. But in the
meantime,
a shock looked on the cards. After 7 minutes and several half chances,
MILLER stepped to the fore as the most improved youngster and finished
well
inside the box. Acks equalised a few minutes later with a well worked
strike. Unfortunately for Joe's, Mackay and Miller were replaced by
Sinclair and Cormack which resulted in the second goal. For this,
Sinclair
is to remain blameless as unfortunately a rush of the blood to the
Gaffer's
head resulted in a curling effort beating Lannon off the inside of the
post. The laws of physics and geometry still have not established how
an
angled kick towards the corner of the park could evade all scientific
theory and end up behind the kicker. It's believed the sermon conducted
by
Stevie Mackie on the touchline gave Cormack ideas above his station.
Acks got the lift they needed and a mazy run from the winger saw Lannon
beaten at the same post again to make it 3-1 at half time. Joe's won a
free kick at the edge of Acks box in the last minute of the half which
Cowie struck viciously towards the net. However, it rose about 15 feet
too
high and was last reported as a UFO on Moray Firth Radio at 2100 hours
last
night.....
Cormack rung the change that all men in maroon wanted to see,
immediately
withdrawing himself and subsequently hung his head in shame.
Acks scored three goals in the second half to make the scoreline less
flattering for the home team, but also more realistic given how well
they
did play. Lannon and Sinclair had a couple of wee arguments as to
distribution of the ball, shielding of the ball, passing of the ball,
but
it must be said, it would have made little difference as Acks deservedly
took the points with ease. Joe's battled gamely and in truth, although
we
don't possess the ability of Acks, our fighting spirit gave an ounce of
respectability to the scoreline. I have no doubts that earlier in the
season this would have ended up in double figures given the lack of
players
available so it could have been a lot worse!
Final Score Top Joe's 1-6 Junior Acks
PLAYER RATINGS
Lannon 5 Pulled off a few saves to keep the scoreline
down.
MacLeod 5 Battled hard and I think has
finally untangled himself
now.
Smith 5 Lost the plot for
about 5 minutes last night after one of
the Juniors kicked him in the thigh. Dummy was found beside Cowie's
free
kick.
Mackay 7 Best game for Top Joe's for a
few weeks. Worked very
hard and used the ball to good effect.
Cowie 5 Free kick is still
travelling.
Miller 6 To quote Steve Mackie "the man is a goal
machine -
this is what Ola should be doing when he's playing".
Sutherland 6 Twisted and turned and caused a lot of
problems.
Sinclair 5 Worked hard and used his experience to
talk the
boys through the match.
Cormack 1 Oh dear......one decent clearance
in the second half but
oh dear......
MOTM - Mackay
View from the sidleines -
Steve Mackie on the phone at Naver during last night's
match
"I'm up at Naver watching the undoubted talents of Top Joe's"
"Yes, oh they play brilliant football"
"Yes, you should see the guy Bruce Cormack. Academy are after him (Cormack
wondered was it Dingwall rather than Wick....)
"Oh yes, Bruce is lethal - He's like a corpse on wheels!!!"
Following the match, Joes keeper Andy Lannon was aksed did he
think he was doing well in the nets this season, his relpy is shown
below.....
WEST SHOWS WHO IS BEST IN EIGHT GOAL
THRILLER (finally by W Smith)
Top Joe's improved on their last showing with the men from up West (who
seemed to include Scrabster, Springpark and the Atomics in their
catchment
area....) but still fell short in the end.
MIA last night were the following players:-
Davie Stockan (who's efforts for training for his latest marathon
adventure
stepped up a notch when he undertook a Top Joe's training session on
Friday)
Daniel Sewell (work, again)
William Budge (still in training....)
Alistair Will (pretend police work training)
This led to a squad for the evening of :-
Andy Lannon, Michael MacLeod, William Alexander Smith, Martyn Campbell,
Kevin Cowie, Alexander Banks and Lewis Sutherland. Substitutes were
Donald
Ola Sinclair, Alistair Miller, Jamie Mackay and Bruce Cormack.
TO THE MATCH
It was a good battling performance in trying conditions last night. The
pitch was white from the snow but Joe's hearts were warmed by the news
that
former Player of the Year from the early 1980's Stevie Mackie was on the
sidelines to assist. It was either that or the hot air being produced
from
the conversations at the touchline helped to warm the hearts of the
waiting
substitues.
Joe's took the lead when good pressure from SUTHERLAND led to a
defensive
mix up and he was credited with the goal (albeit it was another own goal
"claimed" by substitute Donald Sinclair who had not entered the field of
play at this point) which gave Joe's the lead.
Melvich upped the pressure and had 3 by half time....one own goal from
Michael MacLeod which evaded the despairing keeper.....one good strike
and
one defensive mix up....
HALF TIME Melvich 3-1 Top Joe's
Melvich kept up the pressure and soon made it 4. The fifth was a bad
refereeing decision as the attacker slid in illegally to challenge
Lannon
before rolling the ball home.
Joe's made a few changes and got one back with a well drilled strike
into
the bottom corner from COWIE who took the sensible option of ignoring
his
team mates shouts for a pass. Cormack won a free kick and swung it into
the box for BANKS to meet with a convincing header to leave the keeper
with
no chance.
Full Time
Melvich 5-3 Top Joe’s
Andy Lannon
-7- Some good saves, no chance with the goals
Michael
MacLeod -6- Will be disapointed with the OG, solid otherwise.
William
Alexander Smith -6- Struggling to find last seasons form (and fitness)
after injury!
Martyn
Campbell –7- Top Joes wrecking ball, defenders beware!!
Kevin Cowie –7- Battled on in the midfield.
Alexander Banks –8- Well taken goal. MOTM
Lewis
Sutherland –6- Starting to show flashes of his talent
Substitutes
Donald
Ola Sinclair –6- A pain in the Ar*e for Melvich defenders
Alistair Miller –6- Came close on a couple of occasions.
Jamie
Mackay –7- Improving with every game!
Bruce
Cormack -7- Assist for Banks Goal with quick thinking.
Smith is sick as Joes take a point
Top Joe's 2-2 Sharks
Goal Scorers
Alistair Miller
Alex Banks
Squad
Lannon
Cowie
Smith
Campbell
Stockan
Banks
Sinclair
Mackay
Miller
Sutherland
Cormack
MIA this week were Sewell, Will and MacLeod.
Joe's took the game to a strong looking Sharks side early on but went in
at
half time 1 down.
Alistair Miller kept up his scoring rate to meet a through ball from
Sinclair with a sliding lob (if that is possible?!) to beat the Sharks
keeper and level the match. A free kick from Cowie was well met by the
head of Banks for his second headed goal in consecutive matches. Joe's
were pegged back for long spells and Sharks got a deserved equaliser
with a
few minutes to go. All in all, a draw was a fair result in what was a
battling performance more than polished.
Top Joe's 2-2 Sharks
Lannon 6 One mazy run and a few good reaction saves.
Cowie 6 Great free kick to assist the goal.
Smith 6 Lacking his previous sharpness but battled well.
Stockan 6 Niggling injury stopped him performing as well as
before
but worked tirelessly.
Campbell 6 Good niggly battle with the oldest Gray brother.
Showed
him who was boss.
Banks 7 Good header, fairly coming on to his game now.
Sinclair 6 Assist for the goal.
Sutherland 6 Put in a shift.
Mackay 6 As above.
Miller 7 Good goal and worked hard.
Cormack 4 Helped out for a wee while when Wills was "sick".
Man of the Match - a joint award again this week for the hard working
goalscorers of MILLER and BANKS.
Joes make their point in
ill-tempered match
Finally, Joe's managed to get another point on the board with a hard
fought
draw against the mighty PUFC. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an ill
tempered affair in spells and PUFC finished the match with only 6
players.
Joe's were unfortunate only to get a point but let's take nothing away
from
the much improved performance.
MIA last night were Kevin Cowie, Jamie Mackay, Daniel Sewell and
Alistair
Miller.
Joe's lined up with Lannon, MacLeod, Smith, Stockan, Will, Banks and
Campbell with substitutes Sinclair and Sutherland.
TO THE MATCH
Joe's more than matched up to their illustrious, niggly opponents. It
was
a good open match, albeit bordering on physical at times, with good
possession football being adopted by both sides. Joe's took the lead
when
substitute Sinclair got completely confused and found he had a right
foot
after all these years - ran through from his midfield berth and lashed
one
in off the post. Joe's were in the acendency and it was 2 not long
afterwards when a well struck free kick from Banks was deflected into
the
net by Stabs defender MacLeod.
HT 2-0.
Stabbies came out fighting in the second half and got 2 goals within 10
minutes through a long range effort for the first (through a mass of
bodies) and a left footed strike from big nose Hollywid. PUFC were
reduced
to 6 men near the end of the match after old guy Sinclair got young guy
MacLeod wound up and he lashed out. PUFC were getting wound up by the
good
guys and were extremely fortunate to hold out for a draw - in truth,
another 5 minutes would have seen a victory for the good guys.
FT 2-2.
Lannon 7 A number of key saves and a strange header to
clear
a cross....
MacLeod 7 Apart from a couple of dodgy free kicks on goal, a
solid
performance.
Smith 7 See above, except for the free kicks....
Stockan 7 A good shift - looked dangerous late on.
Will 5 Took a knock early on and never recovered from this.
Had
a good shot in the first half.
Banks 8 Man of the match - worked very hard tracking back and
going forward.
Campbell 7 Enjoyed the battle with MacLeod and worked hard.
Sutherland 7 Held the ball up well in attack. Will be taught the
difference from LEFT and RIGHT next week.....
Sinclair 7 Scored a good goal and got a man sent off.
Probably the best he has ever done in his 52 years of local amateur
football.
ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR TOP JOE'S
Top Joe's went into last night's match with Seaview bereft of confidence
after last week's mauling by Blackstairs. As they were soundly beaten
last
time by the men from John O'Groats, expectations were not high.
Missing in action were Alex Banks (studying....), Davie Stockan
(holidaying....), Daniel Sewell (maintenance.....) and Martyn Campbell
(racketeering....). The club have been "boosted" by the imminent return
of
William Budge. It's believed, after months of negotiations, he
will finally make his return to action "next month". And it's purely a
coincidence that this will tie in with the offer of overtime at his
work....
William Alexander Smith returned for the first time this year after
injury
so the squad last night was as follows
Lannon, Cowie, MacLeod, Mackay, Smith, Hutcheon (T) and Sinclair with
substitutes of Miller, Sutherland, Will and Cormack.
TO THE MATCH
Immediately you could sense improvement from last week's match. Club
Mascot Steven Mackie commented from the sidelines that the Management
must
have put the players through a tough training and tactics session. This
was confirmed by Cormack who said he had composed a harsh text/email,
telling the players a few home truths - of course he didn't do this,
much
to the amusement of himself and Mackie.
The backline and midfield were working hard to deal with the Seaview
attacks and Sinclair was causing a few problems for their defence. Both
sides were cancelling each other out but eventually there was goals for
both sides in the half. Joe's scored when a kick in from Mackay,
whipped
in with pace caused a few problems in the Seaview rear-guard, causing
Ola
to "claim" his first goal of the season. I say "claim" as he was the
closest attacking player to the header by the defender to beat the
advancing keeper.
Seaview scored with a well worked finish to put both sides in level at
one
goal apiece at half time.
SEAVIEW 1-1 TOP JOE'S
Seaview took the game to the Joe's early in the second half and took the
lead again. However, Joe's fought hard and got a deserved equaliser
through a fine finish (described as a hammer by an onlooker) from
converted
forward Miller.
Seaview got a couple of goals later on, one from a deflection following
on
from a couple of efforts from a free kick then one on the break as Joe's
looked for an equaliser.
SEAVIEW 4-2 TOP JOE'S
Lannon 6
MacLeod 7
Cowie 6
Mackay 6
Smith 6
Hutcheon 7
Sinclair 7
Will 6
Miller 7
Sutherland 6
Cormack 5
MAN OF THE MATCH
A joint award for the 2 forwards who worked hard and caused problems for
the Seaview rear-guard SINCLAIR and MILLER.
Joe's unable to climb against the
Stairs.....
First game for 5/6 weeks, festive period in the middle of it, rustiness,
not getting much from the referee......all viable excuses - but they can
only be excuses. In the end, we were well beaten by a good side, no
make
that excellent side. But, when they didn't have to work for the points
-
well, that's unacceptable.
Missing last night were Wills Smith and Daniel Sewell.
2 early errors gave Stairs the lead after Joe's missed out early on. A
couple of half chances came Joe's way but it was no surprise to see it
4-0
at half time.
HT Joe's 0-4 Stairs.
The second half was an improvement in an attacking sense - Joe's created
enough chances to score 4 - however, with not tracking back and general
slackness - Stairs managed to get another eight YES EIGHT.
FT Joe's 0-12 Stairs.
No point doing any ratings this week - let's just list the guilty and
move
on to next week's match versus Seaview.
Lannon, MacLeod, Miller, Cowie, Will, Banks, Stockan, Sinclair,
Campbell,
Sutherland, Mackay and Cormack.
Top Joe’s unlucky as Acks hang on for
victory
Well, if you’d have told
me at half time that we’d lose by 2 goals after dominating the second
half and forcing at least 6 saves from the keeper, I’d have said you
were mad. Mind you, you are reading this….
The match reports have
dried up recently, but we are back on track now. The webmaster has not
been able to maintain the site but the problem is solved now – reports
will be on soon
www.topjoes7s.co.uk.
After a run of
distinctly poor form, Joe’s took to the field against a rejuvenated Acks
side. As central defender Michael MacLeod pointed out “we’ve let in 14
goals in the last 2 games”. I know Michael, I blame the defence….
Unavailable last night
were William Smith (still injured), Alasdair Will (working) and William
Budge (still too tight to afford the fuel). Back into the fray came
Martyn Campbell after completing his chores for his Mum and Kevin Cowie
who completed chores for his fiancée.
Starting line up was
Lannon in nets, MacLeod and Cowie in defence, Mackay, Stockan and Banks
in midfield with Sutherland up front. On the bench were Big Al Miller,
Southpaw Sinclair, Sewell and Campbell.
TO THE MATCH
Just over a minute gone
and it was almost a dream start for Joe’s as the youngsters of Banks and
Sutherland combined well but couldn’t finish off the move.
Unfortunately, Acks seized their chance and took the lead on the break
after 2 minutes. When Joe’s went man for man we played well, when we
never tracked back, this is when the goals happened. Although we
battled gamely, it was 3 at half time. Biggest point of note was Donnie
and Alistair using their combined age of 83 years to sort out some
tactical issues.
HALF TIME Acks 3-0 Top
Joe’s
An inspired team talk
didn’t take place, but no matter, Joe’s came flying out of the trap.
Midway through the half, the breakthrough was made when Stockan
unleashed a strike (not dissimilar to the one on the wee nyaff in the
first half which resulted in a booking….) to beat the keeper and bring
us back into the match. Trueman was having a stormer in the nets and
denied Joe’s at least 6 (YES SIX) times. Miller, Banks, Campbell and
Stockan were all denied in one on ones with the lad as well as
Sutherland hitting the post. The shape was much improved, the
communication was better and we worked the ball well. With 4 minutes to
go, Cormack checked his watch and considered coming into the fray – but
quickly dispelled these thoughts when Sutherland knocked one home after
several chances had been blocked.
Unfortunately, a late
free kick with 20 seconds remaining deflected into the Joe’s net to send
the heroes’ home pointless.
FULL TIME Wee Shites 4-2
Top Joe’s Heroic Charges
PLAYERS RATINGS
Lannon
7 Several key stops in the first half - had nothing to do in
the second half.
MacLeod
7 17 goals in 3 matches, defence improving now….
Cowie
7 The big man returneth – played well at the back.
Mackay
7 Hard worker, won a lot of balls, still a tad ginger though.
Stockan
7 One goal, one booking, a few wrestles and maybe a
deflection??
Banks
7 Put in a good shift and looked lively.
Sutherland
7 Few good turns and unlucky not to score another.
Campbell
7 Hit a few good shots and put in a good shift in midfield when
required.
Sinclair
7 Worked hard in midfield and up front.
Miller
7 Put himself about well, won a few headers and unlucky not to
score.
Sewell
7 Put in a good shift on the right until injury forced him off.
VIEW FROM THE SIDELINES
- A much improved performance, we kept our shape well and attacked
almost non stop for the second half. If we keep putting the work in,
we’ll get the points. Hard luck lads.
Joe’s return to winning ways with a 2-1 win over Naver
United
Match Reports this season
by William Alexander Smith
STARTING LINE UP
Andy Lannon
Mike Macleod,
Alistair Miller
Jamie Mackay, Kevin Cowie, Lewis Sutherland
Martyn Campbell
Subs – Bruce Cormack,
Donnie Ola
Scorers:
Kevin Cowie and Lewis Sutherland.
After two defeats on the
spin, Joe’s returned to winning ways against last years 1st
division side Naver United.
Missing from the playing
squad through injury was Wills Smith (old age syndrome) and Murray
Doshie Mackay (arm injury and brown pants). Daniel Sewell, Michael
Wilson, Graeme Spence and Alistair ‘Sporty’ Will all missed out because
of work. Excuse of the evening was received from William Budge “Ahm
sorry, ah canna make hid. Ed’s in nets for them and he said he’ll burst
me if ah try to score past him. Ah dinna understand, anyone who’s seen
me play up front knows ahm no threat!!!”. You’re dead right there Wull!!
Manager Cormack drafted in
Jamie Mackay and Lewis Sutherland to play their second trialists games
of the season in the famous red shirts.
COME ON THE
JOE’S!!!!
Joe’s pressed from the
start trying to penetrate the wall that is Top Joe’s Legend and former
number 1 goalkeeper Ed Miller. A couple of long range shots from Cowie
could not beat the Buckies Bull. Lannon was doing equally well at
keeping out the Naver strike force.
Joe’s took a deserved lead
after about 12 mins in when a smart turn in the Naver penalty saw Kevin
Cowie get a yard of space to turn and drive the ball past the Naver
keeper and into the bottom left hand corner. In reality, a Cormack shot
(aka clearance) deflected into Kevin’s path. He attempted the same and
after a pinball-esque effort, it skidded past Miller. The best strike
from Cowie in 15 years of football. 1-0!
HALF TIME Top Joe’s 1-0 Naver
Ed Miller was pulling off
some great saves and keeping his side in it – with Lannon doing the same
for Joe’s.
However, Joes made it 2
early in the second half when a carbon copy of Cowie goal brought Lewis
Sutherland his 2nd goal in a Joe’s shirt. 2-0 to Top Joe’s!!
Naver
pulled a goal back about 5 minutes later after their young striker
got away from Alistair Miller to finish nicely passed Lannon. 2-1.
The Naver goal spurred
Joe’s on and Martin Campbell and Donnie Ola both tested Ed Miller in the
Naver nets but were not successful.
Both teams pressed for
another goal. Several meaty tackles were served but referee Bob Gunn
used his common sense to keep his card in his pocket.
Joe’s managed to hold out
a bank there second win of the season.
FULL TIME Top Joe’s 2-1 Naver Reunited
Lannon – 8 No
chance with goal - the utility man showing again why he has taken over
as Joe’s No1
Cowie – 8 got the
first goal and ran the game!!.
Cormack – 8 Some good
interceptions to break up the Naver attacks
A Miller – 7 Lost
the naver striker for the goal, however looked good pressing forward and
settled into a good game apart.
Campbell – 8 Joe’s youngster
showed some nice link up play, will get goals this year.
Macleod – 8 Started
in midfield, moved back to defence seconf half and performed well.
Lewis Sutherland – 8
Laid back style seems to be working!! Kris Boyd of Joe’s without the
workrate so far…
D Sinclair – 8 Showed
some veteran tricks when Joe’s were trying to run the clock down!!
Man of the match – Lannon – His saves brought all 3 points home for
Joe’s again!!!
Joe’s View obscured by the Sea Men….
Joe's again struggled to raise a squad for the third week running. A
bright start to the season has faded into obscurity now with the good
guys now on one win and two losses.
In this week came Graeme Mackay, Lewis Sutherland, Steven Lowe, Martyn
Campbell and Alistair Miller as trialists.
Absentees for Joe’s last night included Daniel Sewell and Jamie Mackay
who were stuck in a pub in Aberdeen, sheltering from the floods. Willie
Budge is still hunting his house for a 50p he lost after Coby's
headwetting "I'll find it yet and I'll no rest till ah do!" Michael
Wilson is still undertaking electrical installation work (favourable
rates - quote the code AFC1903). Alasdair Will was working on important
pretend Police business, Graeme Spence aka Westlife’s Mark Fehilly is
still helping the relevant authorities with their enquiries into the
Steven Gately death and Murray Mackay has a bad arm injury. It’s
understood though it’s beginning to improve as his Dad has taken back
his copy of the Pretty Peaches Video Tape.
Also missing from the line up is William Alexander Smith who has a bad
hip injury. He kept threatening to play last night and was looking
round for a top. Gee whizz, it was getting that bad he nearly had 10 to
choose from! Instead, he took on the role of Assistant Manager. His
initial fear is a bad case of sciatica – someone commented in the
changing room that this was not possible – this is something suffered by
the working man….
A poor start saw Joe’s fall behind after a bad mistake by the normally
reliable Michael MacLeod was seized upon by the lively Seaview – 1 down
after a minute! We never got our shape in a poor first half and goals 2
& 3 followed. It was soon 4 after a foul by Cormack saw a cracking
resulting free kick fly into the top corner, giving keeper Lannon no
chance. The next 2 goals were caused by poor tracking back by the wide
men and it was a relief to hear the ref blow for half time.
HT Seaview 6-0 Top Joe’s
An improvement was definitely made by Joe’s in the second half – they
were still poor but at least they spoke, tried to pass, worked and kept
their shape this time. A well worked goal saw Seaview make it 7 – Joe’s
got one back through Sutherland at the end with a good chipped finish.
FT Seaview 7-1 Top Joe’s
Andy 5 Saves towards the end kept the score line
down.
Michael 5 Poor start, settled in the second half.
Graeme
5 Worked hard in the second half and always looked for the
ball.
Kevin 5 Battled hard.
Alistair 5 Tired towards the end and wandered –
needs a couple of games to get going.
Donnie 5 Battled hard and did plenty of talking,
some of it on the pitch too.
Peeve 5 Nothing went right for him last night –
too good to play for Sharks though..
Martyn 5 Better second half – worked harder and
unlucky with a header.
Lewis 5 Better second half when he worked harder
– good finish for the goal.
Bruce 4 Poor again.
Man of the Match - not much to choose from but Andy scrapes it for
keeping us in it.
Quotes of the Night
-
“What
a waste of £25”. Andy Lannon. Not sure if this was about his
signing on fee or Kevin Cowie’s new boots.
-
“I’m
no Gaffer if you’re on up front – here what you doing there – oi
Cormack!!” William Smith after seeing Cormack replace Sinclair.
Match
Report by William Alexander Smith (extremely blazing in right of photo)
Joe’s off to a flyer with 2-1 win over Dunbeath but Budge’s patter still
stinks…..
Joe’s kicked of their sevens season with a win over hard fought victory
over 2nd division new boys Dunbeath. Manager Cormack has to
use all his contacts to bring in a few trialists to fill the holes in
his depleted squad.
Missing from the playing squad through injury was Wills Smith. Alistair
Miller and Martin Campbell were away on Holiday, Willie Budge is busy
making babies and work commitments robbed Joe’s of Michael Wilson,
Graeme Spence and Alistair ‘Sporty’ Will. Budge must also be
congratulated on re-using the old excuse “eh price o fuel is a nightmare
coming through fae Week” but said he hoped to make it along soon as “ahm
confident o getting more goals than Brucie and Wills again”.
Ed Miller (Naver), Craig Sutherland (Melvich), Sean Moodie (Melvich) and
Graeme Gunn (Halkirk) have all left the club. Ed and Gunny leave with
our best wishes.
New signing Mike Macleod came into the squad along with RG’s Trialists
George Sinclair, Wheeler MacIntyre and Gordon Mackenzie. Top Joe’s 11’s
player Mark Hutcheon and Michael King was also drafted in from Central
to boost the ranks.
Joe’s started the game well creating a few chances but could not
penetrate the Dunbeath rear guard. 10 mins in a cross from the left wing
from Mark Hutch found Gordon Mackenzie who blasted the ball in at the
back post. 1-0 Top Joe’s!!
Dunbeath had their chances and should have scored but poor finishing and
some smart saves from Andy Lannon kept them at bay. Just before half
time, Dunbeath got their goal. A run from Gow from deep and a good
finish in to the bottom left hand corner of the net. 1-1!!
Joe’s dominated the second half and had the greater amount of
possession, only to be denied by the Dunbeath goalie on numerous
occasions. 15 mins in to the second half new signing Mike Macleod marked
his debut with a goal, a 25 yard thunderbolt which left the Dunbeath
keeper with no chance.
Both sides pressed for another goal, Joe’s managed to hold out and bank
their first win of the season in the first match.
Starting Line Up
Andy Lannon
Kevin Cowie, Bruce Cormack
Wheeler MacIntyre, Mike
Macleod, Mark Hutch
George
Sinclair
Subs – Donnie Ola,
Michael King,
Gordon Mackenzie
Scorers
Mackenzie and MacLeod.
Lannon – 8 No chance with goal, the utility man showing why
he has taken over as Joe’s No1.
Cowie – 8 Big Kev didn’t get much chance
to press on and influence the game like he can - when called upon
defended well.
Cormack – 8 Won a few headers!! Always looking to get the
play moving. Will be happy to get started with a win.
Mackenzie – 9 Everywhere on the pitch, won every 50/50 and got
a goal. MOTM performance.
MacIntyre – 8 Could always find a pass.
Macleod – 9 Goal on debut from the nearly veteran
midfielder.
Hutch – 8 Miss a few chances but battled well.
G Sinclair – 8 Had a battle with D Sinclair over passing.
Helped out by bring half a team along.
D Sinclair – 8 Linked play well, will be looking to get more
goals this year after being out scored by Smith last season!!
M King – 8 Solid when on the park, happy to sit back and
let others get the goals, solid game.
Men of the match – Macleod and Mackenzie – Their goals brought all 3
points home for Joe’s!
