Match report

Match report

With Heathfield still unavailable, Murray Bridge hosted a twilight fixture late on Saturday afternoon between Stirling United and Murray Bridge U17. The previous matches between the two teams had been split, so expectations were high for a very competitive match. Murray Bridge came into the game having won 4 of their past 5 games, while Stirling were very competitive in previous outings with some mid season additions to their squad following a number of injuries to key players.

Early on, it was clear that Stirling were on song, with runs down either wing from Ky Henry and Toby Leigh respectively leading to great chances that were either saved by the shot stopping prowess of Jayden Vokes or shots missing the target.

Murray Bridge were always a threat on the counter, but Stirling were clearly on top throughout most  of the first half, missing numerous golden chances before Araby Phelan finally gave them the lead after 30 minutes.

With 3 minutes left in the half, Murray Bridge, against the overall run of play, pushed forward and a powerful shot broke through the grasp of Henry Monaghan in goal to level things up leading into half time.

After the break, Stirling continued to hold sway, and took the lead again when a perfectly executed corner from Monaghan found Phelan on the far side and he slammed it home. However from there, Murray Bridge were let back into the game with a couple of defensive errors seeing them somewhat surprisingly take the lead. When Edward Mato found space with less than 10 minutes left, he used his pace to get around the defence and drove the sealer into the back of the net.

Stirling continued to press to try to reduce the advantage, but with Murray Bridge controlling the tempo of the game to the end, they ended up comfortable winners on the scoreboard 4-2, in a game that Stirling were very unlucky not to get some points out of.