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“We’ve been sitting off teams and although we’re still winning, we’re not winning ‘well’.”
“There have been games this season where the result has been more important than the performance, but I’d be the first to agree that those games have not been the best for the fans to watch”.
“We need to turn all that possession we usually have into more goals. We’ve been sitting off teams and although we’re still winning, we’re not winning ‘well’. We’ve changed our formation this season, and we’re scoring more than last season as a result, but we still need to score even more”.
He continued, “Competition for automatic promotion places is intense, and although there is a lot of football still to be played, we are in the driving seat for the title. We have to start looking forward now and putting ourselves in the best position possible”.
The first side coming into the firing line tomorrow are Ra Cellic who will certainly not be looking forward to the trip to Tayside having lost 6-0 on their own patch.
“We had a good win down there”, said Claus Christoph, “but I want an even bigger one tomorrow”.
Claus Christoph has a fully fit squad to choose from but will delay his line-up decision until closer to kick-off.
Remko de Rijke opens the scoring this afternoon with a blistering drive giving the keeper no chance.
“We were always in control and although it was perhaps not our best performance of the season, but it was competent and we achieved our aim of winning the three points”.
As usual, We are the mince set up to counter-attack at every opportunity, but Brook Street in turn were more than capable of breaking up any attacks.
Brook Street got off to the perfect start when Remko de Rijke fired home the opener after only five minutes with a textbook striker’s finish after breaking through.
The home side were parking the bus at every opportunity, but to be fair Claus Christoph’s side were happy to let them do it; if they’re camped in their own half, the have no threat going forward and with Brook Street a goal up, that suited the visitors more than the hosts.
Playing so defensively has its own risks and those became apparent when a mistake by the home side’s left defence with thirty-six minutes on the clock allowed Bogusz Cacek to break through. Left one-on-one with the home keeper, he wrong-footed the stopper before rolling the ball into the net.
Iliya Ilkov had a golden opportunity to get his side back into the game three minutes before the break, but his looping effort was too high and bounced off the crossbar and to safety.
It hadn’t been the best of halves for entertainment, but Brook Street weren’t caring; they were two goals to the good and added a third six minutes into the second half when Remko de Rijke ran on to a perfectly weighted through ball and chipped the ball home.
Three minutes later, the game was put to bed when Connor Hutton thundered in the fourth from the edge of the box.
The home side were crumbling and in real danger of being on the end of a hiding, but they managed to shore up their defence and kept everyone behind the ball to run the clock down.
Brook Street seemed happy with their efforts however and didn’t pursue the game. While the match resembled a training match or friendly for long periods, Brook Street were in firm control.
The home side thought they had managed to keep the league leaders at bay as the match reached towards full-time, but a rash challenge and a split-second loss of concentration was all Brook Street needed to make it five.
Conor Meldrum had had a quiet game, but he was instrumental in Brook Street’s fifth goal. Retaining possession out on the touchline as the clock ran down in the final minute, Conor was caught by Iliya Ilkov in a challenge that was born of frustration. Conor picked himself up and fired the resultant free-kick in to the front post and the waiting head of Remko de Rijke.
With everyone expecting an attempt on goal, the Dutch striker flicked the ball on wrong-footing the home defence and the ball landed right at the feet of the onrushing Bogusz Cacek who drove the ball home.
It’s a move that has served Brook Street well this season as Claus Christoph admitted afterwards, but he conceded that his side would have to vary their routines if they were to keep one step ahead of their opponents.
“If we always flick on, other sides will be alert to this and watch for the runner at the back post”, he said. Maybe, we’ll have to start going for goal at the front post to keep everyone on their toes”, he added with a wry smile.
Elsewhere Govanhell Thistle had a 2-0 win on the road against Ra Cellic, Bumble Bee Stingers defeated KS Folwarki 5-0 at The Nest, and Partick United won 2-0 against SteviesRangers89.
The results left the table unchanged with Brook Street five points clear of Partick United on twenty-four points.
“The boys are in fine form and they’re hungry for success.” – Claus Christoph
“I would expect the match to be a bit tighter at their ground than it was here”, said Claus Christoph this afternoon, “but I’m sure we’ll be good enough to see it through”.
He continued, “The players have been working hard this week in training, so I know they are ready for the game. We’ve got a full squad available and no suspensions, so all is good here”.
“The boys are in fine form and they’re hungry for success. That makes my job all the more easier!”
Connor Hutton holds off a defender to fire home the opening goal.
As anticipated, We are the mince had set up with the intention of counter-attacking at every opportunity, but Brook Street were more than alert to this an set about systematically breaking down their visitors.
Connor Hutton has come on leaps and bounds this season, and the 20 year-old has certainly bulked up too which he used to his advantage with a quarter of an hour played.
The visitors’ central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass through to Connor, but he easily shrugged them off before driving the ball into the net for the opening goal.
So many times this season, Brook Street have hit their opponents with two quick goals, and today was no exception.
Straight from the re-start, Brook Street won the ball back and charged towards the visitors’ goal. Connor Hutton was giving his marker a torrid time, and in a desperate attempt to stop the youngster breaking through again, hauled him back.
Brook Street were awarded the free-kick around twenty-five yards out on the left hand side of the ‘D’, well within the range of László Grofcsik. It was almost with a sense of inevitability that the ‘Maestro’ stepped up and curled a beauty up and over the wall into the postage stamp to put Brook Street two-up.
Woody Wonderly in the visitors’ goal had been playing well despite the scoreline, and but for him and an unbelievable reaction stop, Bogusz Cacek would have increased the lead just after the half hour mark.
However, he was powerless to prevent Connor Hutton in the thirty-third minute when Bogusz Cacek’s driven cross found the striker right in front of goal seven yards out. There was only going to be one result, and half a second later Brook Street were three-up.
Bogusz turned scorer four minutes later when a set-piece straight from the training ground found him running in totally unmarked. Without breaking his stride, he hit the ball first time high into the net for number four.
Brook Street were operating like a well-oiled machine, and straight from kick-off won back possession. The ball was being zipped around between the Brook Street players, leaving the visitors chasing shadows, and before they knew it Remko de Rijke had the ball in the net.
This was men against boys.
The visitors managed to get to half-time without conceding again, but five minutes after the break, they found themselves another goal down.
Bogusz Cacek’s tenacity and perseverance paid dividends when he forced the visitors’ defenders into losing possession out on the left.
Having left his marker sprawling on the ground, Bogusz raced in before side-stepping Woody Wonderly and rolling the ball into the net.
Mason Reid had the chance to pull a goal back just after an hour, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar.
This would be as close as the visitors would get to scoring, and midway through the half Nick Stanmore rose high to power in a header to make it a magnificent seven for Brook Street.
“My boys were magnificent today”, beamed a delighted Claus Christoph Gralath after the match. “We took control of the game early on and were relentless in our attacking. Our opponents didn’t stand a chance”.
He continued, “We eased up in the second half, but by then the match was already won, so we told the boys to keep things tight and not do anything that would see any of them picking up needless bookings or injuries”.
The coach was full of praise for Connor Hutton who hit another brace saying, “Connor has done exceptionally well for me this season and is now regularly finding the net. I’m sure he will be a big player for us going forward”.
The coach also singled out Bogusz Cacek for praise.
“A lot of Bogusz’s hard work goes un-noticed, but today he got two goals on top of another excellent performance. I would say that he’s been one of our most consistent performers this season”.
Elsewhere, KS Folwarki who have replaced the now defunct Shinny FC won their first game 2-1 at home to Bumble Bee Stingers; Ra Cellic picked up their second win of the season, defeating Govanhell Thistle 3-0 in Glasgow; while Partick United got back to winning ways with a 5-1 win at SteviesRangers89.
The results leave the table unchanged with Brook Street five points clear at the top.
“It’s a good position to be in.”
“We’ve done well so far this season and given ourselves a solid foundation to build on”, said Claus Christoph Gralath this afternoon. “The lads are playing well and they deserve to be top of the league”.
Looking to tomorrow’s game he said, “We’ve watched them this season, and although they’ve been getting good results, we’ve identified areas that we think we can exploit. We’ll be looking to use these to our maximum advantage”.
He added, “I’ve got a fully fit squad to choose from, which gives me a number of options. It is also a difficult decision to make as everyone is playing well, but at the same time, it’s a good position to be in”.
On form Bogusz Cacek slides the ball home to double his account and put Brook Street two-up.
The coach had called for patience as he presumed correctly that Ra Cellic would get men behind the ball, sit in and hit on the break. It can be hugely frustrating when a side ‘park the bus’, but Brook Street were more than capable of finding openings and exploiting them.
Zak Ailstock came close to opening the scoring with nine minutes played, striking a peach of a shot after a solo run down the right flank. With the ball heading for the postage stamp, Allister McDermott in the Cellic goal sprung to his right and tipped the ball over the bar with a phenomenal save.
This was however only a reprieve for the home side, and McDermott was unable to prevent Bogusz Cacek, who had swapped wings with Conor Meldrum, from opening the scoring with a beauty of a shot from the right, that dipped and swerved into the net.
Attacks on the right wing were proving to be very fruitful for Brook Street, and Kalle Konkka almost doubled the lead with an outrageous lob from the touchline in the twenty-sixth minute. It’s debatable whether this was an attempt on goal or a cross gone wrong, but it caught the home keeper in no-man’s land and the ball had to be cleared off the line by an alert full-back.
Bogusz Cacek and Conor Meldrum swapping wings seemed to be part of the game plan, and having scored one from the right, it was from his own wing that Bogusz doubled both his and Brook Street’s tally for the game just before the half hour mark.
A snappy interchange of play on the left between Connor Hutton and Kalle Konkka carved open the home defence allowing Bogusz a free run into the box. One on one with the keeper, he was never going to miss, and he calmly slid the ball across the home keeper and into the net at the back post.
Ra Cellic steadied the ship by getting men behind the ball and managed to get to half-time trailing by only the two goals, but that became three six minutes after the break when Vassilis Taxiarchou nodded in after some fine work by Kalle Konkka and Bogusz Cacek.
Within the space of the next three minutes, the roof had caved in on the home side as strike pairing Conor Hutton and Remko de Rijke both found the net in quick succession before Hutton fired in his second in the sixty-sixth minute. Indeed the youn striker could have bagged himself a hattrick just a minute later but for a timely intervention by a home defender.
The game petered out after this with the visitors happy to go home with a 6-0 win as Claus Christoph admitted afterwards.
“With the game won and opponent is playing with everyone behind the ball, there is nothing to gain in continuing trying to press home the advantage. All you are likely to do in this case is pick up needless injuries, so there was absolutely no point. It’s another excellent performance by the boys, another three points, another clean sheet, and another six goals for us. I can’t ask for more”.
In the other games, Partick United surprisingly dropped two points with a 0-0 draw at Bumble Bee Stingers, We are the mince put three past SteviesRangers09 without reply, while Shinny FC edged out Govanhell Thistle by 2-1 on Glasgow’s Southside.
Claus Christoph is expecting a positive reaction to Wednesday’s defeat.
“The boys were annoyed with themselves for not taking their chances against The Harriers, and that is good”, said the coach. “It shows that they know they are capable of better and I expect to see them react positively against Ra Cellic tomorrow”.
He continued, “They feel that they let themselves down, so we haven’t had to work them hard in training these past couple of days. They have a determination to win tomorrow and put the defeat out of their minds”.
However, it will be a very different game tomorrow against a side that will sit back and try to hit on the break as Claus Christoph acknowledged.
“They are going to pack their defence and play a counter-attacking game, so we have to be patient and break them down while remaining alert at the back. We’ve done that a lot this season, so I have no reservations about our ability to win tomorrow.
The nearest we got. Remko de Rijke fires off a shot at The Harriers’ goal.
“We played very well and matched our Division III opponents”, said Claus Christoph. Although we lost today, we have a lot to be satisfied with. There was nothing between the teams and on another day, it could have been us going forward to the next round”, he added.
Pointing out that The Harriers won promotion last season and are doing well in Division III, Claus Christoph said, “We now know that we’re definitely on the right track and we know there is no reason why we can’t do well in Division III if we win the league this season. That of course has always been the aim. The cups are a pleasant distraction, but the league is always our priority”.
Muhammad Noorani scores for Brook Street in the last meeting between the sides.
“It’s not that we don’t think we can give The Harriers a game, that would be far from the truth, but our record at that stadium is awful”, he said. “Looking back, I think we’ve only won there something like three times in eleven attempts which is truly woeful”.
He continued, “It’s certainly a bogey ground for us, but our dismal record there has to improve some time”.
Superstitions aside, Brook Street go into the match in fine form, but The Harriers mark a step up in class from the sides they have faced to date.
Commenting on this Claus Christoph said, “The Harriers are an established Division III side with some excellent players. If we are looking to be playing Division III football next season, it’s sides of this calibre that we will be up against. It will be good to gauge our progress against where we want to be”.
The sides have only met on two previous occasions, both in the league during Brook Street’s ill-fated Division III campaign twelve seasons ago. Leoš Loos netted in a 1-1 draw at New Home Park while Muhammad Noorani got our goal in a 3-1 defeat at The Raptors Nest
Henny van Wegen 4-0 Govanhell Thistle
Henny wheels away after scoring his fourth goal.
In fact it could have been worse for the visitors as Kalle Konkka slammed the ball off the post at 2-0, but that was only a respite.
Brook Street picked up where they left off at the restart, and just before the hour mark on form Connor Hutton rounded the keeper and slotted the ball home to score his fourth goal in three days.
The game plan was to give Connor an hour as he was starting to tire, so just after scoring he went off to a standing ovation that he milked for all it was worth. Connor was clearly enjoying himself, and Joe Anderson replaced him with half an hour to go.
Eight minutes later and it was 6-0. Bogusz Cacek was having another terrific game and it was from one of his numerous crosses that László Grofcsik, who had come on for Kalle Konkka seventeen minutes earlier, launched himself at, and powered the diving header past the Thistle keeper.
Brook Street were toying with their opponents, and midway through the second half Remko de Rijke embarrassed Scott Pitfield the Govanhell keeper, knocking the ball between his legs and into the net following yet another Bogusz Cacek cross.
The visitors were longing for the final whistle, but their misery wasn’t complete yet. Conor Meldrum was running riot on the right side of the Govanhell defence, and it was from a lay off from one of his attacks that substitute Joe Anderson slammed the ball home to complete the scoring.
Brook Street had been rampant, and it was a very relaxed Claus Christoph Gralath who strolled into the post-match press conference.
“We were thoroughly professional and ruthless this afternoon. What particularly pleases me is that the goals came from all over the pitch. All three of our strikers found the net too which is, I’m told, something of a ‘collectors item’. Our strikers are in fine form and it makes picking the starting pair a nice problem to have”.
The coach however had some bad news. Vassilis Taxiarchou had gone off just before half time in what everyone had thought was a tactical change.
It transpired that the Greek defender had picked up an injury to his foot, and although it was not thought to be serious, he was taken off as a precaution.
“He’s an important member of the squad and we weren’t wanting to take any risks with him”, said Claus Christoph. “We got the ice packs on his foot straight away and it looks we were lucky”.
He continued, “The club doctor has taken a look at it and he thinks it’s just bruised; he’ll continue to monitor Vassilis, but it looks like he’ll be fine to train on Monday”.
After the other games, the league table remained unchanged: Bumble Bee Stingers edged past SteviesRangers89 1-0 at Ibrox, Partick United got back to winning ways with a 2-0 home win over Ra Cellic and We are the mince took the points home from Shinny FC with a 1-0 win.
This is Brook Street 