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Stonehouse Violet 1-2 Cambuslang Rangers

Central Region 1^st Division

Saturday 10^th November 2007

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Cambuslang Rangers bounced back from the disappointing Scottish Cup exit with a hard fought victory over Stonehouse as they returned to the nitty gritty of the league at the weekend.

Lang secured the 3 points with a gutsy 2-1 win over one of the early pacesetters. The home side have ex-Lang coach Archie Malley on the management team and also ex-players Graham Gallagher and Zander McMullan which added a little extra spice to the encounter.

Cambuslang had to do it the hard way as they were reduced to 10 men when Kevin Ogilvey was red carded for an off the ball offence after only 20 minutes. But the home side had 2 men ordered off later in the game as the frustration of losing seemed to get to some of their players.

Cambuslang welcomed back into the defence Jim Kavanagh at the expense of Mark Bishop. There was also a welcome return for Robbie Cameron who partnered, briefly, Ogilvey in attack. Bonner returned to the starting line up after being out for a few weeks injured.


Ogilvey Seen Red In This Game	Ferguson Is On Fire At The Moment

Cambuslang had an early chance to open the scoring but Ferguson’s driven cross was well saved by the Stonehouse keeper. The visitors should have been awarded a penalty kick on 15 minutes. Ogilvey fouled inside the box but the ref pulled the ball back to the edge of the box and awarded a free kick on the line.

On 20 minutes Cambuslang’s game plan went out the window when they were reduced to 10 men. Ogilvey was adjudged, wrongly, to have punched a Stonehouse defender. The incident inside the box saw Ogilvey and Balmforth clash. The Stonehouse defender was laying on top of the Lang strikers legs and Ogilvey made no fewer than 3 attempts to free himself and finally pushed the defender off but the ref seen this as a punch thrown, a poor decision from the man in the middle, and showed the player a straight red card. So it was up hill all the way for Lang, or so you would have thought, but the Somervell park side rolled up the sleeves and gut stuck into the opposition and worked hard for each other.

5 minutes later and Jack for the visitors was lucky to escape with just a booking after a two-footed lunge at Cameron. On 35 minutes Cambuslang’s hard work paid off. Fine play by Cameron who made room for the shot which the keeper did well to save but the ball came to Ferguson and still with a bit to do he drilled his effort through a ruck of players into the back of the net. It was no more than the visitors deserved at this point.

H-T 1-0

10 minutes into the 2nd half and Maud looked to have put the tie to rest when they grabbed a controversial 2nd goal. The pass out wide was collected by Powell, who looked at least 3 yard offside but play was allowed to go on and Murray was on hand to knock into the net. There followed a flurry of bookings Lang's Devine, Ferguson and Hughes were all cautioned as the ref seemed to lose the place a little. Cambuslang replaced Kennedy with Smith on 65 minutes.

The game threatened to boil over after a shocking tackle by Murray on Taylor who was bending down to collect a ball that had rolled out of play, Murray came sliding into Taylor and was lucky to escape with just a yellow card. Cambuslang bench reacted to the ref's leniency and were warned about their conduct.

Free Kick Fly’s Inches Over The Bar

3 minutes after the re-start and Cambuslang doubled their lead. Ferguson’s cross wasn’t dealt with and as the keeper came to collect, Docherty nipped in between goalie and defender to nod the ball into the net. On 50 minutes another strong challenge from the home side went unpunished, this time Lynch on the end of a two-footed lunge. Hughes picked up a caution for his reaction to the challenge.

There followed a spell of cards from the referee as he failed to get on top of things. The first player to fall foul of the ref was Kilpatrick as he picked up 2 bookings in quick succession. The 2^nd yellow was a pretty poor attempt to con the referee when he fell over in the box with no one near him and deservedly was booked for the theatrics, leaving the ref no option but to send him for an early bath. Lang’s man of the match Craig Ferguson picked up a booking after a blatant trip. Cameron was next up to fall foul of the card happy ref.

On 62 minutes Stonehouse got themselves back in the game. A fine finish from Davis gave Smith in the Lang goal no chance. Cambuslang hit back though and almost restored the 2 goal cushion minutes later but Ferguson’s shot was tipped over the bar. Cambuslang replaced the tired Cameron with Kennedy and the fresh legs made the difference in the closing stages of the match. Cambuslang were running down the clock by this time and brought on Devine in place of Docherty. Every time Lang got the ball Ferguson was holding the play up in the opposition half superbly and this seemed to annoy the opponents who conceded free kick after free kick in an attempt to get a touch of the ball. Cambuslang used their last sub, Smith coming on for the hard working Bonner on 84 minutes.

The game ended on a sour note when the frustration finally got to the home side and Ferguson was on the end of yet another two-footed lunge this time the ref showed a straight red card to the culprit. So with the home side down to 9 men and time running out it was down to Ferguson to run down the clock and secure an excellent win for the Wee Gers.

F-T 1-2

Lang Line Up

For More Shots From The Game

Smith

Doak

Kavanagh

Barton

Lynch

Bonner (Smith 83)

Ferguson

Hughes

Ogilvey

Cameron (Kennedy 73)

Docherty (Devine 78)

Dick

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