by James Turner

On the opening night of the season the Douglas United team in the Men's Second Division took to the field for the start of their 2012 campaign.

The team has had to push through pre-season training in harsh weather conditions and is still actively recruiting players.
 
Douglas could not have wished for a worse start.

A few minutes into the game a ball from the half way line was launched into the air from a set piece, and with all eyes on the ball watching what would happen, SouthSide managed to take an early lead that woke up a Douglas team determined not to produce a sloppy first game.
 
After that early goal from SouthSide the Douglas defence spent the rest of the game clearing up anything and everything they had to and remained solid throughout.

Within a few minutes Douglas got a set piece of their own straight from the training ground. Matty Smith was able to execute a neat finish to bring the game level at 1-1 inside the first 10 minutes.
 
After that Douglas really put on a show and quickly added a second with Glen Johnson making a great run from right back by finishing off some great play down the left hand side.

Not long after Jack Miller, starting up front for the night, remained composed enough to knock in a rebound off the woodwork to make it 3-1 at the half.
 
After half time Douglas clearly knew that the job was not done and they would have to remain playing at the same level to come away with a winning start.

Not long after the restart Matty Smith was at it again twisting and turning into the box before finding the bottom corner and shortly after finding himself free in the box to put the seal on a well deserved hat-trick.
 
Now at 5-1 SouthSide heads were clearly beginning to drop but that did nothing to affect the Douglas side who remained committed as they were all game after that early wake up call.

It was time for the captain to make his mark and Ashley Woods was able to do so with a sublime finish.

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Matty Smith, who had already collected a hat-trick on the night, then found himself getting fouled in the box and winning a penalty kick. On the night there was only one man for the job of taking the penalty and Matty made sure he kept his nerve to grab his fourth of the night.
 
After making great runs in and around the box Ben Syrett would have felt he deserved something and before long he got it when he was able to finish off some more good Douglas work and get the game to a 8-1 score line.

Douglas, suffering from some tired legs, took their foot off the gas and let the game run down until full time, celebrating a great start to the season with a 1-8 away win.
 
Although it was a night of attacking prowess by Douglas, that was only made possible by the strength, commitment and all-round good play by the lads at the back which lead to Kane Kerswell picking up the Paddy's Irish Pub Man Of The Match Award.
 
Douglas will now look to carry this momentum into Game 2 of the season.