retired_blacko

East Fife vs Gretna

At New Bayview

Padraic Kennedy was extremely nervous. This was almost too perfect. Today, Gretna had the chance to secure both promotion and the league title with six games to spare. Not only that, they had the chance to do it at the home of their bitter rivals East Fife. Kennedy hated Fife boss Jim Moffat with a passion and would be delighted to rub his face in Gretna’s success.

Only twenty minutes to kick off and the Gretna dressing room was a hive of activity. The physio Billy Bentley was doing some last minute sessions with a few players and Kennedy and his assistant moved around the room giving each player his instructions.

Kennedy could see the nervousness etched on his player’s faces. He gave his teamtalk and then crossed his fingers and went to take his place on the bench as the teams ran onto the field.

First Half

Two minutes in and it’s a throw in to Gretna. David van Zanten takes it and finds Kenny Deuchar. Deuchar holds it up before laying back to Van Zanten. He passes back to Naldo who launches a high ball towards Deuchar. He wins the aerial challenge and nods it down to Yasser Hussain. Deuchar makes a great run between the full back and centre back. Hussain picks out his run putting Deuchar clean through. The striker takes the ball on before sliding the ball past the onrushing keeper into an empty net. 1-0 to Gretna.

Padraic Kennedy lept from his chair in delight. He literally couldn’t have asked for a better start. He barked some instructions at his captain.

“Let’s up the tempo and keep the pressure on them” he thought.

Gretna continued to attack East Fife with the home keeper De Gregorio making two great saves from Deuchar and Luke Ibbotson. More heroics from the keeper kept Gretna at bay for the rest of the half before disaster struck.

A neat bit of passing on from East Fife made space for Stevie Nicholas. He latched on to a through ball and beat Nick Colgan to equalise just before the half time whistle.

Half Time

Kennedy was stunned. From nothing East Fife had scored without even being in the game at all. He tried his best to pick his players up. He could see immediately some of them responding to his words. The bell rang again to signal the second half’s imminent arrival

Second Half

Ten minutes in and Scott McLaughlin picked up the ball on the left side of the pitch. He moved it forward down the line to Ryan Baldacchino. Baldacchino turned swiftly and played a lovely one-two with Ibbotson. Now in space he crossed to the back post to find Hussain who headed the ball back across goal into the far corner.

Again Kennedy jumped for joy. Relief may be a better word, in fact.

From then on, it was all Gretna. Deuchar crashed a shot off the woodwork and only for yet more heroics from De Gregorio Gretna would surely have increased their lead.

The final whistle blew at last leaving Kennedy with well chewed fingernails and a huge grin on his face. He went to shake Jim Moffat’s hand with the words, “Enjoy Division Two again next year, Jim”

The team and staff spent the next hour on the pitch celebrating with the fans on the pitch and in the dressing room with buckets of champagne.

Post Match Interview

Padraic, Great win today. You must be over the moon

Yeah, it was a great performance from the lads. They showed real conviction to get that second goal. They kept plugging away and got their reward. Great day for the club in general.

Were you delighted to win the league here in Fife?

It’s well known myself and Jim (Moffat) don’t get on and I was ecstatic at winning the league here in his back yard.

Thank you. I won’t keep you any longer.

PK: You’re welcome.

East Fife 1-2 Gretna

Gretna Team

N. Colgan

D. Van Zanten
S. McLaughlin
Naldo
C. Innes

Y. Hussain
R. Baldacchino
S. Tosh
D. Noble

K. Deuchar
L. Ibbotson



<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Gretna | | 30 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 72 | 17 | +55 | 74 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Forfar | | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 50 | 30 | +20 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Hamilton | | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 32 | 21 | +11 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Ross County | | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 36 | 29 | +7 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | East Fife | | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 37 | 44 | -7 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Stranraer | | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 30 | 44 | -14 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Dumbarton | | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 46 | 55 | -9 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Berwick | | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 33 | 55 | -22 | 28 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Brechin | | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 33 | 46 | -13 | 27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Ayr | | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 25 | 53 | -28 | 26 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_blacko

The Scottish Times(??)

Gretna Run Out Season In Style

Sunday 14th May 2006

Ayr 0-4 Gretna

Gretna completed their Division Two campaign yesterday with a classy demolition of Ayr. The champions elect secured their second consecutive promotion with two goals each from Kenny Deuchar and youngster Carl Rook. Deuchar�s two took him to thirty nine goals for the season this year.

However the real story was Rook�s brace in only his second appearance for the first team. He was lively throughout and took his chances with ease. A star for the future without a doubt. The English lad joined from Hastings United last summer and has been scoring freely for the under eighteens this year as they retained their league title.

Gretna dominated this game from start to finish. Their movement and passing two much for a lacklustre Ayr. The first goal came after twelve minutes from Rook. He picked up the ball on te edge of the area with his back to goal, spun quickly and dribbled passed his marker before calmly beating Peter Cherrie. Gretna onlky had to wait four minutes to doule their advantage.

The inspirational Ryan Baldacchino worked his magic on the left wing, finding space before delivering a trademark ball to the back post for Deuchar to nod home. Deuchar could have had his second before half time but he fired his shot over the crossbar.

He eventually got his reward for some hardwork twelve minutes after the restart. Some quick thinking from David Noble�s corner gave a chance from eighteen yards and Deuchar smashed the ball into the top corner. Deuchar should have a hat trick but Cherrie denied him with two smart saves.

Rook doubled his tally late on latching on to a through ball from Baldacchino he gave Cherrie no chance, delicately lobbing the Ayr keeper who had drifted off his line.

There more celebrations on the pitch as Gretna steamrolling through the lower leagues continues, Padraic Kennedy must now turn his attention to the first division and what will be another exciting year for Gretna as they look to the Premier League.

Teams

Gretna: Colgan, Van Zanten, McLaughlin, Innes, Naldo, Baldacchino, Hussain, Tiernan, Noble, Deuchar, Rook

Ayr: Cherrie, Smith, Dunlop, McKenzie, Lyle, Black, Kristjansson, Doyle, Ramsay, Coakley, Kane

Subs: Conway, Wardlaw, Ferguson

Interview With Padraic Kennedy

Padraic, Another year gone and another promotion. You must be absolutely thrilled with the progress you�ve been making.

Yeah, we�ve been really working hard and I think it�s definitely showing on and off the pitch. The players have been great, they are so deicated and this day belongs to them.

On the subject of players,young Carl Rook scored twice today. Will he be a regular next year?

We�ll have to wait and see to be honest. Carl has been making great progress recently and he is a special talent and he proved that today with the goals. He is still only seventeen and has a lot to learn but he will be definitely around more often at the least next year.

Any transfer news? We hear there are going to be a lot of players out of contract at Gretna this summer.

It� always hard when you have to release someone but I feel if we are to continue to improve some of the squad has to move on. I don�t like doing that to players who have been very loyal but it�s necessary. I will be improving the team but as of yet I have no definite targets.


Final League Standings

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Gretna | | 36 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 89 | 19 | +70 | 92 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Hamilton | | 36 | 19 | 8 | 9 | 43 | 29 | +14 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Forfar | | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 57 | 37 | +20 | 63 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Ross County | | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 55 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | East Fife | | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 47 | 55 | -8 | 50 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Dumbarton | | 36 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 56 | 74 | -18 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Brechin | | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 41 | 53 | -12 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Stranraer | | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 36 | 55 | -19 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Berwick | | 36 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 42 | 63 | -21 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Ayr | | 36 | 7 | 9 | 20 | 32 | 66 | -34 | 30 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_blacko

Gretna Collect Awards

Gretna made a clean sweep of the Division Two awards this evening with Kenny Deuchar taking the player of the year award and Padraic Kennedy taking the manager’s award. Seven Gretna players also made the Team of the Year which was:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> GkWiiliam Bald Ross CountyDrDavid Van Zanten GretnaDlScott McLaughlin GretnaDcKevin Gaughan StranraerDcSteve Florence ForfarMrRyan Baldacchino GretnaMlRicky Waddell ForfarMcFergus Tiernan GretnaMcDavid Noble GretnaFcKenny Deuchar GretnaFcLuke Ibbotson Gretna </pre>