Christmas came early for Riverside yesterday morning as the boys lost 4-3 in a frustrating game where our unbeaten league run came to an end.

Squalid conditions didn’t help, but it was Riverside who started brightest getting through our defence and firing in a couple of quick-fire shots that Gregor expertly saved before we scrambled the ball away.

Riverside were up for the game. The last chance to get one over their close rivals. They were first to every ball and winning 50-50 challenges, with our boys giving the ball away cheaply. Indeed the Riverside goal came against the run of play as we started to assert ourselves into the game without playing at our best.

The goal was route one football with the defense failing to deal with a through ball and the riverside forward lobbing Gregor from the edge of the box.

Scott hit the bar from a looping cross and Kaspar was played in one on one with the keeper, but a defender did just enough to force his shot off target.

The boys came in at half time knowing they weren’t playing to their potential. Blake went on for Jamie up front as we started the second half with intent, probing for the equaliser.

However, it was Riverside who had the cutting edge hitting the bar with one attack and then on 50 mins scoring to make it 2-0. Again a long ball played forward by the Riverside midfielder across the pitch wasn’t dealt with effectively and their winger crossed the ball into the 6 yard box where Gregor saved the first shot but the ball was forced home on the line by the striker, despite the efforts of our defenders.

The goal and a formation change (3-4-3) seemed to waken us up and Ciaran did well linking with Kaspar to score a quick response.

2-1 soon became 2-2 when Gregor scored a beautiful free kick high into the corner of the net. The momentum had changed and we were playing our style of football, rather than the long balls from the first half.

Riverside upped the pressure and our defense survived a number of corners before we reverted back to 433 while still searching for a winner.

Unfortunately, we were soon caught out again when the Riverside right back launched a ball forward, we failed to deal with the bounce and second ball and Gregor was left with no chance as Riverside made it 3-2. It became 4-2 shortly after when Riverside scored a penalty following a goal mouth scramble. While Gregor managed to get the ball an unnecessary foul on their player was called by the referee after a couple of seconds delay (and shouts from the Riverside touchline) resulting in a penalty. Gregor dived the right way but the penalty was too well struck.

Credit to the boys for getting a quick fire reply with Gregor poking the ball past the keeper to set up a frantic finish.

They pressed and pressed with Gregor G unlucky to hit a post form a couple of yards out to tie the game once again. Goalie Gregor also came up for a corner and made it back to block with a defensive header when it looked as though Riverside would make it 5 on the break.

However it wasn’t to be and the referee called time. Riverside were delighted with their 3 points gift, Dunblane left haunted by a poor performance.

We can use excuses about weather, injury, illness, holidays etc, but the reality is we were far from our best today. We need to learn from our mistakes (and quickly) as we keep making the same errors almost weekly. After the game the coaches challenged the players to find the hunger and desire to win the cup final and use the next two weeks to sharpen up. Its difficulty to win matches when handing the opposition a two, three and four goal head start as we have done in our losses this season.

However, the game is done and while we lost our advantage in the league there is still a long way to go. We now need to dust ourselves off and focus on the cup final!

It would be great to get as many supporters there as possible (details will be sent out next week).

Thanks for everyone’s support this season, and while we’re disappointed with yesterday, on reflection, if we said we’d be second in the league at Christmas with a game in hand and into a cup final, I think we would be delighted.

Merry Christmas to you all,

The coaches