| August 28th. | September 5th. | September 12th. | September 19th. |
Venue: Tromode Park
Opposition: Peel
After beating Douglas Royal 5 - 1 last week Gymns were now at home to Peel a club which former professional and Ex Manchester City and Oldham player Rick Holden plays for. Both teams were averaging three goals a game and only a couple of places separating both teams this made for an exciting fixture. However it was clear from the start that Peel meant business and after ten minutes Neil Cain headed the ball home from close range to put Peel ahead. With the exception of the odd venture into the Peel half it was all one way traffic towards the Gymns goal and Peel missed a number of chances. Eventually Peel made it two when the ball fell to Steve Parry who made no mistake from just oust side the six yard box. A short while later Peel were awarded a penalty but the ball hit the post and the rebound cleared by Ricky Gaylor. Just on the stroke of half time Peel had a man sent off for retaliation which should have given Gymns the initiative for the second half. Gymns came out in the second half with more meaning to their game and soon had the Peel defense under pressure, although nothing came of it. Peel's keeper was taken off injured and soon after Mike Shimmin was taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.( More news on this as it becomes available.) Gymns had already used their three substitutes and now both teams were down to ten men. Gymns tried to push forward in search of a goal but always looked vulnerable to a counter attack. Mid way through the half Peel found the Gymns defense napping and Steve Parry headed a well placed cross into the net to make three. With five minutes to go John Carling found himself in acres of space and fired the ball home past the advancing Gymns keeper. Gymns were given a penalty in injury time which was scored by Stuart Campbell making the final score Gymnasium F.C. 1 - Peel F.C. 4. This was a very well organized Peel team who were to strong for a Gymns side who sometimes lacked discipline at the back. On today's performance Peel look like one of the top contenders for Combination Division One Honours.
Match Report provided by our roving reporter Brian Quayle
Venue : Nobles Park, Douglas
Opposition : Douglas Royal
Manager Peter Griffiths was once more unable to field an unchanged side as injuries, the Manx rally and the first team took its toll on his side with Quayle and Liggins (Rally), Hicks and Bronby (off island), Brophy & Jones (Injured) and Quirk (first team duty) all unavailable for selection, however the recovery of Pat Greene from concussion and Ray Jackson's return to the side since last season boosted the short trip up the road to Douglas Royals. The loss of Quayle and Liggins left Griffiths with a Goalkeeper selection problem, this was solved by switching Gilles from Midfield, however with Campbell arriving late a further alteration was required and the whites began the game with Richardson in goal. The match itself started slowly with both sides struggling to adapt to the uneven pitch and this was further hampered by the short showers preceding kick-off, however the home side quickly adapted to the situation and increased the pressure on Jackson's defence. It was midway through the first half when the Royals midfielder picked up the ball inside the Gymns half and struck a hopeful ball goalwards - what occurred next can only be guessed, a call was heard by Richardson to shepherd the ball out of play, however the young keeper could only look on in horror as the ball skidded into his goal. The away side then picked themselves up and began to play with the same passion that saw Braddan defeated 5-0 earlier this season, however the all important equaliser appeared unreachable. This all changed when Gibson received the ball on the edge of the eighteen yard box, his cross being met by the head of Loader and passing the keeper, the half ended shortly after at one apiece. A tactical change at half-time saw Gilles replace a despondent Richardson between the posts and Campbell return to his normal wide spot, the switcharound seemed to enliven the visitors with forays forward at regular times, this pressure was rewarded when a corner was met by Greene 10 yards out which gave the keeper no chance. Royal's then threw caution to the wind chasing an equaliser, however strikes in quick succession from Loader, Greene and finally Campbell left the home side in ruins and the away fans with something to shout about. A below capacity crowd of 12 (5 Home, 2 standing and 5 under Brophy's umbrella) were provided with glimpses of what this side are capable of, if only this can be reproduced next week against Peel........
Match Report by undercover man Chris Brophy
September 5th.
Combination Match Report Gymnasium F.C. v St. Johns United After narrowly
losing to Castletown 2-1 in a closely fought game, Demolishing Braddan 5-0 and
overwhelming Ayre United 4-1 and now lying second in the table Gymnasium F.C.
played host to St. Johns United. After ten minutes "Ozzy" Halsall
opened the scoring for Gymns and soon after Stuart Campbell added another with
an well placed shot, leaving the keeper stranded. A couple of minutes later a
glancing header by Darren Loader hit the post and Gymns were in control of the
game. Then it all went horribly wrong. St. Johns pulled themselves back into
the game with headed goal which the Gymns keeper got a good hand to but could
only watch as the ball went in off the post. Five minutes later the Gymns
defense was left stranded and St. Johns had equalized from a powerful low
driven shot by their right winger. It was all St. Johns and a third goal looked
inevitable and with five minutes to go until half time it came. Again it was
the right winger who supplied the cross for their centre forward to head home
making the half-time score Gymnasium F.C. 2 - St. Johns United 3. The second
half started in much the same way as the first half ended with all the pressure
from St. Johns. After ten minutes St. Johns increased their lead with another
headed goal, when their centre back was left unmarked from a corner. Gymns
started to battle hard a keep their shape at the back which was noticeably
lacking in the first half. St. Johns rarely threatened from then on and good
football was played by both teams. With less than ten minutes to go
"Ozzy" Halsall beat the offside trap and chipped the advancing keeper
to pull a goal back for Gymns. However this was not enough and the final score
was Gymnasium F.C. 3 St. Johns United 4. This was St. Johns first win of the
season. Gymns could make the excuse that all their back four were injured or
unavailable for selection and had to rely on players taking positions they were
not used to playing. But then by 11 O'clock that morning St. Johns didn't even
have eleven players.
Match Report by our goalkeeper Brian Quayle
A Sign of Things to Come?
After the Summer break the Manx football season got underway today (22/08/98) with a full fixture list, but not a full compliment of officials. Where were they all? Had they forgotten the season had started or was it simply that there are not enough referee's to officiate the number of matches? Probably the latter. With no referee available for the Combination (reserves) match between Gymnasium F.C.(Gymns) and St.Georges (Geordies) both captains agreed to let Peter Gibson of Gymns to have the whistle.
Gymns played the better football for the first ten minutes but could not break down the Geordies defence. The first shot of the game came from Geordies but this went wide. Kevin Gillies had the first attempt on goal for Gymns but the shot was weak, in fact the ball stopped after hitting the second blade of grass. Geordies started to come into the match and apply more pressure to the Gymns defense, their first corner was punched clear by stand-in 'keeper David Liggins and a well struck shot was well blocked . From the resulting clearance and a mistake by the Geordies defense Gymns got their first corner of the game. The ball was floated into the penalty spot and after a failed clearance, fell to Derek May who made no mistake in finding the back of the net. Both sides created chances but where unable to score. Gary Kirby for St. Georges made a good run down the right wing but saw his shot go agonisingly wide, Stuart Campbell for Gymns was in the clear but could only direct his shot at the 'keeper. It was Campbell again who came close after latching onto a Ray Hicks cross but the header went just over. St. Georges hit Gymns on the break and only for a well timed tackle from David Quirk should have scored. The ball fell to Darren Loader, deep in his own half, who made a break and ran into the Geordies area and was surely going to score but had his shot well blocked by the 'keeper, but he could only parry the ball and Derek May was on hand to knock in his second.
Straight from the re-start St. Georges were on the attack , and only for some eccentric goal keeping from David "The Cat " Liggins, should have had at least one goal. Dave, Gymns were wearing the blue and white shirts. It was at this point that Gymns manager, Peter " I must be obeyed "Griffiths added his constructive criticism which contained a string of colourful metaphors. Geordies were now starting to get their game together and but for a good diving save from David Liggins would have pulled one back. However as a result of the dive David's forward momentum, and there's quite a bit of it, carried him into the post, fortunately he was not seriously hurt. Gymns were also creating chances, Derek May, on a hat-trick, put his shot wide of an open goal after a failed clearance by the Geordies 'keeper. A powering run by David Quirk saw him brought down just on the outside of the Geordies area and the resulting free kick by Stephen Gaylor hit the post. It was at the other end that the next goal was scored. After some impressive work by the Geordies mid-field and a poor clearance by the Gymns defense, Geordies were awarded a penalty for a hand ball on the goal line. The subsequent penalty was struck home making the score Gymns 2 St. Georges 1 This was how the teams finished at half time.
The start of the second half saw both teams trying to find an opening and after about five minutes Gymns increased their lead. Great running down the right wing from Darren loader and quick pass to Ray Hicks who put in a delightful cross to the far post for Stuart Campbell to score past the advancing 'keeper. St. Georges soon earned themselves a corner which as was exquisitely curled into the far top corner by Gary Kirby to make the score 3-2. Geordies Continued the pressure but could not score. Darren Loader again made a run down the right wing and cut into the Geordies area but this time found the back of the net to put himself on the score sheet. A few minutes later Darren thought he'd scored a second but was given offside. The game suddenly turned into a midfield affair with neither side creating any chances. However this was all to change in the last ten minutes. Geordies were awarded another penalty, for another handball on the line. (I thought Liggy was the goal keeper. The spot kick was converted making the score 4-3 to Gymns. Gymns were now starting to tire and came under a barrage of pressure from the Geordies attack and after an unsuccessful off-side appeal by the Gymns defense, Geordies equalised. More constructive criticism came from Peter Griffiths It was all Gymns could do now to hold on for the draw , from a game they should have won quite easily to a game they could have lost very easily due to a lack of fitness. Final Score: Gymnasium F.C. . ..... 4 - 4 St. Georges Man of the Match: I could give it to Darren Loader not because he played well, but his dad is the club secretary and I want to play in the next match, but I'm not going to. The Man of the Match award goes to Peter Gibson for taking the whistle when no-one else would do it. Who'd be a referee?
Match Report provided by our roving reporter Brian Quayle