Montrose Roselea

OAKLEY UTD vs MONTROSE ROSELEA Redwood Leisure Cup 08/01/2005 Roselea travelled to Super League side Oakley in the second round of the Redwood Leisure Cup, which is contested between Tayside & Fife clubs. Although Oakley are currently bottom of the East Region Super League this would be a challenge to see how Roselea are progressing. The Oakley side included former Alloa stalwart Willie Newbigging as player manager and former Montrose and Dundee defender Gary Paterson. The match was never in doubt despite the heavy rain the previous evening but the pitch was rather heavy and the “four seasons” weather made conditions very difficult. Roselea changed from their more familiar 4-4-2 formation to a 4-5-1. John Wands was in goals with his back four being Matt Miller, Dean Milne, Chris Masson and Paul Whyte.New signing,Wayne Keith & Scott Findlater were the wide midfielders and David Craig, Kevin Crawford & Eric Watson were in the centre with the latter two expected to get forward to support Colin Page in the lone strikers role. On the bench were Duncan Croall, Jai Clayton, Lee Walker, Chris Simpson & Ross Mcleod. For the first time this season David Balfour had the welcome problem of having leaving Paul Ross and Luke Myers out. Roselea kicked off with a strong wind at their backs and were first to threaten when a inswinging free kick from Colin page was narrowly missed by Paul Whyte. Whyte then found himself in the book for a late challenge in 10 minutes. Oakley opened the scoring in 12 minutes after a break on the left. The Roselea defence failed to clear the first effort, which was blocked by Wands and the striker followed up to stroke the ball into the corner of the net. Gary Paterson was fortunate to only receive a booking after clashing with Eric Watson. Moments later he went in late on Watson again but escaped as the referee had his back to the incident. Oakley then had another chance but Wands stood firm and blocked the shot. Roselea almost got an equaliser in 23 minutes when Eric Watson challenged the keeper from a Whyte cross. The ball broke and was heading goalbound but Newbigging cleared the danger. In 25 minutes Paul Whyte went close from a Colin Page corner, just failing to keep his header below the bar. With 37 minutes on the clock, good work by Miller and Findlater resulted in a powerful shot by Crawford but the Oakley keeper held well. Oakley retaliated and Wands then had to be alert to deal with a well struck shot from inside the box. The game erupted on the stroke of half-time. Eric Watson found himself right through with the keeper to beat, the keeper made no effort to get the ball and scythed Watson down. The referee awarded a penalty but then consulted his linesman and correctly awared Roselea a free kick just outside the box. Oakley keeper Kevin Smith was red carded and Oakley duly brought on their normal keeper Roy Ness who was returning from suspension. Once everything settled down Colin Page was slightly high with his effort from the free kick. Half Time Oakley 1 Roselea 0 Three minutes into the second half Roselea equalised from the penalty spot. Scott Findlater gave Oakley a taste of what they were in for and outpaced Gary Paterson. Paterson chopped Findlater down on the corner of the penalty area and was surprisingly not spoken to by the referee considering he was the last man. Chris Masson stepped up and made his usual job of striking the ball into the corner of the net. Roselea were on fire and Findlater was having great joy on the right flank. Eric Watson narrowly missed a cross from Findlater in 50 minutes. In 52 minutes Roselea took a deserved lead when David Craig shrugged of three challenges on the right hand side and sent in a beautiful cross to Eric Watson. Watson swivelled with his back to goal and stroked the ball into the corner. Roselea were beginning to rip Oakley to shreds and Page, Craig and Crawford all had chances to extend the lead but conditions made finishing difficult. Colin Page finally got his deserved goal with 15 minutes to go after Eric Watson split the defence with a pass, Page drew the keeper before drilling a left footed shot into the right hand corner of the net from 20 yards. Chris Simpson then replaced the tiring Page who had put a massive effort for his side. Wayne Keith who had a great debut was replaced by fellow debutant Jai Clayton with 10 minutes remaining after picking up an injury. Oakley pulled a goal back with 5 minutes remaining. The ball was cut back from the bye line and when Milne slipped the ball broke to an Oakley striker and although Wands blocked the effort the ball squirmed into the net. Oakley then laid siege on the Roselea goal with several corners going in. Oakley should have equalised from one when the striker headed over with the goal at his mercy. Final Score: Oakley 2 Roselea 3 A very deserved victory for Roselea and although the sending off changed the game in Roselea’s favour they certainly held their own up to that point and could argue that they had the better chances. Roselea’s second half performance was very pleasing and showed that they will not be out of their depth if they reach this level. The win puts Roselea into the last 16 of this competition.