Squad:            Josh Stuart Calum Craig Adam  Sean Scott M  Chris Martin Ryan Matthew

Goalscorers:    Adam Matthew

A bitterly cold, but sunny morning down at Aulton, as Dyce took their place against a suspiciously big Cove side. Cove were playing with the wind in the first half and they were soon pressing home this advantage. Calum and Stuart were both involved in saving tackles early on, but it was only a matter of time before Cove went ahead as our defence failed to clear properly from a corner kick and an unmarked Cove player on the edge of the box fired home, giving Josh no chance in goal. Our midfield and forward line were out of sorts today and we were making hard work of launching any attacks. A corner, won on the right by Scott Melville, led to our equaliser with Adam firing home after making space inside the box for himself. The goal should have settled things down, but Cove continued to dominate the midfield and our defence were being severely tested. Dyce broke the deadlock with two minutes to go before the break as Chris set Matthew free and he finished well to put us ahead.

Half-time Cove 1 Dyce 2

We changed goalkeepers at half-time, but there was little that Sean could have done with Cove’s equaliser. Calum slid in and tackled a player on the edge of the box, but the ball broke to a Cove player who lifted the ball over Sean’s head and into the roof of the net. The game grew progressively more physical as the game went on, with both sides pressing hard for the winner. Both Chris and Josh went close, while Cove continued to force Calum and Stuart to defend resolutely. One particularly bad tackle just outside the box led to the resultant free kick being taken by Stuart, and his goalbound effort was headed over the bar by a Cove player on the line.

 The final whistle went and a draw was about the right result, with Cove dominating the midfield, but Dyce proving equal to the battle. As a whole I would say that Dyce were out-of-sorts, but good performances by Calum, Stuart and Martin were the highlights. Both Josh and Sean performed well in goals.

Well done boys

Kenny Don