Our defence of the Grill Cup got off to a woeful start with a home defeat to Roselea. It was a pretty dour game with both sides only managing 3-4 attempts each, the main difference being the visitors ability to find the target with theirs. Mark saw an early attempt blocked by McLeod in the away goal, with Salmon holding McWilliam’s effort. Napier saw one cleared off the line but it was pretty low key stuff. Roselea took the kead in the 33rd minute when the ball fell to McWILLIAM 12 yards out and he fired home. Napier fizzed one wide and that was about it for the opening half.
The second period followed a similar pattern, the closest to a goal being when Taylor latched on to a flick through but McLeod saved well. Roselea punished the Hoops with 15 mins left, it what was a double blow to the homesters. There was a tangle off the ball 20 yards out which resulted in debutant Davidson receiving his marching orders. To make matters worse for the Hoops, McWILLIAM’s free kick seemed to be covered by Salmon but the ball found the net for the second. Shortly afterwards a fairly innocuous challenge ended with several players getting involved in some argy-bargy. Tom Hutch got a yellow, on another day it might have been red, with Roselea’s Reoch getting a straight red with team mates Anderson and Rae perhaps a tad fortunate they didn’t join him. There was time for another red though, Simmy picking up a second yellow and taking the long walk. To rub salt into the wound substitute Doan added a 3rd in stoppage time to seal a good win for the Angus side.