MATCH SUMMARY.

Beautiful calm day at North End Park for this crunch game, the two sides sitting even over the last 6 games, each winning 5 losing 1 and collecting 15 points, so this game looked like it could go any way on paper.

North End certainly looked the brighter of the two teams in the early minutes, Blairgowrie doing every thing possible to clear there lines, the ball was a proverbial 'hot potato' as both sides struggled to get a foot on the ball and calm things down, with only 4 minutes on the clock, the Dokens had Connor Mcleod on the ball heading toward the corner flag, he then switched the play to the left hand side with a cross ball to Sam Simpson who took a touch and volleyed it in to the bottom left corner, right out the blue, the Blair keeper was rooted to the spot as the ball hit the net GOAL!! 1-0 North End (Sam Simpson). The Dokens carry on from where they left off and continue to pressure the Blair defence, there persistence pays off with the clock showing only 8 minutes, a cracking lofted pass from the midfield lands in the path of Connor Mcleod who read it well, he then, in turn times his chip perfectly against the outrushing Blair keeper, the ball just inches above his head bounced before trickling in to the net..GOAL!! 2-0 North End (Connor McLeod).  Blair surge forward in the 20th minute down the left wing, they make a few good passes, this attack looks dangerous, the DNE defenders work well and close it down and they in turn start off a counter attack, Sam Simpson sprints in to action down the far side, the Blair defence is hot on his heels but he manages to create enough space to line a shot up, he only has the keeper to beat but swerves the ball just past the outside of the post. Now in the 35th minute Sam Simpson again had a decent chance but it came to nothing, seconds later Barry McNaughton was really unlucky with a 25 yarder, the blairgowrie keeper made a top drawer save to keep his side in the game. Half Time: North End 2 Blairgowrie 0.

Second Half: Blairgowrie came flying out the traps and within seconds of the re-start they had scored a goal after a poor clearance from the Dokens..GOAL!! 2-1 North End. Blair looked really fired up after the half time team talk and they caused the Dokens all sorts of problems throughout the second half, although they didnt really create many real clear cut chances, they did have the lions share of posession, North End did what they had to do to keep them from scoring all be it, it wasn't that pretty, nearing the end of the game Joe Colqhoun who had come on as a sub. was unlucky with a well hit shot that was goalbound until the Blair keeper again made a fantastic acrobatic one handed save to deny him, the game ended not long after that and North End should be delighted to walk away with another 3 points in the bag after beating a top opponent in the league. Final Score North end 2 Blairgowrie 1. Scorers: Sam Simpson x 1. Connor McLeod x 1

North End Manager Dave Martin's thoughts on todays game:

I thought we should have scored more goals before half time as we created enough chances to do so, Blargowrie then came out fighting for the second half, the second half was a bit scrappy but thats to be expected as we are not going to play good every minute of every game and at the end of the day, we got what we wanted.. the result... and the precious 3 points that come with it.