Cambuslang Rangers 2-3 St Anthony’s Central Region 1st Division Saturday 12th September 2009 at Somervell Park
League leaders St Anthony’s were the visitors to Somervell Park at the weekend and their impressive start to the season continued after a narrow 3-2 win over Cambuslang Rangers. It was a below par performance from Cambuslang but the Ants worked hard for their victory that keeps them on top of the pile with 4 wins from their opening 4 games The Lang were weakened with the loss of Doak (wedding) and Templeton (working) so it was an unfamiliar back line. So this gave Alan McCrae and Darren Murphy starting slots. Marc “Bubba” Smith will be missing for the foreseeable future after a scan revealed he will require surgery on the cruciate ligament, this was the outcome after the injury picked up v Ashfield a couple of games ago where he was stretchered off.
			Injury For Dunn
		The first notable bit of action was when Cambuslang were forced into making an early substitution, Murphy was caught late with a poor challenge, and he had to be replaced with Irvine. Lang adding to the lengthy injury list. 1 minute later and things got even worse for the home side when they fell behind. The ball was floated into the danger area and a fine header from Mansare was blocked but just as Connolly was about to get to the ball he appeared to be impeded by Ants Miller who bundled both keeper and the ball over the line but the ref awarded the goal.
Deco, An Isolated Figure Upfront At Times
Lang reacted immediately and McCrae seen his free kick well saved by Curran. Cambuslang had strong appeals for a penalty waived away when Dunn appeared to be bundled over inside the area but the ref waived play on. On 20 minutes Lang went close through a McCrae drive that was tipped round the post and from the resulting corner Bishop headed over from a good position. On 36 minutes Lang deservedly drew level. Ferguson’s deep cross was missed by all the Ants defenders but Smith was there at the back post to volley home a superb effort from a tight angle. Next up and Thomson tested the Ants keeper with a drive that was well saved.
				Smith With A Stunning Equaliser
H-T 1-1
	Right at the start of the 2^nd half, the Ants were awarded a soft penalty kick. Ants Dickson went down rather easily and he stepped up to send Connolly the wrong way and restore their lead. Cambuslang picked up a booking when Matthews was cautioned for a late tackle. He was quickly followed into the refs note book by Dunn for a similar offence as Lang’s frustration began to show. The home side introduced Chris Queen into the action, he replaced Matthews. Cambuslang went close when Queen got up well to head the ball past the Ants keeper but the ball came back off the post and bounced into the grateful goalies arms. The Ants then went further in front when a mistake in the Lang defence allowed Harvey time and space and he slotted past Connolly.
St Ants Penalty At Start Of 2^nd Half
Cambuslang then introduced the lively Donnelly at the expense of McCrae and the sub had an immediate impact. He had a shot well saved but the ball rebounded to Kilmartin and he stroked the ball past the defence and into the net, a fine finish form the Lang striker. Cambuslang almost grabbed an equaliser late on but Smith’s shot on the turn went narrowly wide. Cambuslang pressed for the final minutes but were unable to find the equaliser and the Ants held on for a good 3 points.
					Smith Congratulated After His Goal

F-T 2-3

Lang Line Up		For More Shots From The Game
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	CONNOLLY DUNN FERGUSON MURPHY (IRVINE 12) BISHOP SMITH THOMSON HOEY McCRAE (DONNELLY 81) MATTHEWS (QUEEN 57) KILMARTIN TRIALIST TRIALIST McKEE DOCHERTY	Click Here