Pre Season - Visit Malta - United lose at home to Germans

A dry and somewhat cloudy afternoon at SJP this Saturday afternoon. Temperatures thankfully a fair few degrees lower than of late (winter’s coming) making it a perfect afternoon for football.

A home debut for Horníček, Steur and Mason Miley. Additionally, great to see a return to action for Mason’s elder brother Lewis, bringing some much needed “experience” to the side. Leverkusen attacked the Gallowgate though not aided quite so much by the slope these days which has notably decreased.

A bright start by the visitors saw them take the lead inside 60 seconds. A fine strike by Maza across the ‘keeper and in to the top corner. It was reminiscent of the goal we conceded early at the Mestalla last weekend with the ‘keeper having little chance with either effort.

Leverkusen had certainly started the brighter, though defensively we looked pretty much ok. Thiaw in particular did well and Botman looked better than he has in recent games.

I would have liked to see Elanga offer a bit more cover in front of young Miley as he seemed to be targeted early on given his inexperience.

It was a fairly even first half, one that we maybe even shaded, seeing some half decent attacks involving all of our front players. Their keeper wasn’t tested enough though and he coped easily with the couple of shots we got on target.

We looked to be heading in behind with half time approaching until a ball in from our left side saw Thiaw get a good head to it and put it back across the keeper in to the side netting. It was no more than we deserved and a fine reward for the skipper on the day.

One other point of note from the first half. A hydration break, or new shirt promotion break, which saw both teams take drinks on board and our team return to the field in the new lilac 3rd shirt. It’s quite nice by the way!

The second half saw one change for us, with Lewis Miley making way for Rory Finneran. A good runout for Miley and a good opportunity for young Finneran. The issue now though was we had two very young and inexperienced lads in the middle up against their far stronger and more experienced three. To be fair, it showed.

We surrendered a lot of possession but they created little despite controlling the ball for long periods. There was no disgrace in that in my opinion. It made for a tough workout with minimal substitutions given the two games over two days situation, seeing our squad split over the weekend.

Following a flurry of changes by the visitors late in the game, one of them inevitably put them back in front. Victor Boniface getting in to the box and hitting a shot into the keeper’s bottom left corner. On the balance of play, it was pretty much deserved.

Minutes earlier, Miley junior was replaced by Pivas after a good afternoon’s work. The lad did well but succumbed to cramp on what turned out to be a warmer second half. Brave also got a few minutes late on for Woltemade.

A quite open final few minutes saw us have a go and nearly level through Harvey Barnes, who uncharacteristically missed the target.

Overall, it was a good workout against a decent side in front of a near 40k crowd.

My own personal view is one of positivity.

Yes, we need more, but these lads are good players. The young lads will get better and a couple of experienced players could transform our season.

Onwards and upwards.

Steve Wallwork