Giffnock rock in Dumbarton! – 07’s ease into 3rd round of the cup with dominant display
Dumbarton Riverside 0 – 17 Giffnock
Goals
Harrison 4, Jack B, Jamie Ethan,
Jake 4, Charlie 3, Ryan 2, Leon
The score line tells no lies! This was about as comfortable a victory as Giffnock are likely to rack up all season as they dominated Dumbarton from start to finish in a focused display of youth football.
An away trip to the ancient capital of Strathclyde saw the lucky white strips donned for this much-anticipated 2nd round cup tie in typically autumnal conditions. The home team, Dumbarton Riverside, had visited Eastwood Park but a few weeks earlier so Giffnock had an inkling what to expect but knew there was no room for complacency. The game started sprightly with Dumbarton making the early play and concerns over the once infamous Giffnock ‘slow starts’ rumbling amongst the away support. They need not have worried for once Kieran hit the bar after 5 mins, and Harrison knocked the first goal in 2 mins later after a nice through ball from Jamie – Giffnock started to dominate possession and exert control over the match. Playing some crisp, passing football and keeping the ball on the deck saw the away team carve out chance after chance with some really lovely through balls and high quality finishing seeing further goals from Harrison, Jack B, Jamie, Ethan and Jake – making it 8 without response when the ref blew for half-time.
Some lovely link up play straight from kick-off in the second half between Riccardo and Joseph resulted in Harrison’s fourth of the day and Giffnock wasted no time in picking up where they had left off at the end of the first. Jake followed with a goal in the 43rd minute, and then Ryan, coming on off the bench drill a powerful shot low and in the corner from the edge of the box that gave the Dumbarton keeper no chance. At this point our chief football correspondent got somewhat distracted after spotting a doppleganger amongst the home support and may have missed the exact order and timings of one or possibly more of the goals – what is not in doubt though is that Jake got his hat-trick in the 50th minute after some scrappy play in the box was pounced on with a decisive downward header. Dumbarton did play themselves back into the game for a spell and started to exert some pressure, their number 11 being especially effective in the middle of the park – but when the Giffnock defence was called upon it did it’s job with some good blocks from Ethan and Leon – and a low shot bringing out a fine save from Jack.
Despite the scoreline, Giffnock stuck to their task and maintained good effort and discipline in what was a clean game played in the right spirit. When Charlie was subbed on in the 70th minute promising the ever-vigilant coaching team he would get a goal there was little to suggest he was about to score the quickest hattrick in Giffnock 07 history – netting as he did in the 71st, 73rd and 74th minutes. A record unlikely to be beaten. Focus was maintained to the last – and it’s fair to say a slightly dejected Dumbarton outfit were struggling to stop Giffnock carving out further chances with goals from Ryan in the 78th minute and Leon in the 79th after a lovely ball imto the box from Adam.
A rock-solid performance from Giffnock. Tougher games no doubt await in the latter rounds of the Cup – but with the levels of focus and lovely one-touch link up play that they brought to the match today – who is to say how far this group of players might progress.