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Raúl Colen slams home the first of his two goals at Smith Stadium this afternoon.
Brook Street were 3-0 up at the break and in complete control of the game through goals from Adam Doyle, Raúl Colen and Joe Anderson, but it hadn’t all been good news for Fermín Romero’s side as Charlie Benham had been forced out of the game after twenty minutes having winded himself.
Joe Anderson went close and was only denied by the fingertips of Jorge Silva in the Gers goal with sixty-seventh minutes played, but this was only a stay of execution for the home side and just eleven minutes later Raúl Colen latched onto a through ball and buried it into the net.
With “Can we play you every week?” ringing out from the away section, many of the home ranks decided it was time to head home with the game clearly lost.
Two minutes later they were joined by even more home fans after Gers went down to tem men when Johnny Rollinson received his second yellow card and his ticket out of the game.
However with seven minutes to go the home fans who had remained in the stands at least had something to cheer when Kaniet Jenish Uulu swept through the middle on a counterattack before slotting home a consolation goal for the home side.
“We set about our task with confidence, the confidence of a side playing well”, said Fermín Romero afterwards. “The lads are annoyed that they conceded late on but we had more possession, more shots and more goals; a good afternoon all round and we’re now up to third place”.
Asked about Charlie Benham’s contition he replied, “Charlie was just winded. We weren’t sure if it was something more serious so he was taken off as a precaution. He’ll be fine for next week”.
As the Brook Street Coach said, his side are now up into third place in the league, two points behind St Andrew Paisley and five behind Paisley Pirates following today’s matches. In those other matches it proved to be a good day for the away teams , all of which went home with the spoils; St Andrew thumping Inverness 6-0 in the Highland Capital, Winbat headed south with the points following a 5-1 win at Oboy shot, while Pirates recorded the biggest win of the day, a comprehensive dismantling of Elgin by nine goals to nil.
Gillis Jacob opens up the scoring for Brook Street last weekend.
Adding spice to the tie is the fact that a Brook Street win will take Fermín Romero’s side above the early season pace-setters for the first time this season. However the home side will be desperate to get their act together having slipped to three points behind Paisley Pirates with those sides meeting in Paisley next weekend.
“We had a very good win last week and we’ve been building on our recent good form”, said Fermín Romero this morning.
“We are looking for another win this afternoon that will see us continute to build momentum going into the run-in”, he added.
While pleased that his side are unbeaten in four games and looking to extend that run this afternoon, he admitted, “We are probably too far back for it to make any difference this season, but if we keep progressing it could make all the difference going into next season”.
Brook Street will however be without Kari Kienberger who sits out on a totting up suspension and Alex Marker who picked up a groin strain during Wednesday’s friendly match.
Kick-off at Smith Stadium is at 16:30.
Gillis Jacob lifts the ball over Andrin Fournier to open the scoring for Brook Street this afternoon.
After their late defeat the previous week by Paisley Pirates, Brook Street were probably the last side Gers would have wanted to face. However the fixture computer certainly did Gers no favours when it lined up a double-header against Brook Street sandwiched between meetings with last season’s Champions.
Brook Street were straight onto the front foot straight from kick-off and with nine minutes played, Gillis Jacob lifted the ball over the outrushing Gers keeper and into the net. It was one of those events when the ball seemed to be moving in slow motion but despite his best efforts to get back, Andrin Fournier couldn’t keep the ball out.
Gers fired right back and just two minutes later Zdzisław Szafruga broke through and fired Gers level.
If ever a goal spurred a side into action, this was it as Brook Street launched wave after wave of attacks on the Gers back line.
Diego Misuraca went close with a thunderous drive that left the crossbar rattling for a number of seconds with twenty-one minutes played, but Joe Anderson found the target a minute later with a low drive that went across the keeper and in at the far post.
Brook Street could smell blood now and went in for the kill. Kari Kienberger broke through on the right and when it looked like he had been pushed too far out, he whipped in a vicious shot which beat Andrin Fournier at his near post.
The home side were far from done though and with Gers reeling under the onslaught Joe Anderson found the net again in the twenty-seventh minute with a beautifully curled shot from the left that had Andrin Fournier grasping thin air.
With the score 4-1 at the break and Brook Street in complete control, it would be fully expected for them to ‘take it easy’ in the second half however this was far from the case and having survived a scare on the hour mark, set about their opponents with renewed vigour.
Seven minutes later it was 5-1 as Aldo Pellone broke through before dispatching the ball low and hard into the net.
Brook Street were unrelenting and but for interventions by post and crossbar, Adam Doyle and Kari Kienberger would both have added to Gers’ misery even before Mait Peterson blasted the ball inches over the crossbar in stoppage time.
“We were at our ruthless best today and it was probably the worst day Badger Loyal could have face us”, enthused Fermín Romero afterwards.
“We were superb all over the pitch and showed ourselves in a very good light”, he added. “Now we face them again next weekend at Smith Stadium and I would guess that they are looking forward to that a lot less than us”.
This win extends Brook Street’s unbeaten run to four games and keeps them in fourth place in the tableahead of Winbat on goal difference.
Elsewhere, Pirates capitalised on Badger Loyal’s defeat to go top with a 7-0 home win over Elgin, Paisley St Andrew remain three points off the pace following their 6-1 mauling of Inverness Motorbreath, while Oboy shot are already looking doomed following this afternoon’s 6-0 demolition at Winbat.
Balázs Polyák nets in Brook Street’s 4-0 win the last time Badger Loyal Rangers visited the LJG.
Meanwhile Fermín Romero’s Brook Street side will be looking to build on their three match unbeaten run as they strive to improve their league position.
“We know we will face a tough game, we always do against them”, the Brook Street Coach said, “but we’re up to the task and go into the match with confidence. The lads have trained hard this week and we have a good record against them”.
“They will be looking to put last weekend’s defeat against Paisley behind them so we must be alert to any backlash”, Fermín warned.
“We’ve done our homework on them and now it’s time to put what we’ve learned into practice on the pitch”, he said before adding, “We are looking to get back into the race so three points for us is essential today”.
Brook Street have a full squad available but are unlikely to be much changed from the sides that have taken to the pitch in recent weeks. Kick-off is at 16:30.
With only three minutes on the clock, Adam Doyle fires Brook Street into the lead against Oboy shot.
While it was not the most important game they will face this season, Fermín Romero’s side set about their task straight from the kick-off and within three minutes Adam Doyle had Brook Street in front.
With only eleven minutes played Brook Street went two-up when Joe Anderson broke through the middle and slotted the ball under the advancing keeper.
Four minutes later and the game was all but over as a contest as defender Mait Peterson chipped the ball past the home keeper with the coolness of a veteran striker to make it 3-0 to Brook Street.
Fermín Romero’s side weren’t for letting up and in the twenty-fourth minute Diego Misuraca broke through and drove the ball low and hard into the net, sparking a mass exodus of the home fans to the local hostelries.
Those home fans that remained would not have liked what they had seen up until then, but it would only get worse when with only thirty-seven minutes on the clock Charlie Benham broke through before firing home to put Brook Street 5-0 up and send the fans in the visiting section into party-mode.
Understandably Brook Street eased up in the second half, but they still operated a shoot on site policy and this bore fruit just after the hour mark when Paul Hughes thundered a volley high into the home net for probably the best goal of the game.
As is now a regular occurrence, Fermín Romero withdrew skipper Joe Anderson with fifteen minutes to go with Balázs Polyák coming on to replace him, and it only took the young Hungarian striker four minutes to get his name on the scoresheet to wrap up the scoring.
“This was the kind of game we needed”, admitted Fermín afterwards. “It was a confidence booster for the lads and with seven goals from eleven chances, I’m certainly not going to be disappointed with that”.
“We dominated the game from the first whistle to last and we fully merited our win”, he said.
Fermín continued, “We face a very different game next weekend when Badger Loyal come to the LJG so it was important we got a good performance today. I can however confidently say we got a ‘very good’ performance today”.
That ‘very good’ performance takes Brook Street into the top half of the table for only the second time this season.
In the game of the day, a last minute Daniel Dyk strike saw Paisley Pirates snatch all three points away to Badger Loyal, Inverness secured their first win of the season, defeating Elgin 3-1 at home, and St Andrew Paisley had a 3-0 away win with all the goals coming in the first half.
So Badger Loyal now only lead Paisley Pirates on goal difference with both sides tied on fifteen points, St Andrew are in third three points behind while Brook Street leapfrogged Winbat on goal difference, both sides being on ten points. There is then a significant gap already back to Inverness who sit on four points, Elgin on three and Oboy who are rooted to the foot of the table with only one point.
“We won’t be easing up on them today. There’s no room for sentiment in this game”.
While Oboy shot represent a very different challenge to Winbat and have made a disasterous start to their league campaign, Fermín was making no distinction between the way his side should play any of their fixtures saying, “I want our Club to win every game and we set out with the aim of doing exactly that every week”.
“While there could have been a temptation to field our reserve side for this game given our opponents situation, I have to consider my own Club and this is a game where we have the chance to score goals and we have to take that”.
“We won’t be easing up on them today. There’s no room for sentiment in this game”.
Brook Street have a full squad available and are unlikely to be much changed from the side that face Winbat last weekend. Kick-off is at 16:30.
Joe Anderson marks his 300th competitive match for the football club with the opening goal against Winbat wonderers this afternoon.
The late turnaround also dumbfounded Fermín Romero who was equally perplexed by the way his side managed to throw away two points in the space of as many minutes.
“Their first goal could have and should have been avoided, but the second you just can’t legislate for. It was a sensational strike”, admitted Fermín afterwards. “It was unsurprising that several of our lads collapsed to their knees when it went in, it was such a punch in the guts”.
“We may have come away with a point but to be honest it feels more like a defeat”, the coach added.
“Up to that point, we had played reasonably well and had scored two excellent goals of our own. We were looking comfortable on the ball and knocking it about well, but with four minutes to go we got hit with the double-whammy and it knocked the stuffing out of us”.
He concluded by saying, “We will dust ourselves down and go again next Saturday”.
Elsewhere Badger Loyal kept their 100% record with a 4-0 win at St Andrew Paisley, Paisley Pirates moved up into second place with a 7-0 dismantling of Inverness, while Elgin got off the mark in style with a 6-1 home win against Oboy shot.
Brook Street players celebrate Adam Doyle’s first goal of the game from the penalty spot.
The home side had the game wrapped up before half-time with Adam Doyle firing in a hat-trick, two from the penalty spot, and the other goals coming from Joe Anderson and Mait Peterson.
Even with the foot off the gas in the second half Joe Anderson and Paul Hughes had both netted before Adam Doyle curled a peach of a free-kick with less than a quarter of an hour to go to wrap up the scoring and record his fourth goal of the game.
“The whole team played with flair and confidence today, a confidence that has perhaps been lacking recently”, admitted Fermín Romero afterwards.
“I think the players also played with a freedom and are starting to settle after the upheaval of players moving on, but lower crowds may also be taking the pressure off them as the fans’ expectations may be less for this season. I just don’t know”, he added.
“All we can do is keep doing what we’re doing and build and going by today’s performance I think we’re heading in the right direction”.
He continued, “That said, Winbat come here next week so we’ll see how we do against a better side”.
Winbat will come to the LJG next weeken on the back of a sensational 2-1 home win over Paisley Pirates this afternoon, while elsewhere there were big wins for Badger Loyal, 7-0 at home to Inverness and a 5-0 away win for St Andrew Paisley at Oboy shot.
Badger Loyal remain out in front on maximum pounts while St Andrew Paisley, Paisley Pirates and Winbat wonderers are all three back on nine points. Brook Street are on their own in fifth place on six points before a big gap already to Inverness and Oboy shot on one and Elgin who are still to register a point.
“Today’s match gives us the opportunity to get points on the board.”
Fermín Romero’s side have now lost two of their opening three league fixtures and have slumped to fifth place with any chances of promotion all but extinguished for this term.
However the Brook Street coach is certainly not throwing in the towel just yet.
“Yes we’ve had a disappointing start to the season, but we have to remember that the team is in transition and we haven’t been completely outplayed in the games we’ve played”.
“Today’s match gives us the opportunity to get points on the board against a side that have lost all their league fixtures so far. This is the type of game that can act as a confidence booster for the team and that is the way we will be looking on it”.
Brook Street have a full squad available but Fermín may be tempted to freshen up the line-up although naturally he is keeping his cards close to his chest.
This is Brook Street 