‘Twas twilight on the last day of Movember when an assortment of beards, fuzz, fluff,
smooth skin (due to youth or the razor) and some wondrous moustaches travelled to
a blustery Windyedge in Glasgow to play Hillhead 5A.
 
True to recent form, Dumfries breezed ahead with some neat interplay, Carson
setting up Johnston for the opening goal on 4 minutes, with Johnstone then providing
the assist for Aitken to score 3 minutes later. 0-2.
This settled the visitors, who dominated the game and played some excellent
hockey, with the home team unable to get out of their own half. Notable was the
running work to create space and passes, with some devilish aerial work by Gilmer
and Carson.
 
After a couple of near misses in front of goal, Johnstone again laid on the goal for
McFarlane to put Dumfries comfortably 3-0 up on 18 minutes. Hillhead then began to
play better hockey and forced a short corner due to a disputed deliberate backstick
inside the 23. This was well dealt with by the defensive runners and the
counterattack was unfortunate in not resulting in a Dumfries goal.
 
Another short corner for Hillhead on 22 minutes lead to a goal-line stop by Stott, but
the rebound went to a Hillhead player who scored with a hard strike from the edge of
the D. 1-3. Some more pressure from Hillhead resulted in some good work from
Oakes in the Dumfries goal. The visitors settled again and, after some good inter-
passing, Johnstone again set up McFarlane for a goal just before half time. 1-4.
 
At half time the captain rightly gave the team a row for being only 4-1 ahead, despite
their dominance in the game, and warned against complacency. This old seadog
wisdom was borne out when Hillhead scored soon after half time with a firm reverse
stick strike which Oakes was unlucky not to stop. 2-4.
 
With both teams blowing a bit harder as energy levels dropped, the game opened up
and Dumfries re-asserted their dominance and scored two further goals, McFarlane
providing the assist for Aitken on 54 minutes, 2-5, and Gilmer laying on the final goal
for Johnston on 60 minutes 2-6.

Ultimately a comfortable win for Dumfries, with a brace for each of the forwards and
a couple of goal-line stops for Stott. The midfield worked hard to create space to
receive passes and play in the forwards and distribution from the back was generally
sound with only the odd trademark hospital ball. Some of the footwork throughout the
team was first class and bodes well for the cup game away to Strathclyde University
and the subsequent line dancing they have at their Christmas social this weekend...
 
(Your correspondent pays scant attention to the game these days once the ball
crosses the half way line and is grateful for assistance in the details of the Dumfries
goals).
 
MoM – Freddie Brown for excellent movement and passing in midfield, with some
aggressive tackling and ball retrieval.
Dod – Toby for being 20 minutes late for the rendezvous, despite watching the game
at KGV.