Southbank came into this match off of a
good win over M.T. and with Jeff Evans in great scoring form following two
hat-tricks in the last two matches. Despite only eleven players turning up,
Southbank were still confident that they could get a result against Rose
and Thistle, however were made to work very hard for this result.
The first 20 minutes were a very scrappy
affair with neither side creating any real chances and balls to feet
severely lacking. 22 minutes in and from an in swinging Southbank corner
the referee spotted a handball from one of the opposition defenders and
immediately blew for the spot kick. Up stepped goalkeeper Ian
Harvey and he coolly slotted the ball in the bottom left hand corner
just wide of the goalkeeper's despairing dive to make it 1-0 to The 'Bank.
5 minutes later in a rare piece of passing
play, Southbank got the ball out to Steve Mahoney on the top left
edge of the penalty area. From 25 yards Steve then whacked the ball
into the top right hand corner to make it 2.
Southbank appeared to be asserting
themselves on the game but sloppy marking from a corner allowed Rose and
Thistle to win the second ball on the edge of the box and it was duly
dispatched into the back of the net by their number 4 to peg one back
A very poor first half from the 'Bank was
followed up by a much better showing in the second half.
The Southbank midfield, patrolled by Tony
Nolan and Andy Persaud, began closing down their opposite numbers, winning
headers and getting the ball out wide to Scouse and Chris Sigsworth.
From a cross into the box, amazingly the referee managed to spot another
handball by the Thistle defence - no-one else saw this and no-one appealed
for it either - and Harvey calmly stroked the ball into the back of
the net for his second goal of the day and to make it 3-1.
Southbank then went close with a series of
headers from corners - Mig and Jeff Evans both heading narrowly wide.
Then in a bizarre twist the referee appeared to lose the plot.
Following a late challenge by Scouse on the Rose and Thistle winger, the
referee then began to book their player! After eventually working
out that it was the Northerner in blue that should be booked, the referee
was heard to remark "Thanks for putting me straight on that lads, I
couldn't see as I haven't got my glasses on!". Having had two suspect
penalties awarded against them, Rose and Thistle were far from pleased to
hear this!
With R&T pushing forward to close the
score line, the pitch opened up and a sharp pass released Jeff Evans down
the right hand side. He looked up and sent over a superb cross for Steve
Mahoney to leap like a salmon and nod the ball into the far right hand
corner giving the keeper no chance at all.
The in form Evans made the score
line 5-1 with a neat shot after
the goalkeeper had been left stranded by a chip to the back post - that's 7
goals in 3 games for "the Devil"!!
Steve Mahoney provided the icing on
the cake for Southbank as he deservedly crashed home a volley following
Thistle's inability to clear a corner and maintained Southbank's 100%
record of at least one striker getting a hat-trick in every game so
far....long may this rich vein of form continue!!
The Southbank defence marshalled by Gupps,
Mig, Ben and a very hungover Russ were comfortable in repelling all Thistle
attacks whether they were the long ball approach or getting the ball out
wide to the wingers...good communication and positioning meant chances for
Thistle's attackers in the second half were few and far between.
Despite a very poor first half
performance, this was a good result for the Bank and is another valuable 3
points in the bag.