Montrose Roselea

Dugout Cup Semi-final Turriff Utd v Montrose Roselea Saturday 8th April 2006 Roselea made the journey north to play Turriff Utd in the semi-final of the Dugout Cup after having a blank week previously due to the weather. A few players were unavailable but the squad were out to make sure they made it to this cup final slot. Roselea: McLeod, Craig, Whyte, H.Smith, C.Masson, Keith, Findlater(McKellar), P.Masson(Longmuir) Forbes(Simpson), Page, Strachan. Subs: Croall., Wands. Turriff were first to attack and a good move ended with Walker shooting past the post as both teams took time to settle in the wintry conditions. Roselea’s first attack ended when Forbes headed over from a Findlater cross but was adjudged offside. In 15 minutes Petrie of Turriff sent Walker through the left hand side of Roselea defence. The striker went wide rounding goalkeeper McLeod before hitting his effort behind. Turriff continued to press forward and an excellent block by Hayden Smith at the expense of a corner prevented danger to the Roselea defence. Roselea had their first dangerous attempt in 32 minutes when from a Page cross, Hayden Smith headed over the bar with the goalkeeper stranded. Minutes later an excellent ball into the Turriff penalty area by Chris Masson just eluded Paul Whyte running in on goal as Roselea came more into the game as an attacking force. Strachan then sent Page through only to be brought down by Gill of Turriff who was cautioned for the tackle. Roselea almost gave a goal away on the stroke of half-time as a Smith slip allowed Lobban a clear view of goal, but he shot weakly straight at McLeod. The last effort of the half was left to Roselea with Forbes hitting a well driven shot wide of the goal. HALF TIME TURRIFF 0 ROSELEA 0 The second half started in explosive fashion as McLeod of Turriff appeared to put his head in the face of Paul Masson but was only cautioned for his action. Roselea were now being more attack minded and Strachan sent Page clear on the left and his cross was blocked for a corner. From the set piece Whyte headed wide of the goal. In 57 minutes Ralton of Turrifff sent in a dangerous cross but with no attackers challenging, the ball went out for a goal kick. Roselea broke the deadlock in 60 minutes when a long ball was played into the penalty area where it broke to Wayne Keith, who hit a screaming shot into the top corner of the net. Another flowing Roselea move ended with Strachan having his cross blocked for a corner and from the resulting kick Chris Masson headed over the bar. Minutes later Simpson broke through the Turriff defence before slipping the ball past the advancing keeper only to see Ralton clear his effort off the line as Roselea appeared to be the stronger team now. In a rare Turriff attack, Paul Whyte conceded a free kick 20 yards from goal and with McLeod stranded Gray struck the post and Roselea scrambled the ball clear. In 86 minutes Simpson went down the right before passing to Page, who cut along the penalty box before firing just over the bar. Roselea played out time by keeping possession winning a number of corners and throw ins until finally the referee blew for the end of the game to the delight of the travelling players and officials FULL TIME TURRIFF UTD 0 ROSELEA 1 This was a battling display and hopefully boost confidence with a busy league schedule ahead. starting with a midweek fixture at home to Arbroath SC (Wednesday) Kick Off 6.30pm followed by a visit to Downfield on Saturday Kick off 2.30pm. Details of Cup Final which will be against Lochee Utd to be announced at a later date.