Determination, Not Penetration

Some call it the “FA Cup” of LEAFA, others the “Johnstone’s Paint Trophy”, some even prefer to refer to it by it’s proper name, however whatever name you use, the Logan Cup will not be finding itself in pieces on the dance floor at Cav come the end of this season as Edinburgh University lost 1-0 against a resilient North Berwick team on Saturday. Burgh had been looking impressive in the last few games yet struggled to make any clear-cut chances after going 1-0 down early on in a very frustrating match for the visitors.
The day was looking good for Uni the sun shone down on an expansive pitch and there was very little wind to contend with, providing idle conditions for some fluent passing football. Support was also on the strong side as the injured Stevie Galloway, his girlfriend and two long-haired dachshunds arrived to cheer on the boys in green. However, the home crowd was vast in numbers, something which potentially proved influential in making up the referee’s mind on issues such as time wasting…
However, the game started brightly. North Berwick tried to play football, which at times made them vulnerable to quick counter-attacking from Edinburgh. A basic error led to Angus Ramsay being place through the middle by Dave Meeham. Ramsay showed great strength to stay on his feet as his shirt was manhandled by the North Berwick centre-half, yet the left-winger got his shot away only for the North Berwick keeper to pull off a fantastic save to keep the scores level.
North Berwick then was on the attack, gaining a free-kick just outside the area due to Edward Senior bundling over their right winger with a clumsy challenge. This time Burgh escaped unharmed, yet they did not learn from their mistakes as minutes later, Alex Maxwell brought down another North Berwick player, just outside the box with a reckless attempt to get the ball. The resulting free kick was perfectly placed to find the bottom right-hand corner, leaving Tom Agnew to simply stand and admire the shot. The underdogs from the league below found themselves 1-0 up after a mere 27 minutes.
Edinburgh still had plenty of time to get back into the match, yet, they never really got over their disappointment from going behind. Burgh did have their chances, Senior produced a driven cross which divided the North Berwick keeper and defence perfectly however Mario Velez could only blaze the ball over the bar from 7 yards.
The pressure continued to mount on North Berwick as Edinburgh pressed for an equaliser. A long throw, found the head of Maxwell, who flicked the ball into the box, however Sime could only watch as the ball agonisingly passed his out-stretched boot before being cleared up the pitch. An Edinburgh corner also found its way through the crowd to Senior but his shot was cleared off the line by the man on the post.
Frustration grew as chances came and went, Erskine letting out his annoyance on lack of quality service with a late challenge which led to handbags on the pitch and the front man earning his first yellow card of the season. But 1-0 too the home side is how it remained until half time.
Edinburgh came out fighting in the second half, within seconds of the restart Maxwell found himself down the right-wing, producing a superb cross across the goal, hanging, waiting to be placed in the back of the North Berwick net, but no Burgh player obliged. However, despite their huffing and puffing and constant pressure this was probably Burgh’s best chance of the second half. Alex Petrie and Kyle O’Neill, who had come on for the quiet Velez and Erskine, had at one point bundled the ball over the goal line, after some good wing play from Petrie, only to find the goal disallowed for already going out of play.
Nick Ghamgosar, Tom Archer, Darren Leslie and Senior coped easily with any attacking threat North Berwick had, although Senior did pick up a yellow card for a cynical, trademark shirt pull.
However, this was not meant to be. Edinburgh grew more and more frustrated, especially with all the blatant time-wasting that North Berwick did from early on. Their increased frustration led to sloppy football and any real chances dried up for the away team. So the Logan cup is once again out of reach for the students, let’s just hope this defeat sticks in the memory of some players, so that next season, they won’t lose the chance to bring home the silverware.