Saturday 30th April 2016
Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division
Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division
Oban Saints AFC 2 - 6 Goldenhill AFC
Glencruitten 2, Mossfield Avenue, Oban, Argyll PA34 4EH
Kick off 2pm
Referee Mr James Litster
Last Saturday Saints returned to Glencruitten for the first time since the Scottish Amateur Cup quarter final win over Shortlees on 19th March in search of three precious points to keep their feint Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division title hopes alive. Regrettably since that euphoric afternoon Saints have failed to recapture the form which propelled them to the semi final at New Douglas Park and faced an uphill struggle against West of Scotland Cup finalists Goldenhill. Adding to Manager Alex Craik's problems was the enforced absence through injuries sustained in the midweek 0 - 0 draw at Alba Thistle of Craig Campbell, Allan Mackay and Skipper Marc Maccallum. Also injured on Wednesday night in Paisley was Paul Kerr who was deemed fit enough for a place on the bench alongside Dougal Graham, new signing Paul Carmichael and the Manager. Despite the injury woes the starting line-up of Thomas McCulloch, David McArthur, Willie Gemmell, Jamie Graham, Scott Maitland, Myles McAuley, Keith Millar, Donald Campbell, Ross Maitland, Dean Smith and Craig MacEwan was strong and close to full strength.
After two successive goal-less draws on their travels Saints return to Glencruitten brought with it a glut of goals however the eight goals were not distributed quite as the Saints faithful would have hoped. The visitors kicked off attacking the Mossfield end and after a fairly even opening ten minutes were gifted a perfect chance to open the scoring when Scott Maitland made a hash of an attemped clearance of a cross from the Gowdie left. James Gallagher pounced on the loose ball and stabbed a first time effort straight at Thomas McCulloch which the big keeper did well to touch onto his left hand post. Gallagher was first to the rebound, easily tricking his way past Maitland before shooting from a tight angle towards the near post where Jamie Graham had taken up a good position to knock the ball behind for a corner kick. Gowdie Skipper Richard Gow won the header from the corner but sent his back post effort well wide of target. Saints Skipper for the day Donald Campbell produced a reminder of the talents which have caught the eye of Scottish International Select Manager Bruce McNaught by skillfully working his way out of a tight angle by the corner flag before being hauled back by Damon Gray before he could make his way into the penalty box. Ross Maitland curled the free kick to the back post but the Gowdie defence made good use of their height advantage to head clear. Gowdie left winger Martin Lawlor was giving Saints right back David McArthur some worrying moments and Willie Gemmell has to react quickly in the eighteenth minute to cut out a dangerous looking Lawlor cross heading behind at the near post for a corner kick. With the Saints defence expecting the big men to come up from the back the Gowdie took a quick short free kick which was pulled back to Matt Moore on the edge of the box who swept a left foot shot just wide of the foot of McCulloch's left hand post. The visitors were now beginning to pick holes in the home defence and had three excellent chances in the space of two minutes. A twenty second minute Matt Moore long throw from the left was headed out of the box by Willie Gemmell but feel invitingly for Jack Bennett who fired in a sweetly struck shot from which Thomas McCulloch produced an excellent save low down to his right. McCulloch was the hero again just moments later when another miscued clearance from Scott Maitland fell to James Gallagher who couldn't believe his eyes as McCulloch pulled of a lighting reactions save to deny the striker from four yards range. In the twenty fourth minute Martin Lawlor again got the better of McCulloch on the Gowdie left and picked out Daniel McKenna in front of goals. This time McCulloch was beaten but Myles McAuley produced some heroics of his own to get back onto the goal line and block McKenna's shot at the keeper's left hand post. Somewhat against the run of play Saints opened the scoring in the twenty ninth minute with a rare appearance on the goal scorer's sheet for Myles McAuley. After being labelled the least prolific of goal scorers last week it was with no little irony that the combative midfielder notched his second goal of the campaign from a move which he started and finished himself. Picking up a Craig MacEwan knock down in midfield Myles drove at the heart of the Gowdie defence before slipping the ball wide to Ross Maitland. Myles continued his run into the box where he was picked out by a pin-point Maitland cross from the right bulleting his header into the bottom corner past Gowdie keeper Scott Rennie. The goal lit the blue touch paper for Saints who produced a ten minute spell of excellent football keeping the visitors very much on the back foot. The lead was doubled in the thirty second minute with McAuley and Maitland again linking up well to open up the Gowdie defence. Myles powered forward on the Saints left and fed Ross on the edge of the box. Ross worked his way along the eighteen yard line and curled a right foot shot towards the postage stamp corner which took a deflection off the head of a Gowdie defender completely wrong footing Scott Rennie and nestling in the back off the net. Saints continued their purple patch with Dean Smith testing Scott Rennie low down to his left after a smart turn and shot on the edge of the eighteen yard box. Dean came close again moments later as both he and Ross Maitland timed their runs well to beat the Gowdie off-side trap and get on the end of a defence splitting Donald Campbell pass. Ross drew the advancing keeper and slipped the ball to Dean on his left who, with more time than he realised, opted for a left foot chip shot which drifted high and wide of the near post. Myles McAuley started another sweeping move in the thirty seventh minute bisecting Steven Dock and Damon Gray with an excellent pass to release Scott Maitland on the left wing. Scott raced to the bye-line and sent a cut back to Ross Maitland whose spectacular scissor kick flew inches wide of Scott Rennie's right hand post. The Saints ascendancy was brought to an abrupt halt in the thirty ninth minute with a simple ball over the top. Jamie Graham appeared to slip missing his header and allowing James Gallagher to run in unchallenged and slot a good left foot finish into the bottom corner. Two minutes later Gallagher was in behind the Saints defence again rounding the advancing Thomas McCulloch who resisted the temptation to make a risky challenge. Fortunately for Saints Gallagher's touch was slightly heavy leaving him with an acute angle from where he could only find the side netting. The visitors didn't have long to wait for their equaliser which came gift wrapped from a static home defence. Matt Moore launched in another of his long throw-ins from the right with Damon Gray reacting quickest to dispatch the bouncing ball past the helpless Thomas McCulloch. Saints reacted positively to this set back and straight from the re-start Ross Maitland made a incisive run at the Gowdie defence before slipping the ball to his left for Craig MacEwan. Craig advanced into the box but shot straight at Scott Rennie who pulled off a good save leaving the Saints striker disappointed not to have scored. It was honours even at half time which was a fair reflection of the first forty five minutes.
The Gowdie threatened twice on their right flank in the opening minutes of the second half with Jamie Graham twice making important interceptions to cut out the danger. Saints weathered this initial storm and began to gain the upper hand with Keith Millar anchoring the midfield allowing Donald Campbell and Myles McAuley to probe for openings for the front three. In the forty eighth minute Donald Campbell found Craig MacEwan in space on the edge of the Gowdie box with Craig unfortunate to see a net bound right foot shot deflected wide for a corner kick. In a brief respite for their defence the Gowdie broke forward with Jack Bennett smashing in a twenty eight yard shot which Willie Gemmell did well to block on the edge of his own box. There was a moment of controversy in the fifty first minute as Craig MacEwan burst into the box and appeared to be fouled by Richard Gow. Craig could well have gone down under the challenge but having been twice wrongly booked for simulation already this season continued his run and got his shot away at the near post only to be thwarted by an excellent block by Matt Moore. Saints continued to press but found clear cut chances hard to come by against the well drilled Gowdie defence and, just as in the first half, conceded when they were on top. In the sixty third minute another Saints attack broke down on the edge of the Gowdie box with Myles McAuley halting the counter attack by clipping the heels of Martin Lawlor on the half way line. The free kick was swung in from the left and met by Richard Gow who headed down into the box. Once again the Saints defence failed to react with James Gallagher winning the second ball and tucking the ball inside Thomas McCulloch's left hand post to give the visitors the lead. Manager Alex Craik made the first of two changes in the sixty fifth minute giving a debut to Paul Carmichael who replaced Dean Smith in the middle of the front three. Paul showed up reasonably well considering this was his first game of football for seven weeks and should prove to be a valuable addition to the Saints squad. Thomas McCulloch produced another good save in the sixty sixth minute getting down well to his right to smother a Steven Dock shot from the edge of the box. Failure to deal with the long ball over the top once again proved to be the undoing of the Saints defence. A long clearance from Scott Rennie had the Saints defence backpedaling with Willie Gemmell's attempted clearing header landed behind him and conveniently into the path of James Gallagher. The Saints defence appealed in vain for an offside decision against Gallagher who buried the chance past Thomas McCulloch to seal his hat-trick. Saints kept probing for the opening which would bring them back into the game but the Gowdie defence stood firm providing the platform for some devastating counter attacks. In the seventy ninth minute the Gowdie profited again from Saints failure to deal with the ball over the top. Daniel McKenna nipped in behind Jamie Graham and slammed a terrific finish into the postage stamp corner leaving Thomas McCulloch clutching at fresh air. The hesitancy in the back four then spread to the goalkeeper with a caught in two minds McCulloch making a hash of a clearance which landed at the feet of Martin Lawlor who somehow managed to miss an open goal screwing his first time effort wide of target. With ten minutes remaining Saints made their final change with Dougal Graham replacing Scott Maitland at left back. In the eighty fourth minute Daniel McKenna almost repeated his scoring feat of five minutes earlier cutting in from the left and shooting across Thomas McCulloch who this time was equal to McKenna's effort and showed good handling to hold the shot. The scoring was completed in the eighty sixth minute when Matt Moore was allowed far too much time on the edge of the box to send in a dipping shot which deceived McCulloch and bounced into the net for the visitor's sixth and thankfully final goal. Mercifully Referee Jimmy Litster, who handled the match well without the need to produce a single yellow card, blew for full time almost certainly signalling the end of Saints league title hopes for another season.
The result not only keeps the Gowdie in the title race but also gives them a massive confidence boost ahead of next Friday's West of Scotland Cup final against Shortlees at New Douglas Park, Hamilton.
Saints turn their attentions to the Jimmy Marshall Trophy on Wednesday night which now represents their only realistic hope of ending the season with some silverware. The quarter final tie at Toryglen against Kings Park Rangers kicks off at 8pm and must be played to a finish on the night with penalty kicks to decide the winner if the sides cannot be separated after ninety minutes.
Glencruitten 2, Mossfield Avenue, Oban, Argyll PA34 4EH
Kick off 2pm
Referee Mr James Litster
Saints Starting line-up:-
Thomas McCulloch
David McArthur
Willie Gemmell
Jamie Graham
Scott Maitland
Willie Gemmell
Jamie Graham
Scott Maitland
Myles McAuley
Keith Millar
Donald Campbell
Keith Millar
Donald Campbell
Ross Maitland
Dean Smith
Craig MacEwan
Dean Smith
Craig MacEwan
Used Substitutes:-
Paul Carmichael
Dougal Graham
Dougal Graham
Unused Substitutes:-
Alex Craik
Paul Kerr
Paul Kerr
Saints Goalscorers:-
Myles McAuley
Ross Maitland
Ross Maitland
Last Saturday Saints returned to Glencruitten for the first time since the Scottish Amateur Cup quarter final win over Shortlees on 19th March in search of three precious points to keep their feint Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division title hopes alive. Regrettably since that euphoric afternoon Saints have failed to recapture the form which propelled them to the semi final at New Douglas Park and faced an uphill struggle against West of Scotland Cup finalists Goldenhill. Adding to Manager Alex Craik's problems was the enforced absence through injuries sustained in the midweek 0 - 0 draw at Alba Thistle of Craig Campbell, Allan Mackay and Skipper Marc Maccallum. Also injured on Wednesday night in Paisley was Paul Kerr who was deemed fit enough for a place on the bench alongside Dougal Graham, new signing Paul Carmichael and the Manager. Despite the injury woes the starting line-up of Thomas McCulloch, David McArthur, Willie Gemmell, Jamie Graham, Scott Maitland, Myles McAuley, Keith Millar, Donald Campbell, Ross Maitland, Dean Smith and Craig MacEwan was strong and close to full strength.
After two successive goal-less draws on their travels Saints return to Glencruitten brought with it a glut of goals however the eight goals were not distributed quite as the Saints faithful would have hoped. The visitors kicked off attacking the Mossfield end and after a fairly even opening ten minutes were gifted a perfect chance to open the scoring when Scott Maitland made a hash of an attemped clearance of a cross from the Gowdie left. James Gallagher pounced on the loose ball and stabbed a first time effort straight at Thomas McCulloch which the big keeper did well to touch onto his left hand post. Gallagher was first to the rebound, easily tricking his way past Maitland before shooting from a tight angle towards the near post where Jamie Graham had taken up a good position to knock the ball behind for a corner kick. Gowdie Skipper Richard Gow won the header from the corner but sent his back post effort well wide of target. Saints Skipper for the day Donald Campbell produced a reminder of the talents which have caught the eye of Scottish International Select Manager Bruce McNaught by skillfully working his way out of a tight angle by the corner flag before being hauled back by Damon Gray before he could make his way into the penalty box. Ross Maitland curled the free kick to the back post but the Gowdie defence made good use of their height advantage to head clear. Gowdie left winger Martin Lawlor was giving Saints right back David McArthur some worrying moments and Willie Gemmell has to react quickly in the eighteenth minute to cut out a dangerous looking Lawlor cross heading behind at the near post for a corner kick. With the Saints defence expecting the big men to come up from the back the Gowdie took a quick short free kick which was pulled back to Matt Moore on the edge of the box who swept a left foot shot just wide of the foot of McCulloch's left hand post. The visitors were now beginning to pick holes in the home defence and had three excellent chances in the space of two minutes. A twenty second minute Matt Moore long throw from the left was headed out of the box by Willie Gemmell but feel invitingly for Jack Bennett who fired in a sweetly struck shot from which Thomas McCulloch produced an excellent save low down to his right. McCulloch was the hero again just moments later when another miscued clearance from Scott Maitland fell to James Gallagher who couldn't believe his eyes as McCulloch pulled of a lighting reactions save to deny the striker from four yards range. In the twenty fourth minute Martin Lawlor again got the better of McCulloch on the Gowdie left and picked out Daniel McKenna in front of goals. This time McCulloch was beaten but Myles McAuley produced some heroics of his own to get back onto the goal line and block McKenna's shot at the keeper's left hand post. Somewhat against the run of play Saints opened the scoring in the twenty ninth minute with a rare appearance on the goal scorer's sheet for Myles McAuley. After being labelled the least prolific of goal scorers last week it was with no little irony that the combative midfielder notched his second goal of the campaign from a move which he started and finished himself. Picking up a Craig MacEwan knock down in midfield Myles drove at the heart of the Gowdie defence before slipping the ball wide to Ross Maitland. Myles continued his run into the box where he was picked out by a pin-point Maitland cross from the right bulleting his header into the bottom corner past Gowdie keeper Scott Rennie. The goal lit the blue touch paper for Saints who produced a ten minute spell of excellent football keeping the visitors very much on the back foot. The lead was doubled in the thirty second minute with McAuley and Maitland again linking up well to open up the Gowdie defence. Myles powered forward on the Saints left and fed Ross on the edge of the box. Ross worked his way along the eighteen yard line and curled a right foot shot towards the postage stamp corner which took a deflection off the head of a Gowdie defender completely wrong footing Scott Rennie and nestling in the back off the net. Saints continued their purple patch with Dean Smith testing Scott Rennie low down to his left after a smart turn and shot on the edge of the eighteen yard box. Dean came close again moments later as both he and Ross Maitland timed their runs well to beat the Gowdie off-side trap and get on the end of a defence splitting Donald Campbell pass. Ross drew the advancing keeper and slipped the ball to Dean on his left who, with more time than he realised, opted for a left foot chip shot which drifted high and wide of the near post. Myles McAuley started another sweeping move in the thirty seventh minute bisecting Steven Dock and Damon Gray with an excellent pass to release Scott Maitland on the left wing. Scott raced to the bye-line and sent a cut back to Ross Maitland whose spectacular scissor kick flew inches wide of Scott Rennie's right hand post. The Saints ascendancy was brought to an abrupt halt in the thirty ninth minute with a simple ball over the top. Jamie Graham appeared to slip missing his header and allowing James Gallagher to run in unchallenged and slot a good left foot finish into the bottom corner. Two minutes later Gallagher was in behind the Saints defence again rounding the advancing Thomas McCulloch who resisted the temptation to make a risky challenge. Fortunately for Saints Gallagher's touch was slightly heavy leaving him with an acute angle from where he could only find the side netting. The visitors didn't have long to wait for their equaliser which came gift wrapped from a static home defence. Matt Moore launched in another of his long throw-ins from the right with Damon Gray reacting quickest to dispatch the bouncing ball past the helpless Thomas McCulloch. Saints reacted positively to this set back and straight from the re-start Ross Maitland made a incisive run at the Gowdie defence before slipping the ball to his left for Craig MacEwan. Craig advanced into the box but shot straight at Scott Rennie who pulled off a good save leaving the Saints striker disappointed not to have scored. It was honours even at half time which was a fair reflection of the first forty five minutes.
The Gowdie threatened twice on their right flank in the opening minutes of the second half with Jamie Graham twice making important interceptions to cut out the danger. Saints weathered this initial storm and began to gain the upper hand with Keith Millar anchoring the midfield allowing Donald Campbell and Myles McAuley to probe for openings for the front three. In the forty eighth minute Donald Campbell found Craig MacEwan in space on the edge of the Gowdie box with Craig unfortunate to see a net bound right foot shot deflected wide for a corner kick. In a brief respite for their defence the Gowdie broke forward with Jack Bennett smashing in a twenty eight yard shot which Willie Gemmell did well to block on the edge of his own box. There was a moment of controversy in the fifty first minute as Craig MacEwan burst into the box and appeared to be fouled by Richard Gow. Craig could well have gone down under the challenge but having been twice wrongly booked for simulation already this season continued his run and got his shot away at the near post only to be thwarted by an excellent block by Matt Moore. Saints continued to press but found clear cut chances hard to come by against the well drilled Gowdie defence and, just as in the first half, conceded when they were on top. In the sixty third minute another Saints attack broke down on the edge of the Gowdie box with Myles McAuley halting the counter attack by clipping the heels of Martin Lawlor on the half way line. The free kick was swung in from the left and met by Richard Gow who headed down into the box. Once again the Saints defence failed to react with James Gallagher winning the second ball and tucking the ball inside Thomas McCulloch's left hand post to give the visitors the lead. Manager Alex Craik made the first of two changes in the sixty fifth minute giving a debut to Paul Carmichael who replaced Dean Smith in the middle of the front three. Paul showed up reasonably well considering this was his first game of football for seven weeks and should prove to be a valuable addition to the Saints squad. Thomas McCulloch produced another good save in the sixty sixth minute getting down well to his right to smother a Steven Dock shot from the edge of the box. Failure to deal with the long ball over the top once again proved to be the undoing of the Saints defence. A long clearance from Scott Rennie had the Saints defence backpedaling with Willie Gemmell's attempted clearing header landed behind him and conveniently into the path of James Gallagher. The Saints defence appealed in vain for an offside decision against Gallagher who buried the chance past Thomas McCulloch to seal his hat-trick. Saints kept probing for the opening which would bring them back into the game but the Gowdie defence stood firm providing the platform for some devastating counter attacks. In the seventy ninth minute the Gowdie profited again from Saints failure to deal with the ball over the top. Daniel McKenna nipped in behind Jamie Graham and slammed a terrific finish into the postage stamp corner leaving Thomas McCulloch clutching at fresh air. The hesitancy in the back four then spread to the goalkeeper with a caught in two minds McCulloch making a hash of a clearance which landed at the feet of Martin Lawlor who somehow managed to miss an open goal screwing his first time effort wide of target. With ten minutes remaining Saints made their final change with Dougal Graham replacing Scott Maitland at left back. In the eighty fourth minute Daniel McKenna almost repeated his scoring feat of five minutes earlier cutting in from the left and shooting across Thomas McCulloch who this time was equal to McKenna's effort and showed good handling to hold the shot. The scoring was completed in the eighty sixth minute when Matt Moore was allowed far too much time on the edge of the box to send in a dipping shot which deceived McCulloch and bounced into the net for the visitor's sixth and thankfully final goal. Mercifully Referee Jimmy Litster, who handled the match well without the need to produce a single yellow card, blew for full time almost certainly signalling the end of Saints league title hopes for another season.
The result not only keeps the Gowdie in the title race but also gives them a massive confidence boost ahead of next Friday's West of Scotland Cup final against Shortlees at New Douglas Park, Hamilton.
Saints turn their attentions to the Jimmy Marshall Trophy on Wednesday night which now represents their only realistic hope of ending the season with some silverware. The quarter final tie at Toryglen against Kings Park Rangers kicks off at 8pm and must be played to a finish on the night with penalty kicks to decide the winner if the sides cannot be separated after ninety minutes.
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| Scott Rennie gathers corner kick cleanly |
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| Craig MacEwan and Steven Dock |
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| Myles McAuley and Jack Bennett |
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| Donald Campbell gets the better of Damon Gray |
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| Scott Maitland and Keith Millar |
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| Myles McAuley opens the scoring |
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| Craig MacEwan wins header from Damon Gray |
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| Half time team talk |
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| Ross Maitland and Dean Smith kick off the second half |
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| Donald Campbell and Paul Carmichael |
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| Ross Maitland |
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| Paul Carmichael |
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