Every second counts

The scoreline flatters the home side. Edinburgh were bereft of ideas for most of this game and, if this is how drab they are all season, better teams who get luckier breaks will roll over them. Sam Trett kept his goal clean, but only because Inverleith swept in a short corner illegally two minutes from time and offered nothing whatsoever in the first half-hour. Two identical goals and a third added when the game was beyond doubt won it, but there’s much room for improvement for Edinburgh who need to do more in the final third and just weigh their through balls a little better.

For all their faults they got out of the blocks very well, creating three close-range chances in the opening ten minutes which all should have been converted properly. The ball was in the goal twice but disallowed due to the ball not being touched inside the D; most attempts were hard hits into the box whereby they tried to find a foot or their own player’s stick. It was Jack McGowan, the lanky peroxide-haired frontman, who tapped in on eight minutes, already guilty of having missed one opportunity. It was he who looks the most likely to be elevated to first-team status in the future, challenging every ball, diving dramatically to turf and being called over to cool his conduct after the most innocuous altercation of his afternoon with an opponent. If he can tame his instincts, he can be a great player. Inverleith looked short on ideas despite some of their midfielders showing an eye for flair, and some of them would add some charm to the workmanlike Edinburgh midfield.

A tempestuous second half where the sides cancelled each other out in the middle half of the turf, with both keepers having to make decent saves with all parts of their apparatus, finally resolved itself when Ben Tracey, another tall player with silky ball-skills, tapped in aplombly after a penalty corner routine five minutes from time. Moments later great individual work in the D gave Mike Fenelon a well-deserved goal.

Time and again the away side were caught exchanging short passes across the back, while Dan Smith’s aerial lobs were flawless (unlike, he revealed to me, those from last week); he’d slot in well with the firsts and hardly put a foot wrong all game, the clean sheet testament to both the scarcity of Inverleith attacks and the cleaning up they carried out. James Toogood looked clinical whenever he was on the field, and he also carries himself like a matinee idol from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Toogood is perhaps the hockey club’s most glamorous star and deserves a shot with players of national standard in the first-team. Still, lots to do for the 2s, though they’ll have enjoyed the post-match lash in any case.