Saints march on in Scottish Cup
A five star performance from Oban Saints in very testing conditions booked a fifth round trip to Rothienorman, deep in the Aberdeenshire countryside, to face Rothie Rovers of the Aberdeenshire Amateur Football Association Premier Division, the most northerly club left in the competition, on Saturday January 5.
Five goals from five different scorers allowed Saints’ management duo of Donald Campbell and Willie Campbell the luxury of giving all five substitutes a run in the club’s final match before the Christmas and New Year break.
After two weeks of inactivity Saints were desperate to bounce back from defeat against Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division title rivals St Joseph’s FP in their last outing and came flying out of the traps with Donald Campbell forcing Thistle keeper Daniel Connelly into a smart save low down to his right inside the first minute.
Barely 60 seconds later, after being played in by Craig MacEwan, Campbell successfully beat the keeper but his effort from a tight angle on the left of the 18-yard box slipped agonisingly wide of the far post.
Saints continued to threaten with Craig MacEwan flashing a left-foot shot inches wide of Daniel Connelly’s right hand post and Sean Maclean clearing a deflected Lewis Cameron corner kick off the Thistle goal line.
The pressure from the home side eventually paid off in the 18th minute when young full back Ruaridh Horne showed Calum Robertson a clean pair of heels on the Saints right. Hugging the touchline, Horne reached the byeline and sent a cutback into the six-yard box where Lewis Cameron, with his back to goal, sent a neat flick past the helpless keeper.
Birthday goal
Willie Gemmell came close to notching a birthday goal when he sent a diving header from a 22nd minute Lewis Cameron right wing corner a fraction wide of the near post.
On the half hour mark Dene Cassells joined the attack for a Lewis Cameron freekick which picked out the skipper’s back post run perfectly. Unfortunately Cassells couldn’t find the finish to match his run and glanced his header wide of Daniel Connelly’s left hand post.
The home side didn’t have too much longer to wait with the advantage being doubled in the 37th minute when Craig MacEwan got on the end of a Willie Gemmell defence-splitting pass and curled a delightful right foot finish across the keeper and just inside the far post.
Unchallenged
The lead was halved just two minutes later when David Wilson was allowed to carry the ball unchallenged along the edge of the Saints box to curl a left-foot shot past the unsighted Graham Douglas.
The goal gave the visitors from the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football League Premier Division a major confidence boost as they enjoyed their best spell of the match in the time leading up to referee Thomas Gilchrist’s half-time whistle.
Thistle looked set to maintain their new found vigour attacking straight from the restart where Dene Cassells was happy to see Sean Cullen carry the ball behind from a promising situation. But then Saints delivered a sucker punch to stretch their advantage and regain the initiative.
From the goal kick Saints worked the ball out from the back and Scott Maitland threaded a pass to Lewis Cameron who spun in behind the visitors’ high defensive line and raced through on goal. Daniel Connelly came off his line and got his feet to the ball which sent Cameron away from goal but still with the ball in his possession. With the keeper in no man’s land Cameron rolled the ball to Donald Campbell on the corner of the 18-yard box who calmly passed the ball into the unguarded net for Saints third goal.
Matthew Kelly continued his injury recuperation with a 55th minute appearance at the expense of Daniel Croarkin, who was just one mistimed challenge away from a second yellow card.
With the deficit still at two the visitors, who never gave up, maintained some hope of getting back into the match and Jordan Conner forced Graham Douglas into a save after a good Thistle move through the middle.
Those hopes were extinguished on the hour mark when Scott Maitland linked up well with Matthew Kelly and Craig MacEwan to get in behind the Jags defence on the left and fire a low shot across the keeper and into the far corner to open his goal scoring account for the season.
Saints passed up yet another headed opportunity in the 67th minute with Craig MacEwan this time the culprit sending a header from a Lewis Cameron free-kick wide of target.
Lewis Cameron stung the palms of Daniel Connelly with a free kick on 74 minutes which the big keeper couldn’t hold and had to rely on skipper Calum Campbell to thump clear ahead of Craig MacEwan.
The visitors kept plugging away and won a free kick 25 yards from goal in the 75th minute.
Goal scorer David Wilson took responsibility for the set-piece but failed to add to his tally curling his effort well over the crossbar.
Saints rounded off the scoring in the 80th minute when a well-weighted pass from David Beaton sent Craig MacEwan scampering through the inside left channel.
Acute angle
MacEwan rounded the advancing keeper and from an acute angle rolled the ball to the far post presenting Fraser MacFarlane with a tap-in.
The time remaining on the watch of referee Gilchrist, who had an excellent game, was played out with little incident with players and supporters alike happy to hear the final whistle and finally escape the elements.
The Scottish amateur football scene now takes a twoweek break for Christmas and New Year with Saints still going strong in all competitions. However, with three important cup ties to look forward to in January, the Saints management duo of Donald Campbell and Willie Gemmell won’t be resting on their laurels and will be looking at ways of keeping their charges ticking over for a flying start on January 5.
The club would like to take this opportunity to thank their fans and sponsors for their support throughout the year and to wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.