Uphill Struggle For Burgh

Edinburgh hosted top of the table outfit Uphill Station on Saturday afternoon. The game promised much with both sides eyeing potential glory at the end of the season, however it was the away side that came away with all three points after Burgh failed to live up to expectations.
It was evident from early on that the Uni boys were not at the races, as the fast, flowing football that had appeared the previous match failed too materialise. Instead, it was Uphill were got themselves ahead, after a much debated “pass back” decision. The referee, who did not have his best game, decided that centre-back Darren Leslie’s sliced clearance was a clear attempt at a pass to keeper Tom Agnew, so when he received the ball inside his own box, an indirect free-kick was awarded. Edinburgh’s defence all stood amazed at the referee’s decision, with nobody thinking quick enough too get back into a defensive position, allowing Uphill too grab the ball and take an extremely quick-free kick, scoring into the open goal.
Edinburgh were both bemused and devastated that they had gone behind in such a fashion and in truth never quite got over their own frustration at both themselves and the match official. Uphill dominated the game for the next twenty minutes, with Burgh’s players chasing shadows. The pressure eventually paid when a long ball was played forward into the home side’s box. Leslie headed the ball out towards the left, but Senior failed too get out to the ball quick enough, allowing Uphill to retrieve it. Uphill laid the ball back and their right-winger, unchallenged, swung in an excellent cross deep towards the far post, whereupon Uphill’s left-winger attacked the ball and headed the ball passed Agnew.
At going 2-0 down, Edinburgh rallied a little. A lack of communication however let them down at times. The Uni boy’s were in fact abnormally quiet all afternoon. Yet, they did produce one piece of good football towards the end of the first half, which eventually led to the ball being further up the field towards Uphill’s goal. The away team’s defence dwelled on the ball and Angus Ramsay won the ball for Burgh. Ramsay then cut the ball back across goal to Kyle O’Neill who slotted the ball first time into the bottom right hand corner. It was a classy and composed finish in a game which lacked either aspect.
O’Neill then had a chance to pull Edinburgh level. Dave Meehan nipped in and dinked a little pass around a sliding challenge to Senior, who broke down the middle of the pitch. Senior placed the ball in front of O’Neill, who brought the ball across his body onto his right boot, wrong footing the lanky centre back. However, his effort at finding the bottom corner was denied by a good save, the Uphill keeper getting down well to push the ball around the post for a corner. Yet, the corner came to nothing and so the sides went in at half-time with Uphill leading 2-1.
The second half turned into a sloppy affair, with very little football or chances from either side being created. Manager Stuart Robertson found it necessary to bring on changes, however, Macfarlane, Velez and Thomas Heemskerk could not provide the creative spark required too affect the outcome. Disappointment was etched on the home side’s players when the final whistle blew, however, they need to get over this result, pick themselves back up and go back to the roots of what has made the team successful in the past, because there is still a long season ahead.