First Refusal: the EOS First Division 2023-24

[Mon the Pace]

Pace one down within seconds is not the best start to any game. Leith were first to most balls and harried all over the park they were very physical, both teams had chances throughout the first half but Leith went into half time deservedly one up and well worth it.

Into the second half Pace definitely had more of the ball and subsequent pressure, Leiths attacks were mainly on the break but were always dangerous, Leiths number 9 had an excellent overall game, the game changed with about 20 to go as the ball was played through the middle it looked like it was going to run harmlessly through to the Leith keeper, inexplicably the centre half tried to flick it away for some reason straight into the path of a Pace player who was going in on goal, and was brought down, free kick and a red card.

The game was becoming a bit more frantic as Pace kept pushing and Leith again were chasing and closing down well limiting the chances until the ball was crossed to the back post about 12 yards out where Colley controlled it on his chest and smashed a screamer into the top corner to equalise.

Colley was put clean through 90 seconds later and smashed another low shot towards the left corner, but the Leith keeper produced a stunning save.

Leith received another red card as France was put through and was taken out as he was approaching the box, nothing came from the free kick.

Pace had another 2 gilt edged chances in injury time but couldn’t convert and the game ended 1-1, Leith well worth their point overall, a very strong physical performance from the Edinburgh side.

Pace continue to miss too many chances you would expect to put away, hopefully with other results going the way we would have hoped today, not too much damage was done and in fact the lead at the top is now 4 points.

Great result for St Andrews today, brings them right back into the mix, going to be some end to the season.

Mon the Pace.

[patriot1]

Blackburn 1 St Andrews 2

St Andrews finally move into the promotion places. And they still have games in hand on Camelon and Newtongrange.

We’re in a good position.

[Mon the Pace]

Another victory chalked up for the Pace last night. An absolute blitz in the first 12 mins put the Pace 3 up that latterly killed the game, a peach of a strike pulled one back for Lochore and fair play to them they were in the game without threatening too much.

6 games to go and we are in an excellent position, it’s probably between us and St Andrews for the title, with one from 3 for the last promotion place.

Pace’s last league game is away to Newtongrange, hopefully it’s put to bed before that game!

Whitburns implosion and Camelon’s poor form of late probably give Nitten the edge for that last spot, Camelon sacking their manager at this point of the season makes no sense to me, shows a bit of panic setting in, they have spent a lot of money this season and it may be a last throw of the dice from them!

Dunbar in a semi on Saturday should be a cracker win that and it could be a league and cup double this season!!

Mon the Pace

[Reggie Perrin]

2 hours ago, Mon the Pace said:

Another victory chalked up for the Pace last night. An absolute blitz in the first 12 mins put the Pace 3 up that latterly killed the game, a peach of a strike pulled one back for Lochore and fair play to them they were in the game without threatening too much.

6 games to go and we are in an excellent position, it’s probably between us and St Andrews for the title, with one from 3 for the last promotion place.

Pace’s last league game is away to Newtongrange, hopefully it’s put to bed before that game!

Whitburns implosion and Camelon’s poor form of late probably give Nitten the edge for that last spot, Camelon sacking their manager at this point of the season makes no sense to me, shows a bit of panic setting in, they have spent a lot of money this season and it may be a last throw of the dice from them!

Dunbar in a semi on Saturday should be a cracker win that and it could be a league and cup double this season!!

Mon the Pace

I remember the league and cup double in 2000.

Fabulous young team.

Privileged to have been involved.

[patriot1]

Well the new manager bounce did not materialise for Camelon today.

They appear to be imploding at just the wrong time.

We now know that Dunipace require 9 points from six games and Saints need 12 from 7 matches to be sure of promotion.

It’s a shame that we break off for cup ties next weekend.

[TheLad]

That Camelon result is huge I think. Didn't see that one coming.

Fair play to Lochore after a tricky spell of results. 

Other games pretty much to form today.

Good weekend for Whitburn without kicking a ball.

[patriot1]

In the last few weeks Heriot Watt have beaten St Andrews and Camelon as well as drawing with Newtongrange.
 

They are playing the role of spoilers to perfection.

[Mon the Pace]

Dunbar came to Westfield this afternoon in what would turn out to be a controversial semi final tie.

Pace took the lead in the first half with an excellent Kelly finish from just inside the box, he smashed a low shot across the keeper into the bottom corner to put Pace one up.

the game settled and Dunbar took control of the game, probing a makeshift Pace defence, they threatened with every attack, and deservedly equalised with a stunning strike, their winger cut in from the right hand side past 3 Pace defenders before smashing a powerful shot high past Kane into the Pace goal 1-1.

The first half ended with Dunbar the better team, controlling midfield and dictating a lot of the play, Pace were still dangerous on the break but Dunbar shaded the first half.

Pace came out in the second half and started much more on the front foot, early pressure provided a gilt edged chance after good work from Kelly on the left side of the box squared for his strike partner Anderson to tap home from 6 yards, inexplicably the ball got stuck between his feet and a feeble shot was cleared off the line with the goal at his mercy, no doubt about he should have put Pace back into the lead.

Pace also had a chance from header after good work on the wing, Galloway really should have hit the target with the goal at his mercy, it was another excellent scoring opportunity.

The game turned on what was a sour note as Kane came out to collect a back pass, he crumpled as he pushed off the surface to clear the ball, it was clear that he had sustained a bad injury, the ball rolled passed him and a Dunbar striker rolled the ball into an empty net, the Pace goalie lying in agony on the park.

The ref gave a goal and for 5 mins both benches were involved in a shouting match, Kane was clearly going to clear the ball, it was clear he was seriously injured and play should have been stopped, the Dunbar players looked like they wanted to allow Pace up the park to even up the score but were over ruled by the Dunbar manager, IMHO it was really poor to see and would not be the way I would want my team to progress to a final, all I can say is Dunbar must have been pretty desperate to win the game if that’s what was going to be acceptable to their management team, no sour grapes I suggest anyone interest watch the highlights on YouTube and you will see how bad it was.

During the arguing a red card was shown to somebody on the Dunbar bench, no sure who, the rest of the game petered out with Dunbar adding another 2 goals to win 4-1, but it was clear that Pace heads had gone after the serious injury to the Goalie, in fact they did well not to let tempers fray and end up with needles cards.

its a massive blow for Pace losing Kane, he has been a mainstay of this team this season and was a candidate for player of the year, he was taken to hospital during the game and it was confirmed post match he has snapped his Achilles tendon and his season is over, in fact it will be a long road to recovery for the Pace number one.

Dunbar were probably favourites to win the game, shit goal apart, and we’re the better of the two sides which makes the decision not to allow Pace to equalise after the Kane injury and non goal even more surprising.

With 6 games to go and 9 points required for promotion the next league game at Blackburn becomes a huge tie, but it’s Arniston in the cup back at Westfield on Saturday before that.

Mon the Pace

[Mon the Pace]

https://fb.watch/q-5NrPLJVT/?
 

Danny smith interview and clip of the controversial Dunbar second goal

[bobbydazzler]

8 hours ago, Mon the Pace said:

https://fb.watch/q-5NrPLJVT/?
 

Danny smith interview and clip of the controversial Dunbar second goal

for as bad as the injury was/is, the striker done the right thing, put the ball in the net and deal with the consequences later.

[TheLad]

Having read your post before the video, I expected to see something different. 

The goalie went down and the ball was in the net about 2 seconds later. Cannot blame the ref or striker for that. Play just never gets stopped instantly. So it's an obvious goal and the ref has no justification to chop it off. No controversy there, for me.

However, what happens next...

We have seen a quite small number of instances where teams have allowed the opposition to wander up and score. This should be seen as extraordinary sportsmanship, rather than an expectation.  And they usually occur if there has been an injustice or a mistake made by the scoring team. I don't think that applies here.

Although they could have done it. But you can't expect it.

Maybe teams that score a goal when they know it was offside should let the other team walk up to score?

[Mon the Pace]

No blame on the player or the ref at all, but when the seriousness of the injury becomes apparent, for me the Dunbar bench should have stepped in.

There’s no way the Dunbar player scores without the injury to Kane.

in fairness the Dunbar captain and a few of their players wanted to let Pace score, their manager over ruled them, or at least that’s what it looked like from what I could hear and see.

I wouldn’t have wanted my team to win a cup tie like that, also in my original post I think Dunbar would have probably won anyway the way the game was going.

Just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Mon the Pace

[no such thing as neutral]

2 hours ago, Mon the Pace said:

No blame on the player or the ref at all, but when the seriousness of the injury becomes apparent, for me the Dunbar bench should have stepped in.

There’s no way the Dunbar player scores without the injury to Kane.

in fairness the Dunbar captain and a few of their players wanted to let Pace score, their manager over ruled them, or at least that’s what it looked like from what I could hear and see.

I wouldn’t have wanted my team to win a cup tie like that, also in my original post I think Dunbar would have probably won anyway the way the game was going.

Just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Mon the Pace

Presumably then, you weren't one of the Dunipace supporters claiming for Dunipace to be awarded the points against Whitburn when that game was abandoned due to a serious injury to the Whitburn keeper?

I hope both keepers make a full and speedy recovery.

[HibeeJibee]

[#DUFC]

17 hours ago, Mon the Pace said:

Dunbar came to Westfield this afternoon in what would turn out to be a controversial semi final tie.

Pace took the lead in the first half with an excellent Kelly finish from just inside the box, he smashed a low shot across the keeper into the bottom corner to put Pace one up.

the game settled and Dunbar took control of the game, probing a makeshift Pace defence, they threatened with every attack, and deservedly equalised with a stunning strike, their winger cut in from the right hand side past 3 Pace defenders before smashing a powerful shot high past Kane into the Pace goal 1-1.

The first half ended with Dunbar the better team, controlling midfield and dictating a lot of the play, Pace were still dangerous on the break but Dunbar shaded the first half.

Pace came out in the second half and started much more on the front foot, early pressure provided a gilt edged chance after good work from Kelly on the left side of the box squared for his strike partner Anderson to tap home from 6 yards, inexplicably the ball got stuck between his feet and a feeble shot was cleared off the line with the goal at his mercy, no doubt about he should have put Pace back into the lead.

Pace also had a chance from header after good work on the wing, Galloway really should have hit the target with the goal at his mercy, it was another excellent scoring opportunity.

The game turned on what was a sour note as Kane came out to collect a back pass, he crumpled as he pushed off the surface to clear the ball, it was clear that he had sustained a bad injury, the ball rolled passed him and a Dunbar striker rolled the ball into an empty net, the Pace goalie lying in agony on the park.

The ref gave a goal and for 5 mins both benches were involved in a shouting match, Kane was clearly going to clear the ball, it was clear he was seriously injured and play should have been stopped, the Dunbar players looked like they wanted to allow Pace up the park to even up the score but were over ruled by the Dunbar manager, IMHO it was really poor to see and would not be the way I would want my team to progress to a final, all I can say is Dunbar must have been pretty desperate to win the game if that’s what was going to be acceptable to their management team, no sour grapes I suggest anyone interest watch the highlights on YouTube and you will see how bad it was.

During the arguing a red card was shown to somebody on the Dunbar bench, no sure who, the rest of the game petered out with Dunbar adding another 2 goals to win 4-1, but it was clear that Pace heads had gone after the serious injury to the Goalie, in fact they did well not to let tempers fray and end up with needles cards.

its a massive blow for Pace losing Kane, he has been a mainstay of this team this season and was a candidate for player of the year, he was taken to hospital during the game and it was confirmed post match he has snapped his Achilles tendon and his season is over, in fact it will be a long road to recovery for the Pace number one.

Dunbar were probably favourites to win the game, shit goal apart, and we’re the better of the two sides which makes the decision not to allow Pace to equalise after the Kane injury and non goal even more surprising.

With 6 games to go and 9 points required for promotion the next league game at Blackburn becomes a huge tie, but it’s Arniston in the cup back at Westfield on Saturday before that.

Mon the Pace

‘in fact they did well not to let tempers fray and end up with needles cards.’

One of your players literally got booked about 30 seconds after kick off for needlessly taking one of Dunbar’s players out.

There’s arguments for and against how the second goal played out. 
But let’s not deflect and act like that was the nail in the coffin for Dunipace.

Dunbar ran out comfortable winners and deservedly so. Not because of one incident in the game. 

[Mon the Pace]

1 hour ago, no such thing as neutral said:

Presumably then, you weren't one of the Dunipace supporters claiming for Dunipace to be awarded the points against Whitburn when that game was abandoned due to a serious injury to the Whitburn keeper?

I hope both keepers make a full and speedy recovery.

Your not comparing apples with apples, Dunipace didn’t go onto to score against Whitburn when he went down injured in fact our winger played the ball out to stop the game if I recollect. 

Edited March 24 by Mon the Pace

[Mon the Pace]

53 minutes ago, #DUFC said:

‘in fact they did well not to let tempers fray and end up with needles cards.’

One of your players literally got booked about 30 seconds after kick off for needlessly taking one of Dunbar’s players out.

There’s arguments for and against how the second goal played out. 
But let’s not deflect and act like that was the nail in the coffin for Dunipace.

Dunbar ran out comfortable winners and deservedly so. Not because of one incident in the game. 

I think if you read my match report, I say exactly that Dunbar were the better team and would have probably won the game, that one bad tackle was the two players clashing again after a bit of handbags, the game could quite easily have deteriorated into a kicking match, it didn’t. 

[patriot1]

Blackburn 2 Dunipace 1

The only thing we can be certain of in this promotion race is that we can’t be certain of anything.

Here’s hoping our game at Newtongrange goes ahead on Saturday.

[Mon the Pace]

Horrific run of form at the moment for Pace, 2 nil deserved win for Arniston on Saturday in the League Cup followed up with a weak performance at Blackburn, whilst I thought the game tonight could and should have been a draw, again Pace miss far too many gilt edge chances, and Blackburn score with their only two shots on target, means it really is a must win for Pace on Saturday against an in form Heriot Watt side.

Failure to take 3 points really brings all teams into the mix for those promotion spots, some twists and turns to come.

Newtongrange vrs Pace last game of the season is starting to cast a long shadow over the 4 other remaining games….

Resting players against Dunbar, Lochore  and Arniston allied to injuries means the side has a slightly unsettled look to it, they need to snap out of this run rather quickly!

Mon the Pace

 

 

[bobbydazzler]

looking like nobody wants to win the league.