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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…
Raúl Colen slams the ball past Gianluca Spada in the Eagles goal to net the first of his two goals.
The home side brought in Connor Hutton and new signing Remmel Demarsin for the suspended duo and it was Connor who opened the scoring in the eighth minute to a roar of deafening proportions from the Brook Street fans. This was clearly a release of tension after the visitors had made a bright start.
Twenty-four minutes in and debutante Remmel Demarsin found himself unexpectedly through one on onw with the keeper and that probably contributed to him snatching the shot which the Eagles’ keeper saved well.
It was a game of few chances so Connor Hutton must have rued firing straight at Gianluca Spada just after the half-hour mark and with it the last clear-cut opportunity of the half.
While happy to surrender possession to the visitors in their own half, Brook Street were asserting their dominance as the game entered the second half, and this bore fruit in the fifty-seventh minute when Raúl Colen broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake before slamming the ball into the net.
Brook Street were going all out to finish the game there and then and two minutes later Gianluca Spada kept his side in the game unbelievably tipping Paul Hughes’s swerving shot round the post.
However with just less than half an hour remaining Raúl Colen dodged numerous challenges before thundering the ball into the net to secure the points and kill off any possible come-back from the visitors.
The points were in the bag and with it Brook Street were in a commanding position six points ahead with five games remaining.
Afterwards Brook Street coach Fermín Romero while delighted with the win was playing down its importance.
“There are fifteen points to play for and we only have a six point lead. All that is certain at this time is that we can’t get relegated. While very unlikely we could still end up in a relegation play-off”.
He continued, “All that said, this was a superb performance by the players and they got the win their hard work deserved. There were many excellent preformances but for me those of Connor [Hutton], Raúl [Colen] and Remmel [Demarsin] need further mention. Connor leads the line extremely well and does so much work off the ball that sometimes goes un-noticed; Raúl is growing into a tremendous player and is a great finisher as he showed again today; and Remmel did remarkably well for someone who had only met his colleagues fir the first time two days ago. That said, the whole team should be proud of their efforts”.
Elsewhere, Eagles’ defeat was capitalised upon by Paisley Pirates whose 4-0 home win over Winbat saw them move into second place on goal difference; St Andrew Paisley kept themselves clear of the relegation play-offs with a 9-1 humiliation of Eilean Donan and Badger Loyal eased themselves further towards safety with a 6-1 defeat of Livilions at Smith Stadium.
Skipper Joe Anderson’s red card last weekend sees him sit out today’s game alongside Adam Doyle.
A home win would see Brook Street open up an almost unassailable six point gap over their nearest rivals, and while a draw wouldn’t be a bad result, it could have repercussions on a potential automatic promotion. A defeat however would see the title race thrown back into the melting pot with Paisley Pirates also coming back into contention.
Fermín Romero has not had the best of preparations for today’s fixture after losing both Joe Anderson and Adam Doyle through suspension, however the acquisition of Belgian winger Remmel Demarsin on Wednesday and Paul Hughes’s good form has offset this somewhat.
“It’s not the best way to prepare for an important match but it is what it is and we have to just get on with it”, he admitted.
“Having a new player coming straight into the squad is not something I would have planned as he’s only had a couple of days training with us, but he’s good enough to step in if I need him”.
Kick-off this evening is at 16:30.
Paul Hughes blasts Brook Street’s opening goal past Glen Cooksey in the wonderers goal.
The home side had set up with a a 4-5-1 formation with the emphasis on smothering the midfield and closing down Brook Street’s ‘engine room’ who had lined up in a 3-5-2 formation.
However initially it was hard to see how they would keep out the Division’s highest scorers until the ninth minute when they successfully swamped the box to give the Brook Street strikers no chance of getting the ball which was successfully cleared.
The home side showed in the eleventh minute that they weren’t about to sit in and watch Brook Street play pretty passes when a ball from the wonderers’ left found Festus Koech who fired it goalwards. Unfortunately for him and his side the ball rippled the outside of the net.
The home side were playing much better than they had recently and this appeared to have caught Brook Street on the hop. However following a save by Benito Buda from a wonderers attack Brook Street went ‘Route One’ as Mait Peterson launched the ball forward out of defence.
Up front Paul Hughes had anticipated the clearance and was already off and running. The ball dropped over his shoulder as he raced in on goal. One touch had the ball under control before blasting it beyond Glen Cooksey in the wonderers goal.
Five minutes later and it was Hughes again who broke down the right before cutting in and firing the ball low and hard into the net to put Brook Street 2-0 up and apparently heading for another comfortable win.
That all changed two minutes from the break when Brook Street skipper Joe Anderson picked up his second yellow card in only three minutes and with it his marching orders.
The home side immediately tried to press forward and won a highly dubious free-kick at the edge of the Brook Street box after referee Scott Kelly managed to see an infringement that no-one else either on the pitch or in the stands saw.
Within the space of three minutes Brook Street coach Fermín Romero had been irritated by Joe Anderson’s red card, furious with the referee for giving a dubious free-kick, and apoplectic when Festus Koech netted from it. Two minutes later his assistants were on hand to usher the raging coach down the tunnel and into the changing rooms before he could confront the hapless Mr Kelly.
The Peruvian had calmed down somewhat by the time the teams came back out and his mood appeared to improve when the referee had no option but to award Brook Street a penalty in the fifty-fifth minute when Adam Doyle was up-ended in the box with the defender getting no-where near the ball. The Irishman stepped up and coolly slotted the ball away to put the ten men 3-1 in front.
That mood started to deteriorate when Adam Doyle was booked for pulling his opponent’s shirt when both players were equally guilty and a ‘stern word’ would have been sufficient.
It went from bad to worse in the seventy-third minute when Winbat were awarded a penalty for what appeared to be a foul outside the penalty area. The Brook Street players protested but those were all waved away and Festus Koech fired the ball just beyond the reach of Benito Buda to reduce the lead.
This set up a frenetic last eighteen minutes but Brook Street were resolute in defence forming a blue and black wall that was going to let absolutely nothing through. Time and again they thwarted the home attacks and broke out taking the ball deep into the opposition half and running the clock down.
“Our game management at the end was exemplary and straight from the textbook”, said Fermín Romero at the post-match press conference. “We closed them down at every opportunity and were resolute in defence. The players were outstanding”.
He continued, “Going down to ten men and losing a goal so soon afterwards could have seen us put under intense pressure, but the break came just in time to break up the momentum and going 3-1 up knocked wonderers back”.
Asked about the performance of referee Fermín replied, I’ll only say that it is on the flick of a coin whether he or Koech was wonderers’ biggest influence on the match. Let’s just say he’s not on the Christmas card list and I hope we don’t encounter him again”.
“Losing Joe [Anderson] is a a blow for next weekend but I’ve just found out Adam Doyle is out now too. That certainly changes my plans and it could force us into a change of formation which is less than desirable for such an important game”.
In the other games, Bonnybrig ran out 6-0 winners at home to Livilions, Badger Loyal hit the goal trail at Eilean Donan hitting eight without reply and in the ‘Battle of the Paisley’ Pirates won 3-1 at St Andrew. So, as far as the league table is concerned, it’s very much as you were.
Joe Anderson watches on as his shot evades the grasp of Glen Cooksley to open the scoring.
The home side stormed out of the blocks and threatened to blow Winbat away in the opening stages going 2-0 up through Joe Anderson and Paul Hughes in the first four minutes as wonderers’ press collapsed.
Charlie Benham almost made it three after seventeen minutes but for a terrific save by Glen Cooksey however the wonderers’ keeper was powerless to prevent Kari Kienberger from making it 3-0 just before the break.
The game was already won but the home side kept the pressure on and Kalle Konkka scored Brook Street’s fourth nine minutes into the second half.
Raúl Colen got in on the act and added the fifth and final goal just after an hour, just a minute after Cooksey had denied him with a phenomenal reaction save.
“I would have preferred us to score more goals, but sometimes you have to be pragmatic”, admitted Fermín Romero. “We had the game won convincingly and there is no need for us to keep pushing. To do so could see us risking picking up unwanted injuries or bookings, which we don’t need”.
While the victory was comprehensive and Brook Street have gone unbeaten in the first half of the season, Fermín is certainly not ready to see his side sitting back.
“The job is only half done and there’s still a lot of game time to get through before we can ease off”, he said. “We will continue to do our work in a professional manner until the final whistle of the final game”.
Bonnybrig kept the pressure on with a 7-0 win against Livilions in West Lothian, Badger Loyal picked up their second win of the season with a 5-0 home win against Eilean Donan and in the ‘Battle of the Paisley’s’, Pirates edged it 4-3 against St Andrew.
Paul Hughes fires the ball into the net to put Brook Street into the lead against Livilions today.
Fermín Romero’s side were right onto the front foot and took the lead in the sixth minute when Paul Hughes stormed through before firing the ball beyond the outrushing Jake Furness in the Livi goal.
Diego Misuraca added a second twelve minutes later, but despite Adam Doyle rattling the crossbar and Joe Anderson having a header tipped over the bar, it was Diego who netted Brook Street’s third right on half-time.
Seven minutes after the restart, a fabulous one-touch move involving Joe Anderson, Kari Kienberger and Kalle Konkka set up Charlie Benham who ran through and although his initial shot rattled back off the crossbar, he had the presence of mind to volley the rebound home.
After firing a free kick over the bar in the seventy-sixth minute, just sixty seconds later Adam Doyle made amends by curling a peach of a free-kick home to put Brook Street five-up.
With nine minutes to go, Charlie Benham broke away from his marker and swung the ball across the Livi box. The ball fell behind Adam Doyle on the far side of the box 18-yard, but the Irishman brought it under control with one touch, wrong-footed his marker, swivelled and fired the ball beyond the grasp of Jake Furness and into the net to register his second goal of the game.
Then finally, with five minutes left, Charlie Benham broke through the centre of the visitors’ defence to wrap up the scoring with his second goal of the game.
“We weren’t firing on all cylinders today and I am slightly disappointed with the performance”, admitted Fermín Romero afterwards.
“We got a good result but I feel we were a bit off the pace”, he added.
“It was also a bit unusual three players got two goals each yet none of them are strikers”.
“In some ways that is good because it is sharing the load when it comes to goalscoring, but now Adam Doyle is our top scorer which is a bit odd”.
Odd or not there is no doubt that the Irishman is on fire at the moment and has stepped out from the shadow of former set-piece taker Bogusz Cacek. Being in excellent form going into the double-header with the only other side with maximum points is no bad thing though.
Elsewhere, in the game of the day visitors Bonnybrig came back from a goal down to defeat St Andrew 3-1, Paisley Pirates capitalised on this to move into third place with a 7-1 win at home to Eilean Donan and Badger Loyal came out of hibernation with a thumping 5-0 home win against Winbat to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.
Craig Smart holds off the challenge of St Andrew’s Enrico Bani to fire Brook Street into the lead in the last meeting at the LJG.
“We are guaranteed a good game from St Andrew and they come here on a good run, so we’ll have to be on our game this afternoon”, observed Brook Street Coach Fermín Romero when he spoke to This Is Brook Street this morning.
“With three teams still on maximum points any slip-ups will prove to be costly, so it could make for quite a cagey game this afternoon. This is the classic six pointer”, he continued.
“We have to shut up shop at the back and find a way to unpick their defence”, he added.
Fermín has a full squad to select from after Paul Hughes was given the all clear on Thursday.
Kick-off this afternoon is at 16:30.
Banin Jiménez Iniesta shields the ball from his opponent in this morning’s match.
“I don’t think the result was ever in any doubt”, admitted Fermín Romero afterwards adding, “Their starting line-up featured seven players who played at the weekend while ours had none”.
Asked about his choice of the unfamilliar 4-3-3 as a formation he replied, “That was dictated by the players who had not had any gametime this week. It wasn’t through choice, more necessity that we played that formation. I wouldn’t have played it otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, 5-0 is a poor result, but if you’re playing a second string in an unfamiliar formation, it’s certainly a possible outcome”.
“At the end of the day our aim was to ensure all our players got gametime this week, and to that end we achieved our goal”.
Prior to the match Fermín had stated that his only concern whether his side won or lost was that his side didn’t pick up any injuries or red cards ahead of Saturday’s important league clash with St Andrew Paisley.
Unfortunately that was not to be the case as Paul Hughes picked up a slight knee injury in the sixty-fifth minute. He was withdrawn immediately and replaced by Joe Anderson.
Asked about the injury afterwards he said, “It’s not bad at all. He could probably have kept on playing but we weren’t taking any chances. He’ll be available for Saturday”.
Janko Fila celebrates scoring his first competitive goal for the club. His second was only seventeen minutes away.
Brook Street coach Fermín Romero took the opportunity to rotate the starting line-up and reverted to our normal 3-5-2. As expected Jeremías Marchena came in for Benito Buda, with Nat Wallace coming into centre defence and Callum Ironmonger in for Raúl Colen while Aldo Pellone held onto right-wingback spot. Janko Fila replaced Kalle Konkka and teamed up with Diego Misuraca and Kari Kienberger in the middle with Adam Doyle on the right and Charlie Benham making a rare start on the left.
Up front Connor Hutton took the armband and was partnered by Paul Hughes whose recent performances merited the overdue starting place.
Brook Street were quickly into their stride and went 1-0 up after only three minutes. Surprisingly though the scorer was Janko Fila netting his first competitive goal for Brook Street.
Paul Hughes weighed in with his first goal of the season after only twelve minutes however just to emphasise that Brook Street weren’t going to have things all their own way, the Highlanders pulled a surprise goal back in the nineteenth minute through Angus Redcliff, his second of the season.
This served as a reminder that Devils are not to be treated lightly but within two minutes Janko Fila had recorded his second competitive goal to restore the two-goal advantage. Five minutes later it was 4-1 as skipper Connor Hutton got on the mark.
Brook Street were operating like a well-oiled machine and it was one-way traffic after the break.
Adam Doyle found the net six minutes into the second half and nine minutes later Paul Hughes netted his second goal of the game to make it 6-1.
The roof was caving-in on the visitors when Connor Hutton fired home from an acute angle to record Brook Street’s seventh goal with sixty-three minutes played, and Nat Wallace completed the misery eleven minutes later with his first goal of the season.
Afterwards Fermín Romero said, “I think we were worthy of the big win although I’m disappointed that we conceded a sloppy goal”.
He continued, “That however spurred us on and we hit back straight away before running away with the game”.
“We had a number of very good performances and Janko Fila was a relevation in the centre of midfield. It looks like we’ve focussed on playing him out wide when attacking midfielder might suit him better. We tried him there in training and he did ok, and today’s game gave us the opportunity to put it into practice in a competitive game. He rose to the occasion and it’s now for him to push on”.
“Our front two got four goals between them but goals came from all areas of the pitch and that is a huge bonus for us”.
He concluded by saying “We’re building a solid foundation on which to build a serious championship challenge”.
Elsewhere St Andrew Paisley went two games unbeaten with a 6-1 win at Livilions, a result that anchored the West Lothian side at the foot of the table; Bonnybrig Eagles are on maximum points following a 4-0 home win against Winbat while Paisley Pirates demolished Badger Loyal at Smith Stadium to pick up their first three points of the season; Gers on the other hand remain pointless.
Connor Hutton slams home Brook Street’s second decisive goal against Paisley Pirates this afternoon.
That the home side could not muster a single shot on target in the entire game may come as something of a real surprise given the calibre of their squad, but it emphasises exactly how much in control Brook Street had over the game. Indeed only some excellent goalkeeping from Pirates stopper Przemysław Lenard kept them in the game.
The Polish keeper denied both Kari Kienberger and Connor Hutton in quick succession in the first half and denied Hutton again in the sixty-fourth minute, ten minutes after Kalle Konkka had bounced a lob off the top of the crossbar.
This was only a short reprieve for the home side however as two minutes later Alex Marker swung over a corner that skipper Joe Anderson met square on the forehead to power the ball into the net to end Lenard’s one-man resistance.
Four minutes later Anderson was withdrawn in a pre-planned move with Paul Hughes coming on his place. Connor Hutton was handed the armband and two minutes later Connor Hutton finally got the better of Lenard to put Brook Street two-up.
There was to be no way back for the home side and Brook Street recorded their first win over them to make a good start to the new campaign.
It was a very pleased Fermín Romero who faced the press afterwards and when asked if he felt that his side were serious title contenders he replied, “To get out of this league you have to realistically win all your games, so in that respect we are currently one of four serious title contenders”.
“We have managed to win our first match against the side that has come down from Division III; potentially our toughest tie. We now need to keep winning but if we drop points from now on we will no longer be serious title contenders”.
“I have believed since I took this job that we have the players capable of getting out of this league. If they play as well as I know they can, they will win their next thirteen games and we will achieve that goal”.
Asked about his side’s performance today he said, “We controlled the game from start to finish. It says everything that we didn’t give them a single shot on goal”.
He added, “I don’t know if they got their tactics wrong or if they underestimated us, but I was surprised that we had such a comfortable win. I was expecting a much tougher game for sure, not that I’m complaining”.
He went on to say, “There were terrific performances out there today. We scored two excellent goals but at the end if the day it’s only three points. It’s a great foundation to build upon but it’s only a start”.
Elsewhere, Winbat were quick out of the traps again this season with a 5-0 win at home to Livilions, St Andrew Paisley came back from a goal down to defeat Badger Loyal 3-1 at home while Bonnybrig got a real fright at Underworld before finally defeating Eilean Donan 3-2.
This is Brook Street 