Whitburn Athletic 1-5 Forest Hall

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">Following on from the previous week&rsquo;s battling point we were hoping to take that in to this week&rsquo;s game, knowing our home form has not been as hoped for having moved to the pitch at Temple Park.

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">A few forced changes to the team and it took us a while to get settled. In fact we were sluggish out of the blocks and conceded within 5 minutes. A misplaced pass 25 yards from our box was pounced upon and slotted away coolly. It was pretty much one way traffic for the next 15-20 minutes with the lively Forest Hall centre forward making life uneasy for us at the back. We managed to start to have a bit of possession but were dealt a further blow when the ref adjudged there was a trip in the box. We felt it was slightly contentious, however it was despatched to double the visitors lead.

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">Almost immediately we managed an attack and Newbrook was tripped just on the edge of the box. As their keeper was organising his wall from close to the penalty spot, the quick thinking John McReady checked with the ref if he could take the free-kick quickly, and calmly curled the ball in to the unguarded goal when advised that he didn&rsquo;t need to wait for the ref&rsquo;s whistle. We continued to plug away in vain for an equaliser but were punished on the stroke of half-time as Forest Hall got in behind again the striker&rsquo;s finish beat Symington&rsquo;s dive and nestle din the far corner.

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">HALF TIME: 1 - 3.

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">We kept battling away at the start of the second half but didn&rsquo;t manage to create any chances of note. Forest Hall&rsquo;s pacey wingers and energetic midfield continued to cause us problems and they extended their lead further mid way through the second half and all but finished off the game. Any attacking threat we posed was easily snuffed out by the visitors back 4. There was time in the last 2 minutes for another Forest Hall attack. Again another of their midfield runner&rsquo;s showing more desire to beat us to a forward ball, shrugging off the defender and smashing the ball past Symington via a deflection off of the underside of the bar.

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">FULL TIME: Whitburn Athletic 1 &ndash; 5 Forest Hall

<p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">Brought down to earth with a crushing defeat against a solid, organised and busy team, who showed a lot more desire and willingness to want to win.