The second match of the season and no improvement.  The game began with very little cohesive play and far too many high balls into the opponents half.  The Portland defence coped comfortably under high balls and the only half chance came from Ross Macleod harassing the Portland defenders.  Defensively PDG choppers looked reasonably comfortable, the main chances for Portland coming from set pieces with some good saves from Gary Macleod.  The Choppers best chance fell to Neale Brown who ran on to a Ross Macleod cross but failed to hit the target.  The sad fact was that whilst we had possession we offered nothing going forward.  The wide midfielders struggled to make incisive runs, the forwards struggled to hold on to the ball and the midfielders and defenders failed to provide many good passes. 

 

The second half was only fifteen minutes in without any significant chances at either end when the deadlock was broken by Portland with an outstanding volley from the edge of the box.  After this things went further downhill for PDG Choppers.  Injury forced Brian Macleod, Greg Ross and Jamie Mackenzie off, the latter after our 3 substitutions had already been made, leaving us to chase the game with 10 men.  The game started to open up with PDG playing 3 at the back and the telling goal came when the defence were caught out with a suspect offside decision with only 10 minutes to go.  The game ended on a sickening note with Paul Ansell dislocating his elbow after landing awkwardly whilst making a challenge.  Ever the competitor, his first question was "They're not getting a penalty for that are they?!".