Leith crash to defeat at home

Both teams will have been glad that the heavy morning rain had subsided in time for the warm up and kick off as Hawick Linden visited Academy park in a number of years following their relegation form East League 1 last year. Both teams were looking to continue on the momentum of recent victories, the visitors having won the past 2, whilst Leith notched up the 3rd victory in a row and were going for 4.

The game hadnt been long kicked off when Leith suffered a set back as stand off Ben Wilkinson hobbled from the field after going over on his ankle after a slightly late hit. A reshuffle in the backline saw outside centre Doug Watters head into the Stand Off spot and Cameron Whiteside coming on at 13. There was a further pause as the referee pulled up with a tweaked hamstring, however a spot of physio later and he was back up and ready to go. However after the third set back in the game Leith were surly wondering was it going to be 'one of those days' as replacement stand off Watters tweaked his calf muscle and had to be removed from the field. However Wilkinson was able to be patched up and returned to the field for the remainder.

Leith had controlled a lot of the possession and territory in the game without really threatening the Linden line. A couple of good breaks from Eoin Murphy, Mark Phillips and Mike McLeish had Leith getting good field position however they were unable to to capitalise on any chances as they broke into the 22m. Towards the end of the half Linden started coming back into the game and both teams were starting to penalise themselves out of the game. Leith gave away a couple of cheap shots in front of goal, which allowed the Linden 10 to stroke the ball over for a 6-0 half time lead.

Leith had a similar feeling to the week previous, narrowly down at half time, in control of much of the game and with a few aspects not firing on all cylinders. So the home side did take a bit of heart from knowing what they could do in the 2nd half. However unlike last week this was a 2nd half to forget. Before Leith knew it another couple of silly penalties and they were behind 12-0 and starting to chase the game a little bit. They had a chance to get right back into it as Kenny Dannfald slipped the ball to flying winger Steven Eadie just outside the 22m who had thought he had ran in for an important score, however the whistler had deemed the final ball had went forward to Stevie meaning that the score was ruled out.

Leith did continue to press in order to get the score that would get them back into the game, however as the attacked on the edge of the Linden 22m a loose pass from Connelly was intercepted as Linden were quick off the line and they were able to run it in for the score. It wasn't too much longer that some of the stuffing was truly knocked out of the home side, as a Linden forward was able to pick an inside line off their 10 and run in for a score. Leith disappointed as they felt a couple of defenders were clearly impeded trying to tackle the attacker, however more could have been done at the get go to stop him.

Leith were able to finally get a score on the board on the 74th minute as they continued to fight and pressure the Linden line. After some fast play on the near side and quick ball meant that Leith were creating gaps on the far side. It was a case of simple hands through the midfield that allowed Cameron Whiteside to carry a few defenders over the line on the way to his first Leith score. Linden were able to add a further penalty to their tally before the game drew to a close on a very disappointing afternoon for Leith.

It was a very disappointed dressing room afterwards as Leith knew that that was a chance gone and they themselves lost the game through silly mistakes. However, thoughts now turn to the big derby next Saturday against Trinity and supporters can rest assured that it will be a very different Leith who are going to take on Trinity next week.

Try - Cameron Whiteside
Man of the Match - Bruce Connelly battled well despite the defeat. A few more performances like his and the result may have been different.