Pat Martin showed that he is more than ready for Carnoustie’s defence of the Midland League title with two quality finishes in a 4-0 win over Aberdeen side Hermes, in The Gowfers final outing of their pre-season campaign.
Defensive duo Ryan Roche and Ryan Suttie both missed the game along with Daniel Dorovic, Jamie Winter and Phil McGuire, although the manager did manage to keep his eye on proceedings, thanks to modern technology. Roche and Suttie’s absence meant a reshuffle at the back with Kieran Conway and Bailey Steel joining Greg Warwick in a defensive three, Finn Kemlo and Ross Fraser were the wide men, either side of Louis Joyce and Kieran McWalter , with Sam Simpson playing just behind Pat martin and Dale Reid.
It took Carnoustie a while to get going but when it came the opening goal was one of real quality as a great counter move saw the ball fed out to the right and the cross from Ross Fraser was bulleted home by Martin on 28 minutes and ten minutes later he made it 2-0 with a fine finish to the far corner from the edge of the box.
The second half was much the same with Carnoustie dominating proceedings and were rewarded on 66 minutes when Sam Simpson increased the lead and with ten minutes to go a wicked cross was turned into his own net by Steven Whyte.
McGuire looking on from his Florida hideaway will have been pleased with all but the first 15 minutes, as the side consisted of a number of positional changes but the end result was still the same. It has been a decent pre-season campaign but McGuire will be the first to say that results in pre-season are not the most vital part, the majority of the squad have achieved minutes and are in a good place as we look ahead to next weekends opener at Victoria Park against Brechin Vics.
