Late Disappointment

Jake Ward blasts Brook Street into an early lead against Much Rucking with his first senior goal.

Brook Street had to endure late disappointment this afternoon when, with only three minutes of regular time left, Rucking’s Louis Baltzer lofted a speculative chip over Jeremías Marchena into the net to secure a 2-1 win and with it a place in the Third Round Draw.

Brook Street started strongly, taking the game to the home side, and deservedly took the lead in the seventh minute when Jake Ward thundered home his first senior goal.

Rucking gradually grew into the game and eventually drew level in the thirty-eighth minute when Ross Johnston made no mistake from the penalty spot, sending Jeremías Marchena the wrong way.

The home side came out for the second half like a different team and quickly put Brook Street under intense pressure. This only grew throughout the half with Brook Street only making sporadic raids on the Rucking goal before Baltzer’s late lob secured the home side a place in the Third Round.

Despite the defeat, Fermín Romero was satisfied with his side’s performance saying, “Much Rucking put us under intense pressure and we came close to taking the match to extra-time so I think our defence performed well. Our midfield was somewhat over-run which was disappointing and naturally meant our forwards struggled to get into the game”.

“However”, he continued, “all our squad have had game-time this week and that is all that matters at the end of the day”.

Renewing Old Rivalries

Old rivalries may be renewed tomorrow when Much Rucking and Brook Street meet in the Tartan Cup

Brook Street renew old rivalries tomorrow when they travel to Fife to take on Much Rucking in the Marsh at Mile Deep Stadium.

It’s been thirty-four seasons since the sides last faced each other, but that last meeting may give the Fife side added motivation as a 2-2 draw in Monifieth saw Much Rucking relegated and Brook Street staying in Division III.9 courtesy of the play-offs. Whether they need any more motivation is questionable as Much Rucking have made a strong start to their league campaign and remain unbeaten, albeit in a weaker division.

Brook Street Coach Fermín Romero will however be more concerned that all his squad should get gametime than the outcome of the tie as he stated when he spoke earlier this afternoon.

“We have no chance to win this competition so I see no point in fielding my strongest side in an attempt to get as far as possible”.

He continued, “I use these competitions and friendly matches to train and develop my players who don’t feature on the previous Saturday. As such we can also try out a variety of formations”.

“Don’t get me wrong”, he added, “we play strong line-ups, but winning Cup ties is not so important to me, other than in the Scottish Cup First Round; that is the only game I want to win 100%, but only because no Brook Street side has ever lost a Scottish Cup First Round tie and it’s certainly not going to happen on my watch!”

Fermín has a full squad available for selection and the match at Mile Deep Stadium kicks off at 11:00 tomorrow.

Borderers Put To The Sword As Brook Street March On

Callum Ironmonger slams home the opening goal and his first of the game. He would score a second later in the match.

Brook Street eased into the Second Round of the Tartan Cup with a 5-2 win at King’s Own Scottish Borderers this afternoon. The match was probably much closer than the score would suggest.

Brook Street were quick into their stride and took the lead in the sixth minute when a cut back from Charlie Benham reached Callum Ironmonger who had stayed up following a corner, and the big defender slammed the ball into the net.

Play raged from end to end with no side taking advantage until a quarter of an hour in when Gaspar Mouta got his head to a well placed ball from the left and powered it home to tie the game.

The game continued to be finely balanced until the thirty-fifth minute when Brook Street re-took the lead when Remmel Demarsin sent Jackie Underhill through and the striker wasted no time and blasted the ball home.

Borderers were still a threat though and went close just after the restart but the shot was too high, but this miss came back to haunt them just after the hour when Janko Fila was played in and fired home.

Callum Ironmonger had looked to have wrapped things up when he volleyed home with four minutes to go, but back again came Borderers and Mark MacLeary set up a grandstand finish when he fired home with two minutes of regular time remaining.

However any hope of a late comeback were killed off right as the game entered stoppage time Jānis Graubiņš fired home to make the final score 5-2 and take Brook Street through to the Second Round.

“Despite it being an unfamiliar formation and a largely inexperienced line-up, the lads performed exceptionally well and they thoroughly deserved to progress to the Second Round”, said Fermín Romero afterwards.

“Although there probably wasn’t much between the sides I’m naturally glad that we are in the second round and I think we did enough to just about warrant the win”.

In the Second Round, Brook Street will make the short trip over the Tay to face old rivals Much Rucking in the Marsh next Wednesday with the kick-off being 11:00 at Mile Deep Stadium.