First-half showing seals win for Castle
DUNBLANE SOCCER ACADEMY .............. 2 DOUNE CASTLE ........................................... 4
Doune Castle laid the foundation for a comfortable win with a strong first-half performance which saw them take a 3-0 interval lead.
They struck the crossbar twice in the first 10 minutes before they took a deserved 1-0 lead after 23 minutes.
Alan Inglis moved the ball wide to Robbie Hurst who hammered a powerful strike from the right edge of the box. The keeper touched the ball on to the underside of the cross bar but Hurst reacted fastest to the loose ball to head home from close-range.
It was 2-0 after 40 minutes with a wellworked goal. Callum Smith split the Dunblane backline with a subtle diagonal ball into space. Lukasz Duszynski pounced to slip the ball neatly beyond the advancing keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Three minutes later, the points were virtually secured thanks to the persistence Inglis. Duszynski passed inside to him and he saw the Dunblane keeper parry his first effort but followed up only to see his second effort crash off the post.
Inglis remained calm to force the ball home from three yards to give Doune a vital 3-0 interval lead.
Dunblane pulled a goal back less than a minute after the restart when the Doune defence was over-elaborate in playing the ball out from the back and lost possession. A quick inter-change just inside the area ended with Dunblane making it 3-1 with a crisp strike from 14 yards.
After 48 minutes, Doune were denied the clearest of penalties, but did make it make it 4-1 after 52 minutes.
Hurst curled a corner from the right into the heart of the box. Tam Nelson peeled off the back of a crowded front-post pack and carefully guided a powerful downward header that beat the keeper all ends up and bounced high into the net.
On the hour, Dunblane pulled it back to 4-2, thanks to an avoidable mistake by the Doune defence. A clear mix-up in communication between keeper Callum
Davison and Callum Paterson allowed a Dunblane forward to reach the ball ahead of the hesitant keeper and he nodded the ball into the unguarded net.
Doune made a number of substitutions and regained the bulk of the possession, without seriously threatening.
Hurst skewed a late effort inches wide of the right hand post and Callum Macdougall was inches from connecting with an Inglis cross.
Dunblane enjoyed some late pressure, without troubling the Doune defence and the Castle were content to run down the clock to collect the points, knowing they had done so without really hitting top form.
Doune Castle: Davison, A Innes, Gillespie (Brown), Paterson, Nelson, McClymont, Hurst, McClure, Smith (Macfarlane), Inglis, Duszynski (Macdougall) Substitutes (unused): D Innes, Ferguson