LANG READY TO TAKE ALL
Local giant killers march into WoS Cup’s last eight
Cambuslang Rangers boss Paul McColl reckons knocking holders Pollok out of the West of Scotland Cup proves they can compete with the big guns next season.
The Lang followed up their promotion to the top flight by coming back from a goal down to win 3-1 and topple one of Junior football’s giants on Monday night.
Stuart McCann had Lok in front inside six minutes but Dale Simeon and Callum McRobbie both produced excellent finishes to swing the tie in Camby’s favour before the break.
And substitute Jamie Hay put a seal on the clash as he rifled home a penalty kick with eight minutes to go to give Cambuslang their first victory over Tony McInally’s men in 14 years.
McColl said: “It was great result. It was a shaky start by losing that goal but fair play to them they never gave up.
“Pollok have been skelping everybody recently, they beat Auchinleck Talbot the other week and they have top players. But I told them, if you stop the top players getting on the ball constantly, they’re not top players anymore because they’ve not got the ball. And they done that, everyone was excellent.”
Hurlford United await Cambuslang in the quarter-finals due to be played on Saturday.
But with success in domestic Junior competitions, it also brings player selection difficulties for management teams as the season rumbles on into mid June.
McColl recognises Monday evening’s triumph shows just how far the club have come since their stint in the region’s bottom tier three years ago. However, with missing bodies, the Lang gaffer knows reaching the last four stage will be a whole lot tougher when The Ford come to visit Somervell Park.
He said: “Years ago we would never have got near guys like that at Pollok and I thought our boys were outstanding. Pollok are a decent side and we stopped them playing.
“I would think it shows we can compete with these teams next season. Pollok are the holders of the West [of Scotland Cup] and the last thing they want is to go out that cup, they’ve not won anything this year.
“Even their management team said to us we well deserved to win the game so it wasn’t a fluke and as you saw we could have scored another goal or two.
“It’s the better you do in these competitions the worst it gets for you because guys are going on holiday so we’ll need to see who we can pull in.
“Saturday we’ve got Hurlford, it’s another home tie which gets the club a bit of money, Hurlford are on a nice wee run just now but there is no reason why we can’t give them a game because these are the teams we’re playing next year.”
Cambuslang .............3 Pollok .......................1
Murray Spooner at Somervell Park A bumper crowd was expected for this West of Scotland third round clash and there was still punters waiting in line at the turnstiles seconds before it all kicked off.
But it was the Cambuslang faithful who waited behind to get their money’s worth and applaud their side off the park, while a hefty band of Pollok fans headed for the exit 10 minutes early.
As usual the Glasgow outfit brought a strong away support with hope of another comfortable win at Somervell.
Paul McColl’s men, however ripped up the script for Monday night’s encounter and certainly made amends for the 4-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of the same side six weeks ago.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing though for the home team as Pollok piled the pressure on early. Gary McCann had the ball in the net for the visitors after just two minutes and was ruled offside. But it didn’t take long for his side to take advantage of a shaky start from the Lang defence. On six minutes Adam Forde floated in a cross for Stuart McCann to glance a header past Ian Stewart.
Forde then had a chance of his own to double the lead but his header was held well by Camby’s No.1.
Stewart made another stop to thwart McCann’s attempted lob before Cambuslang got a foothold into the game as they found an equaliser.
A long ball forward dropped just short of keeper Scott Johnson outside his box and Dale Simeon expertly lifted the ball over him to get on the end of his lob to tap the ball home.
Lok responded as the pacy Derek Hepburn hit a long range effort just over on 23 minutes. And to the delight of the home crowd, Camby edged in front with a well-worked goal at the other end three minutes later.
David Green chested the ball down before turning and sending Simeon to the byline who cleverly cut the ball across goal for Callum McRobbie to score. Although Lang’s tails were up and Chris Duff had just seen his header dip just wide of the mark, Pollok almost got in for the leveller as Mark Staunton’s sliding challenge blocked Hepburn’s stabbed shot from six yards out.
A calf injury to McRobbie five minutes from the interval saw him hobble off to be replaced by midfielder Ross McKinnon as strike partner Jordon Love was still on route and John Gemmell was unavailable.
The sub kicked Lang into gear once more at the start of the second 45 when his rasping shot from range stung the hands of Johnson. Duff was next to have a go as Pollok left gaps at the back but the keeper was equal to it and Craig Hastings danced past two defenders only to be denied by Johnson’s legs. Jamie Hay replaced Craig Molloy on the hour as the Lang defence stood firm. Barry Eley made a terrific block to stop Forde’s goalbound effort in the box. And the midfielder clipped the post with a free- kick which proved to be a costly miss. The visitors’ frustration grew on 81 minutes as Jordan Halsman’s looping cross dropped onto the arm of Mark Sideserf and the ref was quick to award a penalty kick. Sub Hay stepped up to confidently blast the ball into the bottom corner. As Lok fans exited, McCann had one final chance but Stewart got down low to save while his outfield soaked up possession.