After the winter break the A's continued their league campaign against premier division strugglers Real Ma Dividend. The A's needed three points to close the gap on the top two in the league who were also playing today.

The game started off a little scrappy with neither team really putting their their foot on the ball on a blustery afternoon at Close House. However it was Garnett who began to start playing the better football after the early exchanges and the break through came when a good move down the left started by the impressive Polzin went to Mullan who sent in a great delivery which found man of the match Emmot at the back post to score what was to be the first of a terrific hat-trick for the Garnett hitman.

Unfortunately Real Ma Dividend hit back soon after when a corner was contested by their Peter Crouch looking forward. With Scott seemingly fouled the ball dropped to a Real striker who tucked away to bring the scores level.
However the A's did not have to wait long to strike again when Heslop raided down the left to find Emmot again at the back post to score his second.

Before the game the management had told the players that there needed to be a little more commitment in the physical areas of the pitch. The warning was obviously heeded with Jackson and Mullan both receiving yellow cards with some thunderous challenges that showed the green and black were no longer willing to be second best to any challenges as had been the case in the previous cup match.

Real almost equalised when a free kick was well saved by Scott but found it's way to a Real striker. However he was judged to have been off side and so the A's lead stayed intact. This prompted the A's to go forward in order to put the game beyond Real and the goal they were looking for came when winger Tomei masterfully swept a half volley beyond the Real keeper from the edge of the box.

At half time the need to stay focused was emphasised. However things got even better when Emmet won a penalty straight after the re-start. The penalty was dispatched by the ever dependable Allen and kept up his impressive scoring stats despite playing many games as a centre back in this A team.

Emmot soon grabbed his third after rounding the keeper to cap off a great display before coming off with a slight injury.

At 5-1 the A's wrongly assumed the game was safe and Real capitalised when some uncharacteristic handling from Scott gave Real a sniff. Then Real won a penalty which was well finished which left the score a little to close for comfort from the A's point of view. However with Pearce holding strong in the middle and a couple of smart stops from Scott the A's saw the game out to gain three more valuable points.

atb

Author: Harty

Team: R.Scott, C.Jackson, G.Polzin, C.Pearce, A.Smith, C.Allen, H.Tomei 1, M.Hill, S.Emmet 3 (MoM), N.Heslop, D.Mullen

Subs: W.Johnson, J.Harold

NB: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
views of the Gosforth Garnett Bohemian Football Club as a whole.