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At the risk of repeating myself, this was another tremendous effort against a Premier Division outfit, this time in the shape of Dunbar United.
It sadly just wasn’t meant to be for the lads yesterday. After putting so much into the game, we just fell a little short. I’ve probably reached the quota for using the word “proud” already this season in my after-match notes, but for anyone that was at the game I think it’s once again easy to see why I throw it about so much.
On the game itself, Dunbar no doubt capitalised on a couple of moments that we should probably do a little better with. We switch off to a quick free kick right after half time which kills all the momentum from the first forty five. However when you give someone of Sean Stewart’s quality an opportunity in front of the posts, there is no second invitation needed.
So as disappointing as it was to lose a cheap one, at no point did the lads deviate away from the plan. Gregor (Lamb) once again puts in an incredible display away from his preferred position, Ben Brown, Naz (McDonald) and Mikey (Bardhi) as a back four also looked extremely solid throughout. And to their credit they had to be as they were up against some really good opposition. Our goalscorer Scott (Latto) also deservingly picks up the “Raeburn and Campbell” man of the match award. Individually he put in a fine all-round performance from start to finish. Frustratingly for us their second goal comes at a time where we are breaking up the pitch. We find ourselves in a 2v1 situation, and just as we are in the ascendancy our attempted through ball gets cut out and we get punished as a result on the counter. Naturally as deflating as you’d expect it to be the boys have no quit in them and they proceeded to take the game to Dunbar. On another day we could maybe nick a goal to take it to extra time with a few of the opportunities we create but the lads gave everything.
I’ve bored the boys before with this but after spending an eternity in the game, I’ve genuinely never seen a togetherness like the one they have as a group. That’s no doubt their biggest strength. Nine out of the starting eleven have at some point come through the footballing pathway in Peeblesshire. Again, that’s something I hope the community continually gets behind. The lads certainly went toe to toe with a fine side a few divisions above, and even in defeat they more than deserve the plaudits for all their efforts.
I don’t believe many would’ve backed us to live with our opposition yesterday, but the lads have done their club “proud” once again. Next weekend sees a really interesting encounter vs Stirling University. We need to make sure we build on all the things we did so well yesterday and if the lads can reach those levels again, with a little bit more conviction, we won’t be far away.