Busby Amateur Football Club

With regulars Hicks, M. Smith, Torney and Divers missing due to work and injuries, Paul Smith, Nick Smith and John O' Neil were drafted in from the G/G squad. Following on from a good 3rd round victory and a well deserved bounce game win against local rivals Giffnock North the management team of Jimmy Roberts/Alan Bruce and the players travelled in a confident mood even though the opponents play at the top level of amateur football in the West of Scotland area. The starting eleven was as follows = g/k - Lamb, back 3 - Mellis, O'Neil, Donnelly, mid 4 - Shields, Murphy, Mc Ghee, Bruce, front 3 - Cummins, Congalton, Kinloch, subs were from P Smith, N Smith and Tam Mc Mahon.
Right from the first centre Busby took the game to the opponents, plenty of pressure resulted in 3 corners and a couple of chances going a begging. Busby were hit with a blow when defender Alex Donnelly had to go off (replaced by Paul Smith) with a heavy leg knock, with the back 3 having to be re-jigged they were caught cold with a free kick from a wide area not getting dealt with resulting in a free header to put the opponents 1-0 up. This set Busby back and before they could get settled Glasgow Harp scored again, a long punt right through the middle wasn't dealt with by Mellis, O Neil and Paul Smith which resulted in the Harp striker saying thanks very much.
From starting well in the first 10 mins then being 2-0 down after 15 mins Busby struggled badly to get the free flowing fitba going with too many passes going astray and first touches letting them down, it looked bad when the opponents made it 3-0 just on half time and leaving Busby with an uphill battle.
After a no holds barred half time team talk Busby slowly battled back into the game and pulled one back with Davy Congalton scoring from a header from a Scott Bruce corner. As so often happens, with Busby pushing for a second the opponents broke away and made it 4-1 with 5 mins to go.
A summary of the game would be too many Busby players looked to be suffering from pre xmas nites out too close to the game along with the chances that went a begging and the injury to Alex Donnelly upset the recent good rythm.