| Greater Glasgow Premier AFL: Division 3 | |
| 14th April 2008 St Margaret Mary's Secondary School |
|
| Windlaw | 3 |
| Carey, McKenna (2) | |
| Rannoch | 1 |
| Team: Lunny, McCann, Sinclair, Z.Dougall, Black, Thornton, Wilson, McKenna, A.Dougall, Carey, Murtagh | |
Windlaw again rotated things with a punishing schedule of late.Zanda Dougall and Kevin McCann came in at the back to replace McInally and the injured John Paul Stuart. Eck McCaig was rested and Allan Dougall came in at centre-mid with Barry Murtagh joining Benny Carey up front. The evening was sunny but quite cold with the surface again rutted in parts and soft and chewed up in others.
After a sluggish start, Windlaw began to get on top and took the lead on 12 minutes in bizarre circumstances. A long-throw by McCann was misjudged by everyone, however keeper MacPherson seemed to lose the flight of the ball in the sun and he only palmed it down, allowing Carey the easiest of chances to tap home from close range. Windlaw should have capitalised on this and tested a nervy-looking MacPherson more. Rannoch too, were threatening from crosses and long throws with Windlaw defending deep at times. Referee Magoogan was also making some strange decisions and Allan Dougall was booked for a pretty innocuous challenge. Thornton was next for reacting badly to a terrible tackle from Cairney who was also booked. On the half-hour, Barry Murtagh’s injury curse struck again, when he took a bad knock on an already badly bruised shin. He had to limp off to be replaced by Eck McCaig. In the fourth of a ridiculous eight first half injury time minutes added on, Rannoch equalised. Sloppy Windlaw defending allowed Graeme Harold to fire home from 20 yards out.
Half Time: Windlaw 1 Rannoch 1
The second half began with both sides trying to gain the upper hand. Danny McKenna blasted a fine shot against the right hand post after a jinking run. Not to be outdone, Rannoch responded and rattled Lunny’s post with the ball rebounding out. On 62 minutes,Windlaw were reduced to 10 men, when Thornton received a second yellow for allegedly failing to retreat properly at a free-kick. The decision was equally baffling as the referee had measured out the distance. To their credit, even some of the Rannoch players felt it was unmerited. Windlaw kept two men up and went for the victory. Danny McKenna was becoming the game’s prominent figure and he crashed a shot off the underside of the bar from a tight angle with the keeper well beaten. On 79 minutes, Windlaw got the goal their pressure deserved when McKenna struck from close range with a smart finish. Minutes later, he got his second and Windlaw’s third from a similar distance to wrap up the points and a superb individual display. Baird and McInally replaced Allan and Zanda Dougall and Kevin McCann led his defence through a tricky spell at the end to earn his side a valuable three points.
Full Time: Windlaw 3 Rannoch 1
Summing-Up: Another fantastic victory against the odds for this group of players. The attitude again was superb and from the sending off, Rannoch were unable to match Windlaw’s sheer will to win. Having to play on such a poor pitch is not easy but Windlaw are ensuring that teams will have to work very hard to beat them.
Star Man- A superb team performance and each player deserves real credit. However, Kevin McCann was truly outstanding at the back and won everything in a superb defensive show. It would have taken some display to beat him to the award, but somehow Danny McKenna produced it. He scored twice, hit the bar and the post and put in a real shift for the team. He has really upped his level of performance lately and deserves all the plaudits for turning his season around.
