The team traveled once again to Dundee for the second round of league fixtures on 6th April. They hoped to improve on the first round results. Fixtures for this round were, former league champions St James, Oriam, last year’s Christmas cup winners Hearts and finally Fairfield.

First up St James who we hadn’t butted heads with for over a year. The game started well for Raith with John Wylie getting the ball in the net in the first minute. However ref Sean adjudged him to have been “not walking” as he struck the ball and disallowed the goal. A minute later, John struck again. This time, the post came to St James’ aid. The score remained 0-0. The game flowed back and forth with both teams canceling each other out. In the 13th minute, St James scored with a scuffed shot. Harry managed to get a fingertip to it but unfortunately, it trickled into the net. A minute later John Wylie almost leveled but this time hit the bar. John’s persistence paid off in the end. As the seconds ticked down, he managed to beat the keeper. His shot went through a group of players. 1-1
Hearts 3-3 Fairfield
Luncarty FC 2-1 Dundee East
Oriam 2-2 Arbroath – Maroon
Raith Rovers 1-1 St James

Next up were Oriam and Raith again started with John Wylie getting the ball in the net in the third minute. However as in the last game Sean adjudged him to be not walking and disallowed the goal. Within seconds, Oriam committed three running offences. This gave us a chance to take the lead with a penalty. Scott McIntosh had practiced penalty techniques before today’s games. He stepped up confidently. He didn’t lift his foot and HIT THE POST!! In the 7th minute Harry pulled off a spectacular but pointless save as the Oriam player was penalised for running. In the 11th minute a great opportunistic shot from Graham flew wide. 13 minutes in, a crunching tackle on Scott earned a yellow card for the Oriam player. This tackle finished Scott’s involvement in the game. With the game coming to an end, both teams were desperate to score. Oriam got the ball in the net from tight on Harry’s right. However, the ref said the player had cut across the keeper’s box and disallowed the goal. 0-0
Forfar WF 0-0 Dundee East
Hearts 0-2 Arbroath – Maroon
Luncarty 0-0 St James
Oriam 0-0 Raith Rovers

The third game against Hearts began perfectly. Ritchie Malcolm beat the keeper low to his right with a ranged shot within seconds. This was almost followed up by a second from Ally Grant a minute later but was well saved. Hearts quickly leveled the game with a long ball to Gary Bate who rounded Ritchie and beat Harry. 1-1 after only two minutes. After 5 minutes, Gary Bate and Paul Burns played a one-two. This left Paul free in front of Harry. Paul then slotted past him for 2-1 to Hearts. Both teams continued to press. There were chances for each team, including a good save from a Haig shot. Heart’s Gary also hit the post. Hearts managed the latter part of the game. No more scoring occurred, so we lost our first game of the session. 1-2
Fairfield 0-3 Arbroath – Maroon
Forfar WF 6-0 St James
Hearts 2-1 Raith Rovers
Luncarty FC 0-0 Oriam

Our final game of the session – Fairfield. In the second minute Ritchie gets a shot on goal after a Raith free kick but the keeper saves. Two minutes later John intercepts a wayward pass at the edge of the Fairfield box and beats the keeper. 1-0 In six minutes, Ritchie takes a free kick deep in the Raith half. It finds Tam, who passes to Scott. Scott scores. 2-0 Three minutes later John intercepts another pass, further out this time, and again beats the keeper. 3-0 In 13 minutes John receives a pass from Tam. Looking for his hat trick, he beats the keeper for a third time this game. 4-0 With the clock running down Fairfield get a breakaway and Harry has to be lively to keep his clean sheet. 4-0
Dundee East 0-1 St James
Fairfield 0-4 Raith Rovers
Forfar WF 2-2 Oriam
Hearts 2-2 Luncarty FC

The final two games of the session were:
Arbroath – Maroon 2-1 Dundee East
Fairfield 2-5 Forfar WF

Reflections: A better day at the office in terms of results than the first week. We maintained the same good general play and possession. We are still playing without a recognised striker. Hopefully, the goals tally will increase as we are creating the opportunities. We are just not finishing them. Player of the weekend has to be John Wylie. He scored a hat trick in the last game. His stamina is impressive, as he completed an 8 mile run in Edinburgh in the morning. Next time he does that, though, he’ll be fined!!