Great Northern Trophies 17's 

League B

4th October 2003

Culter Boys Club      2      v      1      Banchory

At: Hazlehead

Culter Line-up:

Chris Forrest

Chris Garden

Neil Zanstra      Thomas Gilbert      Benny Redman

Finlay Boyd  Adam Brown      Cameron Clark      Shaun Barrow

Glen Anderson      Hamish MacDonald  

Subs:

Shihaab Shariff, Graham Phillips, Matthew Laidler, Oliver Farrell, Jamie Heads.

      Culter kicked off the match facing into, at times, a strong wind and occasional rain, which in one spell turned to hail.  Despite that Culter gained control of the midfield early with Adam Brown and Cameron Clark dominating.  Banchory tried to us the elements to put the defense under pressure, but they coped easily with anything thrown at them, with Neil Zanstra in particular standing out.  Shaun Barrow was causing problems down the left side, and one particular cross caused an almighty scramble in the six-yard box before the ball was cleared. However, despite the greater possession, Culter were also struggling to open up the Banchory defense with a Hamish MacDonald shot into the side netting the nearest they came to scoring.  The Banchory keeper needed two attempts to gather a Finlay Boyd free kick, but at the other end Chris Forrest was at full stretch to keep out a wind-assisted free kick, tipping the ball onto the crossbar.  From the rebound Neil Zanstra did well to put the striker under pressure and the ball went well over the bar.  Just before half time, Culter took the lead.  From a long throw in, a Banchory player barged ADAM BROWN in the back and a penalty was awarded.  Adam himself took the spot kick and placed the ball high into the keeper’s left hand corner.

The one goal lead was no more than Culter deserved and they stayed on top throughout most of the second half.  The weather conditions were now reasonably pleasant and there was little wind advantage during this half.  Culter continued to force corners and free kicks but all were fruitless.  A second goal did eventually come midway through the half when Cameron flicked a through ball and HAMISH MacDONALD ran on to lob the ball over the keeper and into the net.  The first half had been punctuated by yellow cards and the second proved no different.  The Banchory right-back received one for the last of several fouls on Shaun Barrow, and when he protested, the referee decided that warranted another yellow, and the player was sent from the field.  Minutes later the Banchory sweeper crashed into the back of Cameron and was also yellow carded.  Again his protests were somewhat harshly deemed worthy of a second yellow and he was also sent off.  Ironically, this only served to fire up the Banchory players and they then brought themselves right back into the game. A tussle on the very edge of the penalty area between Neil and the Banchory striker, ended with both of them falling to ground.  The referee decided to award a penalty and compounded this harsh decision by booking Neil.  The penalty was converted and this lead to a tense closing period.  Another questionable free kick award gave Banchory one last chance to equalize, but Chris Forrest held the ball comfortably.

      Man of the Match:      Neil Zanstra – Dominant performance, especially in the first half.