Lang bask in derby glory
Glens still in slump as Lang go joint top
Cambuslang Rangers ensured their local rivals slumped to the bottom of the Super First Division with a second successive derby day victory.
The Lang welcomed Glencairn to Somervell Park for the first league meeting between the pair since 2009.
Willie Harvey’s men are propping up the table with no points from three games while Lang sit joint top after taking the maximum from their respective matches.
The home side kept faith with a familiar looking attack with Dale Simeon, John Henderson, Jordan Morton and Callum McRobbie all starting.
In contrast, Glens’ top goal scorer Gary Smith was unavailable for family reasons, and the engine in midfield of Sean McGuire was absent due to holiday. Striker Alessandro Savarese was also on holiday, and striker Jay McKay had to pull out of the match during the warm-up after suffering an injury which had prevented him training in midweek.
The first chance arrived in the seventh minute as a lovely passing move by Glencairn ended with a cross from the right which flashed across the face of goal just too far in front of the sliding Graham Boyd.
Boyd raced through on goal in the 11th minute and was brought down from behind on the edge of the penalty area by Chris Smith. The defender was shown a yellow card and Jamie Hamilton fired the free kick against the defensive wall before Tony Fraser volleyed the rebound well over.
The Glens continued to threaten in the early stages as Fraser Team tried to finish off a great passing move but scuffed his shot from 18 yards.
Hamilton then intercepted a pass out of defence and fired in a shot which Ian Stewart did well to palm away. Moments later the midfielder’s cross was headed over by Boyd.
However, Glencairn failed to make their dominance count and paid the ultimate price in the 23rd minute. A diagonal ball over the top of the defence saw defender Craig McGregor let the ball bounce, which was enough invitation for McRobbie to nip in and flick the ball before being caught by McGregor’s attempted clearance.
A penalty kick was awarded and exGlencairn under-21 man McRobbie calmly fired past Jack Baker.
Cambuslang started to look a bit more comfortable in the game after their goal as Dale Simeon went close with a header and his neat flick beat Baker but also missed the target.
The Glens nearly found an equaliser in first half stoppage time when Ryan McArdle skipped into the box but his cross was hooked away by Stewart.
Both teams were unchanged at the interval, but Glencairn started the second half positively again. Hamilton unlocked the defence to release Boyd but the big striker chose to try to set up Team instead of shooting.
Cambuslang doubled their lead in the 56th minute.
McArdle claimed he had been impeded as he conceded possession but play was allowed to continue as sub Jordan Love rolled the ball in front of Morton who had time and acres of space to score.
The referee waved away penalty appeals by Cambuslang as Love turned Andy Neil and went down in the 59th minute.
The Glens gave themselves hope of a comeback as they pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left to play. McArdle’s cross from the left was headed back across goal by McNab and, as players lined up to apply the finish, it was sub Njabulo Ndlovu who volleyed into the net from close range.
Glencairn pressed for an equaliser as McNab fired an angled shot over. Then Hamilton’s stinging effort was parried out by Stewart only as far as Boyd who set up Bennett for another on-target effort which was blocked by the resolute home defence.