To Be Continued

Saturday 5th October 2024

Scottish Amateur Football Association

Challenge Cup Second Round

Leven United 1 - 1 Oban Saints

King George V Memorial Park

Park Road

Leven

Fife

KY8 5BL

Kick-off 2.00 pm

Referee Mr Steven Johnston

Oban Saints made the long road trip to Leven in Fife last Saturday afternoon for a Scottish Amateur Cup second round encounter with Leven United. This was Saints first ever trip to Leven but it is a journey made regularly by one of Oban's other famous exports as in excess of 600,000 litres of Oban Whisky are transported annually to the Fife coastal town for ageing and bottling at the Cameronbridge Distillery.

An engrossing ninety minutes of cup football at the King George V Memorial Park failed to produce a winner therefore Leven will make the reverse journey to Oban this coming Saturday for what promises to be a thrilling replay.

Assistant Manager Iain Jackson continued to deputise for injured Gaffer Ross Maitland with Club Secretary David Buchanan again providing backup. Craig Maitland, Aidan Jackson, Paul McFatridge, Keiron Lopez and Alec McInroy all dropped out from the previous week's Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association Premiership encounter with Greenock High School Former Pupils however there were welcome returns for experienced quartet David Beaton, Graham Douglas, James Ford and Craig Livingstone.

With resources severely stretched Scott Maitland played a Captain's part by interrupting a weekend break at nearby St Andrew's to skipper the Saints side in a gutsy performance against the impressive 2016 Scottish Amateur Cup runners-up.

Saints lined up with Graham Douglas in goal behind a back four of Craig Livingstone, Ruaridh Horne, Ben Forbes and Captain Scott Maitland. David Beaton, Gavin Forgrieve and Matty Pollock made up the midfield triumvirate while, up front, Connor Moore led the line flanked by James Ford and Oran Bryce. On the sparsely populated substitutes bench were youngsters Shaye Black and Rhys Millar.

Saints kicked off in warm sunshine attacking the pavilion end at Leven's extremely well-presented King George V Memorial Park home ground which is a credit to the well-run Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association club.

The reshuffled Saints back four of Craig Livingstone, Ruaridh Horne, Ben Forbes and Scott Maitland were given an early indication of the difficult afternoon they would face against the giant twin strike force of Sean McCrossan and William Herd when Herd timed a fifth minute run to meet Craig Fleming's left-wing cross with a header which Graham Douglas did well to hold.

Herd tested Douglas again two minutes later with the Saints keeper getting down to his left to safely gather a low shot from the Leven number nine. The big striker continued to make a nuisance of himself bravely getting his head to a Ryan Ndogaj cross with the combined efforts of Graham Douglas and Ben Forbes doing enough to ensure Herd's header didn't hit the target. Herd's bravery however earned him a badly cut nose which required a five-minute spell on the side-line to repair.

Ben Forbes made a vital sliding interception to deny Herd a telling return to the action after sixteen minutes before taking a sore blow himself two minutes later when Sean McCrossan's boot accidently caught him square on the forehead.

Saints weren't posing much of a threat in the opposing final third however, when David Beaton and Matty Pollock won back possession in midfield Pollock's through ball for Connor Moore required a timely interception from Leven skipper Oliver Fleming to take the ball off Moore's toe.

Craig Livingstone passed a late fitness test to take his place in the back four and his troublesome hamstring thankfully suffered no ill effects from his stretching challenge to knock the ball behind with Sean McCrossan ready to pull the trigger. From the resulting corner-kick Andrew Fleming was left unattended at the back post to head Caelan Lamont's delivery over the Saints' crossbar.

Oran Bryce, Connor Moore and David Beaton combined well in the thirty-eighth minute with a shooting opportunity opening up for Beaton which was unfairly closed down by Oliver Fleming. Beaton's free-kick from twenty-eight yards successfully cleared Leven's three-man defensive wall but also Scott Kyle's crossbar.

The woodwork came to Kyle's rescue with only one minute off the first forty-five remaining. Scott Maitland found David Beaton in the inside-left position who picked out midfield partner Matty Pollock in the middle. Pollock took aim from twenty-five yards and his dipping volley had recently signed keeper Scott Kyles beaten before bouncing back off the crossbar.

Saints made a bright start to the second half with James Ford's nimble footwork taking him into the Leven penalty area for a low shot which Scott Kyles held comfortably low to his right.

The good start for Saints was however undone by a moment of hesitation at the back which William Herd ruthlessly exploited. Ben Forbes got his head to Caelan Lamont's forty-ninth minute corner-kick but when the ball dropped inside the six-yard box nobody in red reacted leaving Herd free to bundle the ball over the goal-line.

The Leven lead lasted only six minutes when Connor Moore finished off a quick Saints move from their own eighteen-yard box. Graham Douglas gathered a Liam Bell through ball ahead of Sean McCrossan and quickly released the ball to David Beaton. Beaton sent Connor Moore away on the right and the diminutive striker made no mistake from a tight angle after hurdling a challenge from Andrew Fleming.

In Saints only change of the afternoon Oran Bryce made way for Rhys Millar on the hour mark.

After sixty-two minutes Saints survived a flurry of corner kicks with Graham Douglas twice punching behind before Oliver Fleming lifted over from twelve yards.

At the other end James Ford's trickery won a sixty-fourth minute free-kick on the left which Gavin Forgrieve lifted expertly into the box for the on-rushing Connor Moore who was narrowly pipped to the ball by Scott Kyles.

The set-piece aerial threat from Leven was considerable but the Saints defence stood up well to the challenge and deserved their slice of good fortune when William Herd miscued a free header from another inswinging Caelan Lamont corner-kick over the crossbar.

Saints also looked dangerous from set-pieces and when livewire David Beaton forced a sixty-eighth minute corner-kick on the left Connor Moore climbed well at the back post to head Gavin Forgrieve's delivery back across the face of goal but just out of reach for Ben Forbes.

Making his first appearance of the season Graham Douglas looked to be suffering few effects of the sickness which had laid him low recently when he pulled off the save of the match to claw away a Sean McCrossan near post header from a seventieth minute Liam Bell free-kick.

Entering the closing stages opposing Skippers Scott Maitland and Oliver Fleming had opportunities to snatch a winning goal for their team with Maitland squeezing a low shot the wrong side of Scott Kyles' right-hand post and Fleming planting a header from another Lamont corner-kick onto the crossbar.

Despite their best endeavours neither side could conjure the decisive third goal and Referee Steven Johnston, who had a good game, confirmed the requirement for a replay with the sound of his final whistle after three minutes of added time.

This coming Saturday's replay at Glencruitten kicks off at 2pm where kicks from the penalty mark will decide who progresses to the the third round if the two sides still cannot be separated after ninety minutes.