Saturday 22nd October 2022
Central Scottish Amateur Football League
Premier Division
Drumchapel Amateurs 3 - 1 Oban Saints
Glenhead Park
Farm Road
Duntocher
G81 6HH
Kick-off 2pm
Referee Mr Stephen Rae
Oban Saints slipped to another Central Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division defeat in a very wet Duntocher last Saturday afternoon. In difficult playing conditions for both sides it was hosts Drumchapel Amateurs who coped best to come out on top leaving Saints to rue a string of missed chances which should have seen them take something from the game.
Goals from Aaron Graham and Marc McCran had the Drum deservedly ahead at the interval however a much improved second half performance saw Kyle Cooper pull one back for Saints before the hosts punished missed Saints opportunities with a late sucker punch from former St Joseph's F.P. man Graham which made the points safe for the hosts.
The usual mixture of injuries and work commitments forced Manager Ross Maitland to make a number of changes to the travelling party which had lost out to reigning champions St Patrick's F.P. on Saints last league outing. Nathan Allan, Ryan Barclay, James Conington, Myles McAuley and Connor Moore all dropped out with Ben Forbes, Gavin Forgrieve, Daniel MacCuish and Jack Wright returning.
Saints lined up with Shaun Lockhart in goal behind a back four of Fraser MacFarlane, Cammy Clark, Ben Forbes and Captain Scott Maitland. The midfield quartet were Gavin Forgrieve, Rory Dowd, Matty Kelly and Cammy Hill with Lewis Cameron tucked in behind central striker Kyle Cooper. On the substitutes bench were Ross Campbell, Daniel MacCuish and Jack Wright.
Drumchapel gave early warning of the threat they would pose from set pieces in just the second minute when central defender Greig Morrison headed a Scott Holms free-kick just wide of Shaun Lockhart's left hand post.
Morrison was involved in his own eighteen yard box two minutes later getting a vital touch on a Lewis Cameron free-kick from the left to take the ball away from Cammy Hill.
Set pieces were again the danger for Saints with Ciaran Harkin shooting wide after the Saints defence failed to clear a seventh minute Scott Holms free-kick before Paul McAlear headed wide from a ninth minute corner kick on the Drum right.
Matty Kelly and Lewis Cameron combined well in the eleventh minute to send Cammy Hill away on the left in Saints first promising opening. Hill did well to get past Drum Skipper Adam Douglas but his low cross was too heavy for Kyle Cooper racing into the box in support.
Fraser MacFarlane succeeded in finding Cooper from the right after seventeen minutes but the young striker lifted his finish high over Jordan Butler's crossbar.
MacFarlane and Cooper combined again in the twenty first minute when the fullback picked out Cooper with a free-kick lofted into the Drum box which Cooper headed into the grateful arms of Butler. The Drum keeper quickly dispatched the ball up field for Sean Keegan to chase. Keegan cut into the box from the right running into traffic but the Saints defence couldn't get the ball clear with Aaron Graham picking up the loose ball and slotting past Shaun Lockhart to open the scoring.
Saints Gaffer Ross Maitland had handed Cammy Clark an unfamiliar central defensive role where the versatile Clark acquitted himself well alongside more experienced partner Ben Forbes. A flying diving header from Clark cut out a dangerous twenty fourth minute Lewis Denison cross from the left at the front post after Denison had tricked his way past Fraser MacFarlane.
Rory Dowd tested Jordan Butler with a twenty fifth minute shot from eighteen yards which the Drum keeper couldn't hold unfortunately for Saints Greig Morrison reacted quickest to the danger getting to the loose ball a split second before Lewis Cameron.
On a day when quality football was at a premium Drumchapel's Marc McCran produced a moment of individual brilliance defying the conditions to measure a perfectly executed thirty first minute lob from nineteen yards over the not inconsiderable frame of Shaun Lockhart and into the net to double Drumchapel's lead.
Lockhart continued the encouraging start to his Saints career producing good saves from Paul McAlear and Aaron Graham as the hosts went in search of a killer third goal before the half-time interval.
With their approach play too often getting bogged down in midfield Saints Gaffer Ross Maitland instructed his charges to adopt a more direct approach in the second half which was only sixty seconds old when Ben Forbes sent a ball over the top for Cammy Hill to chase. Hill outpaced Paul McAlear but steered his low finish across Jordan Butler and inches wide of the far post.
There was almost an instant punishment for that missed opportunity when Cammy Clark was ruled to have fouled Marc McCran just inside the Saints box on the Drumchapel left. McCran dusted himself down to take the penalty kick which Shaun Lockhart saved with a flying save to his right.
Jordan Butler made a smart save low down at his right hand post before Saints survived another dead ball scare. Matty Kelly was penalised for a push twenty two yards from goal. Aaron Graham left Shaun Lockhart rooted to his goal line with his effort over the Saints wall which hit the underside of the crossbar before being turned behind for a corner kick by Gavin Forgrieve.
Saints first change came on the hour mark when Cammy Hill made way for Daniel MacCuish who answered the Gaffer's call despite nursing an ankle injury and a heavy cold.
A quickly taken sixty second minute free-kick from Lewis Cameron gave Scott Maitland the angle to send a low cross to the six yard line from where Kyle Cooper poked home to bring Saints roaring back into the game.
Two glorious Saints chances in a three minute spell were passed up which would ultimately prove decisive in the outcome of the game. Firstly Kyle Cooper burst in behind the Drum defence with his seventy first minute shot too hot for Jordan Butler to handle. Fortune however favoured the home side when the ball stuck in the mud just short of the goal line with Drum Skipper Adam Douglas first on the scene to thump the ball clear. Three minutes later Lewis Cameron's well timed run beat the Drum offside trap and left him one on one with Jordan Butler. Cameron took the ball round the keeper but from the corner of the six yard box sent his finish the wrong side of near post.
The home side maintained their threat from set-pieces with Shaun Lockhart in the Saints goal, despite a worsening hamstring injury, making a number of solid punches to deal with Aaron Graham corner kicks. Ben Forbes also made a major contribution in central defence winning important headers and challenges to protect his injured goalkeeper.
The injuries kept piling up for Saints with Fraser MacFarlane and Kyle Cooper both unable to continue. Jack Wright replaced Fraser MacFarlane at right back while young Ross Campbell was thrust into an unfamiliar centre forward's role.
The visitors kept pushing for an equaliser right into the dying minutes when the hosts delivered a sucker punch to secure all three points. Scott Maitland's attempted ball up the left wing was charged down by Aaron Graham whose shot after bursting forward on the right had too much power for the by now almost completely immobile Shaun Lockhart and nestled in the far bottom corner of the net.
Referee Stephen Rae, who had a good game, blew his final whistle almost immediately after the restart with full credit due to both sides for producing an exciting spectacle for the small band of supporters who were glad of the protection from the incessant rain offered them by the Beeches Road covered enclosure.
Saints are back on home turf this coming Saturday for the visit of Gartcosh United on Central Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division business.
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