Match Report

A beautifully sunny but chilly afternoon greeted the teams on a pitch which again was good in parts and very poor up the central areas particularly the goalmouths. Windlaw had made massive changes from the Balornock defeat with six changes to the starting line-up. John Lunny, Kevin McCann, Allan Dougall, Bruce Tierney, Thomas Taylor and George McGregor were in and out went James McKenna, Wullie Wilson, Chris Kerr, Zanda Dougall, Kevin Black and Davie McGinlay.

Some further confusion arose just before the kick-off as a second referee arrived in the form of Alan Frame who was supposed to have been replaced by referee Jim Laird who was already there. Still, nobody from the West Committee seemed to have communicated with Alan Frame and Jim Laird took charge of proceedings.         

Windlaw made the worst start possible and conceded inside two minutes. Good link up play between Carfin’s forwards saw them rip Windlaw’s newly formed defence open and a slid finish over Lunny from close range made it the start of nightmares. A shell-shocked Windlaw tried to recover but they seemed to struggle with their formation and Carfin’s forwards looked dangerously pacy at various times early on. The home side equalised on 19 minutes after Danny McKenna forced home a header from close range after McCann’s long throw had caused havoc in Carfin’s box.

The game was now nicely poised only for the self destruct button to be pressed again on 26 minutes. From a corner from Carfin’s right, George McGregor pushed one Carfin player onto another as they tried to reach the ball and ref Laird just yards from it, rightly pointed to the spot. Although Lunny went the right way, the penalty was brilliantly struck into his bottom right and gave him no chance. Five minutes later, worse was to follow from a half-cleared corner, a Carfin player jinked past Allan Dougall near the bye-line and his crisp cut-back was smashed into the roof of the net from close range despite a large Windlaw presence in the six yard box. The rest of the half remained goalless as Windlaw tried to come to terms with a very poor opening half.          

Half Time: Windlaw 1 Carfin Harp 3    

Zanda Dougall and Kevin Black replaced Bruce Tierney and George McGregor at the break. Windlaw then started to exert some pressure on the visitors who would always be dangerous on the break given their pace upfront. Davie McGinlay replaced Benny Carey in attack but Windlaw were still struggling to create clear openings. Danny McKenna had a few long range efforts that never troubled the keeper and Allan Dougall blasted over from a promising position in the Carfin box.

The breakthrough came on 78 minutes when Eck McCaig coolly collected a cross from deep as Carfin tried to charge out for offside. He drew the keeper and slipped it under him into the net showing good composure. This set up a hectic finish.
James Fitzpatrick headed just wide from an excellent cross and the same player just failed to connect with a free-kick into Carfin’s box when any touch would have beaten their keeper. With minutes remaining and Carfin’s tackles becoming more desperate, a straight red card was shown to a Carfin player for a really bad lunge into Kevin Black. Carfin defended stoutly though and seen out the remaining minutes to take the tie.

Windlaw Star Man- Like the Balornock game, so few notable performances, but Thomas Taylor continually plugged away well in midfield and takes the award.  

Results & Fixtures