Junior Football: Blairgowrie fail to get win away to Montrose Roselea

Nov 15 2012 Blairgowrie Advertiser

Montrose is always a difficult venue and Saturday proved no different, Blairgowrie suffering a 1-0 defeat in a league match against Roselea.

In the opening stages Blairgowrie enjoyed a fair bit of possession and were playing some good football, but Montrose looked dangerous when going forward.

Blairgowrie had most of the ball but didn’t make many chances and it was Montrose who created more. There were some hefty tackles and Robbie Hood and Danny Millar needed lengthy treatment following some fierce challenges.

The wind in the second half seemed to pick up and with it behind them Montrose put the Blairgowrie defence under a lot of pressure.

Roselea used the wind to their advantage and adopted a long ball game, kicking the ball from deep in their own half over the Blair defence for their forwards to run on to. It was a tactic that made it very difficult for Blair to get out of their own half.

In 70 minutes Roselea scored the only goal of the game after an excellent save by keeper Gordon O’Brien but a Montrose forward was on hand to net the rebound.

Blairgowrie tried to get back into the game and Greg McDonald had a shot well saved. In the dying minutes Stewart Sheed was sent off for retaliation following a late tackle and shortly after that the ref blew for full time.

Speaking after the game, manager Billy Mackay said: “We didn’t get up to the standard of recent games and we had to make three substitutions due to injuries received during the game.

“Having said that, we were close to leaving Montrose with a point.”

This Saturday Blairgowrie are away to Blackburn in the Scottish Junior Cup, kick-off 1.45 pm.

Anyone wishing to travel on the team bus is asked to please contact Mike Coyle 07764 156 332. The bus will leave Castle Street at 10.30am.

This week’s lottery numbers were 5, 8, 12, 14. There was one winner who will receive £700. Next week’s jackpot is £300.