Good night at Ross’s Testimonial last night, although thought the attendance was maybe lower than I was expecting. Still, I’m sure Ross will have had a night to remember, and a good financial boost to his fund.
The first 45 minutes, Darren Young went with a strong starting 11. I suspect with injuries and knocks from Saturday, it was probably the strongest 11 we could have had (minus maybe Currie, McGregor, Spence & Moore but the later 3 playing the whole Second Half). There was also the formation change to 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 depending on how you look at it, with Cammy Clark playing as the left sided Centre Back. Although Dundee started straight out the blocks and played good football with what I imagine is there strongest 11, or not a million miles from it (all the notable names were there from what I know), it was actually ourselves that went into Half Time with a 2-1 lead, Cooper and McGeachie scored the goals and it was great to see Geeks score on his big day, not a customary penalty or a consolation goal, but a fantastic finish after some good movement at a corner.
We had the legends penalty shootout with some familiar faces present, most notably Alex Bone & Gavin Price, which was an entertaining Half Time.
Onto the Second Half and this is where the exhibition mode clicked in. Dundee seemed to bring on a youthful looking Academy based team and we brought on Lee Hamilton (ex Bino currently at Edinburgh City for any non Stirling fans reading) along with Kieran Moore, Jordon McGregor and Kieran Curtis. Greig Spence had come on seconds before Half Time after Dale Carrick limped off, which is a wee bit worrying but hopefully he’ll be ok for Falkirk in over a weeks time, fingers crossed.
A lad named Wilkie quickly made the scoreline 2-2 and that was probably the last meaningful moment of the match as it very much pittered into what it was. More ex-players took to the field, fans favourite Darren Lee Smith made a return (currently at Gartcairn) and was warmly applauded along with Kevin Nicol. I couldn’t find out if Nicol was still playing or not but he looked in good shape and had a couple of “Nicol type” challenges when he came on. Young Goalkeeper Chris White also replaced Mark Weir and with 10 minutes left Darren Young and James Creaney got involved in the action and for the remaining 5 or so minutes, Chris Aitken returned to replace the man of the moment, just in time to swing a fantastic free kick into the box.
If anyone was really interested, the game finished 2-2 and it was good to see plenty of smiles and laughs throughout the second half and a good competitive game in the first.