No big picture as Saints exit Cinema Cup
Central Scottish AFL Cinema Cup - 2nd Round
Last Saturday at a sundrenched Glencruitten Park and before a good crowd of spectators Oban Saints took on high-flying Fallin in the second round of the Cinema Cup.
The Stirling side are already in the semi-final of the East of Scotland Cup and face fellow Central Scottish AFL side Lesmahagow in the semi-final of the Scottish Amateur Cup.
Unfortunately for Saints the game was decided by a single goal of the controversial variety in the 73rd minute when Stephen Donaghy was on hand to knock the ball home after a Matthew Cooper shot had come back off the crossbar straight to the feet of the Fallin striker who looked to be standing in an offside position. Despite vociferous protests from the Saints players the goal was allowed to stand by referee Matthew Farr.
The D & K Lafferty and MKM Building Supplies-sponsored Saints started on the front foot with only a last ditch tackle from Stuart Henderson denying Kyle Cooper a shot on target.
A minute later the young Saints striker was sent through after good work from Daniel McCuish and Craig MacEwan, but Fallin keeper Michael Watson made a good save.
After a slow start the visitors got to grips with the game and started to dominate possession, but the Saints defence, well marshalled by Steven MacLeod and Dene Cassells, were coping with the eager Fallin attack where Stephen Donaghy proved to be a danger all afternoon.
The visitors were denied in the 26th minute with the Saints defence heroically blocking three goalbound efforts in quick succession.
Saints were quite content to sit back and hit Fallin on the break and Kyle Cooper and Craig MacEwan tested Michael Watson in the Fallin goal.
The half time whistle arrived with the scoreline blank.
Gaffer Willie Gemmell encouraged his players to keep to the game plan, but to be more confident on the ball and this they did and looked a more attacking force in the second half.
The home side were awarded a free kick in the 54th minute taken by Gavin Forgrieve, but Craig MacEwan’s effort went agonisingly past the post.
As the half wore on the game was much more evenly balanced with both teams creating a number of half chances, but generally the defences were on top.
Manager Gemmell made his first change of the afternoon taking off Gavin Forgrieve replacing him with James Ford and it wasn’t long before the tricky winger was taking the game to the Fallin defence.
The home side were seen more as an attacking force as the half wore on but then their Cinema Cup hopes were dashed by that controversial goal.
Fallin substitute Matthew Cooper strode forward in the 73rd minute and fired a great shot goalwards but the ball came back off the crossbar straight to the feet of the Stephen Donaghy who looked to be clearly offside. The big striker did the correct thing and put the ball in the net and left the referee to decide whether he was offside or not. Despite lengthy protests from the Saints players the goal was allowed to stand by referee Matthew Farr
Saints made two further changes taking off Craig MacEwan and James Conington replacing them with Scott Maitland and Fraser MacFarlane.
James Ford was unlucky in the 85th minute when a goalbound shot was blocked by Andy McGowan.
The home side threw caution to the wind pushing Dene Cassells up front as the clock ran down but the experienced Fallin defence held out for a narrow 1-0 win.
Manager Willie Gemmell was bitterly disappointed at the result, but pleased with the performance of his team.
He said: ‘Fallin are a good team, one of the best in the country, they’re not in two major semi-finals for nothing, but we ran them very close. It was really disappointing to lose to a controversial goal, but we’ve just got to take it on the chin and the top priority now is to stay in the Premier Division and get new committed players signed for next season.
‘We’ve got 10 league games left so we need to be picking up points starting on Saturday when we travel to take on Uddingston Anvil at the Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex in Bellshill.’
Saints are saddened to report that Dene Cassells has decided to hang up his boots. The club were hoping Dene would have carried on till the end of this season. Also stepping down but will remain in charge till the end of the season is manager Willie Gemmell. The club wish to thank both Dene and Willie for their loyal service to Oban Saints over the years.
Ross Maitland is taking over as manager next season with Steven MacLeod as his assistant. Ross and Steven want to strengthen the squad and are looking for players who will be committed to training and playing football at the top level on a Saturday.
Interested players can contact Ross on 07840 767199 and Steven on 07908 103978.