| Strathclyde Cup 1st Round | |
| 16th April 2005 Barlia Sports Complex |
|
| Windlaw AFC | 1 |
| K.McCann | |
| Greenhills Dynamo | 3 |
| After Extra Time | |
| Team: Lunny, McInally, Z.Dougall, Bonner (McCabe), Thornton, K.McCann (W.Wilson), Taylor, Docherty, Carey, McCaig, S.McCann (Kearney) | |
Action Details
Saturday saw the second meeting of the old rivals, this time in the Strathclyde Cup. This time there would be no share of any points, the match was scheduled to be played to a finish, so one team would be leaving unhappy. On this occasion, it turned out to be us.
Shug Neeson's and Gary Wilson's suspensions and Scott Williamson's injury forced a reshuffle, with Zanda Dougall coming in to centre half, Benny Carey dropping into midfield once again and wee Eck slotting in up front.
The match started at a frantic pace, and with barely 2 minutes on the clock, Greenhills struck first. A goalmouth scramble saw the ball break to the Dynamo striker who took full advantage of his luck and slotted the ball home from 8 yards out.
However, just 5 minutes later Windlaw hit back with a crucial equaliser. A corner was partially cleared from the Greenhills penalty box, however it fell to Kevin McCann who volleyed home from 10 yards out. Just the response that was needed early on in the match.
Now contrary to Dynamo belief, the goal was not against the run off play, as with less than 10 minutes gone, no team had really stamped their authority on the match.
10 minutes gone, 2 goals and an explosive start to the match!! Surely the remainder of the match was going to be mouth-watering ?? Well no actually. It was all very edgy, both teams sensed any mistake could be very costly, so the goalmouth chances dried up quite quickly. To be fair to Greenhills Dynamo, they enjoyed most of the possession, but as is the norm, they never had the killer touch to compliment their fine passing.
Neither team looked like adding to their tally throughout a match that had extra time written all over it. It was quite evident midway through the second half that the next goal would be the decider.
Extra time started with more of the same edgy, cautious play, however Greenhills took the initiative and were rewarded for their attacking play. On the stroke of half time in extra time, the Greenhills winger confused the Windlaw defence with a mazy run before threading a neat pass through to star striker Mick Donnelly. The prolific hitman was one on one with John Lunny and made no mistake from 12 yards out, cooly slotting the ball under the onrushing keeper.
What a kick in the teeth for Windlaw, however worse was to follow. Another unchallenged run from a Dynamo midfielder gave him the space to slot another defence splitting pass through to Mick Donnelly who, after beating a failed Windlaw attempt at playing offside, again made no mistake, putting Greenhills 3-1 up with less than 10 minutes remaining.
That was it, game over for Windlaw, the result was a formality now. The ref could have blown for full time there and then. However that was not possible and, but for a brilliant last ditch tackle from star man Wullie Thornton, Greenhills could have made it 4-1.
The ref eventually did blow for full time, and Greenhills deservedly proceeded to round 2 of the cup, seeing Windlaw 'qualify' for the Tommy Marshall Cup
Coach Martin Kerr said "The effort was brilliant, but it was just one of those days"
Lets hope there isnt many more of "those days" to come in the future, as there is still plenty of silverware up for grabs.
Man of the Match: Wullie Thornton for a brilliant, determined display, hardly missed a tackle all day. Other notable performers were wee Eck who put in a tireless shift up front, and Macky who had another solid display at the back.
