Saints battle to reach last eight of the Scottish Amateur Cup
Oban Saints 2
Yoker United 0 Scottish Cup – 7th round
LAST Saturday at a cold, wet and windy Glencruitten, Oban Saints clinched their place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Amateur Cup with a hardfought 2-0 victory over Yoker United. Despite this being their debut season, the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football League new boys gave an extremely good account of themselves and will be slightly disappointed not to have taken something from the game. Saints, however, dug in where necessary and, although well short of their best form, ultimately had too much for the visitors and booked a third consecutive quarter-final appearance.
Saints manager Alex Craik took the now customary flurry of late call-offs in his stride to name a strong starting eleven. Graham Douglas lined up in goal behind a back four of Steven MacLeod, Marc Maccallum, Paul Carmichael and Scott Maitland. Willie Gemmell anchored the midfield alongside Matthew Kelly and Keith Millar. Up front, skipper Donald Campbell spearheaded the attack flanked by Shaun MacIver and Craig MacEwan. On a full bench with a perfect blend of youth and experience were Alex Craik, Jamie Graham, Kerr Newbigging, Ruaridh Horne, Craig MacMillan and new signing James Ford.
The visitors kicked off attacking the Mossfield end, where they had the ball in the net after five minutes. Yoker skipper Allan Evans broke up a promising Saints attack with a robust but, in the opinion of 2017 Scottish Amateur Cup final referee Thomas Gilchrist, fair challenge on Scott Maitland, and immediately launched a counter-attack on the right.
With Maitland prostrate in the Yoker half, right-winger Derek Carson had plenty of the soggy Glencruitten turf to run into and collected the quick ball forward from Evans. The Saints defence had been turned and Carson’s ball across the box was turned in at the back post by Darren Currie. Fortunately for Saints, Mr Gilchrist ruled that Currie had strayed offside allowing Oban to survive the early scare.
Despite Yoker being a newlyformed club, manager James O’Hara has built a solid squad packed full of experience which had them in the ascendancy in the early exchanges as Saints failed miserably to hit their usual stride.
Yoker skipper Allan Evans earned a stern talking to from Mr Gilchrist for an overly robust tackle on Craig MacEwan before opposite number Donald Campbell stretched the referee’s patience too far and picked up the game’s first yellow card for a badly mistimed challenge on Stuart Alexander.
A better spell from Saints won the first corner kick of the match in the 21st minute after good work on the left from Scott Maitland, Craig MacEwan and Donald Campbell.
Derek Carson was proving a handful for Scott Maitland on the Yoker right but his low cross in the 22nd minute was well cut out at the front post by Paul Carmichael who, after a shaky start, formed a solid partnership in the centre of the Saints defence with Marc Maccallum.
A late 27th-minute Stephen O’Hara tackle on Donald Campbell gave Willie Gemmell a deadball opportunity but his left-of-centre effort from 22 yards failed to clear the five-man Yoker wall.
From an almost identical position five minutes later, Gemmell came within the width of the crossbar of opening the scoring. Shaun MacIver’s powerful run from right to left was ended by Allan Evans, giving Gemmell another chance to show his prowess with the deadball. Trying to pick out the back-post run of Shaun MacIver, Gemmell’s curling delivery smacked off the crossbar with Craig Brown well beaten.
Kieren McIntyre’s trickery on the left allowed him to escape the attentions of Steven MacLeod in the 34th minute but the inspirational Marc Maccallum was alive to the danger and made a vital interception at the front post.
The action swung quickly to the other end where Craig MacEwan sent Donald Campbell in behind the Yoker back three. William McKellar came sliding in and blocked with his forearm as Campbell tried to lift the ball over him in the box. However, referee Gilchrist was unsighted and unable to give the decision.
Yoker ended the first 45 camped in the Saints’ half, forcing a succession of corners which the home defence were able to deal with before a Derek Carson cross from the corner of the 18-yard box found Darren Currie well offside on the sixyard line. The big striker beat Graham Douglas with a wellplaced header but Mr Gilchrist was up with play and had an easy decision to make in ruling out the goal.
Saints knew they had to raise their game and duly did so for the start of the second half. After just 60 seconds, Steven MacLeod’s adventurism on the right set up Matthew Kelly for a shot from the edge of the box. Kelly’s sclaffed effort wrong-footed the Yoker defence and fell kindly for Donald Campbell 14 yards out and he didn’t need a second invitation to tuck the ball into the bottom corner beyond the left hand of Craig Brown.
The home side almost doubled their advantage straight from the restart with the danger again emanating from Steven MacLeod on the right. Shaun MacIver picked up the ball from MacLeod and continued his run across the edge of the box before slipping Craig MacEwan in on the left. MacEwan’s placed finish across Craig Brown beat the keeper but unfortunately also the far post.
The away side’s best chance of getting an equaliser looked likely to come from a set piece. However, the home defence remained firm and repelled everything Yoker could muster.
A swashbuckling run from Scott Maitland in the 63rd minute opened up the Yoker defence with William McKellar making a vital interception to prevent Craig MacEwan squaring to Shaun MacIver for a tap-in.
A lunging Stephen O’Hara challenge on Donald Campbell went unpunished in the 69th minute as Saints looked to break on the Yoker defence once again. Marc Maccallum’s protests at the lack of a free-kick award earned him a yellow card from Mr Gilchrist which would later prove to be very costly.
With 21 minutes remaining, Graham Douglas produced the save of the match to deny the visitors an equaliser. A delicious diagonal ball over the top from Kieren McIntyre 10 yards inside his own half and wide on the left picked out the run of Robert White. The Yoker striker raced into the box but was thwarted by an excellent save from the Saints number one who narrowed the angle and stood up well to make a vital block.
Saints manager Alex Craik also decided on a change bolstering the midfield with the addition of Kerr Newbigging at the expense of striker Shaun MacIver.
Newbigging’s first involvement was to win a free-kick when his run through the inside right channel was unceremoniously halted by William McKellar. Willie Gemmell’s delivery into the box was too far in front of Paul Carmichael.
Craig MacEwan picked up the loose ball and tried to feed Donald Campbell on the corner of the six-yard box only for Stephen O’Hara to make a well-timed sliding interception to turn the ball behind for a corner kick. Willie Gemmell’s ball into the six-yard area was partially cleared but Scott Maitland kept the pressure on with a driving run into the box. With Allan Evans, William McKellar and Stephen O’Hara in pursuit, Maitland spurned a golden opportunity to square the ball to the unmarked Donald Campbell, instead having to settle for another corner kick off Allan Evans.
The Yoker defence dealt with Willie Gemmell’s latest delivery from the corner flag and were able to move the action to the other end, where Scott Maitland redeemed himself somewhat with a vital sliding interception on Robert White after another slide rule pass from Kieren McIntyre.
With Yoker committing everything to attack Donald Campbell looked to hit on the break again in the 91st minute. Craig Brown took the sting out of Campbell’s effort on the edge of the box and second half substitute Robert McGowan held his nerve well to nick the ball off the toes of Matthew Kelly, who was closing in for what would surely have been a decisive second goal.
Mr Gilchrist allowed a generous amount of stoppage time during which the visitors looked to launch the ball forward at every opportunity. The Saints rearguard, defiantly marshalled by Marc Maccallum, stood firm, providing the platform for yet another Donald Campbell counter-attack in the 93rd minute. Kerr Newbigging’s ball over the top was squared by Campbell looking for Craig MacEwan and drew a crucial mistake from Robert McGowan, whose handball in the box left referee Gilchrist no option but to point to the penalty spot.
Willie Gemmell’s perfectly placed penalty kick gave Yoker keeper Craig Brown no chance. However, the drama didn’t end there. Marc Maccallum and Kerr Newbigging’s disagreement over defensive positioning at the penalty kick became dangerously inflamed, forcing Mr Gilchrist to issue yellow cards to both and prematurely ending Maccallum’s involvement in the game.
Matthew Kelly made way for Jamie Graham for what little time remained on the watch before Mr Gilchrist, who correctly called the majority of the game’s big decisions, ended proceedings, setting up a quarter-final appearance for Saints against either Sandys of the Lothian and Edinburgh FA Premier Division or Scottish Amateur FL Premier Division table toppers Goldenhill. Their seventh round match in Edinburgh at the weekend was abandoned at half-time due to ground conditions.
Saints manager Alex Craik said: ‘We weren’t at our best and had to show character and battle hard for the win but the boys certainly did that.’
Saints return to Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division action on Saturday when they travel to Greenock to face a resurgent Inverclyde in what promises to be a difficult battle for vital league points.