Both teams braved the rain, and despite a water-logged pitch, especially on the river-side, were able to play-out a generally good-spirited match (With the exception of Watsons red-card…), and even with some spells of good football;
By the 11am kick-off on Sun, a Scotland team of 15-players turned out! (9-vets & 6-non-vet…);
And despite some initial worries over there team numbers, the Welsh team managed to find enough players, and at one point in Q1, to field 12-players!

Q1;
Scotland started the game very strongly, and within a few minutes, having negotiated the water-puddles down the right side, Jordan Campbell managed to pass 2,3 or 4 players (Depending on who you asked, or how many beers had been drunk…), and slipped the ball passed the Welsh goalkeeper!
The Welsh did then change their goalkeeper, but a 2nd goal from Scotland & a Graeme Faulkner ‘smash’, made it seem as if Scotland could run amok… But it was this same 2nd goalkeeper, who through the remaining Q1, and especially Q2/Q3, who seemed to single-handedly, stop & frustrate the Scots from more goals!

The only other points of note, through a very wet-start to the match, were;
- A Colin Dowall ‘aqua-plane-dive’… Actually he slipped & fell head first into a rather large puddle! But he did repeat it in Q4!
- And our right-midfielder-bullet, Joe Hatch, having his hands full, and narrowly avoiding a flying-hand, from the Welsh secret weapon, and a kid of maybe 11 or 12 years?

Q2 & Q3;
For the Scots, in our post-patch review, we more or less decided to forget these Qtrs!
The watery conditions, ensured that a good passing game was not possible, and despite creating a number of chances, it seemed the Welsh goalkeepers early-warning-system, managed him to guide, a foot, a hand, a knee, or whatever, and to block a number of Scots shots which were goal-bound! Hats of to the goalkeeper, he had an excellent game!

In this Qtr the Welsh did come more into the game, and with some sustained pressure, and this should have been a warning to the Scots! A 2—0 lead could easily be lost!

Towards the end of Q3, Steve Watson, followed the same route as some earlier games, and managed to get a yellow card; Watson says this was quite soft, but it should have been a lesson to ‘keep the heid’… or in English, keep calm, and no crazy stuff!

Q4; This Q4 was again mainly the Scots pushing forward, but then following a Scots corner, a long-ball out of the Welsh defence caught the Scots sleeping (Or out for a swim…), and the Welsh forward (Whom the Scots defence ‘’loudly & repeatedly’’ advised was 10-yards offside… Well we believed this…), managed to outwit the Scots goalkeeper Thorsten & our left-back Colin Dowall, carried the ball in from the right-side, and given the watery conditions, managed an excellent shot from the edge of the box, into the empty Scots net!

Suddenly the game was very tight at 2—1?
So what happens, the Scots central defender Watson, is chopped or sliced down (Or maybe just tackled…), and with the Welsh forward in the midst of an apology, he rejects this, with a ‘Superman push’ to the shoulder of the forward, who then flies into the nearest puddle!
No matter what, the push-reaction & raising of the hand, will nearly always be at least a yellow, and hence 2-yellows = red, and the Scots captain was off the pitch at the most critical of times!

However, this event rallied the Scots, who within a few minutes, and 2 excellent goals from Jordan, had secured a victory!
A final aqua-plane from Jordan, and another 3-points for the Scots!

The game finished Scots 4 --- 1 Wales;
The Scots captain Watson did apologize to the referee for the 2-yellows, and did advise that the red was the correct decision;
The post-match banter was again great fun & again more than a few beers were well deserved, and drained! Again!

Both teams deserve praise for managing to play a good game of football, despite some very bad conditions!