Sunday 23rd August - Away: Busby 4 - 4 Arsenal BC
A great first game of the season, away to a very strong Arsenal team whowon't be far away at the end of the season. There were debuts for 4 playerssigned from Giffnock in the summer - Alex Dempster in goal, David Hayton,Alistair Brown and sub Blair Johnson- and also David Cairns who allcontributed with good performances.Arsenal started on top, with the wind behind them, but it was Busby whotook a 2 goal lead with David Cairns and Rudy Kingwaya scoring. David thencame off, feeling the effects of a cold to be replaced by Dean McKirdy.Arsenal hit the bar before pulling a goal back before half time.In the 2nd half Arsenal equalised and with them looking to go and get thelead Rudy had a great run to put us back in front. Again Arsenal equalisedafter some poor defending but we continued to be dangerous on the break andDavid Cairns, who had come back on for the injured Dean McKirdy, scored agreat goal from 20 yards. With time running out Arsenal scored theequalising goal with what looked like a marginal offside decision. In thelast minute a great run and cross by Blair Johnson on the left wing was metwith a powerful header by Kyle Maxwell which hit the crossbar.A number of changes were made late in the game with Jamie Booth and AlexDempster coming off and Alistair Gardner moving to centre midfield and Kyleupfront. It was a hard physical game with a lot of effort by the boys,especially some of the boys who played through knocks - Kyle Maxwell, DavidHayton, Alistair Gardner in particular. The markers, Craig Blair and ChrisClark, played well against a good attacking team, superbly marshalled byJack Gaskell at sweeper, with Alex Dempster in goal.Busby Team - Alex Dempster, Craig Blair, Jack Gaskell, Chris Clark, DavidHayton, Kyle Maxwell, Jamie Booth, David Cairns, Alistair Brown, RudyKingwaya, Alistair Gardner. Subs - Gary Svillis, Dean McKirdy, BlairJohnson.