HUNTLY FOOTBALL CLUB

ALBION vs HUNTLY (cup) A visit to Albion is always going to be challanging to say the least and so it proved once again. The Scottish Cup finalists took the game to Huntly throughout the first half and limited us to a few minor visits into their penalty area. One of these could have led to a goal if someone had been sharper when their goalie spilled a crisply hit free kick. We defended confidently & comfortably and were only undone late in the half when Albion scored what possibly looked to be an offside goal. HT 1-0. Huntly enjoyed a wee spell where it looked like they could do something, early in the second half, but Albion took control again and cranked up the pressure on our defence. Our defending was heroic at times with players throwing their bodies in to block shots and last ditch tackles flying in regularly. Eventually our luck ran out and seemed to switch to Albions side. A sliced mishit shot found its way into the net and this triggered a mini collapse where three more goals were lost. FT 5-0. A scoreline which probably flattered Albion a wee bit.----------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although brief, I think that is the match report backlog sorted. I hope I haven't blatently lied about anything that happened. (My note taking is poor/non existant, my memory is worse. PS By mistake I put the Fraserburgh report on news catagory only JIM S

COLONY PARK vs HUNTLY. The Colony Park encounter part 2 was at sunny Davidson Park Inverurie. Again Huntly started well with Craig shooting over the bar after a corner. Then incredibly the wee man - amongst giant Colony defenders -smacked a header off the underside of the crossbar, it bounced over the line, I thought, and screamed GOAL!!! Nobody else playing or watching claimed, so maybe I got it wrong, I felt a bit stupid. Gary then also had a header just over the bar. From then on Huntly dropped out of it allowing Colony to take charge. They scored with a header from a corner, then a tidy finish after a well worked move on the breakaway. HT 2-0. The second half was a bit of a none event with a lot of scrappy play & everything seeming to get bogged dowm in the middle of the field. Colony eventually scored a third, finally tucking the ball home after a series of blocked shots and ricochets around our 6 yarder. FT 3-0. Back to business as usual against Colony Park. Our team performance seemed a bit flat today & for some reason the lads found it difficlt to raise their performances to last weeks levels. Jamie Wills was named man of the match for Huntly. As has come to be expected Jamie rarely missed a tackle all afternoon.

HUNTLY vs COLONY PARK. I missed this match so this brief report is based on 2nd hand info.We have always struggled and have always lost (sometimes heavily) to Colony Park so this was going to be a tough ask for the lads. Huntly started well and gave more than as good as they got in the first half with the better chances falling their way, however none were converted HT 0-0. Again at the start of the 2nd half good goalscoring opportunities were wasted, and as often happens Colonoy went to the other end and scored against the run of play (and offside by some accounts). The lads didn't let their heads go down, all were playing well and giving 100%. A deserved equaliser came when Ian CRUICKSHANK received the ball off a cross, turned to shoot, and saw the ball spin in off the post. FT 1-1. Our first point against Colony Park but the lads were not happy, they knew they had the best of the play & the better chances and were disappointed not to win. Ally refused to name a man of the match, nominating the whole team for a fantastic effort.

Right from the first whistle Huntly looked bright: Gary trying a through ball to David which was intercepted by the centre half. Culter then started to grow into the game and forced Ryan into a good save down to his left hand side. Culter then made it 1-0, after a man at the back post was left free to volley in for a good goal from their perspective. Although Huntly were a bit lackadaisical in the middle of the field, Gary popped up to strike a wonderful goal from around 20 yards out to level things up at 1-1. Huntly then had another chance through David, who latched on to Gary’s through ball, but the keeper was out quick to smother the ball. Culter were looking fragile at the back and it was again the duo of Gary and David, who undid them again. David latched on the Gary’s flick to scoop the ball over the keeper for 2-1. It was then the turn of Chris to force the keeper into a save with a good strike from distance. Over all a good first half from Huntly but improvements could be made for the seconded half. 2-1! A tactical half time change seen us go back to our usual 4-4-2 formation. This change worked to great effect as we started brightly with David got in behind to round their goalkeeper, only for the Culter defender to get back in and block a sure goal, however the ref said goal-kick.We didn't have to wait long before David was in again this time 1 on one the keeper came out quick to block for a corner. Then from the edge of our penalty area Joe picked up the ball and sent David running down the right side who kindly set up Gary with a Jew goal to make it 3-1. David then took a quick throw in spotting a run from Neal at right-back who ran through for his shot to be brilliantly saved by the Culter goalkeeper. Jamie G took the corner with a good delivery well met in the air by Gary to round off his ha-trick and put us in a commanding 4-1 lead. Soon after Jamie nipped in infront of the defender who came through the back of him. a sure penalty but unbelievably the ref gave a free-kick the other way. By now the Culter boys had seen enough of Gary who was running riot and they resorted to trying to kick him of the park as he was caught in a few late challenges. From one of the resulting free-kicks Jamie delivered well for David to knock down which allowed Michael a cheeky finish from point blank range.5-1. Gary was then given a well deserved rest as Daniel came on up front to give a bit more physical presence for the last 10. David rounded off the scoring with a brilliant long range attempt which left the keeper helpless.6-1 FT Great performances all round today. Everyone stuck at it despite going down 1-0. Solid tackles along the whole back 4 and quick breaks led to some quality moves and goals. well done. Man Of the Match went deservedly to Gary.