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Having sprung the ranked defence Paul Hughes fires home our opening goal against Desired Opponent.
It was a tough afternoon for Joe Anderson’s side however, but they stuck to their task and came out with the three points they wanted.
Brook Street suffered an early setback when Kari Kienberger was forced out of the game with a foot injury after only thirteen minutes, and was replaced by Jake Ward.
The home side quickly put this behind them and set about assaulting the visitors’ defence again.
Finally, after twenty minutes Brook Street made the important breakthrough when a sharp interchance of passes in midfield released Paul Hughes who broke through before firing home across Mohsen Al-Khulaifi in the DOP goal.
Brook Street continually attempted to break through before half-time but chances were sporadic and even then a mixture of the woodwork, Al-Khulaifi and poor finishing kept the score at 1-0.
The home side were given a fright just before the hour make when in a rare venture forward DOP were given a corner, from which Ghiblin Van Wemmel flicked the ball onto the post.
Janko Fila picked the DOP bus lock again with a tremendous solo run to put Brook Street two-up after sixty-six minutes and from then on the outcome was not in doubt.
Brook Street piled on the pressure as the half progressed and eventually managed to get a third goal. Balázs Polyák got on the end of a corner and his attemot broke to Jake Ward who back-heeled it home.
Adam Doyle was left scratching his head a minute later, fluffing his lines after Brook Street had been given a penalty, but the cheers of the small band of away fans were quickly silenced when Jackie Underhill wrapped up the scoring eleven minutes from time with his seventh goal of the season.
“It’s a good win for us”, admitted Brook Street coach Joe Anderson afterwards. “They came to defend and we sitll found a way through and got a solid win”.
“They caught us on the hop by parking the bus but that’s always something you have to contend with”, added Joe.
“Fortunately we were a match for that. Parking the bus is ok but it draws the opposition right on top of you and, if you don’t press you’re just inviting trouble”, he added.
“We scored some great goals today, Janko Fila’s standing out, but we didn’t finish off as many chances as we should have”, he continued, “and that’s something we might have to address”.
Asked about Kari Kienberger’s condition he replied, “Kari has injured his foot. I don’t know any more than that at the moment . The doc and physio are shecking it out but I don’t have anything to add at present.
It was pointed out to Joe that Brook Street Athletic are now top of the league, being the only side with maximum points.
He replied, “I didn’t realise that to be honest; that’s nice. To be honest, unless this is the final week of the season it doesn’t mean anything”.
He continued, “We’ve been in this kind of position lots of times over the past seven or so seasons and at the end of the day it counted for nothing. I won’t be counting my chickens”.
Elswhere, Wick Academy and Balvenie United share six goals, Athletico Machrie picked up their first points of the season with a 2-0 win over Danny’s American, while Long Shot edged out Falkland 1-0.
Paul Hughes will be spearheading Brook Street Athletic’s attack for the new season.
“It’s a step into the unknown for us, but at the same time it’s exciting”, admitted Joe Anderson this morning.
“Having been in the same Division for so long, you know what to expect from each side, but this season playing in a new league we’ve had to do our homework”.
“We had a solid performance in midweek, and I’ll be looking for more of the same today”, he said.
“We’ve got the advantage of going into the game with a full squad and we’ve got to make that count”.
Asked if he would be leading the line today he replied, “No, my appearances this season will be limited to if or when we’re down to the bare bones. Paul [Hughes] will be our lead striker this season”.
Beyond that, the coach refused to reveal his starting line-up, but he will be looking for a winning start to his rookie league season.
Kick-off is at 16:30.
Despite his best efforts, Inverness keeper Ali Ballantyne can’t get back across his goal to deny Joe Anderson his 14th goal of the season.
“Yes it’s tedious and I’m sick of always being second best”, admitted Fermín when the news broke. “Hopefully they won’t mess up the play-off this time and we’ll get a new team in. It just enforces exactly why you have to win all of your games in this league”.
He continued, “We’ve got the foundation of a really good side in place here and if everyone plays to their potential, we will have a side capable of finally getting out of this division.
Turning to this afternoon’s match he said, “We got goals early on and that set the tone of the game. Three in each half is a good return and what is more pleasing is that they came from all areas of the park”.
He continued, “We played at a high intensity and our passing and build up play were both excellent”.
“Needless to say, our finishing wasn’t too bad either”, he added with a smile.
Aldo Pellone got the ball rolling in the sixth minute when a reverse pass caught the home defenders out leaving him free to drive the ball low into the net.
Five minutes later Adam Doyle swung over a free-kick that was headed on at the near post by Paul Hughes. Expecting him to go for goal took the home defence on the hop leaving Joe Anderson free to roll the ball into the net at the back post.
With only twenty-two minutes played Brook Street went three-up when Diego Misuraca pounced on a short backpass and fired high past Ali Ballantyne in the Inverness goal.
Ballantyne however saved his side from going further behind just after the half-hour mark when he got his fingertips to a powerful Aldo Pellone drive which looked netbound all the way.
Twelve minutes into the second half the Inverness keeper was left horribly exposed when his central defenders were posted missing, allowing Paul Hughes a free run through on goal before unleashing a real thunderbolt of a shot that gave the keeper no chance whatsoever.
A minute later Brook Street looked to have messed up a free kick routine when it landed at the edge of the box, but no-one had noticed Raúl Colen edging into position and he blasted the ball home to put Brook Street five-up and out of sight.
Raúl went close to adding a sixth goal in the sixty-fourth minute but his diving header was turned round the post by Ali Ballantyne at full stretch.
That sixth goal would come however Brook Street fans had to wait until a minute from time when a superb through ball played in Kari Kienberger who made no mistake.
And with that, some of the outstanding issues in the league were decided. Paisley Pirates 4-0 win over St Andrew Paisley ensured the title would remain in Paisley for a second season and that Brook Street Athletic will finish second. At the other end of the table Elgin were relegated after only a season in the fourth tier, however the final automatic relegation place along with the relegation play-off places are not quite yet decided.
Oboy shot are favourites to go down trailing Inverness by only three points but a vastly inferior goal difference, and with the sides meeting next weekend , it would take a 9-0 Oboy win to send Inverness down and Oboy into the play-offs. The other play-off place is a straight fight between Winbat wonderers and St Andrew Paisley. Winbat have the harder finish as they are at home to Badger Loyal while St Andrew Paisley are at home to Elgin. Time will tell.
Paul Hughes rounds Elgin keeper Humphrey Cholmondley to fire Brook Street into the lead.
Athletic were 4-0 up after only sixteen minutes through Paul Hughes (2), Aldo Pellone and Joe Anderson, and with the home side opting to ‘park the bus’ for damage limitation at this point, and with the game won and big games coming up for Brook Street, it is perhaps understandable that the visitors took their foot off the pedal.
However a half-time pep talk from Fermín Romero saw them up their scoring efforts and those bore immediate fruit when Alex Marker pounced on a defensive error three minutes after the re-start to put Brook Street five-up.
Paul Hughes completed his hat-trick around the hour mark and Diego Misuraca completed the scoring midway through the half.
Asked about what he said to the players at half-time, Fermín Romero replied, “We just went through the gameplan again and told the players what we thought they could do differently. Elgin were playing all out defence so we had vary our play to break them down”.
“No hairdryers were involved”, he added with a grin.
“We played well within our limits and I think after we went four-up we lost our way a bit and weren’t going in for the kill”.
“After the break we started strongly, quickly scored and that set us up for a better performance throughout the half, albeit we only scored another two goals after Alex’s”, he added.
“The most important things to come from the game were, we kept our winning momentum, set ourselves up nicely for a huge game against St Andrew Paisley next weekend, and possibly the most important things at this time of the season, we didn’t pick up any more injuries or suspensions. It was a good day all in all”.
In the other matches, Paisley Pirates won 6-2 away to Winbat wonderers, St Andrew Paisley snapped their two-game losing streak with a 7-0 win at home to Oboy shot, and despite looking to offload half their squad Badger Loyal won 6-2 in Inverness.
Joe Anderson sets Brook Street on course for their third highest win ever with a third minute strike.
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.
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.
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.
Aldo Pellone fires Brook Street level but unfortunately it would be the home side who would ultimately take maximum points.
Indeed but for an inspired goalkeeping performance but St Andrew’s Lino Amaya, the match could have been over by half-time as time and again he denied what seemed to be certain goals.
Instead the teams went in tied, but the game appeared to have turned in Brook Street’s favour when long-time nemesis Kritsada Juntip had to go off with fifteen minutes to go.
However just three minutes later it was the home side who took the lead when Aleš Kranjec finished off and attack on the left, putting the ball beyond the reach of Benito Buda
With their tails up St Andrew went all out to kill the game and went close in the eighty-first minute but Augustin Rakoto rattled the upright and the ball bounced clear.
Brook Street got back on level terms in the eighty-third minute with a routine straight off the training ground. Charlie Benham lofted a free-kick into the box which was headed back into the path of the unmarked Aldo Pellone who side-footed the ball low into the net.
With Brook Street thinking they had secured a point, disaster struck with just five minutes to go when substitute Joshua Kingston fired home to secure all the points for St Andrew.
“It was a tough game and I think we were rather unlucky”, claimed Fermín Romero afterwards.
“I honestly thought we had done enough to secure a point, but we lost that late goal and couldn’t come back from it”, he added.
“Overall I was pleased with the performance, if not the result, but we are a team in transition so we’re always going to get results like this. On another day we might have won”.
The defeat leaves Brook Street down in fifth place, six points off the pace already, but the coach doesn’t feel there is any pressure on him.
“Look, we all want Brook Street Athletic to be successful and to get out of this Division, but to do so we need to keep building the team and that will take time”.
He continued, “Of course the fans want to see the side winning, so do I, but it’s also my job to balance between winning and building a side that will get us out of this and hopefully the next tier. If I do my job right, the latter will lead to the former. That’s what I’m working towards”.
In the other matches Badger Loyal remain out in front following an 8-0 thumping of Elgin on the road, while Pirates remained the only other unbeaten side with an 8-0 humbling of Oboy shot at Pirates Arena. In the other game Winbat headed back down the A9 with all three points following a 3-0 win in Inverness.
Fermín Romero was less than impressed with his side’s second half showing this afternoon.
And it was certainly a disappointment for Athletic Coach Fermín Romero who was clearly frustrated by his side’s inability to mete out an even heavier defeat when he attended the post-match press conference.
“We were unstoppable in the first half and their goal only seemed to irritate my players into greater efforts”, said Fermín who quickly added. “It must have taken so much out of them that they needed a siesta in the second half”.
He continued, “We seemed to think that we had done enough in the first half and that our job was done. That was far from the case and it wasn’t until Inverness scored a second that we woke up again”.
“That’s nowhere near good enough. I want the first half performance in both halves, not just the first”, he added.
In a blistering start to the match, Brook Street were 2-0 up with only four minutes on the clock through Joe Anderson and Raúl Colen before Gilbert Conlon pulled a goal back for the visitors in the eighth minute.
Two Paul Hughes goals in the sixteenth and twentieth minutes had Brook Street 4-1 to the good before Charlie Benham rifled home the fifth goal.
Goalmouth action was at a premium after the break but Brook Street were awarded a penalty in the seventieth minute. With regular penalty taker Adam Doyle watching on from the stands, Alex Marker stepped into the breach and was perhaps too confident as he fired the kick high, wide and not so handsome.
With seven minutes to go, the visitors pulled a goal back when Gilbert Conlon grabbed his second goal of the game.
This finally kicked the game back into life with play racing from end to end, however it would be Brook Street who would find the net again when with three minutes to go, Kari Kienberger fired home.
Elsewhere, Badger Loyal continued their good start to the season with a 5-0 win at Oboy shot, Winbat defeated Elgin at home by the same score and Paisley Pirates won 3-2 at St Andrew.
After less than thirty seconds on the pitch, Balázs Polyák fires Brook Street into a 3-0 lead.
Gers’ new £1.5M signing Johnny Rollinson made his debut and it was clear that they would be focussing their attacks on the wings. However, Brook Street were far too disciplined to be pulled out of position and it quickly became clear that there would be no repeat of Gers’ shock win of last weekend.
With six minutes played the ball broke to Raúl Colen at the edge of the Gers box. The Brook Street wing-back was quickly surrounded in an attempt to close down the move, but with quick feet he evaded all the challenges and broke through before firing the ball across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Brook Street were turning the screw and gaining control of the match, and this became even more evident in the twenty-first minute when Kalle Konkka picked up the ball in midfield and steamrollered his way through the Gers defence before thundering the ball high into the net.
The visitors kept trying to break through without any joy and in one such tussle in midfield in the thirty-fifth minute, Paul Hughes fell awkwardly and injured his collarbone. The game was over for him and he was replaced by Balázs Polyák.
Straight from the restart, the ball was fed through to the young Hungarian who proceeded to dribble the ball through the Gers defence before slamming it past keeper Vicente Olivos to sensationally put Brook Street three-up less than thirty seconds after he had come on.
Gers came out for the second half looking to put pressure on the home side and while Brook Street were happy to surrender possession, they ruthlessly snuffed out any attemps to break forward.
With time running out Gers became more and more desperate to claw themselves back into the game, and while they managed to create a couple of chances, poor finishing saw them slide away.
Brook Street had soaked up a lot of pressure and Gers were getting closer to scoring so Fermín Romero ordered his players to push up the pitch as full-time approached.
With just over a minute of regular time to go, the home players camped around the visitors’ eighteen-yard box looking for an opening until eventually Kari Kienberger lost his marker. He received the ball thanks to a superb pass by Janko Fila and took a touch before sweeping the ball into the net to complete the scoring.
“That was an important three points and four goals”, said Fermín Romero afterwards. “After last weekend it was essential that we got three points today. We couldn’t afford any more slip-ups and it’s a relief to get this fixture out of the way”.
He continued, “We can go to Eilean Donan next Saturday looking for goals and set us up for the final match against Paisley Pirates at the LJG the following week”.
Asked about the injury sustained by Paul Hughes he replied, “He’s injured his collarbone and might miss next weekend. We’ll just have to see how it responds. You can’t rush these things in case you do more damage, but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t available for the Paisley game”.
Elsewhere, Livilions gave themselves an outside chance of avoiding automatic relegation with a 3-2 home win over Eilean Donan while failure to convert chances did for Winbat wonderers who lost out 1-2 at home to St Andrew Paisley. Finally, it was a case of ‘What if?’ at Ochilview as with ten minutes to go Bonnybrig Eagles were 2-1 in front against Paisley Pirates. Had it stayed the same, Brook Street would have headed to the Highlands next weekend knowing that a point would be enough to secure the title. Alas it was not to be as two goals for Pirates in the remaining time saw that dream evaporate. To the final week it goes…
This is Brook Street 