Pupils forced to settle for single point after late goal

Harmony Row 1

Campbeltown Pupils 1 WoSFL - Division Four

Campbeltown Pupils were denied the win that would have taken them off the bottom of the league by a 94th-minute goal by hosts Harmony Row.

The McFadyens-sponsored Pupils travelled to McKenna Park, Govan, ground-shared this season by opponents Harmony Row, and usual occupants St Anthony’s, of the West of Scotland Football League Second Division, for their first match at the venue in almost 10 years, since an SAFL Jimmy Marshall Trophy semi-final against Hillington in May 2013.

And in a grim mirror-image of that day’s scoreline – the Pupils eventually losing on penalties, denying them a final against Oban Saints – an early goal by the Kintyre Park side was cancelled out by a late equaliser, which left the Pupils virtually no time to do anything about it.

The Pupils started in a 4-5-1 formation, and defended diligently from the start, with Alasdair Ferguson quick off his line to mop up any danger.

Scott Souden undertook the lone striker role, and after covering the hard yards for the first 20 minutes, he got his reward.

After blocking a defensive clearance, Souden had to deal with an awkwardly spinning ball and an advancing goalkeeper, but with his back to goal, he improvised well and lobbed a shot behind him and over the Harmony Row keeper, from just outside the box, to make the score 1-0 to the Pupils.

Souden had a good chance to make it 2-0 to the Feathers Inn-sponsored Pupils, but his right-footed effort was well saved by the goalkeeper on this occasion.

Harmony Row had their own chances, too, and their number 10 should have done better when one-v-one with Ferguson, but his shot went wide of the mark.

After the interval the Pupils were forced to move players around after Michael McKinlay had to be substituted at half-time because of a muscular injury.

Darren Dalrymple, introduced at the interval in place of the injured McKinlay as the lone frontman and making his first Pupils appearance since his debut at Easterhouse in August, was immediately impressive.

The 33-year-old brings a lot of semi-professional experience from several seasons in the East of Scotland league, and a short stint as a senior with Albion Rovers.

The forward almost doubled the Pupils’ lead with an audacious chip from all of 20 yards which crashed back out off the post.

Harmony Row began to ratchet up the pressure, and Ferguson was forced into a smart save from a direct free kick and to be alert to crosses from the busy number four for Harmony Row, who switched between flanks all afternoon.

The Pupils, though, continued to carve out clear openings.

Calum Ellis, playing at left midfield, picked out left-back John McCallum on the overlap, and his surging run took him to the goal line, where he stood up a delivery for Dalrymple to attack.

However, the forward was almost too close to goal and the keeper was on hand to bat the effort round the post for a corner.

Into the five minutes of added time, the Pupils looked to be seeing out the game well, but there was late, late drama with only 90 seconds remaining, as a low delivery from the right was turned into the Pupils net off the bar beyond the grasp of Ferguson.

It was a sore result despite picking up a point on the road, but the Pupils have no time to feel sorry for themselves as they have another home match tomorrow (Saturday) against St Peter’s from Renfrew.

Kick off is 1.30pm at Kintyre Park.

The Pupils’ away day sponsor is Kintyre Hire.