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Brook Street hit eight without reply when the sides met at the LJG earlier in the season.
The Morayshire side went bottom last week following their 5-1 defeat away to Oboy shot last weekend and now look a good bet to make an instant return to Division V.
That said, Fermín Romero has prepared his side no differently this week than he would for a game against a top side.
“We prepare the same way every week whether we’re playing the team at the top of the league or the bottom. Not to do so would not only in my mind be disrespectful and also lure the players into a sense of false security. I want them to go out and win every game and I want them to work for it”.
Turning to this afternoon’s game he said, “We rode our luck a bit last week and got a lucky break at the end, but it kept up our positive momentum”.
He continued, “It’s important that we keep that going this afternoon as we’ve got three massive games after this. We certainly won’t be treating Elgin lightly and will go with our strongest side”.
He added, “Raúl Colen misses out after picking up the injury last weekend, but he is the only absentee”.
As tradition dictates Fermín refused to name his line-up, but it would seem likely that after last weekend’s display, Alex Marker may get the nod at wing-back in Raúl Colen’s absence.
Kick-off at Elgin FC Arena is at 16:30.
Charlie Benham finishes off a counter-attack with Brook Street’s opening goal this afternoon.
Brook Street had been forced onto the back foot straight from the kick-off and suffered a significant setback when Raúl Colen was forced from the game with a rib injury after only twenty-five minutes.
The home side continued to press for the opener but Fermín Romero’s men held firm and got to the break with the game still tied at 0-0 thanks largely to the efforts of Jeremías Marchena.
The second half kicked-off in a similar manner to the first with all the play heading towards Brook Street’s goal and eight minutes after the re-start they survived a strong penalty claim when wonderers’ Festus Koech went down under a challenge from Jeremías Marchena. The referee however waved play-on.
Marchena played the ball out but a pass was intercepted in midfield and wonderers pressed forward again. Brook Street’s defence again held firm and when the ball broke to Alex Marker he had already spotted Charlie Benham in the clear ahead of him.
It was route one stuff, but the ball landed in front of the winger who raced through on the counter-attack and fired it low past the onrushing Robbie Archdeacon in the wonderers goal. It was Brook Street’s first attempt on goal and totally against the run of play, but the Monifieth side had their noses in front.
The question was, would them manage to stay in front for the remainder of the game?
The home side continued to pummel the Brook Street back line without any luck and as the clock ticked on they became more and more desperate.
With sixty-six minutes on the clock Garth Weakley crashed to the turf in the Brook Street box looking for the penalty, but despite being mobbed by Winbat players, the referee held firm in his view that Weakley had gone down far too easily and point-blank refused to give the spot-kick.
The wonderers’ player was perhaps a little fortunate that the man in the middle didn’t see fit to book him for simulation but instead a simple, “Get up son, you’re better than that” was deemed to be enough.
Play became scrappy as the clock ran down and it looked more and more as if Brook Street would see out the game with their lead intact.
However with a minute of regular time and another of stoppage time remaining the game turned completely.
Charlie Barr picked up the ball in midfield and raced forward. Kari Kienberger dropped back as the wonderers midfielder advanced and but when he went in for the challenge Barr back-heeled the ball to Garth Chalmers while continuing his run forward.
Kari went to close down Chalmers but this left Charlie Barr in acres of space and a deft pass had him played right through. Bearing down on goal he took a couple of touches before firing the ball under Jeremías Marchena to tie the game.
The crowd went wild and to be fair the goal on the basis of how many chances they had had was probably deserved. However fate had other ideas.
The ball had been played forward from the restart as Brook Street set about keeping it as far from their goal as possible. It found its way all the way back to Robbie Archdeacon who set up to clear upfield, but in a freak set of events he miskicked and the ball rebounded off Barry Glasser’s foot and bounced into the net.
The stadium fell silent in disbelief until the Brook Street fans realised the ball was in the net and as the final whistle went, their side had completed the perfect smash and grab win.
Speaking at full-time, even Fermín Romero was struggling to comprehend what he’d just witnessed.
“Normally I’d say I don’t care how we score, even if it bounces off someone’s backside, but in all my career I have never seen a goal like that”.
“Would I say that our win was undeserved? Absolutely! Does it bother me? Not in the slightest”.
He continued, “We’ve had plenty of our own kicks in the guts down the seasons so it was good to get a rub of the green for a change”.
“To be honest, when they got the equaliser with a minute to go i thought, ‘well that’s just typical, we’ve dropped two points in the final minute’, and with it we had to look more towards holding on for the point. Then”, he added, “that happened”.
Asked about Raúl Colen’s condition he replied, “It’s not great and he could be out for a few games. He may have bruised or even cracked a couple of ribs so we’ll just have to see how the scans look”.
“Alex [Marker] came in and played well at wing back despite it not being his best position. He linked up well and played the ball that Charlie Benham put us ahead from. He has come in under unfortunate circumstances and taken his chance to impress”.
He went on, “We now have strength in depth at the Club and this is a good example of it. We are building solid foundations and we can grind out results when needed. We are building a side fit to challenge for the title”.
Joe Anderson fires Brook Street in front earlier this season. Two late goals for the visitors would see it end 2-2.
“Winbat always load one side and it’s a lottery as to how they’ll line up on the other”, he said when he spoke to This is Brook Street this morning.
He continued, “You’re always tempted to load your attack on the other wing but that can play against you, especially at their ground”.
Alluding to the result at the LJG earlier this season when Winbat secured a draw with two late goals he added, “You also have to be alert to them catching you on the break”.
“There isn’t really much between the sides so it will probably be a tight game”, he added. “It might come down to a single goal”.
Janko Fila looked to be Brook Street’s only doubt for the game having picked up an injury midweek, but the German has been passed fit to play and is included in the squad.
Kick-off as always is at 16:30.
“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.
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.
Mait Peterson fires past wonderers’ keeper Logan Rowbotham in the corresponding fixture last season.
Fermín Romero’s side had an excellent 5-0 win in the reverse fixture at the LJG on Saturday past and the coach is looking for a repeat this in this afternoon’s game.
“We had a solid win last week and I have stressed to the players this week just how important it is to maintain momentum and to get a good win before we face Bonnybrig next weekend”.
He continued, “We’ve got ourselves into an excellent position and we have to look to keep the pressure on everyone else. We’re up there to be shot at so we need to ensure we boss the game and keep things tight at the back”.
Fermín has a full squad to select from, so there are unlikely to be many major surprises in the starting line-up.
Kick off as always is at 16:30.
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.
Despite having a good record against Winbat Fermín Romero is not interested in looking back.
With the opportunity to go into the second half of the season unbeaten for the first time since the successful Division IV.38 campaign eight seasons ago, Brook Street will be going all out for a win against a side they have had a good record against in their previous meetings.
However for Fermín Romero past results count for nothing as for him it’s all about ‘the here and now’.
Speaking this morning he said, “These past results are irrelevant to tomorrow’s game. They’re in the past and something for the club historian to study, not me”.
“My focus is on ensuring that we finish the game with three points more than we started with”. He added, “I am fortunate in having a full squad to select from, but I will not be making my final decision on that until closer to kick-off.
The match kicks off at 16:30.
This is Brook Street 