A Son of the Rock

The Rock, 2/5/09

I still don’t quite believe it. Barring a catastrophe we’ve won the league. Even a Dumbarton side surely can’t blow a three point and eighteen goal lead in one game; so Division 2 beckons.

Firstly, Elgin were poor and looked like a team who wished the season was already over: ideal opponents for a day like today. We took a while to score, though, and it was one of those that happens to a team at the bottom of the league. Their keeper made a good parry to Derek Carcary’s shot but it looped up and dropped down over the line despite a defender’s effort to clear. The second was beautifully worked (great cross for Dennis McLaughlin to more or less tap in) as was the third (Carcary rounding the keeper after a fine move.) The fourth was an individual effort, Carcary running almost half the length of the pitch with the ball and putting it past the keeper from what looked, from where I was, an impossible angle. Game was over and we awaited updated scores from Central Park.

The second half was a nothing, really. Carcary got his fourth taking advantage of a defensive error to round the keeper again, and Stevie Murray took a through pass and scored despite the keeper getting his hands to the shot. (But he was offside: I was in line, he wasn’t. Still, we’ll take it; it more often goes the other way.)

And the club record for consecutive minutes played without losing a goal was broken today. Considering our lack of clean sheets earlier in the season this is a minor miracle. Seven straight games now, and counting. This is Dreamland.