Pupils’ cup dreams are dented in opening defeat
Campbeltown Pupils fluffed their lines in a cup curtain-raiser last Saturday in a 2-1 loss to Lochgilphead Red Star.
After a promising pre-season yielding four wins out of four, the McFadyenssponsored Pupils had high hopes of winning their first competitive match of the season.
And it was all going to plan just 10 minutes in when Donald McCallum pounced on some slack Red Star defending to burst through on goal, and round the visitors’ keeper to finish smartly with his right foot into an unguarded net – the brightest moment in a subdued first half for both sides.
The ex-Dumbarton and Arbroath forward could have made it two just minutes into the second half after a surging run took him beyond the keeper again, but his effort was dramatically cleared off the line.
Instead it was Red Star who mounted a cup coup with two sucker-punch goals.
A warning of things to come arrived when Red Star midfielder Aaron Moore struck the bar with a great free-kick from 25 yards, before Stuart MacLean, just introduced as a substitute, evaded the offside trap to equalise below the Pupils’ young keeper Alasdair Ferguson.
Then, with 75 minutes played, Red Star took a surprise lead when the same player broke free of the Pupils defence to superbly lob an effort into the net.
Despite hitting the frame of the goal three times – once via a thunderbolt half-volley from Ryan McConnachie – and piling the pressure on their visitors, the Pupils could not find the equaliser their pressure perhaps merited, and Red Star left with three points and a commanding lead in this four-team, all-Argyll cup section.
Post-match hospitality was provided to both teams by the Pupils’ sponsor, the Feathers Inn.
The Pupils will look to register their first win of the season tomorrow (Saturday) when they travel to take on Dunoon Amateurs in the second of their three-cup group ties. Kick off is at 2pm, venue to be confirmed.