Whites Vs Blackburn Utd Whites

The Whites faced the Blackburn United Whites in the early kick off at the middle pitch in Bathgate this morning. Aaron led the team as captain and delivered a positive team talk.

Before kick off, the boys joined players and teams across West Lothian in observing a minute’s silence on Remembrance Weekend.

The Blackburn team started brightly, pressing high and scoring in the first few minutes. Winchburgh hit back quickly, with Caleb tackling high up the park following the restart and shooting narrowly wide.

Winchburgh grew into the game and began to create chances. Marco went close, shooting narrowly wide following a good run up the right wing. However, it was the Blackburn team who scored next, scoring in the 13th minute. It was a tough first half with Cullen kept busy, Caelen, Tom and Jenson doing well to break up counter attacks, Dexter battling hard in the middle, and Marco and Caleb working well up and down the wings.

Despite a strong start to the second half, Blackburn scored again, being particularly clinical when chances came their way. That third goal really lit the fire in the Whites though, as they hit back with a goal of their own immediately. Aaron stayed composed in the final third, and slipped a pass to Caelen to finish well.

That set off ten minutes of madness, as Winchburgh scored two more in quick succession. Firstly, Noah rolled the ball to Aaron to score the second. Then Kai played a crossfield ball to Aaron to score the third and level the game.

Blackburn tried to fight back, but Jenson, Dexter and Kai were a solid base and snuffed out the opposition’s efforts to get forward. The Whites were now firmly in control of the game and pushed for the winner. They came close with a shot cannoning off the crossbar and a long range effort from Kai appearing to cross the line and come back out into play. Noah was then chopped down by a Blackburn defender in the box but shouts for a penalty were denied.

It was a crucial moment of the match as the Blackburn team went straight up the pitch with a good attacking move that followed. The Blackburn winger did well to reach the ball and cut it back for a shot that Cullen saved and appeared to prevent from crossing the line, but the referee saw differently and awarded a goal late on.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but will be a valuable lesson that decisions don’t always go your way in football. Ultimately it was still a really positive performance, with the Whites showing great character to come back from three down and make it such a close game.

There were some strong individual performances today, with Kai and Aaron both having a big influence in the second half. The Man of the Match award goes to Noah though for his hard work, closing down and threat in the attacking areas.

Well done boys. We’ll go again next week. Mon’ the Albion!