| Greater Glasgow Premier AFL: Division 3 | |
| 16th February 2008 St Margaret Mary's |
|
| Windlaw | 2 |
| Murtagh, D.McGregor | |
| Orchard Park Mount 'B' | 2 |
| Team: Lunny, McInally, Tierney, Thornton, McCann (Black), Wilson, Paton, Carey (D.McGregor), Murtagh (G.McGregor), Larkin | |
The first half was fairly even and keenly contested in difficult underfoot conditions. For Orchard Park, MacDade caught the eye in midfield and he was central to a good move that brought the opener on 21 minutes, from a flowing move down the left. A good cross was floated into the box and Cooley steered a header that skidded precisely into the bottom right hand corner of Lunny’s net. Windlaw’s response on 32 was superb from the livewire Barry Murtagh. He contested a high ball with the centre-half and despite his lack of inches, he won it and got the break of the ball. From around 25 yards, he cracked a shot which dipped and swerved viciously before exploding into the net. A goal of the season contender. On 43 minutes, Stevie Paton put Anthony Larkin racing in on the Orchard Park goal and despite appearing to overrun the ball, goalkeeper Bailey crashed into Larkin totally missing the ball. The thud could be heard on Dougrie Road! The only outcome was a straight red from referee Tony Crilley and a penalty. Up stepped skipper Benny Carey against an Orchard Park defender who took the jersey. Carey’s weakly hit right foot shot was too close to the makeshift keeper and he saved easily to compound the big striker’s bad day from the spot.
Half Time: Windlaw 1 Orchark Park Mount B 1
The 10 man visitors had 45 minutes to defend but were granted a goal from a ridiculous decision just two minutes after the restart. A shot from around 25 yards was straight at Lunny who was a couple of yards from his line. He partly fumbled the shot and the ball fell to the ground just behind him. He collected it at least a yard from his line as the Orchard Park sideline claimed it had went in. Amazingly, the referee from around 30 yards out, gave a goal to Windlaw’s dismay. Lunny was too stunned to argue. Windlaw then dominated as Orchard Park had something to defend and hold onto. Despite a lot of possession, the new goalkeeper wasn’t tested enough and it took until 11 minutes from time before Windlaw got an equaliser. Good build-up play between Stevie Paton and sub Kevin Black on his debut set up another replacement, young Duncan McGregor and he slotted home well past the advancing keeper showing excellent maturity for such a youngster. Both sides could have nicked it near the end as Windlaw piled bodies forward and the visitors looked dangerous on the break. At the final whistle the Orchard Park manager admitted to the referee that the ball hadn’t crossed the line and to his credit, referee Crilley was man enough to apologise. A very sore one for us to take, hopefully these breaks will start evening out for us soon.
Full Time: Windlaw 2 Orchard Park Mount B 2
Summing-Up: Another hard-working Windlaw performance that sadly feels like a defeat. The penalty miss and ‘the goal that wasn’t’ were the games big turning points and both went against Windlaw. Orchard Park to their credit battled well with 10 men for 45 minutes, however the sportsmanship in even appealing for the goal was very poor. Windlaw had 6 players who played in the morning, starting this game only hours later and the attitude and commitment of the squad at the moment is superb and cannot be faulted, so on reflection, perhaps Orchard Park could have squandered a chance against some very tired legs.
Star Man- Bruce Tierney- defended superbly and stuck to his task excellently despite a lengthly injury lay-off recently.
