Brave second-half fightback sees Saints roll on in Scottish Cup
East Kilbride RR 2 Oban Saints 4 Scottish Amateur Cup – 5th round
LAST Saturday at a wind swept Keir Hardie Sports Centre, Holytown, Oban Saints fought back from a two-goal deficit against East Kilbride Rolls Royce to book their place in the sixth round of the Scottish Amateur Cup.
A brace from Scott Maitland either side of the half-time whistle brought Saints back into a match that looked to be running away from them before Myles McAuley and Craig MacEwan completed the turnaround.
After a silence of remembrance for the late Charles ‘Rex’ Gallacher, Scottish Amateur Football Association president, Saints kicked off attacking the village end in extremely windy conditions which would make life difficult for both teams.
A good interception in midfield by Keith Millar started Saints first meaningful attack in the third minute from which Matthew Kelly won the first corner kick of the match on the right. Daniel MacCuish’s left-footed in-swinger was punched clear at his front post by Rolly keeper Conor Flanagan, who made a solid connection to clear the danger.
A good run by Daniel MacCuish to get on the end of a Donald Campbell pass earned the youngster another opportunity to test the Rolly defence from the corner flag in the 13th minute. A better delivery this time was fractionally too high for the head of Craig MacEwan, allowing Conor Flanagan to make another decisive punched clearance.
Matthew Kelly made good ground on the right again to reach another Donald Campbell pass after 16 minutes. Kelly’s cross on the run was agonisingly beyond the outstretched boot of Daniel MacCuish as Saints continued to dominate the early exchanges.
Saints’ failure to capitalise on their early superiority was cruelly punished in the 20th minute when the hosts opened the scoring from their first foray into Saints territory.
There appeared to be no danger as the Saints defence mopped up a throw-in from the right but Willie Gemmell clearly had less time than he thought to measure a pass from the edge of the 18-yard box. As he looked for the runners ahead, Gemmell was caught in possession by Marc Brown with the loose ball breaking perfectly for Rolly centre forward Andrew Cunningham who drilled a shot low into the bottom corner beyond the left hand of Graham Douglas in the Saints goal.
The opening goal proved a major setback for Saints, whose passes suddenly stopped finding their intended target, allowing the Rolly to take over as the dominant force. A Willie Gemmell free-kick from the left gave Saints the chance to put the ball into the danger area unfortunately the curling delivery bounced just beyond the back post run of Matthew Kelly.
Rolly left back Scott Woods picked up the first yellow card of the match for a late 24th minute challenge on Daniel MacCuish on the edge of the centre circle.
The woodwork came to Saints’ rescue in the 26th minute when, after a good Calum Steel run up the left wing, the ball was worked across to Steven Christie who crashed a right-foot shot off the Saints crossbar. The rebound fell to John McMonagle who cushioned a close range effort into the grateful arms of Graham Douglas.
The Saints goal continued to lead a charmed life with Daniel MacCuish making a crucial block on the penalty spot to deflect an Andrew Cunningham shot wide for a corner kick just on the half-hour mark.
Saints’ fortunes were dealt another blow when Keith Millar’s troublesome hamstrings forced him to leave the action in the 35th minute. With very few options on the bench, the gaffer took to the field, going into the middle of the back three with Willie Gemmell moving forward into midfield.
The gaffer had little time to adjust to the pace of the game and was left flat-footed in the 38th minute by Andrew Cunningham, who ran off him to power a header from a Marc Brown corner into the roof of the net and double the advantage for the hosts.
The Rolly had raised more than a few eyebrows by eliminating reigning Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division Champions St Joseph’s FP in the fourth round and now looked set to add Saints to their list of conquests.
The second goal, however, proved to be just the wake-up call that Saints were desperately in need of and within three minutes of the half-time break Scott Maitland pulled one back. Linking up with Craig MacEwan and Donald Campbell, Maitland cut in from the left and placed a curling right-foot finish across Conor Flanagan and into the bottom corner of the net.
With the lifeline just before the half-time interval came another change of momentum in the match, with Saints now very much back on the front foot. Just two second half minutes had elapsed when Mathew Kelly ran at the heart of the Rolly defence and threaded a pass through to Scott Maitland, who timed his run well to beat the Rolly offside trap. With the home side appealing in vain for an offside decision, Maitland had the freedom of the 18-yard box to take the ball around Conor Flanagan and tuck it left-footed into the bottom corner.
Saints completed the turnaround to round off a devastating 10-minute spell either side of the half-time whistle. Another swashbuckling attack was rounded off by Myles McAuley who got on the end of a Daniel MacCuish pass and curled a delightful finish past the despairing left hand of Conor Flanagan to give Saints the lead for the first time in the tie.
The Rolly made their first change in the 55th minute, replacing Calum Steel with Connor Briody. The move almost paid instant dividends with Briody sending Andrew Cunningham into the box where Alex Craik made a vital interception to take the ball off the toe of the Rolly striker at the expense of a corner kick on the left which Craig Campbell headed clear.
At the other end, the Rolly defence also coped well with a wind-assisted corner kick partially clearing Willie Gemmell’s 60th-minute effort before Conor Flanagan came through a pile of bodies to get good distance with yet another decisive punched clearance from Gemmell’s second attempt.
Frustration began to set in for the home side with Greg Kinnaird, Andrew Cunningham and skipper Paul Hughes all picking up bookings from referee Andrew McLean inside a nine-minute spell.
A poor clearance in an otherwise solid performance from Saints’ number one Graham Douglas resulted in a goalmouth scramble in the 75th minute which almost cost Saints the lead. Sugar redeemed himself somewhat with an excellent save pushing an Andrew Cunningham shot onto the crossbar sparking a stramash which saw Alex Craik head the rebound off the goal line only for Steven MacLeod to head his attempted clearance against the crossbar once again before Andrew Cunningham passed up a fantastic opportunity to seal his hat-trick by heading over from six yards range.
Saints took full advantage of this let-off to extend their advantage just two minutes later. After a tidy passing move involving Myles McAuley, Matthew Kelly, Daniel MacCuish and Donald Campbell, a perfectly weighted pass from the skipper picked out Craig MacEwan’s run into the box. Conor Flanagan dived bravely at MacEwan’s feet but the Saints’ top scorer clipped the ball over the prostrate keeper and into the net for Saints’ fourth goal.
A similarly patient build-up 10 minutes later should have seen Saints stretch their lead still further but Matthew Kelly opted for power over placement and blazed an excellent opportunity high and wide of target.
The hosts kept plugging away but the Saints’ defence remained firm until one final scare with two minutes of the regulation 90 remaining. After two failed attempts to clear a bouncing ball inside the 18-yard box the ball fell to Andrew Cunningham who sliced his shot wide of the junction of post and bar.
After five added minutes, the referee brought an exciting encounter to a close confirming Saints’ place in the sixth round and another difficult away trip this time to West Kilbride to face Kilbride Thistle of the Ayrshire Amateur Football Association Premier League.
That tie will be played this coming Saturday at Kilwinning with a 1pm kick-off.
Meanwhile Saints lost out in the second round of the Jimmy Marshall Trophy at Oban High School 3G on Tuesday night losing 5-4 on penalites after the game had finished 1-1 to a very good Lochgilphead Red Star team. Full report and photographs in next week’s paper.