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Vassilis Taxiarchou can’t believe it as he pulls his second penalty wide of the goal.
With thirty-three minutes played Brook Street were awarded their first penalty when the ball bounced up and struck a defender’s arm. The normally reliable Vassilis Taxiarchou confidently stepped up, but slid the ball past the post with the keeper diving the other way.
Things could have gotten worse for the visitors five minutes from the break when only the fingertips Owen Maurice prevented them going 2-0 down.
Two minutes later Brook Street were given their second opportunity from the spot, but again Vassilis Taxiarchou pulled his shot wide although this time the keeper had it covered.
Then straight from the restart there was drama at the other end when Bombercat were awarded a penalty of their own. It looked to all intents and purposes that the referee was levelling the scores, so it was perhaps appropriate that Valeriy Mikitin slid it past Owen Maurice’s right hand post.
Brook Street were dealt a blow right on half-time when Connor Hutton contracted a foot injury that forced him out of the game.
Then, with sixty-eight minutes played disaster struck for Brook Street. Following some fine build-up play, the ball was played in to that man Mikitin again who volleyed it goalwards. He didn’t catch it cleanly but it was on target and bounced and bobbled into the net for 2-0.
Those two squandered penalties were coming back to haunt Brook Street but there was still time left to pull something back.
Brook Street finally got back into the game with seven minutes to go. Holger Painter broke up an attack on the Brook Street left before firing an inch-perfect crossfield pass to the onrushing Kalle Konkka who took it in his stride and rifled the ball into the net.
However it was too little too late and the home side held out to deal a significant blow in Brook Street’s survival chances.
“We have given ourselves a mountain to climb now”, admitted Claus Christoph Gralath afterwards, “and we will need to rely on other results too. We had our fate in our own hands today, but managed to hand the initiative to the other sides. Three points would have been invaluable today, but we’ve not got them and we have to deal with that”.
Elsewhere, Naprzód Edynburg’s 3-1 win over Shettleston Terrors probably means Brook Street can’t finish above them while Scottish Häse United are still in the mix following their 3-0 defeat at 30 Men. In the final match Hangethe Coast Warriors defeated Socspin Barcelona by four goals to one.
So with three games to go, Brook Street remain rooted to the foot of the table on five points; Shettleston Terrors have nine points and Scottish Häse United.
Next weekend, Athletic are at home to Hangethe Coast, Häse are at home to Bombercat and Shettleston are at home to 30 Men who will win the title as long as they don’t lose.
Claus Christoph is hoping to avoid a Bombercat backlash tomorrow.
“The turned us over here earlier in the season and they lost heavily against 30 Men last week, so I’m hoping we don’t receive the backlash”, admitted the coach earlier.
Few will give Brook Street much chance of taking anything from the game, but the coach is more upbeat saying, “We know they are a good side for sure, but even good teams have off days. They’ve lost two games on the bounce and the last was a heavy defeat, so it will come down to how that has affected them mentally”.
He continued, “We know what we need to do. Yes we need other results to go our way but there is nothing we can do about them. All we can do is concentrate on our own performance”.
“We have to be more clinical in our build up and finishing, and we have to stop crosses coming in at the other end. It’s as simple as that”.
There are no injuries or suspensions in the squad although Kalle Konkka, Zak Ailstock and Connor Hutton are all a booking away from suspension.
Kick-off at Bombercat Arena is at 16:30.
Remko de Rijke fires the ball under Naprzód Edynburg’s Kevin Sipos to open the scoring.
Despite having the lions share of chances, Brook Street were only able to convert one albeit Naprzód have keeper Kevin Sipos to thank for preventing two almost certain goals with excellent stops. This would prove costly for the home side as the game progressed.
Brook Street started brightly and in nineteen minutes, Conor Meldrum thundered a shot off the crossbar with Sipos beaten all ends up. This should have served as a warning for the visitors as two minutes later Brook Street opened the scoring.
Remko de Rijke had come deep to pick up the ball in midfield and having turned Maurizio Boschiroli, he set off towards goal. Having evaded three challenges, he found himself through in the box and face to face with the Naprzód keeper. Showing the coolness in front of goal that has eluded him of late, Remko calmly knocked the ball under the keeper and into the net to register his first goal of the season.
Brook Street tried to press home their advantage and almost made it 2-0 on the half hour mark when Holger Painter stormed through on goal. He struck the ball well and it looked netbound before Kevin Sipos threw out a leg to turn it away.
Connor Hutton was the next to try his luck one-on-one with Sipos eight minutes into the second half, and again the big stopper came to Naprzód’s rescue deflecting the shot up and over the bar.
However Brook Street’s inability to add to their lead proved costly just two minutes later when a ball was swung over from the right. Having taken a touch to set himself up the ball was rifled into the net by Paco Villa.
Villa had now scored twice against Brook Street this season, and he almost made it three in the seventy-first minute but for a magnificent stop by Owen Maurice.
So Brook Street had to settle for a point, and with games running out it was not the result Claus Christoph Gralath had been looking for.
“We created enough chances but we’re not finishing them off and it’s cost us again today”, he admitted. “It was great to see Remko hit the net, and with that monkey off his back he’ll hopefully score regularly again; we certainly need his goals”.
He continued, “Again we came up against a keeper in top form which doesn’t help, but we need to put the opposition defence under more pressure. They mopped up a lot of chances today before the ball even reached the forwards, and maybe we need to be smarter”.
Turning to the goal conceded he said, “We also need to be smarter at the back. If you stop the cross coming in you stop the goal. We are continually failing to do that and we’re being punished for it.
Results elsewhere were mixed from a Brook Street perspective. Shettlestone’s 3-1 win at home to Hangethe Coast Warriors could prove decisive as it puts the Glasgow side four points clear of Brook Street and within striking distance of both Naprzód Edynburg and Scottish Häse United, who lost 1-0 at home to Socspin Barcelona. In the final game, 30 Men won 5-1 at Bombercat.
“Hopefully now we can field a settled line-up in the run-in”
“Having Kalle back so soon is a huge boost for us” said Claus Christoph Gralath this afternoon when he announced to the gathered press that the Finn had made a faster than expected recovery and will be available for tomorrow’s visit by Naprzód Edynburg.
“Kalle is a key member of our squad and to have him available again so soon great news and is testiment to the quality of our medical and physio team”, added the coach. “His presence in the middle of the pitch was missed after he went off, so to get him back will make a big difference”.
With the reserves returning from their friendly match in San Marino unscathed, Claus Christoph will have the added bonus of having a fully fit squad to select from.
“Yes, we’ve had to mix up the playing squad over the past few games”, the coach admitted, “but hopefully now we can field a settled line-up in the run-in”.
Kick-off tomorrow is at 16:30.
Grave’s Tobias Arcor looks anxiously towards the referee. He needn’t have been worried.
To make matters worse, Arcor would go on to score two more goals when he should have been sitting in the dressing room, and as frustrations boiled over, Gralath himself recieved a rebuke when the Brook Street coach offered the referee his glasses.
“It was a disgraceful challenge and an even worse decision by the officials”, fumed the coach. “There was no attempt to play the ball and he went in out of control, high and with his studs showing. Add to that the fact the challenge came from behind and exactly how that didn’t merit a red card I will never know. The referee simply didn’t apply the rules when confronted by the home players. He was weak and they knew it.
Clearly not caring if he was hauled up by the beaks for his comments, he continued, “Had it been the other way round, they would have been in the referee’s face demanding a red card, and you can be sure he would have shown it. Perhaps it’s naivety on our part and we should have been in his face, but we would expect the rules to be applied; they simply weren’t here this afternoon”.
He concluded by saying, “We’re not going to dwell on it though. What is done is done and there is nothing we can do about it. We’ll dust ourselves down and go again with renewed determination next weekend. Someone is due a real hammering from us”.
Conor Meldrum is surpended tomorrow and Lewis Espley is set to come in as his replacement.
And while Brook Street know that they face a daunting challenge, coach Claus Christoph Gralath is not ruling out another ‘surprise result’.
“We know this will be a very tough game for sure, but we had a very tough game last week too and look what happened”.
He continued, “We will have to be wary though as they will want to make up for dropping two points last week, even although ironically we did them a favour by beating their nearest challengers”.
Claus Christoph however has been forced into changing his starting line-up again as Conor Meldrum’s booking against Socspin took him over the threshold and the winger will be suspended for tomorrow’s game.
“Yes that’s unfortunate”, admitted Claus Christoph, “but we have a number of players walking a tightrope at the moment, so as long as they’re not all suspended at once, we have cover to bring in. Tomorrow, Lewis Espley will come in as a direct replacement for Conor”.
Kick-off tomorrow is at 16:30.
Holger Painter blasts home Brook Street’s third goal to secure the points against Socspin.
So it was no surprise when Claus Christoph casually strolled into the post-match press conference grinning from ear to ear.
“We played exceptionally well and the lads finally got the result their play deserved”, he said. “In other games this season we’ve played well but haven’t taken anything from them at all, not even a goal. Now we’re scoring and today we’ve finally picked up our first league win of the season”.
He continued, “This was a real team effort. Everyone played their part and fought for each other. I’m absolutely delighted for them; they thoroughly deserved their win”.
With Kari Kienberger sitting the match out through suspension, Zak Ailstock returned to the starting line-up, but otherwise the team lined up as it did last weekend.
Socspin started the game at a furious pace and seemed determined to finish off any Brook Street challenge as quickly as possible.
With six minutes played, last week’s two-goal hero for the visitors, Danijel Isoz, broke through the middle of the Brook Street defence, and Owen Maurice had to look lively to push the ball wide for a corner.
The visitors continued to dominate and made the expected breakthrough after twelve minutes when Joel Jover finished off Karsten Graubacher’s low cross with a deft flick at the near post.
However, with most pundits expecting Brook Street to roll over, the home players stepped up to the mark and levelled five minutes after going behind when Tibor Koteczky connected with Conor Meldrum’s pass to chip it home.
Brook Street almost took the lead in the thirty-fourth minute when Liam Christie latched onto Conor Meldrum’s lofted cross but Socspin keeper Bastien Schortgen pulled off a spectacular block.
However, it was the visitors who struck next slightly against the run of play when a Jordan Buchanan thunderbolt nestled in the net four minutes before the break.
That was the sort of gut-wrenching setback that the Brook Street players and fans have become used to this season. However the home side were in no mood for caving-in, and seven minutes after the break they scored a well-deserved equaliser.
With 52 minutes played, Street’s well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to Connor Hutton he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 2-2.
Owen Maurice was having a good game and with sixty-eight minutes played he pulled of a world-class save to deny Socspin’s Uffe Hvidt at point-blank range.
Then, thirteen minutes from time, the match swung decisively in Brook Street’s favour. After a great move down the left involving Lewis Espley, Craig Smart and Connor Hutton, the ball was played through to Holder Painter who had broken through un-noticed. The wing-back steadied himself before he swept the ball high into the net to fire Brook Street into the lead and record his first goal of the season.
It was no less than Brook Street’s efforts had deserved, but now was not the time to relax as there was still an agonising thirteen minutes to play, plus injury-time.
And it was deep into injury time that Socspin had their best chance to score an equaliser but Owen Maurice was again huge in the goal to turn the ball away to safety, and with it secure the points.
Brook Street’s win fired them right back into the mix, even although other results didn’t exactly go their way. Elsewhere, 30 Men dropped their first points of the season when they drew 2-2 at Hangethe Coast, Bombercat romped to a 5-1 win at home to Naprzód Edynburg and Shettleston Terrors had a surprise 1-0 win at home to Scottish Häse United.
The results may still mean Brook Street remain at the foot of the table on four points, Shettleston move on to six points, but in the play-off places Naprzód Edynburg are now within striking distance on seven points and Scottish Häse United three points further away on ten.
The players celebrate Kalle Konkka’s goal against Socspin last weekend.
“Yes we lost last week, but we ran them close for most of the game and we took a lot of positives from the game”, he said. We’ve worked hard on them in training this week and I am confident we can take something from the game tomorrow”.
He continued, “We’ve had a good week in training and confidence is good amongst the players. We’ve all had a tough season, but as we go into the return fixtures we’re ready and have the determination and drive in us to win points and give ourselves the best chance possible”.
Following his booking last weekend Kari Kienberger is suspended for the tie, but otherwise Claus Christoph has a full squad to choose from.
This is Brook Street 