U-21s’ win over St Peter’s extends 100% record

Glencairn U-21s ...... 5 Giffnock North ........ 2

Peter Ferguson Rutherglen Glencairn Under21s maintained their unbeaten record in all competitions this season with a hard-fought 5-2 win over St Peter’s Giffnock North Under-21s at Glasgow Green Football Centre.

The weekend’s result moved the young Glens up into second place in the league table, only one point behind leaders Pollok Juveniles, with three games in hand.

St Peter’s weren’t showing much of a threat in the early stages, and Glencairn had a grip on the midfield play which resulted in a general flow of the ball towards the visitors’ goal.

It was no surprise when the deadlock was broken in the 13th minute as the Glens took the lead. Anton Phinn lifted a free kick over the defence, where Dale Wallace got a touch to the ball with his head, enough to knock it past goalkeeper Daniel McLean.

St Peter’s brought themselves level against the run of play in the 21st minute with an excellent goal. The ball was fed forward to striker Jordon Davidson, who hit the ball on the turn and it flashed into the top right hand corner of the net past helpless Glencairn ‘keeper Chris Truesdale.

There was a big shout for a penalty kick for Glencairn in the 35th minute when Phinn’s reverse pass slipped in Wallace and he appeared to be tripped as he tried to shoot, but the referee wasn’t interested on this occasion.

It was a different story only three minutes later, however, when the referee this time did point to the penalty spot for Glencairn. Connor McGuiness drove into the penalty area before being clipped as he tried to shoot, and Ryan Bennett grabbed the ball to fire the young Glens back into the lead at 2-1.

St Peter’s were level once again in the 55th minute with a delightful curled finish from the edge of the penalty area by Greg McEwan.

The Glens went back on the offensive and Phinn pulled an excellent diving save out of McLean, and it was the St Peter’s last line of defence in the way again a few minutes later as he denied a low snapshot by Bennett.

On the hour mark a throw-in from the left was flicked on by McArthur, and Anton Phinn was onto it in a flash to drive a rare right foot shot past McLean and give Glencairn the lead for the third time.

Two minutes later Jason McArthur spun away from his marker on the left and cut diagonally into the penalty area, before firing under McLean to make it 4-2.

The points were secured with ten minutes remaining, as Jason McArthur linked again with Phinn before firing a low shot past McLean at his near post to make it 5-2.

Under 21s head coach Alex McArthur was pleased with what he had watched. He said: “That was a much better show today after a couple of sloppy weeks. We were much more like ourselves today. We dipped for about a 20-minute spell but then we picked it up again, and it’s good to see all of our strikers scoring today.”