Plain sailing as Saints net six
RESPLENDENT in their new red, white and navy blue kit kindly sponsored by D&K Lafferty Contractors, to whom the club are grateful for their continued support, Oban Saints eased into the third round of the Scottish Amateur Cup with an ultimately comfortable win over Plains at Glencruitten last Saturday afternoon.
Saints manager Alex Craik made just one change to the starting eleven which put nine past Cambusnethan Talbot in their last outing with Donald Campbell starting in favour of Shaun MacIver, who was away for the weekend. Paul Carmichael also returned from injury to take a place on the substitutes bench alongside Daniel Croarkin, Steven MacLeod, Craig MacMillan and David Smith.
Plains were first to threaten in the third minute when Johnny Mitchell was given time and space in the middle of the park to pick out Stephen McGowan cutting in from the left wing. Taking one touch to control the ball, McGowan’s left-foot effort fizzed wide of the right hand post of Graham ‘Sugar’ Douglas in the Saints goal.
It took 17 minutes for Saints to muster their first attempt on goal which came from a swift counter-attack when Willie Gemmell found Donald Campbell with a measured pass through the inside right channel. Donald raced towards the box with Jamie Brogan and Anthony Hynds in pursuit and tried to beat Darren Hunter with an early shot from 17 yards.
An excellent 20th-minute take on the left touchline by Craig MacEwan from a Willie Gemmell diagonal pass unfortunately wasn’t matched by his cross for Donald Campbell coming in at the back post which was too close to Darren Hunter.
Fraser MacFarlane succeeded where Donald Campbell had earlier failed, beating Hunter at his near post to break the deadlock in the 22nd minute after Donald and Craig MacEwan had linked up to send Fraser in behind the Plains back three.
Donald Campbell worked the ball quickly from right to left in the 26th minute from a Matthew Kelly throw-in. Craig MacEwan picked out Scott Maitland’s overlapping run with the Saints left back passing up a good shooting opportunity and electing instead to look for Donald Campbell at the back post but sending his cross tamely into the grateful arms of Darren Hunter.
An ongoing war of words between Craig MacEwan and Anthony Hynds eventually snapped the patience of referee Kerr in the 33rd minute who issued yellow cards to both, with Donald Campbell and the impressive Plains midfielder Anthony Traynor also spoken to as tempers briefly threatened to boil over.
Unable to find a way through the solid-looking Saints back four of Matthew Kelly, David McPhee, Craig Campbell and Scott Maitland, Plains continued to try their luck from distance.
The Saints front three linked up perfectly from a 38th minute Scott Maitland throw-in on the left. Fraser MacFarlane controlled well and sent Craig MacEwan racing into the box from where Craig held off the challenge of Anthony Hynds to pick out Donald Campbell in the middle. Donald’s first touch took him past Paul Deighan and Jordan Dobbie and left him one-on-one with Darren Hunter, whom he beat easily low down to his left from eight yards to double the advantage.
Donald Campbell was through again 60 seconds later only for Mr Kerr to stop him in his tracks with an extremely tight offside decision in favour of the visitors.
There was no suggestion of offside in the 43rd minute when Willie Gemmell sent Donald through the inside left channel. With only the keeper to beat, Donald tried for a chip into the postage-stamp corner which he miscued badly, sending his effort well wide of target.
There was chances at both ends in the opening minutes of the second half. From the restart Daniel Fitzpatrick was allowed to drive into the Saints box where only a perfectly timed sliding interception from Willie Gemmell denied the Plains right-sided midfielder a sight of goal.
Any chance that Plains had of forcing their way back into contention was extinguished in the 48th minute when Jamie Brogan received a straight red card for a high and dangerous challenge on Fraser MacFarlane on the half-way line. Clearly struggling after the heavy challenge, Fraser made way for Paul Carmichael in the 56th minute.
Two minutes after joining the action, Paul added his name to the scoresheet from a Donald Campbell assist. Saints carved open the Plains defence on the left once again with Campbell unselfishly squaring to Carmichael for a simple tap-in from six yards.
A momentary lapse in concentration almost cost the Saints defence their clean sheet on the hour mark. From a throw-in level with their own 18-yard line Matthew Kelly and Graham Douglas got in a fankle on the corner of the box with Sugar thankfully managing to stick out a leg to send the ball away from Daniel Fitzpatrick and behind for a corner kick.
Donald Campbell and Paul Carmichael almost combined again in the 62nd minute when Donald’s cross from the left was taken off Paul’s head by Darren Hunter at his near post.
This was to prove just a brief stay of execution as two minutes later Scott Maitland added a fourth with an excellent individual effort. Picking up the ball inside his own half, Scott cut through the heart of the Plains defence and buried a low right foot shot past Darren Hunter’s right hand to make the score 3-0.
Saints manager Alex Craik made a double substitution with 20 minutes remaining replacing injured pair Craig MacEwan and Keith Millar with David Smith and Craig MacMillan. Young Craig slotted in at left-back with Scott Maitland moving into midfield where he was joined by Smith.
In the 73rd minute, Donald Campbell came within inches of finding the net direct from the corner flag. Paul Deighan headed a Paul Carmichael cross from the right behind for a corner kick on the Saints left. Donald’s in-swinging delivery cleared the heads of David Smith and Mark Fitzpatrick landing just in front of the goal line and bouncing inches wide of Darren Hunter’s left hand post.
The gaffer made his final changes. Willie Gemmell and David McPhee were withdrawn in favour of Daniel Croarkin and Steven MacLeod. Steven was a straight replacement for David alongside Craig Campbell in the middle of the back four while Daniel took up the right-back berth with Matthew Kelly moving into midfield.
Saints notched their fifth goal with 10 minutes remaining when Donald Campbell latched onto a Matthew Kelly through ball to slot past Darren Hunter from 10 yards.
To their credit the visitors kept plugging away and were almost through after the restart when second-half substitute David Burns got the better of Daniel Croarkin on the left only for the Saints youngster to make an excellent recovery tackle inside the Saints box at the expense of a corner kick.
Jordan Dobbie produced an equally vital interception at the other end, stooping to head the ball off Donald Campbell’s toe after a dazzling run from Scott Maitland and right wing cross from Matthew Kelly.
Donald Campbell rounded off the scoring in the 89th minute. Scott Maitland’s running from midfield created the opening which Donald eagerly gobbled up, lifting the ball from 12 yards over the head of the stranded Darren Hunter to claim his second successive hat-trick since returning from injury. There was barely any time left on the referee’s watch with Mr Kerr, who handled proceedings well, blowing for full-time shortly after the restart sending Saints through to Tuesday’s third round draw.
Although his team scored six goals, manager Craik was critical of the performance. He said: ‘We didn’t work hard enough and the passing was sloppy. It might have proved costly against a better team although Plains made us fight all the way. However, we’re through and looking forward see who we get next.’
Saints have no fixture on Saturday but will hit the road on Saturday October 14 for their West of Scotland Amateur Cup third round tie against Braehead in Renfrew.