Back On Point

Balázs Polyák clips the ball past Söncke Vorburg in the Balvenie goal to level the scores.

After last weekend’s defeat, Joe Anderson’s Brook Street side were determined to make amends against Belvenie today. With a 3-2 win they certainly did that.

Following a long period where the match was finely balanced it was the visitors who took the lead in the twenty-fourth minute when the visitors took the lead. Unsurprisingly it was division top scorer Vittorio Tona who fired it just beyond the reach of Benito Buda.

Brook Street were quick to fire back and four minutes after going behind, only the last minute intervention by a Balvenie defender’s foot deflected Remmel Demarsin’s netbound strike away from goal.

Following this there were chances for both sides before half-time, but both keepers were on their game and allied with some wayward finishing the score remained 0-1 at the break.

Benito Buda saved Brook Street again in the fifty-eighth minute, but from then on the home side were in the ascendancy and in the space of three minutes the game was turned on its head.

With sixty-five minutes on the clock, Remmel Demarsin stormed down Brook Street’s left wing before cutting in and feeding the ball through to Balázs Polyák who clipped the ball past Söncke Vorburg in the Balvenie goal to level the scores.

Three minutes later the comeback was complete when Banin Jiménez Iniesta broke through before firing the ball just beyond the reach of the outstretched hand of the keeper.

Then with seventy-five minutes played and only ten minutes after coming on for Paul hughes, Jackie Underhill latched onto a ball through from Adam Doyle and fired it across the Balvenie keeper and into the net to make it 3-1.

Only a superb save from Balvenie keeper Vorburg kept Gillis Jacob’s thunderbolt from entering the net with eight minutes to go, and a minute later the visitors set up a grandstand finish when Frazer Millington got past the home side’s defence to finish right in the centre of the goal.

However it was not to be and Brook Street held on to record a victory that unexpectedly took them back to the top of the table.

“I got the response and more from my players following last week”, beamed Joe Anderson afterwards.

“We mixed up the midfield today and it worked a treat. I was worried when Janko [Fila] picked up the booking and I had considered taking him off. I’m glad I didn’t”.

He continued, “I couldn’t possibly have asked for more from the lads today; well, maybe not giving me palpitations for the last seven or eight minutes, but otherwise it was all good”.

He concluded by saying, “Before the game I would have torn your hand off if you’d offered me a draw today, but my lads went above and beyond and deserve all the plaudits they get”.

Elsewhere Long Shot won 2-0 at home to Desired Opponent, Wick Academy romped to a 7-0 demolition of Athletico Machrie while Falkland easily saw of Danny’s American by five goals without reply.

Perfect Start

Banin Jiménez Iniesta fires Brook Street into the lead against Long Shot this afternoon.

First half goals from Banin Jiménez Iniesta and Balázs Polyák were enough to give Brook Street Athletic a 2-0 win against Long Shot F.C. in the opening game of the season.

But for some wayward finishing and some excellent goalkeeping from Long’s keeper Massimiliano Scalise the winning margin would have been much greater, however Joe Anderson was more than satisfied with the outcome.

“We got the win and we kept a clean sheet; I couldn’t have asked for more”, he said. “We created a lot of chances and although we didn’t put them all away, we still got two and kept the door shut at the back”.

“I was really pleased with how we performed today. Having Banin [Jiménez Iniesta] back in the middle of our midfield after such a long lay-off was a huge boost and it was fitting that he got the opening goal, having shown the tenacity and perseverence to create the opening”.

He continued, “I think we surprised many by going 2-5-3, but when you’re playing against a side that plays five at the back, you’ve got to go heavy up top”.

“We had an early scare, but after that we looked good and got the goals and the points that we wanted”.

Elsewhere, there were big wins for Balvenie United and Desired Opponent against Athletico Machrie and Danny’s American Bhoy’s respectively while it finnished honours even in Caithness with Wick Academy F.C. and Falkland F.C. drawing 1-1.

“We Knew The Goals Would Come”

With St Andrew keeper Lino Amaya stranded, Mait Peterson has the easiest of tasks to stab the ball into the unguarded net to open the scoring.

With a competent and assured display, Brook Street comfortably saw off the challenge of St Andrew Paisley at the LJG this afternoon in front of a capacity 60,000 crowd. It was the first time the ‘Sold Out’ signs had gone up at the ticket office since the capacity was increased at the end of last season.

Brook Street’s midfield trio of Diego Misuraca, Banin Jiménez Iniesta and Kari Kienberger bossing the game in the centre of the park, the home side quickly took control of the game. However it was the visitors who created the first clear-cut chance when a through ball on the right sent Enrico Bani through. Jeremías Marchena however was on his toes and raced out to pounce on the ball.

Within a minute, Brook Street were in front. Banin Jiménez Iniesta fired over a corner and under pressure Lino Amaya dropped the ball which dropped at the feet of Mait Peterson who stabbed the ball home from six yards out.

Amaya made amends almost immediately when at full stretch, he turned a Charlie Benham piledriver up and over the bar.

A minute later however he was caught in no-man’s land but Joe Anderson’s shot was just too hight and it rattled the crossbar on it’s way over.

Amaya was again the hero in the sixty-sixth minute when he forced Mait Peterson wide and the angle was too tight for him to hit the target.

Banin Jiménez Iniesta went close when he was played through on the seventy-ninth minute but his shot, having beaten the outstretched arm of Lino Amaya cannoned off the far post and away to safety.

With five minutes to go Mait Peterson should probably have doubled Brook Street’s lead but for some great goalkeeping by Lino Amaya who once again kept his side in the game.

This proved to be only a stay of execution as two minutes later as substitute Balázs Polyák finished off a free-kick routine to record his fourth goal of the season and secure the points for Brook Street Athletic.

“We took control of the game early on and but from another excellent performance by their keeper we would have won more convincingly”, said Fermín Romero afterwards.

“We stuck to the gameplan because we knew the goals would come, and they duly did”, he added.

He continued, “Our midfield was superb, winning everything and dominating the game. Banin Jiménez Iniesta is developing into an excellent player and showed that today”.

“It’s just a shame that we started the season so poorly”, he added. “Had we started as well as we have been playing for half the season, we would have been challenging for the title”.

He went on, “We can’t do anything about that now but to attempt to finish the season in top form and set ourselves up to start the new season strongly”.

In the other matches, Paisley Pirates romped to an 8-0 win at Oboy shot, Badger Loyal saw off Elgin by the same scoreline and Winbat had a 3-2 homw win over Inverness.

Two Hat-tricks As Brook Street Run Riot

Joe Anderson sets Brook Street on course for their third highest win ever with a third minute strike.

The small band of Oboy shot fans who entered the LJG this afternoon did so with no small degree of trepidation and fearing the worst. That fear proved to be well founded as Brook Street proceeded to systematically and quite brutally dismantle their side with a display that Fermín Romero later described as “absolutely sensational”.

Sensational it certainly was and the 11-0 win was the third biggest in the history of the Club, as well as the biggest since Brook Street’s record 13-0 win against Carlton Hill in Edinburgh fifteen seasons ago.

Brook Street declared their intent straight from kick-off when after only three minutes Joe Anderson broke through on the left and fired home.

The home side doubled their lead on fourteen minutes when Banin Jiménez Iniesta picked up the ball in midfield and took on the whole of the Oboy back line before firing past the unfortunate Al MacGlashan in the visitor’s goal.

Then three minutes later Kari Kienberger marked his return to the side following suspension with a break through the middle and thunderous drive high into the rigging.

With less than half an hour played, Kari doubled his tally for the game following a free-kick move straight off the training ground which had the visiting defenders chasing shadows.

Brook Street were playing well within their capabilities but were still too far good for their opponents, and this was apparent five minutes from the break when Charlie Benham sauntered down the left wing before cutting inside and curling a peach of a shot past Al MacGlashan.

After the blistering pace of the first half, the second started very sedately but Brook Street stepped up in pace in the fifty-seventh minute when Paul Hughes broke through and fired home. Within the next ten minutes Brook Street found the net three times as the roof caved-in on the visitors.

Two goals from Joe Anderson within the space of three minutes saw the skipper complete his hat-trick before Aldo Pellone nutmegged Al MacGlashan to put Brook Street 9-0 up with twenty-six minutes left.

That would have been Oboy shot’s worst defeat of the season, but worse was to follow ten minutes later when Kari Kienberger completed his hat-trick.

In the regular substitution with fifteen minutes to go Balázs Polyák replaced Joe Anderson, with the skipper receiving a standing ovation as he left the field. However it was Balázs who wrapped up the scoring six minutes from time when he rounded the keeper to fire home.

Speaking afterwards Fermín Romero rang the praises of his side, saying “The boys were absolutely sensational today and showed everyone exactly what we can do. They barely got out of first gear but showed just how good they can be”.

He continued, “I’ve never witnessed a performance like it and to have two players hit hat-trick’s was simply superb. They also recorded the third highest victory in the history of this Club and that is truly sensational”.

“We are now up to second place which, after the way we started the season, is phenomenal”, he added “but we have too much to do to overhaul Pirates’ lead at the top so we are building for next season”.

“I feel we have the nucleus of a side that can get us back to the third tier”, he said. “However we need to ensure that side will at worst keep us in the third tier and preferably win us promotion to the second for the first time”.

As Fermín Romero said, the win saw Brook Street go into second place in the league on goal difference from next weekend’s opponents Winbat wonderers who had a good 3-2 win away at St Andrew Paisley albeit at a cost, as first choice keeper Logan Rowbotham sustained an injury that looks to have him out of next weekend’s clash.

The defeat saw St Andrew drop to fourth, while Badger Loyal’s 3-2 defeat at Pirates sees them back in fifth on fifteen points.

Then there is an eight point gap back to Inverness who took the points back along the A96 from Elgin with a 4-1 win, Elgin in seventh place with three points and Oboy shot who look to be all but doomed on one point.

Brook Street Storm Into Second Round

On his competitive debut for Brook Street Athletic, Jānis Graubiņš score his first senior goal.

Brook Street Athletic stormed into the Scottish Cup Second Round with a systemmatic demolition of Gorgie’s XI at Powderhall this morning.

Fermín Romero had surprised a number of onlookers by fielding a predominantly young reserve side with an average age of only 21 playing a 3-4-3 formation, however the players leapt at the opportunity to impress and quickly took control of the game.

The capital side didn’t do themselves any favours though and already trailing to Balázs Polyák’s twelfth minute opener, saw their numbers reduced when Hamish Standfield was ordered off after felling Gillis Jacob with a tackle verging on assault and more suited to Murrayfield.

Gillis was unable to continue and Brook Street were forced to make an early substitution with Jake Ward coming on to make his senior competitive debut at only 17-years of age.

With an advantage in numbers Brook Street seized the initiative and despite the home side ‘parking the bus’ Brook Street finally added to their lead in the twenty-eighth minute when Jackie Underhill powers his way into the home team box before firing the ball under Roy Wilson in the home goal.

Brook Street upped their lead to 3-0 in the thirty-eight minute when Jānis Graubiņš, who was making his debut, picked up a pass from Banin Jiménez Iniesta before rounding Lee Haggard, drawing the keeper and lobbing the ball into the empty net. Simply sublime!

Banin Jiménez Iniesta turned from provider to finisher a minute later when he found himself free on the left. Having received the ball he proceeded to cut inside the defender before curling the ball into the net with the outside of his boot to make it 4-0.

Gorgie’s XI were spent by this point and Brook Street Athletic killed the game stone dead in the forty-fourth minute when Janko Fila launched a cross over from the right. Jackie Underhill looked to have over-run the ball before turning and launching himself into the air and battering the ball into the net with a spectacular scissor kick.

This was the cue for many of the home fans to head for the local hostelries.

Things went from bad to worse from the home side eleven minutes into the second half when Callum Ironmonger broke through and dispatched the ball past Roy Wilson with a superb low drive.

Brook Street were toying with their opponents and the outcome was almost inevitable when Remmel Demarsin carved his way through the home defence in sixty-second minute; 7-0 to the visitors.

In the sixty-fifth minute Mait Peterson beat the home side’s poor attempt at an offside trap to be left one-on-one with Roy Wilson. The home keeper did his best to put the Estonian off but the finish was clinical and the score was eight without reply.

Janko Fila went close to making it 9-0 a minute later but his lob was cleared off the line, and with that Brook Street eased off and freewheeled to full-time knowing they were safely in the Second Round draw.

Asked why he had gone with an a young line-up and an unfamiliar formation Fermín Romero said, “These are the kind of games we can do this. We can try out new ideas and do ‘something different’. I went with the players who had not had gametime this week and this was the line-up that fitted the players best”.

Turning to the match itself he said, “We took control of the game early on and eventually turned our dominance into goals”.

He continued, “My players did everything I asked of them and we produced an superb team performance, and achieved an excellent result with individual milestones. We had Jānis Graubiņš score his first goal on his competitive debut for us and Remmel Demarsin scored his first competitive goal for the Club and Jake Ward making his competitive debut”.

He concluded, “At the end of the day we are in the draw for the Second Round and that’s what we wanted”.

In that draw Brook Street Athletic were rewarded with another away tie against fourth tier side Whisky Barrel Football Club.

Kick-off at Moonshine Arena next Wednesday will be at 10:30.

Three Out As Brook Street Chase Goals

Bogusz Cacek will almost certainly get more gametime this afternoon against Glasgow Athletic.

No fewer that three members of the first team squad will be unavailable for selection this afternoon following a bruising friendly match on Wednesday played in atrocious conditions. Alex Marker, Paul Hughes and Banin Jiménez Iniesta will all sit out the game with Glasgow Athletic at the LJG much to the irritation of Brook Street Coach Fermín Romero when he spoke to This Is Brook Street yesterday afternoon.

“I was looking to rotate the squad tomorrow and all three would have featured; two may well have started”, he said. “That idea went straight into the bin when it became clear that none of them would be available. It’s a big disappointment”, he added.

He went on, “The injuries to both Alex and Paul can both be put down to the conditions in part and it’s just one of those things, but Banin’s was caused by an attrocious challenge”.

“Fortunately they should all be ok for next weekend so we were lucky in that respect, but one injury was completely avoidable”.

On this afternoon’s game itself he said, “Glasgow are in a real relegation scrap and picked up their first points of the season last weekend, so obviously they’re going to be fired-up after that”.

He went on, “We on the other hand need to score goals and win big, just to make sure we go into the final game of the season with a better goal difference than Breakfast. I don’t need to spell it out that we will be going for goals tomorrow”.

As it stands Brook Street may now be little changed from the side that edged out Winbat wonderers last weekend. Bogusz Cacek is likely to get increased gametime while Jackie Underhill and Balázs Polyák will both be hoping to get the nod for places on the bench.

Kick-off this afternoon is at 16:30.

Lions Mauled

Joe Anderson heads home his own fourth and Brook Street’s eighth goal of the game against Livilions.

Brook Street eased to another 8-0 win over Livilions at the LJG this afternoon with the West Lothian side unable to live with their hosts. Joe Anderson went home with the match ball, hitting four goals while Adam Doyle got two with the others coming from Craig Smart and Kari Kienberger. The visitors on the other hand did not manage a single shot on target and Dylan MacIttrick had probably his quietest afternoon for the club.

There was bad news for Brook Street just moments after the kick-off however when Diego Misuraca picked up an injury to his left foot and was forced out of the game.

Although Banin Jiménez Iniesta came on to replace Diego the change didn’t affect how the side approached the game and they took the lead ten minutes later when Joe Anderson clipped the ball home from close range after a centre from the left.

One goal became two in the twenty-seventh minute when Adam Doyle found the postage stamp with a superb free-kick, and straight from the re-start, Doyle supplied the third goal having broken through the centre of the Lions defence.

Then with thirty-four minutes played, Joe Anderson rose high to power a header in from Adam Doyle’s cross as the roof caved-in on the visitors.

Brook Street already had the game comfortably won and went in 4-0 up at the break.

That became 5-0 just two minutes after the re-start when Joe Anderson won the ball and rounded Jake Furness to roll the ball into the empty net to complete his hattrick.

Worse was to follow three minutes later when a sharp interchange of passes between Craig Smart, Joe Anderson and Kari Kienberger had the Livi defenders chasing shadows, allowing Smart in to increase the lead to 6-0.

Kari Kienberger got in on the scoring act himself just before the hour mark when he lost his marker and redirected Craig Smart’s driven cross into the net.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for the visitors keeper Jake Furness was injured in the sixty-fifth minute and was forced off, Kieran Strutt coming on for the remaining twenty-five minutes.

The substitute keeper was forced to pick the ball out of his net in the seventy-seventh minute after Joe Anderson headed Adam Doyle’s corner kick into the net. However the sub keeper was on hand to force Adam Doyle into shooting into the side netting in the eighty-first minute, before tipping the same player’s free-kick round the post a minute later to keep the score at eight.

“We showed excellent attitude and workrate and got the winning margin that I think is an adequate repersentation of the game”, said Fermín Romero at full-time.

“We had heart and desire not to concede and we had a lot of positives today”, he added.

Asked about the injury to Diego Misuraca he said, “It doesn’t appear to be serious, so he should be available for next weekend. I’ll leave him out of the squad for Wednesday though as a precaution”.

In a day of high scorelines, Badger Loyal romped to a 9-0 win over bottom side Glasgow Athletic, St Andrew Paisley thumped Winbat wonderers 6-1 and Breakfast hit six without reply against Legz 11.

Great Chance To Progress

“Diego’s missed out the last couple of games but is available and ready to go tomorrow”.

With nothing to prove and a great chance to progress to the Fourth Round, Brook Street face Division V side Aqua Boogie Men at the LJG tomorrow in the Scottish Cup.

Fermín Romero will of course be without the services of Banin Jiménez Iniesta amd Gillis Jacob following their red cards on Saturday, but he confirmed that Diego Misuraca is likely to feature.

“Diego’s missed out the last couple of games but is available and ready to go tomorrow”, he said.

“Being without Banin and Gillis who both would almost certainly have featured against ABM is a blow, but we’ll rotate our squad and probably change our intended formation”, he added.

“We might try a different formation but we have the personnel to cover it so that’s no big deal. I’m still annoyed that we are without Gillis on a false pretense but it is what it is and we have to just get on with it”.

Kick-off is at 10:30 tomorrow.

Stranger Things

Connor Hutton slams home the opening goal of the game nineteen minutes in.

Brook Street’s match with Legz 11 this afternoon will likely rank as one of the strangest in the Club’s history. It was certainly a hugely frustrating afternoon and one that left Fermín Romero relatively speechless at full-time, although that may have been under instruction to avoid a lengthy touchline ban for criticising the officials.

However, the fans left the stadium scratching their heads trying to remember the last time Brook Street had a player sent off followed by the player that came on to fill the space vacated by him. On that, the club historian said, “We have looked through the records and we are yet to find anything; yes we’ve had two sent off before, but not from the same position”.

The recent good weater had broken overnight and the match was played in driving rain in front of a half-full LJG. However, Brook Street started at a high tempo and probed for weaknesses in their opponents defensive line that would lead to the opening goal.

That duly arrived in the nineteenth minute when Connor Hutton broke through and having avoided a number of, what would locally be termed ‘agricultural’ challenges, slammed the ball high into the net.

However the match turned on it’s head in twenty-seven minutes when Zane Zouch bearing down on the Brook Street goal used all his experience to run across Banin Jiménez Iniesta leaving the Spaniard with nowhere to go. Although Banin tried to avoid contact, he clipped the forward’s heel and Zouch instinctively went to ground.

As the last man, Banin Jiménez Iniesta was ordered off.

Much to his disgust Connor Hutton was called over to make way for a replacement midfielder in the shape of Gillis Jacob.

The visitors clearly had their tails up, but any thoughts of an equaliser were extinguished in the space of two minutes later in the half when first Raúl Colen with a scruffy volley in the thirty-eighth minute and a Joe Anderson strike from the edge of the box a minute later saw Brook Street head into the break three-up.

Even despite being down to ten men Brook Street’s dominance was clear for all to see, so the fact fact that they were 3-0 up at the break came as no surprise.

However, Fermín Romero demanded more from his players and they duly responded in the second half scoring in the sixty-first minute when Kari Kienberger swept the ball into the net following a tremendous move through the middle.

Then with a quarter of an hour left Gillis Jacob got on the end of a Craig Smart cross to powerfully head the ball into the net.

Three minutes later however, a bemused Gillis was heading for the dressing room after being ordered off for allegedly striking Zane Zouch off the ball. It was completely out of character and there seemed to be a lot of dubiety about the whole incident, but the referee was adamant that Gillis was going off.

In recent weeks, Brook Street have become accustomed to playing with ten men, but it remained to be seen how they would cope with nine men against eleven. However it was obvious that being two players down was not even a hindrence to Fermín Romero’s side as they continued to sweep forward, and just as the game entered stoppage time Craig Smart fired home Brook Street’s sixth and final goal from close range.

Despite the good win, it was clearly a furious Brook Street coach who entered the post-match press conference, where of course the matter of the two sendings off was the leading topic of conversation.

“Banin’s red was just one of those things. He was left with nowhere to go and of course he was going to make contact. A forward in those situations is 100% going to go down”.

“I have no problem with that card. Banin will learn from it and we move on. What I cannot accept is Gillis’ sending off”.

“The referee saw him sitting on his backside rubbing his jaw while pointing at Gillis and he jumped to the wrong conclusion”, protested the Brook Street gaffer. “His assistant provided no insight whatsoever and the referee went with his original assumption and sent Gillis off”.

“Given that Gillis was facing in the opposite direction as I was shouting instructions to him at the time and he wasn’t even the closest Brook Street player to Zouch just proves that the referee has been conned”, he added.

“I will not say the player is a cheat as that will get me into trouble, but here I believe he has acted dishonestly in order to gain an advantage. We need to stamp this behaviour out and we need officials to officiate with their eyes open”, he concluded.

On the win itself he said, “We played reasonably well, but losing Banin so early clearly affected the result. I would have wanted to score more than six goals, but under the circumstances I have to be satisfied with that.

In the other games, only three sides remain with 100% records going into week 3; Winbat wonderers, Badger Loyal and Breakfast. Winbat had a comfortable 4-1 win at Glasgow Athletic, Badger Loyal had a thumping 5-0 win at Livilions and Breakfast won 2-0 at St Andrew Paisley, a result which sees St Andrew still pointless after two games and second bottom by goal difference alone. Brook Street will be looking to pile on the agony next weekend when the sides meet at St Andrews Paisley Arena.

Young Guns See Brook Street Through

The visitors’ anguish is clear to see as Balázs Polyák fires Brook Street into the Scottish Cup Third Round.

With the notable exception being Craig Smart, it was a young Brook Street side who took to the field against The Muskoka Warriors at the LJG this morning. However it was Fermín Romero’s youngsters who won through against a very good Warriors side after extra-time.

“The boys had to dig deep but they showed huge character to get the win and I am delighted for them”, he said. “Warriors were very tough opponents and played exceptionally well, especially after losing the lad through injury”.

He continued, “I don’t know why they never had anyone on the bench, but it didn’t seem to make any difference to them being down to ten men, they were that good”.

Indeed, at times it was difficult to tell which side was down to ten men.

It had been a typical end to end Cup tie as both sides tried to gain the upper hand, however the game really exploded into life two minutes before the break when Brook Street finally broke the deadlock.

Adam Doyle swung over a tempting corner which Charlie Benham nodded on at the front post. The ball landed at the feet of Banin Jiménez Iniesta and the young Spaniard wasted no time in sweeping the ball into the Warriors net.

For the remaining two minutes of the half, the game raced from end to end with chances for both sides, the closest falling to Balázs Polyák who rattled the top of the crossbar in the forty-fourth minute.

However, what could have proved a pivotal moment occurred seconds later when a bad challenge by Róbert Ungvári resulted in Warriors’ Malte Tögel having to leave the field. With no substitutes listed, Wariors would have to play the rest of the game with ten men.

Warriors however upped their game considerably in the second half and at times it was difficult to tell which side was short-handed, such was the Warriors players’ workrate. Indeed, Warriors could have been level three minutes after the restart but Carlo Noferi’s flick bounced off the post and away to safety.

This should have sent the alarm bells ringing in the Brook Street rearguard but they failed to take heed and in the fifty-fourth minute Warriors got a well-deserved equaliser. Counter-attacking swiftly through the middle, Sattar Ariamanesh got to the through ball just before Dylan MacIttrick and rolled it under the keeper and into the net.

MacIttrick kept his side in the game twelve minutes from the end of regulation time when he made himself big and blocked Jack Brotherstone’s effort with a terrific save.

Brook Street almost snatched the winning goal five minutes from time when Craig Smart intercepted a low cross ball as Warriors looked to switch wings and blasted it goalwards first time. Fortunately for Warriors however it was rising all the time and only took a coat of paint off the crossbar.

With no further goalmouth action the game went into extra-time, and with little between the sides and neither wanting to risk conceding, the first half was something of a stifled affair.

That is until the last minute of the half when, just as the home fans were growing frustrated, Balázs Polyák burst through on the Brook Street left.

Adam Doyle was screaming for the ball to be played through to him but Balázs kept pushing forward while avoiding challenges. In a last ditch effort, Warriors’ keeper Murdo MacClair raced out of his box in an attempt to halt the Hungarian striker, but Balázs deftly nutmegged him before finishing off with a rabona into the empty net much to the delight of the home fans behind the goal. He got a ticking off from the referee for that, but he wasn’t caring.

Warriors were by now a spent force having played so long with ten men, so were incapable of making another comeback. Indeed, Brook Street went looking for a third goal straight from the restart and Callum Ironmonger was unlucky to see his effort thunder off the crossbar.

So it’s Brook Street who progress to the Third Round where they will face Aqua Boogie Men at the LJG next Wednesday.