Published: Wednesday, 26th March, 2008 10:00
Red mist descends with five cards
By John Clayton at Netherdale
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They start them young at Netherdale as Jay Wilson celebrates.
Gala Fairydean 3 v Hawick Royal Albert 1
GALA Fairydean disposed of their opponents with relative ease in this match.
And indeed the winning margin should have been much greater but it was the extraordinary refereeing performance of Mr Wilson that provided all of the talking points in the second half.
Hawick started the match the brighter of the two teams and Brian Stavert headed a corner just over the cross bar in the first few minutes.
Play was then nip and tuck until almost midway through the half when Des Sutherland curled a free kick over the Hawick defensive wall towards the top corner of the net and Dowie leapt to palm the ball away for a corner.
Rob Hewitson was then sent clear and tried to round Dowie, who did well to block and then gather the ball.
It was, however, just a matter of time until Gala scored and it was Jamie Gibson who broke clear down the left wing.
He then cut into the area where he unleashed an unstoppable shot across Dowie and the face of the goal that nestled inside the far top corner of the net.
Gibson broke clear again not long after scoring but on the occasion his shot on the run only rustled the side netting.
Midway through the half, the flying Gibson burst down the right flank and dragged the ball across the Hawick area, behind two Hawick defenders, to Rob Hewitson who side footed the ball into the left corner as Dowie scrambled in vain across his goal line.
A few minutes later Des Sutherland was brought down by Dowie and Mr Wilson awarded a penalty.
Up strode Scott McKenzie who is the only Fairydean player, including goalkeeper Gavin Watson, who has not got on the score sheet this season but he blasted his penalty against the Hawick crossbar to let the visitors off the hook.
Within a minute Mr Wilson awarded Hawick a penalty for an innocuous challenge and Shiel kept his cool to send Watson the wrong way and bring the score back to 2-1.
Just before halftime Gala restored their two goal cushion when Cooper’s crude challenge upended Sutherland for a free kick within goal range.
The first effort by Gibson was wide of the mark.
But Mr Wilson was not ready and made him retake the kick.
This time he struck it powerfully through the wall and it was too hot for Dowie to hold and the ball squirmed over the line for Gala’s third goal.
Within the first minute of the restart Jay Wilson was tackled from behind by Brian Stavert and was shown a straight red card when a yellow would probably have sufficed.
Just two minutes later Des Sutherland was fouled near the corner flag and Derek Stavert had a sly dig at him with his boot as he lay on the ground and he joined his brother in the dressing room reducing Hawick to nine players.
As Hawick were breaking towards the Gala goal Shane Greene handled a pass and he too was surprisingly shown a straight red card to reduce Gala to 10 players.
Play then settled down somewhat and just after the hour mark Gibson broke clear and bore down on the Hawick goal but Dowie blocked his shot.
Laurie Dunn then appeared to catch Noble in a challenge near the centre spot, but Mr Wilson waved play on and as Colin Riddle advanced towards the Hawick penalty area he was brought down by Cooper who was also shown a straight red card.
From the ensuing Grant Gass free kick, the ball came back off the Hawick cross bar.
Eight-man Hawick continued to attack and although Watson forced the onrushing Noble wide of the area his cross was met by substitute Shearman, but Gareth Wood had regained his ground and cleared off the goal line.
Jamie Gibson must have felt that he was not destined to score a hat trick as his next effort struck the foot of the Hawick post.
But there was still sufficient time for Clark to speak out of turn to Mr Wilson and receive Hawick’s fourth red card before this amazing match was brought to a close.
Gala Fairydean: Watson, McKenzie (Riddle, 60 mins), Wood, Dunn, Greene, Robinson (Gass, 65 mins), Hossack, Wilson, Sutherland, Gibson, Hewitson (Kayser, 55 mins) Subs not used: Matheson, MacDonald
Hawick Royal Albert: Dowie, Clark, Campbell, Cooper, Turnbull, Noble, Gracie (Shearman, 60 mins), B. Stavert, D, Stavert, Shiel (Moir, 86 mins), Rayson (Fry, 88 mins).
Referee: Michael Wilson
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