Saints hold off the pirates
A first run-out on the Glencruitten turf for ten months saw the D&K Lafferty sponsored Saints play host to Glasgow Colleges Football Association side Cambuslang Football Academy Pirates in an entertaining encounter on Saturday.
Saints had their noses in front inside five minutes, Lewis Cameron opening the scoring.
The home side doubled their advantage two minutes later after good work on the left by the evergreen Ross Maitland. who found Gavin Forgrieve on the 18-yard line, whose curling net bound effort was deflected off a defender's back completely wrong footing goalkeeper Scott Matthews before nestling in the bottom corner of the net.
Scott Matthews did well to narrow the angle and block a Maitland effort but luck deserted him when the loose ball fell to the feet of Rory Dowd who gleefully rolled the ball into the unguarded net for Saints' third goal. Lewis Cameron took full advantage of a dead ball opportunity and curled a delightful finish over the four man Cambuslang wall and into the postage stamp corner to give Saints a 4-0 lead at the break.
Saints' netminder Graham Douglas parried a shot to his right from a well-struck David
Kyle Cooper scored the first of his two goals with this shot.
Lynass effort but the loose ball was well out of his reach and was pounced on by Gordon Wynne who, much to the delight of the boisterous crew on the touchline, tucked the ball underneath the Saints keeper's dive to raise the visitors' hopes.
Gaffer Willie Gemmell made the first of two changes in the 56th minute replacing Kenneth Black with Fraser MacFarlane, and Cammy Hill with the latest graduate from the Oban Saints Youth set-up Kyle Cooper, for the closing half hour. The home side extinguished any hopes of a Cambuslang comeback when Kyle Cooper notched the first of his two goals in the 75th minute - a well-struck right foot shot from 18 yards.
Despite the scoreline, Pirates keeper Scott Matthews had a steady match but left his team mates all at sea in the 81st minute. An under-hit Matthews pass out from the back intended for Andy Bonham was intercepted by Rory Dowd who carried the ball into the Pirates box before squaring to the unmarked Kyle Cooper who rolled the ball into the unguarded net for his second and Saints sixth goal of the afternoon. The build-up to the new season continues this Saturday when Saints welcome old adversaries Thorn Athletic to the Oban Community 3G pitch for the first non competitive meeting of the two former Scottish Amateur Football League sides. Kick-off 2pm.