Midlands League – 18th November 2024 @ Davie Park
After the pain of Saturday’s penalty shoutout defeat away to Troon in the cup, Lochee had to regroup sharpish with a midweek Midlands League fixture away to Blairgowrie at Davie Park.
Tonight’s opponents made waves earlier this season with a sensational cup victory away to Lanarkshire giants Blantyre Vics and they went into this evening’s game on the back of a 2-0 win over St James last time out.
The Lochee management team shook things up with several personnel changes from the weekend and a change of shape to a more attacking system as Lochee looked to get back to winning ways.
Returning to the starting lineup, Connor Coupe looked to get something going down the left early on for Lochee, slithering between two defenders before stinging the keeper’s palms from a tight angle.
Callum Lamb then created space with a bursting run through the middle and fed the ball into the box for Coupe whose shot flew just over the bar.
However Lochee were starting to work through the gears and it was no surprise when they forced their way in front. Ryan Paterson started the move slipping Kerr Hay through the inside left channel and when Hay’s shot was palmed to the back post George Johnston was there to tidy up the scraps and put Lochee 1-0 up.
Any thoughts of a comfortable evening were quickly dashed though when Lochee were caught in possession trying to play out from their own box and Stuart Heenan showed good striker’s instincts to bury the ball low from close range squaring the contest at 1-1.
Undeterred, Lochee got back on the front foot and it wasn’t long before their lead was re-established. George Johnston and Ryan Paterson linked up well down the right and Paterson’s inviting cross into the middle found Kerr Hay who had stepped off his marker to engineer space before directing a well taken header right in at the post for 2-1.
On the stroke of half time Lochee went close again when Callum Lamb won a free kick in a dangerous position but while Ryan Paterson did well to get his shot up and over the wall Arnold was equal to the task in the Blairgowrie goal and covered his angles to make a good save.
2-1 at half time with Lochee deserving of their lead but eager to get a third and kill the game off.
And it wasn’t long until the killer goal arrived as Lochee’s attacking engine began to purr. Flourishing in a more liberated central role this evening, Ryan Paterson was buzzing around looking to get involved all over the park and when he popped up on the left he delivered a dangerous cross to the back post where George Johnston knocked the ball down for the onrushing Callum Moore who showcased his fabulous technique crashing a low controlled first time shot into the net to power Lochee into a 3-1 lead.
A fourth wasn’t long in arriving when Ewan Murray carved open the Blairgowrie defence zinging a crossfield ball in behind for Paterson to chase and his cross to the back post was met by Kerr Hay who attacked the header with confidence to put Lochee 4-1 up.
Lochee were now firmly in control of the game with Arnold being forced into a terrific double save to deny first Johnston then Paterson.
But the waves of Lochee attacks could not be repelled and soon it was five. Calvin Colquhoun won a high ball on the halfway line and when George Johnston worked a delicate ball around the corner Ryan Paterson supplied the finishing touch with a composed dink over Arnold for 5-1.
Blairgowrie never chucked in the towel though and they served up a reminder that there were two teams in the game with a good cross into the box that Lochee just never quite seemed to fully clear and Law thrashed an absolute peach into the top corner from the edge of the box to pull things back to 5-2.
But Lochee had the final say with what was arguably the goal of the evening. Corey Gray won possession in the right-back position and offloaded to Callum Moore who turned past one opponent before combining explosive acceleration and close control to glide past a second man and rifled a wonderful low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards out to complete the scoring at 6-2.
Not to be for Blairgowrie this evening and although they competed well in the first half Lochee simply had too much for them and took the game away in the second period.
Everyone at Lochee will have been delighted to see Corey Gray get 90 minutes under his belt this evening after enduring a hellish 12 months with injuries. Callum Moore’s relentless athleticism kept us on top in the midfield and he took both of his goals with great skill. But tonight’s man of the match was Ryan Paterson who looked in the mood right from the start scoring one and setting up three more.
Our final game before the festivities is a league fixture away to Violet at Glenesk Park on Saturday. As always – COME ON THE CHEE!!!
