Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Rovers are ready for cup action
ALBION ROVERS.....1 HAMILTON ACCIES...3 MARK PIRIE Albion Rovers boss Kevin Harper feels his side are ready for the Betfred Cup despite defeat to Premiership outfit Hamilton Accies.
Goals from Jack Breen and Niyah Joseph were enough to cancel out Declan Bryne’s spot-kick for the League Two outfit.
Rovers manager Kevin Harper was proud of his side’s efforts against the Premiership side:“You can see how much better they are but it was a good workout for us.
“We dominated in parts and looked a threat at times and against a top level side that’s what you’re looking for.
“In our league if we make these mistakes we might not be punished.”
Accies, who were missing the likes of Darion McKinnon, Brian Easton and George Oakley, put in a dominant display in Coatbridge.
Midfielder Breen was causing problems with his set pieces as he found Gogic in a good position but the centre-half headed the ball over the crossbar after 25 minutes.
It was the midfielder who would break the deadlock on the half hour mark, as the ball fell kindly to him on the edge of the box and he slotted it neatly into the bottom corner.
In the second half, Rovers’ centre-half Lewis Wilson misjudged a punt up the park to which allowed Miller to calmly slip his low shot into the bottom corner past Ryan Goodfellow in 48 minutes.
Debuting Rovers winger Scott Roberts came close to netting his first goal as he latched on to Declan Byrne’s cross, but his shot skewed wide of trialist goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay’s post after 54 minutes.
The home side were handed a lifeline as Roberts was taken out by former Dundee man Gourlay as the forward attempted to reach a long ball, and Byrne buried the ball in the left-hand corner after 71 minutes.
It was to be nothing more than a consolation as 18-year-old Joseph, who was making his first-team debut, prodded in Accies’third from close range after 76 minutes.
Harper added:“Our players worked away right until the end of the game. Over the course I would say we are really happy with how our pre-season went.”