Broxburn Athletic vs Caledonian Braves

No fireworks as the Braves fall to narrow defeat

Bonfire night wouldn’t serve up any fireworks for the Braves, as they suffered their first league loss at the hands of Broxburn.

Following a last gasp win against Bo’ness on the weekend, Ricky Waddell had to rotate his pack after picking up even more injury headaches. From the weekend, with Cammy Breadner, Jack McDowall and Kristian Gkegka joined our injury list. The squad was supplemented with first squad appearances for ’08 players Dylan Woods and Sacha Finlayson.

With fireworks blazing around Albyn Park on a cold evening, the game had a unique, albeit often distracting backdrop. However, this excitement wouldn’t play onto the park in the first half.

Leading the line in the place of Ross McNeil, Lennon Walker was extremely bright in the first half, causing issues with his runs in the channel.

Our number 20 came close with an effort that was saved well by the keeper, and he also sent a pair of strikes just wide of the goal - all three of these chances coming after he found space behind the opposition back line.

The Braves defence would be virtually untested in the first half, impressively dealing with the powerful front two of Brass and Douglas. Alassan Jones came the closest with a powerful low strike from distance on the cusp of half time, but his effort went comfortably wide.

However, The Brox didn’t have to wait long to open the scoring in the 2nd half. With just 46 on the clock, Jones swung in a dangerous corner that was flicked into the goal by danger man, Errol Douglas.

The only other time the Braves had trailed in the league this season was away to Stirling, where Cammy Breadner levelled the score in under 5 minutes. Three minutes after the resumption of play, Reg McLaren was hauled to the ground in the box, and the Braves must’ve thought they’d once again be pulling level in quick time.

With the fireworks flying behind the Broxburn goal, Lennon Walker stood up to take the spot kick. Distracted by the display or not, Walker would’ve been hoping for a more emphatic finish, as his low penalty was saved by the Broxburn ‘keeper.

This took the wind out the sails for the Braves, who couldn’t break down the Broxburn defence for the remainder of the game. Looking to his bench for freshness, Waddell only had one senior option to call upon outfield, and quickly introduced top scorer Ross McNeil, who couldn’t make the desired impact.

Connor McLaren was bright on the left, and tested the keeper with a decent strike after cutting onto his right foot. His crosses into the box also caused issues, with brother Reg coming close with a looping header.

Under 20’s goal machine Leo McCartney entered late as the gaffer rolled the dice. Making only his 3rd appearance for the club, Leo flung himself about in the final 5 and came close after picking the ball up in the box, but his low shot was comfortably saved.

A moment to remember would follow for 16-year-old Dylan Woods, who made his senior debut late on - but despite showing some good touches, couldn’t help the Braves to a leveller.

A game of moments, where our hosts took their big chance and the Braves failed to do the same. The boys will look to bounce back against Linlithgow Rose this weekend.