Glenafton Athletic

• Sat 03 AUG  2019 KO 2:00 pm
• McBookie.com West Region Premiership| Match 01
• Beechwood Park, Auchinleck
• Auchinleck Talbot 4 (2)
  • Samson 2, Young, McKinlay
• Glenafton Atheltic 1 (0)
  • Frye

Glens kicked off their league campaign with a short trip to face champions Auchinleck Talbot with their hosts mindful that the New Cumnock were the only team to inflict a league defeat on them last season. Of course, the visitors would be more mindful that they lost 4-0 to Talbot on the same ground last Saturday in the opening game of the West Region Sectional League Cup, albeit the result was not a true reflection of the Glens’’ contribution to a game that was a lot tighter than the score-line suggested.

In glorious sunshine the home side dominated the first half with lightning quick breaks, slick accurate passing, strength in tackle along with a of host of chances and would argue but for a number of fine saves from Glens goalie Brian McGarrity that the 2-0 lead at the break far from flattered them.

Glens had a decent early chance when Dan Orsi powered down the right to break into the box before drilling a low angled shot past two back-tracking defenders and beyond the reach of keeper Andy Leishman only for the ball to slip inches wide of the far post.  Minutes before the break Mick McCann and Ryan Nisbet combined to set up a shot from the edge of the box that was comfortably saved by the keeper. In between times the few corner kicks they won were comfortably cleared by the Talbot defence.

In stark contrast Talbot attacked with menace throughout the half with Mark Shankland often the instigator. On 12 minutes he gathered the ball in the middle of the park and slipped the ball down the left for Kier Samson to hunt down before clipping a low angled shot that beat McGarrity but drifted narrowly wide of the back post. Shankland then whipped three corner kicks in quick succession into heart of the six-yard box each of which were frantically cleared by the Glens defence including the last of which was bravely punched clear by McGarrity. Graham Wilson then picked out Samson in the box with a peach of the pass but the striker’s attempt to bury the ball in the far corner was denied by the outstretched arm and strong hand of McGarrity. A minute later the keeper then pulled off a point blank save from Samson’s shot from 8 yards out.

On 27 minutes the home side broke the deadlock following some excellent build up play. Samson slipped the ball to Wilson on the outskirts of the box and after a few twists and turns rolled the ball to Shankland in space on the left hand side of the box only for his attempt to curl to ball into the net to be pushed away by McGarrity before the incoming Samson forced the ball over the line from a few yards out. The visitors unfortunately were down to 10 men with at the time with Cameron Marlow requiring treatment on the touchline.

Samson opens the scoring

Marlow was still off the park when Auchinleck doubled their lead two minutes later. Samson earned the home side another corner-kick after McGarrity got down low to push his angled shot wide of the far post. Wilson got his head to Shankland’s kick and defender Dylan Young was in place to head home the loose ball from a few yards out.

Young makes it 2-0

With Cameron Marlow failing to recover from his knock he was replaced by Ryan McChesney who teamed up with Craig Pettigrew at the heart of the defence while captain Craig Menzies moved to fill Marlow’s position at right back.  The big defender was soon in the thick action and blocked Samson’s attempt to find the empty net after having given McGarrity the slip. A minute before the break the keeper then got a hand to a net-bound close-range header from Stephen Wilson.

HT Auchinleck 2 Glens 0

The Glens were forced to make a change at half-time with Brian McGarrity unable to continue due to a knee injury that required a visit to the hospital at the close of the game. Craig Burns who covered for Brian at the end of last season took his place.

The visitors started positively with Lee Gallacher on the left switching play to the right for Orsi to gather and drive forward from the half way-line to the corner of the penalty box only for his shot to sail over the bar. Glens won a free-kick 30 yards from goal that thundered into the wall initiating a counter attack which concluded with Burns pulling off a good save from Samson. A minute later the keeper showed a safe pair of hands after hold Shankland’s free kick from the corner of the box as Young threatened to pounce on any spillage. Graham Wilson then broke into the left hand of the box and although his shot beat the keeper the ball crashed off the bar.

Craig Pettigrew on the ball

Glens steadied the ship and enjoyed a good spell of possession as the push men forward. Menzies floated a ball into the box only for Leishman to make a clean clutch to deny McCann a header. Frye and Orsi combined wide on the left and earned a throw in yards from the corner flag. It was taken quickly and trapped by Nisbet before he weaved past two defenders to fire the ball into the danger area only for the ball to strike the arm of Willie Lyle to fall foul of the new hand ball rule and referee point to the spot. Despite the Talbot defender’s protest, similar to Glenafton’s on two occasions at Beechwood last Saturday, Findlay Frye fired the spot-kick into the corner of the net beyond Leishman at full stretch to halve the deficit on 57 minutes.

Findlay Frye scores from the spot 2-1

Glens continued to press and contended well with a couple of Talbot counter-attacks. On the hour mark Gallacher, from within a pocket of black and gold strips, found McCann on the edge of the box who slipped it wide to Nisbet on the overlap to drill the ball to edge of the six yard box for the inrushing Frye only for Leishman to make a brave two footed block to clear the danger.

Talbot were now camped in their own half but try as they might through runs by Nisbet and Orsi or by balls floated into the box by Menzies, Pettigrew and Dale Moore the Glens couldn’t convert these into clear goal scoring chances.

Dan Orsi breaks with Craig Menzies

Midway through the half the home side made a double substitution with Mark Shankland and Gareth Armstrong replaced by Kieran Healy and Jamie Glasgow and slowly the Talbot began to grow back into the game.

On 76 minutes the Glens from wide on the left squared the ball across the front of their own penalty box before passing it back to Burns to clear only for the keeper to miskick it directly to Samson who accepted he gift and slotted the ball home for 3-1. With their tails up Talbot pushed for a quick fourth but Burns denied Graham Wilson with a fine save.

Ryan Nisbet and Gareth Armstrong

Two minutes after going two down Glens went down to 10 men.  Gallacher didn’t take too kindly to an elbow in the face during an aerial challenge and shoved Glasgow to the ground in the aftermath, earning a second yellow card, both for retaliation.

Credit to the Glens they regrouped continued to compete. Orsi fashioned an overhead kick in a crowded Talbot box that was gathered by Leishman. In the closing minute the keeper got down low to stop a thundering low shot from Kyle McAusland and then save McCann’s attempt to bury the rebound, albeit the effort was flagged for offside. Lucky white heather and Leishman launched the ball upfield   which fell for substitute Hamish McKinlay, on for Samson, who cracked the ball home in some style to make it 4-1 with the last kick of the game.

McKinlay makes it 4-1

Auchinleck 4 Glens 1

Glenafton Athletic: 1. Brian McGarrity (19. Craig Burns) 2. Kyle McAusland 3. Cameron Marlow (12. Ryan MChesney) 4. Craig Menzies 5. Craig Pettigrew 6. Findlay Frye 7. Dan Orsi 8. Dale Moore 9. Mick McCann 10. Ryan Nisbet 11. Lee Gallacher Subs not used: 14. Ally Park 15. Edward Campbell (trialist).

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• Sat 27 JUL 2019
• West Region Sectional Cup | Group 4 Match 1
• Beechwood Park, Auchinleck
• Auchinleck Talbot 4 (1)
  • Pope 2, McKinlay, Shankland
• Glenafton Athletic 0 (0)

Gordon Pope opened the scoring with a spot kick on 17 minutes and doubled the home side’s lead on 52 minutes through converting another penalty.  The visitors enjoyed a good spell before Talbot added a third on 72 minutes through Hamish McKinlay. Deep in injury time substitute Mark Shankland completed the scoring.

GLENAFTON ATHLETIC: 1. Brian McGarrity 2. Kyle McAusland 3. Alan Cairns (12. Dan Orsi) 4. Craig Menzies 5. Ryan McChesney 6. Cameron Marlow 7. Lee Gallacher 8. Ally Park (15. Craig Potter) 9. Mick McCann (14. Ryan Nisbet) 10. Joe Andrew 11 Dale Moore

Fri 27th JUN 2019 KO 7:30 pm  

McBookie.com West Region Premiership| Match 30

Loch Park, New Cumnock

Glenafton Athletic 1 (1) Auchinleck Talbot 5 (2)

Guard of Honour

Glenafton formed a guard of honour to applaud Auchinleck Talbot, Scottish Junior Cup winners and West Region Premier champions, on to Loch Park on this the last league game of the season. In what was there first game in almost three weeks the Glens were without Brian McGarrity, Ryan McChesney, Findlay Frye, Dale Moore, Leon Murphy and top goalscorer Chris Dallas while on the bench were Glenafton U19s players Sean McVey and Nick Terry.

The home side were first to threaten on 3 minutes with a low long range effort from ‘slayer’ Alan Cairns which drifted wide of the post and in any case on this occasion keeper Andy Leishman appeared to have it well covered.

The visitors quickly broke upfield switching play from left to right for Keir Samson to chase down the ball before whipping a cross into the box for the incoming Mark Shankland to crash a header off the bar and following an almighty scramble the loose ball was safely gathered by keeper Craig Burns.

Mark Shankland header off the bar

This triggered a sustained period of Talbot pressure with front man Sean McIlroy leading the line and proving nippier than the mass of midgies that had descended on Loch Park to chomp indiscriminately on those gathered. The visitors notched up a series of corner kicks a few of which came close to providing the opening goal including on 12 minutes when Gordon Pope’s back-post header dipped inches over the bar while a minute later McIlroy’s low crouching header at the near post whizzed wide of the other.

Some respite for the home side after Dan Orsi’s determination won a corner kick which was powerfully punched clear by Leishman.

Back came Auchinleck with another flurry of corners in quick succession. At the conclusion of the third on 22 minutes the ball fell for Mark Shankland on the outskirts of the box to crack an unstoppable dipping shot into net.

Shankland makes it 1-0

Although the Glens began to see more of the ball, they were unable to fashion any meaningful attempts to test Leishman.

Talbot came close to doubling their lead on the half hour mark after another clever run by McIlroy took him to the edge of the “D” before lashing an angled shot which although it beat Burns at full stretch the ball bounced of the post and was eventually snapped up by Shankland to drive deep into the box only for the keeper to pull off a stunning block.

Burns v Shankland

On 34 minutes Glens surrendered possession cheaply on the half way line initiating another untouchable run from McIlroy that saw him cut in from the right and progress to the left hand side of the “D” before slipping the ball into the box for Calvin Kemp to take a touch before slamming the ball home from the corner of the six yard box.

Kemp makes it 2-0

Two minutes later the Glens countered with David Winters driving through the middle before picking out Orsi tight on the right touchline to float a ball into the box only for Leishman to beat Kit Cummins to the jump and punch the ball to safety.

Talbot responded with another lightning break in which McIlroy on the right switched play to Pope powering down the left and although his cross into the box was headed clear by Kyle McAusland the ball was gathered by Shankland to thump it from the 18 yard line which Burns did well to get down low and push it wide of the post. The corner-kick and the one that followed came to nothing.

Three minutes before the break the Glens halved the deficit following some intricate passing in the sequence of Winters to McCann to Cairns to Winters to Marlow and back to Cairns on the left. The  attacking full back then curled a ball into the box where the incoming Ally Park got in front of the tracking Pope, but the ball seemed to go through the legs of the former and clip off the latter before it fell for Kit Cummins on the penalty spot to take a touch before drilling the ball low into the corner of the net beyond the advancing keeper.

Cummins halves the deficit

Kit cheered by young fan

In the last action of the half Burns cleared the ball from the head of McIlroy.

HT Glens 1 Auchinleck 2

The visitors stormed out the blocks as Kemp smacked a shot from just outside the left-hand side of box that cracked off the far post. The ball was rapidly recovered by Shankland and drilled low along the face of the goal evading attackers and defenders on its way to the back post where Kemp contrived to miss the empty net and fire the ball over the bar from 2 yards.

Pope then burst down the left before picking out the inrushing McIlroy at the back post only for Burns to dive bravely at his feet and get a strong hand to push the ball wide. Talbot’s corner count was now reaching dodecahedron proportions and this one ended with Kemp’s looping volley being cleanly clutched by the young keeper.

On 50 minutes Shankland pushed forward again only to be robbed by Marlow who then broke through the middle before slipping a superb defence splitting ball for Andrew to gather and cut into the box to fire a low angled shot that was comfortably held by Leishman.

Joe on the move

Another Talbot corner kick produced a fantastic point blank save by Burns from a Pope header and the ball scrambled to safety.

Back at the other end and Orsi lasered a shot from 30 yards out that Leishman stopped with both hands before clutching.

Shankland makes it 3-1

Talbot doubled their lead on 58 minutes after a ball played in from the right found Shankland in the box with time and space to pick his spot and blast the ball home from 10 yards out.

Six minutes later and Burns pulled off another point blank save by sticking out a foot to stop Steven White’s close-range shot.

Midway through the half Glens brought on young Sean McVey for Davie Winters while Auchinleck replaced Sean McIlroy.

Sean McVey and Craig McCracken

Talbot continued to press and Burns was forced into another good save blocking Neil McPherson’s effort and soon after he stopped a low shot from White. On 72 minutes however the visitors extended their lead as Glens were made to pay after giving away possession to allow Shankland to push down the left unimpeded before whipping the ball to the back post where the incoming Kemp guided the ball into the net from close range.

Glens brought on young Nick Terry for Joe Andrew and soon after Talbot made a double substitution.

Craig McCracken makes it 5-1

With the last kick of the game Craig McCracken through on goal slotted the ball beyond advancing Burns to make it 5-1 for Talbot and complete the scoring .

Handshakes

Nick Terry

Glenafton Athletic: 1. Craig Burns 2. Ally Park 3. Alan Cairns 4. Craig Menzies 5. Kyle McAusland 6. David Winters (12. Sean McVey) 7. Dan Orsi 8. Cameron Marlow 9.Mick McCann 10. Kit Cummins 11. Joe Andrew (14. Nick Terry)

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