Winning In The Rain: TV Stars

Saturday 13th February 2016
Scottish Amateur Football Association
Colville Park Country Club West of Scotland Amateur Cup
Fifth Round Tie
Oban Saints AFC v Colville Park AFC
Glencruitten 2
Mossfield Avenue
Oban
Argyll PA34 4EH
Kick Off 1.30pm
Referee Mr Kevin Nolan

Saints starting line-up:-

Thomas McCulloch

David McArthur
Marc Maccallum (Captain)
Jamie Graham
Dougal Graham

Willie Gemmell
Paul Kerr
Donald Campbell

Scott Maitland
Dean Smith
Craig MacEwan

Used Substitutes:-

Dene Cassells
Allan Mackay
Ross Maitland
Keith Millar

Unused Substitute:-

Alex Craik

Saints Goalscorer:-

Donald Campbell (Penalty)

Match Report

(penalty)

Saints fourteen game unbeaten run finally came to an end at Glencruitten last Saturday afternoon against the seemingly invincible Colville Park. The Motherwell side have won every one of their matches this season and their class coupled with a fantastic work ethic was too tough a nut for Saints to crack. However, as the score line would suggest, Saints were far from disgraced and ran their strongly fancied opponents very close in a tight a keenly contested match. The match was widely considered to be the tie of the round and as such was selected by online television station Affinity TV as their featured match.

Manager Alex Craik made one change to the eleven that had started the previous week's Scottish Amateur Cup win against Stirling City bringing in Willie Gemmell and dropping Allan Mackay to the bench. There was also a place on the bench for Ross Maitland who missed the previous match due to family commitments.

Colville Park's colours are all navy so Saints Secretary had to dig to the back of the cupboard to find the white D&K Lafferty Contractors sponsored kit last used in season 2013-14. Saints started brightly attacking the Mossfield end and immediately put the visitors under pressure with Thomas Airlie halting a threatening Dean Smith run with a heavy challenge from behind. Willie Gemmell played the resulting free kick to Dean on edge of the box with his back to goal. Dean shielded the ball well and rolled it back for Scott Maitland to clip in a high ball looking for the head of Craig MacEwan who was narrowly beaten to it by a powerful clearing header from Garry Tierney. Saints continued their good start but were unable to threaten the Colville goal with the solid visitors defence already demonstrating just why they had conceded only ten goals in twenty two competitive matches this season. Saints good early work was undone from Colville's first foray into attack. Jamie Graham gave away a free kick for a foul on the lively James Miller wide on the Saints right and level with the penalty spot. Liam Cusack and Thomas Airlie worked a short free kick with Airlie sending in terrific cross which James Miller nicked in between David McArthur and Dougal Graham to head into the net past a helpless Thomas McCulloch. Saints were bitterly disappointed to concede from a free kick however as the game progressed it became evident that capitalising on dead ball situations is a major weapon in the Colville armoury and one which they are expert at exploiting. Saints dusted themselves down and went in search of an equaliser which almost came their way in the sixth minute. A neat turn on the half way line from Craig MacEwan took out three Colville players. Craig then played a cross field pass to Scott Maitland who laid back to David McArthur to send in a dangerous dipping cross from the right which Craig MacEwan made a terrific run to meet. Unfortunately Craig seemed caught in two minds whether to attack the ball with his head or his left peg and in the end connected with neither and the ball bounced behind for a goal kick. Immediately prior to that a long throw from Willie Gemmell was flicked on in the box by Craig MacEwan with Dean Smith only inches away from connecting before keeper Scott came off his line to smother the danger. The large home crowd had only two more minutes to wait for a goal from their favourites which came from the penalty spot courtesy of leading goal scorer Donald Campbell. Donald won the penalty kick himself gathering in a short pass from Dougal Graham just inside the box and skilfully turning fellow Scottish Amateur international Michael Brown. Brown tried to recover his ground but his desperate sliding challenge only succeeded in sending Donald crashing to the ground leaving the Referee in no doubt. Donald's last attempt from twelve yards against New Farm Loch in the fourth round of the West of Scotland Cup was saved but this time he made no mistake confidently dispatching his kick past the despairing right hand of Colville keeper Donald Scott. Full backs David McArthur and Dougal Graham had their hands full dealing with Colville's wide midfielders James Miller and Robbie Peebles which served to reduce the service from wide areas to the Saints front three of Craig MacEwan, Scott Maitland and Dean Smith. An accurate cross field pass from Donald Campbell in the tenth minute did however present an opportunity for David McArthur to send over a second dangerous cross of the afternoon however David's delivery was too heavy and once again eluded Craig MacEwan at the far post. Colville keeper Donald Scott was getting good distance with his kicking giving plenty heading practice to Saints central defensive pairing of Jamie Graham and skipper Marc Maccallum. In the fourteenth minute Paul Kerr, who worked tirelessly all afternoon in the centre of the park, lost possession in the centre circle allowing Alex Clearie to run at the Saints defence and unleash a right foot shot from distance which flashed well wide of Thomas McCulloch's right hand post. Colville's dead ball accuracy had the Saints defence under pressure again in the seventeenth minute. Liam Cusack again provided the delivery which despite Jamie Graham winning the header Saints were unable to fully clear and required a good challenge from Marc Maccallum to concede a corner and give the defence a chance to regroup. The corner kick from the right was again an accurate one with Garry Tierney out-jumping Jamie Graham and Donald Campbell to send a header wide of the post. At the other end Dougal Graham got forward on the left winning a corner and a chance for Willie Gemmell to show his prowess with the dead ball. Willie's whipped in cross was met by Marc Maccallum at the back post whose header on the stretch hit Craig MacEwan on the back and bounced harmlessly behind for a goal kick. Midway through the half Saints survived twin scares from the dangerous Colville wide men Miller and Peebles. Firstly Miller lobbed inches over the bar from eighteen yards then Peebles thundered a shot off the foot of Thomas McCulloch's right hand post with the big keeper rooted to the spot. Not normally one for coming off his line Thomas came through a ruck of players to punch clear an Alex Clearie free kick from the right and showed good handling to pluck the quickly returned ball from Michael Brown off the head of James Miller. Saints looked to be losing their way somewhat at this point and another good cross from the right found live wire Miller who was denied a second goal by a terrific save inside his right hand post from Thomas McCulloch. After surviving those scares Saints regained their composure and had a decent spell of possession before conceding what proved to be the winning goal from a breakaway on the Colville left. Kevin Fotheringham turned Jamie Graham inside out and dispatched a low shot which Thomas McCulloch blocked at his near post with Marc Maccallum clearing the loose ball out for a throw in. From a short throw by Liam Cusack James Miller executed a perfect turn to escape the attentions of Marc Maccallum and David McArthur and measured a flighted a cross towards the back post where Robbie Peebles out-jumped Dougal Graham to head past Thomas McCulloch who had little chance from just six yards range. Saints best opportunity of the first half came in the forty first minute from a Donald Campbell free kick. Scott Maitland found space in the box to turn Donald's lofted ball into the path of Craig MacEwan who lashed a left foot volley towards the top corner only to see Colville keeper Donald Scott claw the ball away with a fine save diving high to his right. Saints kept the pressure up from a throw-in on the right with Willie Gemmell picking out David McArthur in space twenty five yards out. David let fly with his right foot but saw his effort headed behind by Michael Brown at the expense of a corner. Willie Gemmell placed a dipping in-swinger straight on top of keeper Scott who climbed high above Dean Smith to punch the ball well clear of the danger area.

At the half time interval Manager Alex Craik decided to withdraw Dougal Graham who had been struggling all week with a heavy cold and replace him with Ross Maitland. Scott Maitland dropped back into the defence with Ross taking up his customary position on the right of the front three. James Miller continued to be thorn in the side of the Saints defence and drew a foul from David McArthur in forty eighth minute giving Kevin Fotheringham the chance to show what he could do from a set piece. Fotheringham delivered a tempting cross but Thomas McCulloch climbed above Garry Tierney to punch clear. For the second week in succession Craig MacEwan lasted little more than five minutes of the second half before his persistent calf injury made it too painful for him to continue. Dene Cassells came on and took up position on the right of the front three with Ross Maitland switching to the left. Saints knew that they had to up the tempo if they were to force an equaliser but their experienced opponents wouldn't allow them any time at all on the ball making it almost impossible for Saints to build up any kind of momentum. Thomas McCulloch produced another fine save from Kevin Fotheringham in the fifty fourth minute after the Colville striker had pounced on a miscued Jamie Graham header. Second half chances were rare for Saints therefore cashing in on set pieces assumed a larger than normal importance. With main aerial threat Craig MacEwan off the field Dene Cassells became the target for Ross Maitland's corner kicks but the wee man's usual accuracy deserted him and his sixty second minute out-swinger from the right sailed over the head of Dene and his marker at the back post. In a bizarre sixty sixth minute incident Referee Kevin Nolan was caught in a sandwich between Ross Maitland and Colville central defender Thomas Airlie which left the whistler in a crumpled heap. After the initial amusement had subsided it became apparent that Mr Nolan was in some genuine discomfort with what was later diagnosed as two cracked ribs. The Referee bravely decided to soldier on but his lack of full mobility cost Saints dear just two minutes later. Scott Maitland played a delightful ball through the inside left channel to Ross Maitland sending the wee man through one-on-one with the Colville keeper however much to the frustration of the Saints players and bench Mr Nolan failed to notice Garry Tierney on the left of the Colville back three standing several yards behind team mates Thomas Airlie and Stephen McDevitt and blew for offside denying Saints a great chance to bag an equaliser. David McArthur's difficult afternoon with James Miller continued with the Colville wide man beating the Saints right back before swinging in a tempting cross which Donald Campbell did well to head clear. Miller forced a corner on the left in the seventieth minute which was headed clear but only as far as Michael Brown on the edge of the box who fired a terrific shot just wide of Thomas McCulloch's right hand post. Manager Alex Craik then made his third change replacing Dean Smith with Allan Mackay. Colville continued to soak up everything Saints could throw at them and looked to hit on the break. In the seventy fourth minute a Saints attack on the left wing broke down with Scott Maitland ahead of the ball leaving Jamie Graham exposed at the back. Substitute Thomas Murray reacting quickest to the loose ball but was jockeyed well by Jamie and couldn't get a clean enough contact on his shot to trouble Thomas McCulloch. Saints eventually managed to get in behind the well drilled Coville defence in the seventy eighth minute when Donald Campbell and Scott Maitland combined well on the left to set Ross Maitland away. Ross burst into the box but before he could pull the trigger he was dispossessed by a well timed sliding challenge by Thomas Airlie to turn the ball behind for a corner. Ross Maitland flighted his kick to the back post and away from the goalkeeper but Donald Scott came a long way from his goal line through a ruck of players to get fingertips on the ball diverting the ball out for a throw in. With just ten minutes remaining Allan Mackay had the slightest of chances but despite getting the better of Stephen McDevitt in the air he was unable head Ross Maitland's cross on target. With Saints pushing forward they were again caught on the counter attack in the eighty second minute with only a determined tracking run and perfectly timed sliding challenge by skipper Marc Maccallum preventing substitute Paul McAulay from testing Thomas McCulloch. Saints made their final change in the eighty sixth minute with Keith Millar replacing Willie Gemmell. As tempers threatened to boil over in the closing minutes Marc Maccallum joined first half booking victim Scott Maitland in the Referee's notebook for dissent. Colville's Jamie Bradley quickly followed suit for a heavy late challenge on Marc Maccallum on the half way line. In time added on for stoppages Dene Cassells became the last entry in Mr Nolan's notebook for a late lunge on Michael Brown which was worthy of a yellow card but the mayhem that ensued convinced the Referee to issue him with a red card. The resulting free kick came to nothing and Mr Nolan who handled the match well, particularly considering he was carrying a serious injury for the last twenty five minutes, brought proceedings and Saints involvement in the West of Scotland Amateur Cup to an end.

Despite going out of this particular cup Saints are still going strong in the league and the Scottish Amateur Cup and therefore have plenty to look forward to in the remaining months of the season. Saints can also take encouragement from a good showing against an excellent Colville Park team who are undoubtedly the team to beat this season.