Wisdom, Strength and Beauty

Saturday 2nd December 2023

Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association

Premiership

Oban Saints 2 - 1 Campsie Minerva

Oban Community Sports Field 3G

Soroba Road

Oban

Argyll

PA34 4JB

Kick-off 2.00pm

Referee Mr Graeme Murphy

Oban Saints' Scottish Premier Amateur Football Association Premiership clash with Campsie Minerva was one of only a handful of amateur football fixtures to survive last Saturday's wintery weather conditions. The frozen grass surface at Glencruitten was ruled out however the 3G at Oban High School was deemed playable giving the home crowd their last glimpse of action before the Christmas and New Year break.

Beautiful finishes from James Muir and David Beaton gave Saints the lead at the interval however Campsie showed the wisdom of Roman goddess Minerva to keep Saints under almost constant second-half pressure where Saints showed fantastic strength to keep the visitors at bay until Kieran Brown's ninety-sixth minute strike made it an extremely anxious end to the nine minutes added by Referee Graeme Murphy.

Saints Manager Ross Maitland made just one change to the starting line-up which had secured West of Scotland progress at the expense of AFC Chryston two weeks earlier with Rory Dowd coming in to replace the unavailable Aaron Moore.

Saints lined up with Craig Maitland in goal behind a back four of Fredrick Marthinsen, Steven MacLeod, Drew Murray and Captain Scott Maitland. Gavin Forgrieve, Paul McFatridge and David Beaton formed the midfield engine room with James Muir, Connor Moore and Rory Dowd up front. On the substitutes bench were Oran Bryce, James Conington, James Ford, Craig Livingstone, Keiron Lopez and goalkeeper Graham Douglas.

A cagey start saw little goalmouth action until Rory Dowd's twelfth minute shot from the left edge of the Campsie box was deflected behind for a corner-kick. Gavin Forgrieve's delivery from the right was cleared with the visitors breaking to the other end where Drew Murray blocked a Ciaran Hogg effort behind for Campsie's first corner-kick. Connor Hogg's delivery to the back post was met by the head of recent signing Kyle Lochhead who couldn't direct his header on target.

Former Harestanes and Colville Park striker Paul Mclaughlin was keeping Saints central defensive pairing Steven MacLeod and Drew Murray on their toes and when the Scottish Amateur Cup winner got in behind the Saints back line in the fifteenth minute there was relief all round when his usually deadly finishing prowess deserted him and his weak shot bounced into the arms of Saints keeper Craig Maitland.

Goals in each of his last two outings has seen James Muir grow in confidence and the youngster's jinking run along the goal-line after good work in the middle of the park by Gavin Forgrieve took out defenders Jonathon Mcwilliams and Patrick Griffin before Scottish Amateur international goalkeeper David Tait dived to smother the ball at Muir's feet.

Tait denied Muir again in the twenty-fifth minute holding well low to his right after Rory Dowd's measured pass into the box had teed up Muir for a strike from fifteen yards.

Although not the first Norwegian to have played Saints, that honour was taken in the 1960's by outside left Paul Laurens, Fredrik Marthinsen has certainly settled in well on the right of the back four and his timely intervention on the eighteen-yard line prevented David Veitch from threading through for the lurking Paul Mclaughlin.

With both defences looking solid a moment of brilliance was required to break the deadlock and that came in the thirty-third minute from the right boot of James Muir. There seemed little threat to the Campsie goal from Muir's position on the left edge of the eighteen-yard box however the youngster's curling effort dipped into the postage stamp corner giving David Tait absolutely no chance.

The visitors almost struck back straight from the restart however quick reactions from Craig Maitland saw the big keeper come racing off his line to reach Ciaran Hogg's ball into the box fractionally ahead of Paul Mclaughlin.

Gavin Forgrieve's foul on Jonathon Howat gave David Veitch a chance to test Craig Maitland from distance and Veitch's sweetly struck thirty-fifth minute free-kick from the left dipped inches wide of the far post much to Maitland's relief.

James Muir tested David Tait again in the thirty-eighth minute capitalising on Rory Dowd's strong running to fire in a low shot which Tait again held well low to his right. Muir was involved again two minutes later turning well on the left of the Campsie box before picking out Paul McFatridge for a shot from twenty-two yards which Campsie Skipper Ross Brash did well to block behind for a corner-kick.

At the other end Drew Murray headed away another David Veitch free-kick sparking a Saints counter-attack where Jonathon Mcwilliams got back well to block Connor Moore's effort from the Saints' right. From the resulting corner-kick Gavin Forgrieve put the ball onto the six-yard line where it dropped for Fredrik Marthinsen who sent his effort on the turn well over the crossbar.

Saints added a second just before the interval with James Muir the architect. Muir's smart turn on the left of the Campsie box created the space for him to pick out the unmarked Paul McFatridge on the eighteen-yard line. The big central midfielder resisted the temptation to shoot instead rolling the ball into the path of the better placed David Beaton who successfully found the bottom corner.

The visitors began the second half in determined fashion but it was Saints who provided the first real threat when Connor Moore closed-down Jack Curtis just inside the Campsie half and raced into the box. Currently joint top goal scorer with James Ford, Moore failed to add to his tally dragging his right foot shot well wide of target.

Campsie were dominating second half proceedings but were still unable to test Craig Maitland in the Saints goal. The Saints back four of Fredrik Marthinsen, Steven MacLeod, Drew Murray and Scott Maitland defended resolutely and luck remained on their side when Paul Mclaughlin, Ciaran Hogg, Jonathon Mcwilliams and Connor Hogg all failed to find the target from promising positions.

With sixteen minutes remaining Saints Gaffer Ross Maitland replaced Paul McFatridge and Rory Dowd with James Conington and fit again James Ford.

Saints were restricted to counter-attacks but should really have put the game to bed in the eighty-third minute when James Conington sent James Muir way on the right with Connor Moore racing through the middle in support. Muir squared for Moore who was denied at point blank range by an excellent save from David Tait.

Two minutes later Saints had a further chance to make the points safe when Gavin Forgrieve picked out James Muir's run through the inside right channel however the young striker's shot across David Tait slipped agonisingly wide of the far post.

Saints' final change came in the eighty-ninth minute when Craig Livingstone and Keiron Lopez replaced Fredrik Marthinsen and Connor Moore.

The pressure from the visitors was building and second-half substitute Kieran Brown, after having a shot from a Jack Curtis corner-kick blocked on the six-yard line, shot inches wide of target from a Paul Mclaughlin flick-on.

In the sixth minute of added time Kieran Brown eventually found a way past Craig Maitland firing home from twenty-two yards for a thoroughly deserved Campsie goal.

With the home crowd beginning to wonder if Referee Graeme Murphy, who handled proceedings well, was timing the match with an advent calendar rather than a stopwatch Mr Murphy finally blew for full time after nine added minutes sending the relieved home crowd home cold but happy.

Saints have no fixture this coming weekend and their final outing of 2023 is a trip to Stepford Football Centre on Saturday 16th December to face UB United of the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football Association Premier Division in the West of Scotland Amateur Cup. Referee Gary Kirkwood takes charge of the fourth round tie which must be decided on the day with penalty kicks to decide the winner if the sides cannot be separated after ninety minutes.