February 23rd Round Up

Hillhead 1s 2 – 0 Gordonians 1s – Countesswells – National League 1

Hillhead didn’t have it all their own way on Saturday but did walk away with another clean sheet and three points in the bag. The opening exchanges were nervy as usual on a trip to the Granite City but on reflection Hillhead had the better chances.

Hillhead opened the scoring but promptly received a couple of cards. An early 10 minute yellow for Andrew Black killed off the Hornet’s momentum – this was followed up by another yellow card for Jude Boslem for a foul in the attacking circle and briefly down to 9 men.

Hillhead however found themselves with a bit more space going forwards due to the Aberdeen side gaining confidence and stepping higher up the field. Half time score 1 – 0.

Not much changed in the second half – Hillhead picked up another three cards in one of the least combative matches this reporter has ever seen. There was a goal for Hillhead in the 2nd half but to be honest most players just wanted to hit the showers and get back down the road by this point, but even that had drama.

A positive however is that Hillhead maintain 4th position in National 1 and kept a clean sheet despite not having a full squad available and playing 29 minutes with players in the sin bin. With Wildcats up on Saturday, it was an important result in a notoriously tricky fixture.

Final score 2 – 0.

Hillhead 2s 2 – 1 Kelburne 2s –  Old Anniesland (Water) – Regional League 1

The 2s ground out a 2 – 1 victory against a competitive Kelburne 2s side in Regional League 1. This was a crucial match for the 2s ahead of this weekends encounter with current table toppers Edinburgh University coming to town on Saturday. Three points were required and three points were duly delivered with goals coming from Jonny Horn and Andy McGhee. Rumour has it Ross Wilson even got his first ever yellow card.

Hillhead 3s 4 – 1 Uddingston 3s – Old Anniesland (Water) – West District Division 1

At this stage of the season every point matters in the race to the finish line. The 3s kept up the pressure on Uddingston 2s with a convincing win over Uddingston 3s at Old Anniesland. The gap remains at five points but Jonny Duke will be delighted that Colin Gallacher and Josh Phillips notched a brace each. If they can keep up this form then the match on the 9th of March against the league leaders becomes very interesting indeed.

Hillhead 4s 7 – 0 Clydesdale 4s – Old Anniesland (Sand) – West District Division 2

Despite his absence Gordon Macintyre-Kemp’s 4th team was able to find the net on seven occasions on Saturday, a phenomenal repeat of the reverse fixture. No hattricks this time, but Stuart Caldow and Marcus Macintyre-Kemp both found the net twice. While Jamie Gillies, Dan Ebbatson and Andy Richardson got one each.

With the top three teams in West 2 having played 15 games each, a significant gap is now appearing. The 4s lead closest rivals Giffnock by 8 points and Rottenrow by 10 points with a  vastly superior goal difference.

Hillhead 5s 1 – 0 Rottenrow 2s – @ Old Anniesland (Sand) – West District Division 2

In what looked like the trickiest match up of the weekend for our teams, Findlay Curries’s 5th team took on high flying Rottenrow 2s.

Murray Ross got the only goal of the game which lifted Hillhead 5s into 8th position on 18 points. Despite many hurdles encountered earlier in the season the 5s are starting to put in performances that everyone knew they were capable of. A massive congratulations must go out to Findlay and the rest of the squad for their hard work to make those improvements.

Hillhead 6s 1 – 2 Clydesdale 5s – 12pm @ Titwood – West District 3

Unfortunately the 6s were unable to secure a victory against struggling Clydesdale 5s. Douglas Dando got the goal for the Hornets to give the West End side hope in the fixture but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

A trip to Dumfries is on the cards for this weekend and Lewis Campbell will be looking for clinical finishing to help gain some badly needed points.