Derek Hall’s report Bonnyrigg Rose v Edinburgh City

Report 30th june

Bonnyrigg Rose 1-1 Edinburgh City
A really decent looking fixture in prospect at sunny New Dundas Park with the Rose hosting Division 2 Edinburgh City. A cagey start from both sides and it took till the seventh minute for See to find Hilton and his cross looking for Berry was well fielded by Andrews. At the other end, Hunter worked really hard to beat two men and make room for a left foot shot but the contact wasn’t what he wanted and Quate made an easy grab. Three minutes later, See headed on a long ball to Hilton but as he shot for goal, the flag went up to end the move. Jardine and Tapping then worked a nice one two on the edge of the Rose box but the formers final cross drifted disappointingly behind. On 16 minutes, Hunter controlled a long pass from Martynuik nicely and fed it to Connolly and his early left foot drive was pulled across the face of goal with Quate again making a routine save. Two minutes later, a Handling corner fell for Tapping at the back post and his close range drive was blocked by Horne, with the City man claiming for handball but referee Calder wasn’t interested. However on 20 minutes, the visitors made the breakthrough as Bonnyrigg failed to properly clear another cross into the box and when it fell for Berry 20 yards out, he showed nice control before stepping inside his man and then powering a lovely placed drive high into the far corner of the net, leaving Andrews clutching at thin air, a quality strike. Rose might have equalised almost immediately as a Currie corner found Connolly jumping at the back post but he seemed to lose his bearings as he missed the header and the ball went behind off his body. On 28 minutes, Currie of Rose and See of City got involved off the ball and were given a strong warning from referee George Calder about their conduct. However the warning clearly went unheeded and just after the half hour, a conference at the dugouts between the referee and the two managers saw Currie and See both removed from the pitch as the nonsense had clearly continued and a double substitution seemed a far wiser option than a double red card. With the subs still warming up and the game temporarily ten a side, Young drilled a pinpoint pass from halfway to Connolly on the edge of the City box and his first touch was superb, allowing him to swivel and rifle home right footed on the half volley from 18 yards, with the early strike catching Quake flat footed and rooted to the spot as the ball ripped past him into the net. At that point, Shanley came on for City, as did S Gray for the home side. Seven minutes from the break, the hard working Hunter charged down a City defensive clearance and Quake had to be alert to punch clear the rebound from S Gray. Tapping then handled the ball on the ground and Connolly headed over the City bar from 15 yards after the resultant free kick. City’s Kidd then swung a lovely cross into the Rose box but Young was there to head behind and then in the last minute it was home keeper Andrews turn to be a bit casual with a defensive clearance, the ball smashing off Shanley but looping straight back into the keepers arms. All square at the break and an interesting first period filled with incident and a couple of cracking goals, intriguing second half to follow.
As expected in these matches, the second half would be peppered with numerous substitutions, but an interesting one at half time saw ex Tranent keeper Ally Adams between the sticks for Bonnyrigg in the second half. A minute in and Shanley headed a Handling corner over the top for the visitors and then on 51 minutes, some hesitant play at the back by home skipper Stewart saw the ball fed to City sub Osadolor who had a real lash left footed from 20 yards but the ball swung high over the bar. Nice play from City then saw Hilton play in Shanley but the final effort was wide before Connolly then flicked on nicely to Hall for the home side but he couldn’t repeat the trick to Hunter and City were able to bring the ball out. A long defensive clearance saw Shanley flick a header on to Osadolor and his pass gave McFarlane a half chance but the snap shot was wide from the edge of the box. The substitutions continued making the second half scrappier and a bit disjointed as both managers took the chance to have a good look at their squads. On 64 minutes, Hamilton fed the ball to Reekie and the City man got a lovely cross to the back post where Osadolor just couldn’t grow enough to get his header on target before a Tapping drive was well saved by Adams and the keeper was again called into action minutes later, diving near the feet of Hilton to make the grab. City just had the edge in possession as the game entered the final quarter of an hour and Hoskins stood up well to block a powerful drive from Shanley. However a minute later, Connolly played a lovely pass wide to Barrett who whipped an excellent cross across the face of the City six yard box just begging for a touch but there were no takers. Hilton then fired a 22 yard drive over for City and at the other end, Connolly again showed his willingness to shoot from distance but Quake was right behind the drive. Brett then made progress for Bonnyrigg down the right and did well to get the ball to Connolly whose 16 yard angled drive was blocked behind for a late corner which came to nothing before the last chance fell to Shanley for City in the 90th minute but his attempted overhead kick flew wide with keeper Adams there to cover his post. All square at the end and both managers would surely be happy with many aspects of what was on show, Danny Handling had an excellent game for City, spraying passes around all night and generally prompting his side in a really positive manner whilst for Bonnyrigg, Callum Connolly looked impressive, not just for his goal and his willingness to have a go, but also in his hold up play and overall work rate which were there for all to see.