Hay Park(Garioch Sports Centre Inverurie), Friendly, 12/7/25
Me 350, Wee Man 211
Another of the hybrid type friendlies where an HFL side takes on a Junior outfit. The first of two on the day. I am a big fan of these and when a random venue is thrown in, they become somewhat better. To Inverurie we went for an early kick off at Hay Park in the 27 degree heat, a heat which was throwing up a toxic smell of the artificial turf like someone was burning tyres right in front of us as we watched on. It was quite rank to be honest and with breeze blowing at us it was constant throughout the 90.
After seeing the team lines I was wondering how this was going to go as Rothie were a bit depleted and were starting with five trialists. Unfortunately for them the game didn’t take long to get going as Keith took the lead inside two minutes. It came from a combination of Keith’s two starting trialists. When running on to a through ball Arran Patterson swung in a ball from the left which Rothie keeper Lewis Milne couldn’t get high enough to catch leaving Reuben Skea a free header at the back post. Keith were the dominant force early on but Rothie did manage a decent chance when Joe Wilson had a snap shot from around 15 yards which flew over the bar. Time for a touch maybe? But that was as close as it would get for the junior side in the half and Keith went on to dominate. Their second goal was a thing of beauty. Big defender Conor Bird received the ball maybe twenty yards in his own half, with not much on he played this fantastic ball over everyone leaving Liam Duncan to run through and with Milne out to close down the Keith number 7 nonchalantly dinked the ball over the keeper and into the net. A very aesthetically pleasing goal. The same man made it three when soon after. Keith had been attempting the same through ball throughout the half and had been successful in getting in behind, this time Duncan was on to the ball in a flash clean through and sent a tidy finish past Milne into the bottom right. A tough afternoon for Rothie was unfolding.
HT 3 v 0
There is not much scope for the usual kick about at the Garioch so we attempted one and failed really, this failure aided by my body feeling like it was failing as I was aching all over. This much to Wee Man’s annoyance. Rothie started the half with a great chance when Brodie Carr with back to goal at the edge of the box turned with the speed of a figure skater and hit a rocket at goal but Reid did well to palm it over. Keith went up the park and added a fourth. But it was through a Rothie boot. A long ball found the head of Skea who was wide open unmarked, his header looked as if it was going to drop between defence and keeper. Defender Smith threw out a foot and sent the ball arcing over Milne and in. Unfortunate for the defender but the free header was entirely avoidable. Goal of the game came from Rothie when Connor Knowles spotted recently introduced sub keeper Aiden Smith of is line and from around the half way line sent the ball like an arrow over the keeper. A cracking hit. Around this point Keith dropped their levels they had been showing and allowed Rothie a ten minute spell of being the better team but it wasn’t to last as the Maroons added further two. The fifth was that same through ball again, Cooper received the ball and on hitting the by line crossed for Lamb who was left with a tap in. Cooper also made the sixth when he crossed this time from the right finding Lawrence Ega who took a hand full of touches and somehow managed to wrong foot Milne with his effort back across goal. In between the two goals we were treated to two fine saves from the Keith keeper Smith. First when he acrobatically saved a point blank header from Wilson then followed up with saving an other point blank header from the resulting corner this time finger tipping on to the bar. Superb goalkeeping with Wee Man singing the praises of the Maroons shot stopper. As the temperatures seemed to be rising and my body becoming more buggered and using the barrier as an aid to help me stand up, the final whistle sounded and it was time to breath some fresh air instead of the potentially carcinogenic fumes we had endured during the match as we were set to head the ten miles north east to our second game of the day.
Entrance – Both Free
Attendance – 52 but fluctuated throughout
Pie – N/A
Pint – N/A
Score Predictions – Me 4 v 0 Wee Man 3 v 0
Season Score Prediction Totals – Me 0 v 0 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 