It's reflection time again before the buckets and spades come out! Thirty four games have come and gone with sixteen victories, four draws and fourteen defeats as the club had its first full tilt as a Saturday afternoon club having resigned from the Strathclyde Saturday Morning League at the end of last season.
Hope sprang eternal after a decent first outing in the league last season when we finished sixth. The union of both the morning and afternoon sides made it a massive squad initially and on top of that both Chris Kerr and James Fitzpatrick arrived from good sides which made competition for places fierce. The introduction of St Pats and Drumchapel Utd and Cambuslang’s relegation from Division Two though, was to make the league look very tough before a ball was kicked and a big squad looked a good way forward. Martin Kerr had taken over the afternoon reins with Colin Carmichael. With Barlia’s renovation still at the planning stage,the team again had to start the season in the confined spaces of Maggies.
Amazingly for the first time in our history, the first two games of the season were postponed because of the weather. This was to be a sign of things to come with thirteen postponements in all this season and one abandonment as all amateur clubs were hit badly. When it did get underway a week later it was the League Cup Section matches which produced a real mixed bag, we lost to a pretty decent Robslee side then produced a ridiculous midweek performance to lose 6-5 away to Alba in a game where we were two up in five minutes. The final two group games were about restoring pride and beating second division sides Rolls Royce and Bishopton both by 2-1, things were beginning to look up.
This gave us good impetus and this was carried on into the first two league games with good wins over Busby and Ashvale with the Ashvale win a particularly dominant one where a bigger margin wouldn’t have flattered. The nemesis of the major cup competitions and the weather though, took the wind out of our sails with a wait to head to Balornock in the Scottish where we eventually lost 5-2 after a dreadful first half cost us any chance. Next in the West Of Scotland another dreadful start saw us lose 3-2 to a very average Carfin Harp at Maggies. Yet again, the gloom was gathering and several players had decided that they were leaving, reducing the squad from its original size.
The league though was always the main priority and a decent draw at St Pats was followed up by good wins over Glasgow University and Alba to represent an unbeaten league start after five games. A midweek away game to a much changed Glasgow Uni brought the first league defeat as the club tried to catch up on lost fixtures and the bad weather was further emphasised as only one more match was possible in 2008 as a Moorpark side were thrashed 9-2 at Maggies.
With 19 league games still to go though, there was much work to do and the huge gaps between games were difficult voids to fill. A very ungainly 2-1 home win over Rannoch had to be played at Greenfield as the Maggies postponements were piling up. This was followed up by a 4-2 away defeat to a Cambuslang side who had a 100% record at that point. More postponements followed then a very depressing 3-1 home defeat to Calderglen already meant too many defeats were already being recorded as Drumchapel, Cambuslang and now Ashvale were now all putting serious runs together. The team then seemed to roll the sleeves up and beat the future Division 2 champions Giffnock Soccer Centre at Maggies in the Challenge Cup before embarking on a five match unbeaten league run. Such was the form of the top three though that any dropped points would be vital and draws with Crosslands and Rannoch as the midweek games began, had a costly feel about them. By now Barlia was ready to re-open although it probably felt like the wrong time of the season having lost so many games to bad weather previously and now a readjustment to a massive pitch was necessary at a time when the fixtures were coming thick and fast.
Our return to Barlia on April 11 saw the toughest of weeks with Cambuslang, St Pats and first division leaders East Kilbride Utd in the Cup all due to visit on the new 3G surface. We lost all three with heavy defeats to Cambuslang and an unfamiliar St Pats followed by a disputed late loss to East Kilbride Utd who were later found guilty of playing an ineligible player and were thrown out of the tournament. The confidence was now in tatters and this bad run continued with another two midweek away defeats to Ashvale and Drumchapel. The Ashvale defeat killed off any last lingering doubts of even a sniff of a play-off place and St Pats had also now started to piece together a promotion clinching run which had seen us slump to fifth. With six league games remaining, there was only pride left to play for but the form remained poor and only three wins were secured with failure to beat the two bottom sides in that run a real embarrassment. Fifth was where we would finish.
All in all it's been a real roller coaster of a season but ultimately one which has simply not been good enough and the promotion challenge never really got off the ground. One win against Ashvale and a point against St Pats was our heist against the top four all season, we hadn’t dented their records enough. The division was probably the toughest of the three given the quality of Drumchapel and St Pats and even Cambuslang missed a play-off due to Ashvale’s consistency. Both Benny Carey and Bruce Tierney announced their playing retirements near the end of the season and we pay a glowing tribute to them both but a real wind of change is coming this summer. We failed to build on the decent finish we had last season and given the squad and resources at our disposal should have done better. Next season could well be the start of a major and important rebuilding process for the club that could take time but one that we hope will ultimately bring back success. As always, enjoy the summer.
