| Greater Glasgow Premier AFL: Division 3 | |
| 23rd April 2008 St Margaret Mary's School |
|
| Windlaw | 4 |
| McKenna, G.McGregor, McGinlay, Wilson | |
| Crosslands | 1 |
Team: Lunny, Thornton, McCann (Z.Dougall), McInally, Tierney, Black (Paton), McKenna, Wilson, Baird, G.McGregor, McGinlay (Carey) |
|
TIRED WINDLAW CUT DOWN CROSSLANDS
Bruce Tierney replaced Colin Sinclair who was enjoying a well-earned rest. Wullie Wilson replaced Allan Dougall in midfield with Wullie Thornton and Davie McGinley replacing Zanda Dougall and Duncan McGregor. The pitch was in better condition than Monday with the rain making it less fiery. A bright sunny evening greeted both teams.
Windlaw looked sluggish early on and couldn’t seem to get going at all. Men weren’t being marked or runners being matched. It was almost a surprise when the home side went ahead on 13 minutes but the goal was brilliantly constructed and executed. Danny McKenna took a throw-in to Davie McGinley just inside the box. He brilliantly held off his marker and returned it to McKenna who had followed up. From a difficult angle at the corner of the box, he took a touch and fired a magical left-foot shot low past Devine into the net. This should have settled the hosts but on 19 minutes, they conceded a very sloppy equaliser. A free-kick was floated towards the Windlaw 18 yard-box and despite a ruck of players going for it, the ball flew off them into the path of Uppal who found space in the box and squeezed a shot past Lunny’s right hand into the net from 6 yards out. Windlaw were stung into action and only 2 minutes later, they retook the lead. McKenna played a fine ball into Wullie Thornton’s path on the right-wing. Thornton dug out a superb cross that just needed nodded in and George McGregor was on hand to head in his first ever competitive goal for the club. Windlaw made it 3-1 just before half time. Kevin McCann took a gamble and gave everyone heart failure when he faked a pass and cut inside the Crosslands attacker. He took another touch before pinging a precision pass onto the toe of Davie McGinlay, who only had to divert the ball across goal and into the net, such was the accuracy and weight of the pass from McCann.
Half Time: Windlaw 3 Crosslands 1
Next goal was always going to be vital and Windlaw tried to get it to settle the nerves. Clear-cut chances were few and far between, however Devine produced an excellent right-handed save from McGinley when he was put through. Ian Baird was starting to find gaps in the Crosslands defence with his surging runs from deep. The referee’s performance could best be described as deplorable. Both sides had to deal with a pile of ridiculous decisions. It took Windlaw until the 76th minute to get the clinching goal. Danny McKenna was crudely hacked down just inside the box and after a delay of some 3 minutes due to an injury to a Crosslands player plus sheer incompetence, Wullie Wilson finally stepped up to slot home his second penalty in 2 games. Both sides continued to press for goals but the latter stages were dominated by one man who played for neither team!
Full Time: Windlaw 4 Crosslands 1
Windlaw Star Man- Danny McKenna- scored a fine goal and had a hand in two others. He continued his fine form of late and was a constant threat to Crosslands.
Verdict- A tired looking Windlaw performance with Monday’s efforts clearly taking a lot out of the players. They were always more likely to score than Crosslands, however the visitors gave it everything and never once stopped battling. Windlaw’s quest to gather as many points as possible till the end of the season continues.
