Pupils punish Colts in feisty affair
CAMPBELTOWN Pupils put Drumchapel Colts to the sword by producing a passionate performance in a heated match that produced two red cards.
The Glasgow side were left reeling as the home side raced into an early lead after the 2pm kick-off at Kintyre Park last Saturday.
Fine work down the right side saw John McCallum released behind the defence and his well-placed cut back found youngster Scott Souden in the box who coolly slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner for his first competitive goal for the club.
Equalised
The early opener failed to settle the Pupils though and Colts equalised seven minutes later after Ellis Robertson could only clear to the edge of the box and the visitors fired themselves level.
The McFadyen-sponsored Pupils came under some pressure following the equaliser, but weathered the storm before left back Keith Mitchell produced a great run, beating three on his way into the box.
He was unable to find another white shirt though, and his frustration was borne out with a tough challenge which saw him booked.
The yellow card signified what was to become an increasingly heated affair, with several late challenges going unpunished by the referee leading to more than a few disagreements between the two sides.
Altercation
At the beginning of the second half, 17-year-old Souden was on the end of some rough treatment once again which led to another altercation between opposing players.
After 60 minutes, Pupils began to dominate proceedings and some great play on the right between McCallum and Ryan McConnachie saw a ball flashed across to Gary Grumoli who fired just wide.
Souden beat the offside trap shortly afterwards and raced through on goal and rounded the keeper, but the angle tightened and his shot only went in through the side netting.
Rewarded
The home side were rewarded for their sterling work though, as McConnachie volleyed an excellent pass across the park to Ryan Deans, who cut in and played in Liam Renton on the edge of the box.
He split the defence to find McConnachie once more, who selflessly pulled the ball back to Grumoli to slam home and retake the lead. McConnachie extended the advantage when he volleyed home an unstoppable strike five minutes later, the keeper getting a hand to it but unable to keep out the powerful effort.
Nervous
There was a nervous end to the game when the Colts pulled one back, a Drumchapel winger racing in behind McCallum and firing into the bottom corner.
Two red cards, which had looked likely all game, followed in the closing minutes, with a Colts substitute ordered off for another kick on Souden before Pupils substitute Martin McCallum also saw red for reacting to a push.
The home side stayed firm through add- ed time to clinch their first three points of the season. Drumchapel’s Matt Armstrong, president of the Scottish Amateur Football League, said: ‘The Pupils’ Souden and McConnachie caused us the most problems.’