Thursday 28th August
Turnbull, Jackson, McKenzie, Wilson, Syme, Heigh, Curry, Donaldson, Steadman, C.McKenzie, Brooker.
Subs: Mackay, Williamson, Martin.
Played on a terrible pitch at the Jack Kane. 4 good finsishes from the Alba boys but it was a far cry from the performance of a few weeks ago at Saughton.
Sporting Chesser gave a good account of themselves but kept hitting shots from distance which were no real threat. Except the daisy cutter/ pass back that Gary managed to save but still let in.
Ryries Alba 4 Sporting Chesser 2
Curry, Donaldson, Martin, C.McKenzie
Refs MOM: McKenzie
Sunday 31st of August
John GK, Jackson, McKenzie, Wilson, Murray, Craig, Donaldson, Williamson, Mackay, Scott,
Goal: Craig
Only ten players. Only 3 players from the cup final from two weeks ago. Waste of time.
The players who turned up gave a good account of themselves. It didn't seem like we were a man down. Great finish from Craig to put us in level at half time.
Some bad luck in the second half resulted in a defeat. The Liberton keeper had two excellent saves but they deserved their win today.
Liberton Utd 3 Ryries Alba 1
Refs MOM: Craig
Sunday 6th of September
Thompson, Jackson, Wood, Wilson, K McKenzie, Donaldson, Bain, Heigh, Curry, Scott, C McKenzie.
Subs: Mackay, Martin.
We welcomed Premier League outfit Pentland Roadhouse in the Cup today at the Gyle. A stronger Alba side was on show today in comparrison to last week but some key players were again missing.
In short we made a lot of mistakes at the back today, costing many of our conceded goals. To many players did not perform and the opposition dominated the centre of midfiled. Pentland played the ball wide and got crosses in which semmed to casue our defence all sorts of trouble.
A ray of light was the performances of Cammy M and Laurie. If these guys had played last week i feel the result would have been very different.
We lost 7 but scored 3 excellent goals with Cammy getting a quality hat trick. The pick of the bunch was the second were some good play from Jackson and Laurie down the right resulted in a great ball from Laurie to the back post being taken on the volley by Cammy and lashed in to the back of the net.
We got it back to 4 3 but as a team we still did not seem to think we could win the game and we lost 3 basic goals towards the end of the game.
Ryries Alba 3 Pentland Roadhouse 7
Goal: Cammy McKenzie 3
Refs MOM: Cammy McKenzie
Sunday, 14th September
Laurie, Jackson, Wilson, McKenzie, Barton, Steadman, Scott, Donaldson, Bennett, Brooks, C McKenzie.
Subs: Mackay, Craig M, Wood.
Ryries Alba 4 Silverknowes Star 5
Goals: Scott, Bennett3
Mom: Bennett
A first match with relegated Silverknowes Star should have been a straight forward victory but our oppenents clearly had other ideas.
A strong Alba squad welcomed new signing Marlon Bennett to the fray and althought he scored a hat trick it wasn't enough to see Alba record another victory. Micheal Scott got his first goal for Alba but poor finishing coupled with embarrasing defending meant Silverknowes won the match 5 4.
A terrible performance by some but take nothing away from Silverknowes who showed great effort and fight to win the game after being reduced to ten men in the second half. A poor decision by the ref who had a good game otherwise. Bizarre that the player was booked for being honest then booked again for giving a false name for his original booking?
Must mention the excellent finish from the freekick in the second half. Was a great finish by the Silverknowes player.
Good luck to Silverknowes in the season, as a team we could certainly learn something from them with regards effort, fight and comittment.
Hopefully when we get our finger out we will finish above teams like this in the league. Ability counts for nothing without commitment.
Sunday 21st September
Cooney, Curry, K McKenzie, Wilson, Paul, Donaldson, Barton, Wood, Steadman, C McKenzie, Heigh.
Subs: Mackay, Jackson.
A disappointing defaet to Salters at Dalkeith today. After last weeks disappointing display against Silverknowes it was important that we competed with table toppers Salters. The first half was pretty even with no clean cut chances and a lot of hard tackles. As ever the game was fairly physical with nothing really over the top. Salters took ther lead towards the end of the half when there player got in behind our defence and cut the ball in at a tight angle.
The second half was a little similar with Fergie hitting the bar from a free kick early on in the half. Salters doubled there lead when a poorly defended corner was headed in at the back post. The third goal was maybe questionable for offside (our back four certainly thought so as they stood and watched) but was a fairly slick chipped finish.
Salters looked to be dominating the game now and it seemed as though they may go one and score a few more. The heads seemed to drop with the third goal but Alba still had chances and Barton could easily have eaisly pulled one back from the flicked header across the face of goal.
Andy Curry was unlucky not to do better with a late volley that flew past the post.
All in all a better performance as I felt we stopped Salters from playing their normal game but seemed to tire towards the end. I thought we fought more and worked harder than we have done this season. Good luck to Salters in the coming season, i am sure they will be up at the top end of the table but they will need to play better if they want to beat Newton Heath to the league. Still i can see it being a very close call between the two front runners.
Salters 3 Ryries Alba 0
MOM: Paul
Sunday 5th October
Sam, Curry, Bain, Syme, Wilson, Donaldson, K McKenzie, C McKenzie, Steedman, Bennet, Smith.
Subs: Wood, Robertson, Chris M.
Goals: Bennet3, C McKenzie, K McKenzie, Curry, Smith, Steedman.
Refs MOM: Wilson.
A much needed win was recorded against Longstone at the Gyle. AFter disappointments against Silverknowes and Duddingston in earlier weeks it was good to see an actual goalkeeper between the sticks for Alba.
Kenny moved back in to centre mid, as he is apparently now fully fit and running machine. The team is getting closer to full strength meaning that competition for places is going to be a pleasant problem in the near future.
The game was pretty much one way althought Longstone did not look as bad as some of their results may suggest. Our keeper Sam, had an excellent save from a twenty yard strike that was destined for the top corner early on. Longston also scored a good goal to bring the score back to 2-1 during the first half.
Marlon scored 3 goals, the final goal was a very cheeky flick in to the net from a deep cross. Making Marlon our top scorer with 6 goals from 2 games. Cammy got one, after being moved back in to a wider position due to a drop in confidence (he kept missing sitters). Mark got one late in the game bringing his recent tally to 2 goals in 3 games. Darren was credited with a goal although it looked like his shot was throw-in bound but was then deflected in to the net by a defender. Kenny stepped up and placed a good penalty in to the corner. Finally Andy Curry ran the length of the pitch played a great one two with Kenny and rounded the keeper.
Ryries Alba 8 Longstone Utd 2
Final word on the game goes to Fergie who was exceptional at the back today. We scored 8 goals but the centre half was man of the match as he won everything and made no mistakes. Well done Ferg!
A good result but to say we played at a slow pace would be an understatment. We really need to pick things up a bit if we want to improve on our league position.
Sunday 12th October
Sam, Curry, Syme, Bain, Wilson, Donaldson, Kenny M, Heigh, Smith, Cammy M, Cooney.
Subs: Brooks, David F.
Goals: Donaldson2, Smith, Kenny M, Cammy M, Cooney.
MOM: Heigh.
Another win for the Alba but again hard work was made of it. A blistering start to the game saw Alba create a two goal lead after only five minutes. Shane Cooney grabbed his first of the season in his first start. The second was set up by Mark Smith who was played in on the right, took the ball to the by line and cut the ball back for Aden toslam the ball in to the net from inside the box.
As ever we took our foot of the gas and Pentland got two goals to tie the game. Mistakes at the back have been very costly this season and defence mix ups seem to becoming very common.
A keeping error gave Pentland an indirect free kick inside the box which was dispatched in to the net. Mark Smith then got us back on terms with his third goal of the season. Another error saw Pentland go one ahead and it just seemed like unless Alba tightened up our opponents would score one more goal.
Laurie had the ball in the back of the net when he got on to the end of Kenny's long throw. The goal was disallowed as the ref felt Laurie had fouled a defender. Unfortunatly this was a trend which continued in the second half, questionable decisions from the ref.
Brooker came on for Mark at half time and the message was that the defence needed to be tighter and play a little smarter to stop leaking goals. Liam was swapped with Tam at the back and the match continued.
The second half was fairly edgy as it seemed that Alba were not going to be able to break down the Pentland defence. Some silly bookings were dished out for dissent but in fairness some of the decisions being made were really difficult to understand. Brooker was having great success down the right and some of the balls played over the face of goal were dying to be touched in.
Alba still had plenty of the ball but Pentland looked dangerous on the counter and only quick thinking from Sam in goal stopped a certain goal late on. Poor finishing was looking like costing Alba victory but a corner towards the end of the game was headed in at the front post by Aden to bring the teams level.
David then came on in midfield and had a rasping shot from a tight angle come crashing of the post. Alba were looking for the winner and with chances coming it was a race against time to take one.
Thankfully Cammy latched on to a through ball and slipped the ball past the keeper and in to the net.
Pentland Thistle 5 Ryries Alba 6
What a relief! A deserved win for the Alba but credit to Pentland who i feel competed very well for long spells and could easily have killed the game in the second half. It was good to see a hunger and desire from the Alba boys. We never gave up and always knew we could create chances and score goals. Just need to be a little smarter at the back.....