Squad:
Joey, Stuart, Scott D, Jack, Scott M, Sean, Matthew, Chris, Ryan, Craig, Martin

Goalscorers:
Chris(3), Craig(2), Scott D, Scott M, Martin, Joey

Having survived a scare when only 3 of our team were at the right pitch 20 minutes before kick off time, we lined up against a team, which were almost 6 inches to a man bigger than our team. In the first five minutes it looked ominous for Dyce as Portlethen pressed forwarded and made their physical presence count, with a couple of shots coming close to Sean’s goal. However totally against the run of play, a clearance from the back found Chris on the right touchline and he unleashed an unstoppable shot fully 25 yards out to put us a goal up. By now we had realised that we could compete with Portlethen physically and beat them technically, and the same player put us two up with another great finish as Matthew unselfishly squared when he only had the keeper to beat. We were three up at half-time as Chris completed his first half hat-trick with a typical strikers goal in a goalmouth scramble.
 

In the second period, we were kicking uphill and into the wind, and although I made three changes to the line-up, introducing Ryan, Scott M and Craig, and replacing Sean in goals with Matthew, Dyce continued to dominate the game. And it was no surprise when we went 4 up with Scott D crashing home a shot from the edge of the box, when Portlethen failed to clear their lines from a corner. Soon after we went 5 up with Scott Melville taking advantage of slack defending and finishing from a tight angle on the right. At this stage Portlethen introduced another player to the game and this threatened to turn the flow of the match in their favour. However our players seemed to up their workrate and determination to counter this. And it was Dyce who went further ahead as Craig forced the ball home from a Ryan free-kick after goalkeeper dropped the ball under pressure.
At the end of the second period, it was still 6-0.

In the third period, we were playing with the wind at our back and downhill (for the first ten minutes), with Stuart, Sean and Martin rejoining the game at the expense of Joey, Chris and Scott D. Portlethen to their credit continued to press forward and finally forced a consolation goal with the referee judging that the ball had crossed the line in a goalmouth scramble. However normal service was restored as Martin finished off a great sweeping move with Scott Melville unselfishly laying the ball back into Martin’s path to smash the ball home.

We changed ends after ten minutes, and the floodgates threatened to open as Dyce poured forward with ease. Great strikes first from Joey (who had replaced Jack at the change-over) and then Craig meant that the final score was 9-1 in Dyce’s favour.

It was a great Dyce performance against a big and competent Portlethen side that will win more often than they will lose. No one had off days, but special mentions to Chris, for a great first half hat-trick; to Ryan for a great left-side performance throwing his weight around, and for Sean and Matthew in goals. Scott D and Stuart continue to impress on the right side of the field with a good understanding developing there.

We really played well as a team, defending in depth when needed and supporting our forwards when attacking. Well done boys!!!