Match Day 10 | BRFC vs Cumbernauld Colts
Match Preview / Team News
Berwick host Cumbernauld Colts at Shielfield this weekend, K.O 3pm. Berwick will be looking to bounce back from defeat against East Kilbride last week, in which they finished strongly despite being down to 10 men.
Due to the red card pick up last weekend Sean Stewart is suspended. Gers’ boss Stuart Malcom welcomes back Ryan Finnie (RB) and John Ward (LB) to the squad, as the make their return from illness and injury, respectively. Playmaker Grant Nelson has covered at RB for the last few games so having two wingbacks back in the squad is a welcomed opportunity for The Dream Team.
Beyond that the squad will be the same as that which narrowly lost out to EK. On loan striker Kiran McGrath will be looking for him first goal in black and gold, Lewis Allan has the opportunity to score two on the bounce for the first time this season and Grant Nelson will be looking to score against the colts, like he did in the away leg last season. That goal was one of Berwick’s goals of the season which saw some great link up platform Jordan Sinclair (who misses out this week), John Ward and Grant who burst through the lines on half way on to a delicious ball before hitting it home past the Colts keeper.
The Colts come into the game on the back of a 4-2 defeat to league leaders Civil Service Strollers. Manager James Orr will be looking to get some much needed momentum and stability into his team who have had a range of results since the start of the season.
Shielfield before last week was a fortress for The Gers’ and with your support again this week, everyone is looking to return to winning ways. Be sure to check out the match day programme below (note, this programme also covers Tuesday night’s clash against Bo’Ness.
Enjoy the game!
Berwick Rangers 5 – 1 Cumbernauld Colts
The Dream Team enjoyed their day in the sun at Shielfield, running out 5-1 winners against Cumbernauld Colts.
The home team started well and arguably could have scored three within the first 10 minutes. McGrath shot narrowly wide, Barr put a shot from 6 yards high over the bar and Lewis Allan failed to keep a shot down. Berwick failed to take their chances and Cumbernauld grew into the game. Most of their chances coming down their right hand side where they had a regularly executed plan to get to the by-line before pulling back towards the centre circle. John Ward was frequently under pressure in this scenario.
The longer the half went on the greater the sense of worry Berwick would be made to pay for missed chances but as the home team rammed up the pressure on the visitors Lewis Barr was brought down, in the box, by a clumsy challenge from the visiting CB. Berwick’s top scored and cult hero Scott Taylor MacKenzie stepped up to bury the ball in the corner of the net, going to the keepers left. Berwick took their 1-0 lead into the break.
Berwick started the second well, as is seemingly a trend this season. Their second came when striker Lewis Allan put pressure on a retreating Colt, who under said pressure played a short back pass to his keeper. A move not too dis-similar to that of Jack Cook the previous weekend. Allan pounced on the loose pass, nonchalantly put the ball through the keepers legs, sending the keeper tumbling to the floor, a move which saw Allan celebrate, before tapping the ball into an empty net.
Berwick continued to apply pressure and assert dominance on the game. 5mins after Allan’s goal the ball was drilled in to loanee Kiran McGrath who provided a delicious flick to put the ball into the bath of Taylor who finished well past the keeper. Grant Nelson was the removed as he felt a strain in his achilles. In his place was the returning Ryan Finnie who soon after coming on made a strong tackle on half way before lifting his head up and releasing Lewis Allan with a excellent defence splitting pass, which Allan slotted past the keeper for his second and Berwick’s 4th.
Then came Cumbernaulds conciliation, a long ball over the top seen the ball evade many’s man of the match Ferguson (who stepped in to CB this week) before being put away by Macpherson. Berwick hit back almost immediately from kick off however as Allan capped off an excellent display by pulling a ball back from the touch line to give Alex Harris an opportunity to put the ball in the net, an opportunity Harris took to score his first goal in black and gold.
A great day for The Gers’ who will be hoping to carry momentum into Tuesday night where they host Bo’ness at Shielfield Part, 7:45 KO.
Thanks as ever for your support.
