Young Pupils perfect start
CAMPBELTOWN Pupils U15s continued their strong league opening by making it four wins from four, despite giving away a penalty and having a man sent off.
PUPILS Under-15s made it four wins from four in the league after a brace from Fraser MacBrayne kept up their superb start to the season.
The home side were indebted to their keeper, McKellar, who pulled off an excellent penalty save to keep them level in the first half.
Kicking off early on the 3G pitch at Kinloch last weekend, the game started off quickly and was end to end in the early stages with Campbeltown enjoying the best chances.
The home side missed a golden chance to take an early lead in the first couple of minutes when Colville produced some good play on the right, passing the Ardencaple defence to work himself into a shooting position.
Instead of pulling the trigger, he squared to Wallace who was in a better position but he shot well over.
The game had to be stopped shortly after as two players clashed heads jumping for a high ball. Both youngsters thankfully recovered and played on.
The home side had another couple of chances. A good through ball found Wallace who hit his shot over the bar before MacBrayne lined up a free-kick from 20 yards that soared over as well.
Ardencaple then went on the attack and were awarded a penalty after McGrory pulled down one of the visitors’ forwards.
McKellar stood up well and managed to make a great save down to his left to crucially keep the score level.
The save proved a pivotal moment, as soon after the Pupils took the lead. A good cross into the penalty area found MacBrayne who made no mistake from close range.
MacBrayne scored his third in two matches when he doubled the Pupils’ lead, firing in a 25-yard free-kick just before half-time.
In the second half, the visitors came closest to scoring when they put some pressure on the Pupils’ defence and saw a strong effort pushed onto the bar by McKellar.
The game became more physical with some hefty tackles being made, one which resulted in the referee booking two opposing players for squaring up to each other. However, with the situation seemingly calmed, Pupils winger Wallace carried the incident on when he struck the opponent leaving the referee no choice but to send him for an early bath. The Pupils were down to 10 men for the later stages, but kept their composure to hold on to the lead and maintain their stellar start.