Pupils pipped by late goal

Campbeltown Pupils 1

BSC Glasgow 2

WoSFL- Division Four

Campbeltown Pupils mustered a much-improved performance last Saturday at home to BSC Glasgow but were again left without reward after conceding a damaging late goal.

Playing in front of a healthy home support, the McFadyens-sponsored Pupils were stunned in the opening 20 seconds as BSC went up the pitch with their first attack and scored with a first-time effort from inside the box across keeper Alasdair Ferguson, after a ball was cut back by a BSC winger.

The Pupils were quick to rally, though, and before five minutes had been played an equaliser arrived, through lone frontman Scott Souden.

Latching on to a ball forward from Stuart Crossan in midfield, Souden got away from his marker and composed himself to slide an effort under the onrushing keeper to make it 1-1.

The match settled down after this initial flurry of action and the rest of the half was quite a cagey affair.

Into the second half, the Feathers Inn-sponsored Pupils pushed for a winning goal, and despite plenty of enterprising play on the wings it failed to materialise. Souden had a chance to double his and the Pupils’ tally when released in behind the BSC defensive ranks by John McCallum, but he was denied by the quick-offthe-mark visiting keeper.

Meanwhile, at the back, his younger brother Ross Souden, playing in the centre of defence and supported by captain Keith Mitchell, was the Pupils’ clear choice for man of the match; the defender headed and cleared several threatening BSC crosses and potential efforts at goal - including a last-ditch intervention to deny a BSC striker bearing down on goal and turn the ball by the post for a corner - but nursing an ankle injury from the previous weekend, had to be replaced with 15 minutes remaining. Then, on 80 minutes, BSC struck the winner.

A game of “pinball” in the Pupils’ box after a BSC cross from their right-hand side dropped to a visiting player and a fortuitous deflection off a Pupils’ leg saw the ball trickle agonisingly into the bottom left-hand corner of the Pupils’ net.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the Pupils travel to Kilwinning, Ayrshire, for their last away match of the season, before three final home fixtures scheduled for Saturdays March 18, March 25 and April 8.

Kick off at the Kilwinning Sports Centre is 2pm.