Dookers denied in more away day blues
SAFL Premier Two Paisley 3 Tarbert 0
TARBERT travelled to play Paisley looking to end their ‘away-day’ hoodoo in the league which has seen them lose every game so far this season.
Last Saturday’s match began as it set to continue with Tarbert arriving promptly before 1pm, in preparation for the usual 2pm kick off, only to find out that the match was in fact at 3pm.
The tie itself began at a frenetic pace with neither team settling into any kind of rhythm in the early stages.
Dookers had a few passing moves down the left side and created a couple of openings only for the final ball to let them down.
Hesitation in the Tarbert defence midway through the first half led to the opening goal as the Paisley midfielder was al- lowed to swerve his way through into the box and slot home into the bottom corner.
Fair to say that the home side were coping better with the surface as Dookers struggled to get a passing rhythm going. They were limited to a couple of long-range efforts from Smith and MacDougall in the first half.
Paisley hit the woodwork late in the first half as Tarbert battled to stay in the match.
The second half had a similar feel to it although Tarbert had better possession than the first and created clearer cut chances.
The best of these came as a cross into the Paisley box caused chaos and the ball was cleared off the goal line three times.
The first of these appeared to strike a Paisley arm and the third looked to have crossed the line. The referee waved the appeals away and the score remained 1-0.
This proved pivotal as Paisley soon made it 2-0 following a slick move. Tarbert didn’t let their heads go down, pushed to get back into the game and nearly did so as an Allan Blair corner was met by Fraser Talbot but his header was well saved by the home keeper.
The sucker punch hit again as Paisley swept forward and what looked like a cross evaded everyone and drifted into the Tarbert net.
The only action of note, for the last 10 minutes, was a sending off for Jason MacArthur two minutes after his introduction to the game.
The referee decided to show two yellow cards for ‘dissent’ and ordered the player off the park without actually showing a red card. Full time 3-0.
This week Tarbert are at home to Busby who sit above them in the table.