Cambuslang
Rangers 3-3 Vale of Leven
Abercorn 1st
Division
Saturday 24th
April
At Somervell
Park
Cambuslang fresh from the midweek win against Glencairn found
themselves down to the bare bones of the squad after Brown, McGregor &
Carmichael were all ruled out through injury. Coming back from injury was young
Richie love and he made it onto the bench for the first time in a few weeks
after recovering from shin problems.
Frustration for the home fans yet again this week as they
contrived to throw away a 2 goal lead not once but twice in this match. Having
lead rather comfortably at 2-0 and 3-1 they found themselves having to settle
for a point as Vale rallied at the end to snatch a draw, It could have
been much worse for Lang as Vale had a couple of great chances near the end to
take all three points but on both occasions they were denied by blocks on the
goal line.
The game started pretty evenly with both sides having chances.
Vale could have taken the lead after only 5 minutes when Browns long free kick
saw Smith and Martin challenge in the air and when the ball came down Smith
with his back to goal could only head into the arms of keeper Rowan from 6
yards out. At the other end a quick break caught out Vale and when Lacy
slipped, Holmes latched onto a defensive error and as he made inroads
towards the Vale goal he was being pulled back all the time but the referee
allowed the Lang striker to carry on and the Lang striker sent a low shot
inches past Dennisons left hand post. The home side pressure eventually paid
off on 20 minutes. Alan McCrae picked up the ball 20 yards out and unleashed a
thunderous drive that the Vale keeper was nowhere as the ball flew past him
into the top corner of the net. Minutes later and the visitors were forced into
a change when Smith failed to recover after colliding wit the perimeter wall
after an accidental clash with Doak. His place was taken by McKenzie. A high up
and under from Fox almost brought Vale level after 32 minutes when his effort
deceived keeper Rowan and rebounded from the far post and had Ruane been
quicker to react Vale would surely have gained better than the corner they
received when his follow up effort was blocked. Vale were finding it extremely
difficult to get to grips with the clever play from the home sides tricky front
pairing of Holmes and McCrae and following a corner after 42 minutes it was
McCrae who netted his second goal of the afternoon and it was every bit as
impressive as his first strike. He took one touch before firing in another fine
strike from 25 yards and again giving the keeper no chance. As Cambuslang were
coasting towards the interval some sloppy play at the back cost them dear. With
only 2 minutes of the half remaining Vale were given a lifeline when they
pulled a goal back, Hugh Ward did well on the left and from his precise cut
back the inrushing McKenzie saw his initial effort blocked by Martin but
followed up to fire the ball into the net from 6 yards.
H-T 2-1
The visitors started the second half brightly an almost scored
minutes into it. They almost snatched an equaliser after only three minutes of
the restart when Ward almost caught out Rowan with a shot on the turn that flew
across the keepers path missing the target by inches. At the other end Dennison
had to look smart to get across his goal to stop a dipping shot from
F-T 3-3
Lang
Rowan, Doak, Burns, Feenie, Martin, Ferguson (Stoddart 70), Paterson,
Coulter, Holmes, McCrae, McCarroll (Galloway 65)
Subs From
Love, Archer and Brown