McColl’s men suffer cup KO in the first round
C’lang Gers......1 L’gelly Albert...2
Cambuslang Rangers were knocked out of the Scottish Junior Cup at the first hurdle after a shock 2- 1 defeat to Lochgelly Albert.
The visitors from Fife arrived at Somervell with few people giving them any chance of progressing to the third round.
But it was an all-round poor performance from the hosts, despite taking the lead early on.
The visitors hit back and looked the hungrier as Lang failed to hit the heights of late.
Manager Paul McColl made no fewer than six changes to his starting line-up.
Out went Mark Bishop, Thomas Kilmartin, Jamie Macleod, Iain Stewart, Hal Bohme, and Ryan McBeth.
Coming in to replace them were Bob Davidson, Colin Nolan, Jordan Brand, Dylan Hendry, Kieran Chalmers and Colin Boylan. The fresh faces should have been good enough to see off Albert, but it was one of those games where nothing came off for the hosts.
Things started well for Cambuslang and they opened the scoring after seven minutes.
Gormley latched onto the through pass from Dale Simeon and coolly slotted the ball home.
That was as good as it got for The Lang as they huffed and puffed their way through the rest of the half, with few chances created for Gormley and co up front.
The visitors were level midway through the first half when a poor punch by keeper Brand allowed Scott Gibson time and space to pick his spot from eight yards out.
The home side came out in the second half with no changes, which surprised a few in the stands as there was no creativity from the Lang midfield.
One of their best efforts of the half came from Boylan, but he fired inches over from 18 yards. A change did come on 55 minutes when Kieran Chalmers made way for Macleod, but the injection of some width failed to alter the pattern of play.
On the hour mark a great header by Davidson was superbly saved by Wilson. This was Lang’s best spell of the game and they later rattled the post with Dale Simeon’s effort.
But the spell of pressure was short lived and the visitors grabbed what turned out to be the winner on 65 minutes.
A simple pass into the area was met by Albert sub John Ferguson who volleyed home from close range.
Macleod went close to grabbing the equaliser had it not been for Wilson’s smart save, but things got worse for Cambuslang when Halliday received a second booking and was sent for an early bath.
The visitors could have sealed it when their striker hit the post from two yards out but they held on for a deserved victory and an enjoyable bus trip home.
Cambuslang: Brand, Gebbie, Haliday, Kerr, Nolan (Kilmartin 75), Boylan, Chalmers (Macleod 55), Dale Simeon, Davidson, Gormley, Hendry (Bohme).