Glens advance in Central contest

Rutherglen Glencairn manager Willie Harvey reckoned his team would have been worthy winners even without the harsh sending off of the St. Roch’s goalkeeper in the Central League Cup clash .

Candy Rock’s No.1 Chris Treacy was given his marching orders just before half-time after he was judged to have handled the ball outside his penalty area.

The shot-stopper took a fresh air swipe at a long ball out of defence, leaving Glens striker Liam Gormley with an open goal to shoot towards.

Treacy dived in front of the ball to block with his stomach but the referee ruled that he had used his hand and was subsequently ordered off.

Harvey said:“It was never a red card in all my life. The goalkeeper has messed up his kick and redeemed himself by spreading himself and the ball hit his belly.

“When you watch the highlights back you can see it clearly but I think the only person who thought it was a red card was the referee.

“I think it is easy to say now but even if it was 11 v 11 in the second half I don’t think it would have made a difference.”

Harvey hailed his team’s spirit to get back into the game in the second half having gone a goal down early.

Jamie Hamilton equalised and Gary Smith put them ahead from a free kick before an own goal killed any hopes of a fightback.

“I was pleased apart from the early mistakes we made for the first goal that we defended very poorly,”Harvey continued.“After that we controlled the game without dominating. “We were relaxed about the game. “I heard comments from their manager that they maybe should have scored a couple more goals but I can’t remember them having too many chances.

“In the second half we started to play the way we can play.

“In the first we didn’t keep possession and played long balls which is what they wanted us to do. So we fell into that trap a little bit.”

Commenting on Smith’s expertly driven set piece from just outside the box, Harvey added :“When you get a free kick in that area there’s a very good chance you will score from it.

“If teams give us a free kick around about the box they put themselves under a bit of pressure because 90 per cent of the time Gary will hit the target, and if he doesn’t score he will force the keeper into a save.”

The victory saw The Glens advance into the second round of the competition to play Ashfield at home, who knocked them out of the West of Scotland Cup earlier this season.

However, it is back to league business tonight as Rutherglen host Larkhall Thistle before welcoming Shettleston to the Celsius Stadium on Saturday.

Harvey said:“Larkhall will be a difficult game. After we scored a 93rd minute penalty to win the game last time, although it was never a penalty, they will look to get us back and they will see us as beatable. On any given day we are beatable but if we play to our potential we can beat anybody.”