Cambuslang Rangers 4-1 East Kilbride

Sectional League Cup

Saturday 7th August

at Somervell Park

Cambuslang Rangers bounced back from the midweek defeat by local rivals Glencairn to record their first competitive victory of the season. In a match that the Lang struggled for long periods they finally saw off the showpark boys. Goals from Willie Galloway, Alan McCrae double, one a penalty and 1 from 2nd half substitute Richie Love put a shine on the scoreline that never looked likely at times.

The Lang management team had their work cut out just to get a team on the park as the Lang casualty list just seems to get longer and longer. Ruled out were Graham Doak, Derek Carmichael, Gary McGregor and new signing Steven Tyczynski. So even at this early stage the Lang squad is stretched to it's limits meaning coach Scott Archer was listed as one of the substitutes.

There was a shock in the Lang line up when Kenny Balmain was listed as a starter. The Lang man playing as a trialist after a registration mix up meant he was a free agent. He went onto have a very good game at the back for Cambuslang but whether it was enough to be offered signing terms only the manager can answer that one.

Both teams were looking to get some points on the board as neither team won their respective opening matches. The visitors should have opened the scoring on 10 minutes but the ball seemed to get stuck under the feet of Watson and his weak effort was gathered by Rowan. Cambuslang's reply was instant and Brown had an excellent chance to open his account for the season, but a poor finish saw him rattle the keeper with the whole goal to pick from, an uncharacteristic miss from the Lang striker. On 20 minutes the home fans celebrations were cut short after McCarroll's long range effort was deflected past the E.K keeper my Menelaws but his effort was ruled out for offside by the referee.

Cambuslang were having some decent possession and were carving out some goal scoring opportunities as E.K struggled to get out of their own half. Paterson for the Lang rattled a post from 10 yards and then Menelaws fired over from the edge of the area. Brown went close with another effort but the E'K keeper tipped it over. The same player then rattled the junction of post and bar with a superb scissor kick before being cleared. With just over half an hour gone Cambuslang made the break through. Some dogged defending from Galloway in his own box lead to Cambuslang breaking up the park. The ball came to Galloway in the E.K box and his initial effort was blocked but the ball fell kindly for him and he made no mistake with the follow up thumping the ball past McDonald. Just before the break Cambuslang injury list was extended when Brown hobbled from the park, extent of the injury is as yet unknown. He was replaced by Scanlon looking to impress the management team.

H-T 1-0

Within 5 minutes of the restart and the visitors were level. A simple ball into the box was met by Maider who rose unchallenged to nod home, Lang defensive frailties finally exposed. Minutes later and East Kilbride almost grabbed the lead, Penham effort was well saved by Rowan. Another injury blow for the Lang came when Scanlon, an injury replacement himself, had to be substituted after picking up a knock, skipper Billy Holmes taking his place. The visitors went close a gain but this time Brogan sliced his shot well wide. A bit of luck handed Cambuslang the chance to regain the lead. Holmes cross was adjudged to have struck the arm of Penham and the referee pointed to the spot. Alan McCrae stepped up and gave the keeper no chance as he thrashed his spot kick into the roof of the net. The scorer then had a couple of chances to increase the lead but some fine keeping kept him at bay, first his free kick from 18 yards was tipped over the bar then he side stepped a couple of defenders before crashing his shot off the leg of an E.K defender but the ball looped over the stranded keeper and into the net for his second and Langs third of the match. Cambuslang then replaced McCarroll with Love. E.K were not about to roll over and should have got back into the game on a couple of occasions but again fine keeping by Rowan kept them at bay. 10 minutes to go and Cambuslang wrapped up a hard 3 points, Menelaws shot was well saved after fine work by Galloway and from the resulting corner sent over by Paterson, it was met on the volley by Richie Love giving the keeper no chance and the score a bit more respectability about it. Lang's McCrae had a glorious chance to grab his hat trick but a fine stop from E.K number 1 kept him out again.

F-T 4-1

Line up

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
E.K	H	Rowan	Ferguson	Graham	Balmain	Coulter	Paterson	Menelaws	McCarroll	Brown	McCrae	Galloway	Love for 8 on 76 mins		Scanlon for 9 on 40mins	Holmes for 14 on 65min	Feenie	Archer

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