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Greater Glasgow Amateur Premier League | |||
| Division 3 | ||||
| Barlia Sports Complex, Castlemilk | ||||
| Sat 11th April 2009 | ||||
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Windlaw | 2 - 5 |
Cambuslang | |
| Scorers: Taylor, McInally | Scorers: | |||
| Team: Lunny, McInally, Z.Dougall Wilson, Burns (Humphreys), McCaig, Taylor, Kerr Carmichael, Carey (A.Dougall), D.McGregor (Tierney) | Team: n/a | |||
| H-T: 1-4 | ||||
| Referee: Gary Granger | ||||
The relaid new 3G pitch at Barlia looked superb as Windlaw returned there for the first time since the end of last season. Indeed this was our first ever GGAFL game at the Complex and sunny conditions greeted the teams. With the pitch newly laid though, the run and bounce of the ball still seems a bit inconsistent until the pitch beds down properly. Windlaw made three changes from Wednesday’s disappointing draw at Rannoch with Tam Simpson unavailable and Bruce Tierney and Paul Humphreys dropping to the bench. In came Zanda Dougall, Colin Carmichael and Duncan McGregor to form a 4-2-3-1 formation with Benny Carey the sole striker.
Similar to Wednesday, Windlaw started badly. Infact it was much worse than Wednesday and inside ten minutes the visitors were two goals up. Firstly, a midfield runner beat Windlaw’s defensive line as he ran through from deep to net past Lunny then a diagonal ball caught out Windlaw’s defence at the edge of the box and the ball was brought down beautifully and dispatched past Lunny. On 19 minutes matters got worse when a third was added when another through ball arched over Simon Burns who tried to step up to play offside and the forward kept his cool to slot home the third. Ref Granger as always was averse to offside decisions and the size of the pitch meant he was rarely in any decent position to award such decisions. Similarly free-kicks weren’t being awarded and at times tempers flared as players went in hard frustrated by the lack of decisions being made. A firmer hand would have taken this sting out of the game. Windlaw got one back when Thomas Taylor was played in to beat Cambuslang’s offside tap and he neatly rounded John Adams to score. Colin Carmichael then missed a snip when he could only steer his close range header straight at Adams with the goal gaping. Windlaw’s defensive frailties were still all to apparent though and on 40 minutes Cambuslang got a fourth when Windlaw failed to deal with a long bouncing ball towards their area and as Zanda Dougall tried to head it back to Lunny, the Cambuslang forward got his toe in between them to divert it home.
Half Time: Windlaw AFC 1 - 4 Cambuslang
With the job almost done, Cambuslang allowed Windlaw more of the ball as it was up to them to make things happen. Despite having more of the ball though, Windlaw rarely cut Cambuslang open and the visitors always looked dangerous on the break. The game was becoming a bit of a non-event as too many Windlaw players had by now accepted their fate and were going through the motions. Ten minutes from time, McInally headed home a consolation from 3 yards out after Chris Kerr’s headed knockback. A serious looking injury to a Cambuslang defender then forced a lengthy delay before the closing minutes could be played out. In the final minute, the visitors wrapped up their good day when a fifth goal was fired past Lunny after some half-hearted challenges were avoided at the edge of the penalty area.
Full Time: Windlaw AFC 2 - 5 Cambuslang
Verdict: A disastrous day for a Windlaw side who lost the game inside 20 minutes. The attitude was poor and the organisation and shape of the team looked disjointed and a determined Cambuslang side made them pay big time. Fair play to Cambuslang who have beaten us twice convincingly, they will contest the title with Drumchapel with both going up automatically. Windlaw have only a play-off berth to contest now and much to reflect on from this performance. |
 Windlaw Star Man:Probably only Thomas Taylor rose slightly above the poor standard on offer and kept trying to play. |