TEN MEN GLENS SLIP AT HOME
10-man Glens rue missed chance
Glencairn’s league frustrations continued as they slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to second placed Irvine Meadow XI.
The Glens chances were not helped by being reduced to 10 men midway through the second half, but they almost — and probably should have — grabbed a draw on the balance of play over the ninety minutes.
The first real chance of the match was to prove to be a significant one as the visitors took the lead.
With the home defence pulled to their left hand side, a cross from Meadow’s right saw Reece Pearson get in front of his marker, and his header looped up and over the helpless Garry Whyte to put Meadow 1-0 ahead.
It was an uninspiring first half, but Harry Mitchell went very close to an equaliser early in the second half as he fired a shot from 25 yards which was arrowing into the postage stamp corner, only for Meadow no.1 Shaun Newman to reach up and palm the ball round the post.
Having been shown yellow early in the game, Kris Gebbie was always treading a tightrope, and he was shown a second yellow in the 66th minute as he dived into a challenge in midfield.
Gebbie appeared to win the ball, but the referee deemed the nature of his challenge to be dangerous and flashed the yellow card and the inevitable red which followed.
The Glens had a golden chance to equalise in the 73rd minute.
A crossfield pass saw Harry Mitchell go down just inside the penalty area, and the referee blew for a penalty kick.
Simeon stepped up to take the effort from the spot, and he sent Newman the wrong way, but pulled his shot inches wide of the target to add to the home fans frustration.
Pearson thought he had killed the game off in the 84th minute as he unleashed a sweet volley which had Whyte beaten but smacked off the face of the far post, the ball rebounding kindly for the home defence to scramble the ball clear.
With four minutes left on the clock, Simeon’s head flick set up McRobbie with only Newman to beat, but the ball bounced high and he couldn’t get enough of a contact on the ball to lift it over the advancing goalkeeper ,who blocked the attempted lob, and another big chance had come and gone for the Glens.
●Rutherglen Glencairn :Whyte, Gebbie, Miller, Hewitt, Stevie Kerr, McGuire, Mackie (McGregor), Lachlan (Chrystal), McRobbie, Simeon, Mitchell.
Subs not used - Anderson, Fraser, McLellan (gk).