Football’s back & so is that winning feeling!

Tonight the first team welcomed local amateur side Newtonhill to Hillhead Centre and it’s a real shame there was no fans allowed in as they would have been treated to ELEVEN goals tonight.

The first ten minutes the Uni came flying out the blocks and Chilaka should have opened the scoring but fired wide. Not long after Clark, Forbes and Turek all had early efforts to no avail however Chilaka did finally open the scoring on 9 minutes when Forbes headed down to the ‘diet version’ of last seasons target man and he spun on the spot before firing low in to the bottom corner.

After this Newtonhill took charge of the game in all fairness and showed they are no mugs and certainly played some good football. They sussed out our back line and were causing havoc with balls over the top and this proved fruitful when their striker latched on to one pass and expertly lobbed Blackhouse in goal to level the scoring. Blackhouse however, deserves praise for a couple of important saves throughout the first half.

We slowly got back into our stride and this season’s 1st team captain, Ross Clark, put us back in the lead. A typical goal from the winger. Driving in from the left until space opened up to fire a shot on goal. We won’t say too much about the deflection…but it definitely helped give the keeper no chance!

Two minutes later we were all square again. A missed pass in our own half and Newtonhill punished us with some neat interchanges and a tidy finish. It was a well worked goal.

Turek almost gave us an undeserved lead at half time but his effort which looked goal bound tailed off and squeezed past the post.

HT 2 – 2

A few pointers at half time and the boys set out to improve on the first 45. Alex Clark curled and effort just over early on before hitman Chilaka fired us in front with a tidy left footed finish inside the box after initially holding the ball up well and turning a pass round the corner to Forbes. The defender poked the ball away from Forbes but straight back to Chilaka who made no mistake.

We found our stride and soon after it was four. Neat play again around the final third and Turek was tee’d up 20 yards out to smash home an excellent shot with the outside of his boot into the top left corner.

Newtonhill were tiring but they were never far away from causing problems and Blackhouse was called upon to smother a ball at the feet of the nippy striker.

A flurry of substitutes saw Chilaka squirm that he was coming off when on a hattrick but he was allowed an extra five minutes before Crawford replaced him and he used the time wisely. He received the ball on the left and drove into the box before lashing a shot across the keeper and in off the far post to make it 5 – 2.

One of the substitutes was Owen McColgan and he was to have a debut to remember. Fellow debutant Watson with some neat footwork on the right tried to cross which was blocked and the ball spun up high. As it came down, McColgan expertly controlled a volley from 18 yards low in to the bottom corner.

6 quickly became 7. Ross Clark marauding down the left and unselfishly cut the ball back when he could easily have shot. He found the right foot of McColgan, who made no mistake from 12 yards out.

Newtonhill then flashed a header just wide from close range before pulling a goal back in spectacular fashion. A 25 yard blast whistled its’ way past everyone and high in to the net. A good strike from the midfielder.

The scoring wasn’t to finish there. McColgan topped off a fine 30 minutes with his hattrick. Clark doing well to keep the ball in play sent Owen free down the left. He sat down the Newtonhill defender before cutting in to the box and curling a tasty finish past the keeper in to the far post.

There were other chances for both teams with Gassama almost scoring from a speculative 35 yard shot but none were to alter the scoring as the Uni romped to an emphatic win in the end.

FT – AU 8 – 3 Newtonhill

Nice to win the first game game back. Loads of goals and pleasing to see the new faces get plenty minutes. Definitely some things to work on but the match sharpness will come and hopefully we get even better.

Our thanks to Newtonhill for a very entertaining and hard fought game.

Squad: Ian Blackhouse, Riyadh Nacef, Dan Cotton, Rob Mallinder, Alex Clark (Adrian Gassama), Brandon Donnelly (Euan Mcluckie), Kieran Mooney, Kurtis Turek (Matthew Watson), Nduoma Chilaka (Adam Crawford), Oscar Forbes (Owen McColgan)

Scorers: Chilaka x3, Clark, Turek, McColgan x3

AU MoM: Kieran Mooney – A touch of class in midfield. Rapid with and without the ball and very intelligent play throughout. Hopefully a sign of good things to come. Organised the new lads around him very well and has set the bar high for others to follow.