Familiar feeling for Rovers boss as Strollers inflict late sickener

ALBION ROVERS..........................1 CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS........2

Paul Thomson

Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark admits Saturday’s late sickener against Civil Service Strollers was typical of their first season in the Lowland League.

The Cliftonhill side were on course for a point at home to the Edinburgh outfit after Dom Mcmahon had cancelled out Callum Yeats’first half opener for the visitors.

However, after passing up chances to win the game themselves, Rovers conceded a penalty when Innes Lawson was felled in the box in the fifth minute of stoppage time, and he dusted himself down to score the winner from the spot.

Clark said:“at Tranent last midweek [a 1-1 draw] we put in a really good performance, but we missed three really good chances to win the game and that sums up our season.

“We carried that into Saturday. We huffed and puffed, lost a goal and then managed to get back into the game.

“Then we miss an incredible chance through Niyah [Joseph], where I would have put my house on him scoring, and then we make a mistake at the end to give them the win.

“It is a poor pass that gives the ball away, then a poor judgement with the tackle in the box. And that has cost us a point because it was so close to finishing 1-1.

“But it does just really sum up the season for us. We have got so many good things in our group, but we are inconsistent and we get punished for our mistakes.”

The result saw Civil leapfrog Rovers in the table and Clark’s ninth-place side now have games against newly crowned champions East Kilbride [set to be played last night as the Advertiser went to press] at home and a trip to Berwick Rangers on Saturday to finish off their campaign.

Clark added:“we are basically two weeks ahead of the SPFL in terms of a regular league campaign so it is a wee bit of an earlier finish than we are used to.

“But we’ve got the chance to finish the season as strongly as we can.

“We are looking forward to the challenge from East Kilbride.

“Congratulations to them as league champions, but we will be looking to get the three points off of them. Then we’ll go to Berwick with the same attitude.

“Hopefully we can end on a high. Every game we’ve played this season has been really tight.

“There’s guys who have contracts to play for, whether it is with us or someone else, and they’ll want to show what they can do.”

Not enough Dom Mcmahon, right, is congratulated after his equaliser for Rovers (Pic: Phil Dawson)