Following the success of the Rifle Volunteers Cup v St Bernards, The new season has begun brightly for our illustrious First XI. This from the local paper, The Rutherglen Reformer:
Rannoch in a league cup section match at the Peter Brownlee Park.
Due to a combination of holidays, injuries and suspensions Thirds were down to a pool of 12. Despite this Thirds still fielded a reasonably strong team. The team lined up Paul Gillon in goal a back four of
Scott Gemmell, Iain McAlpine, Ian Adams and Sean Carr a midfield of ... Gary Black, Gary McCormack, Stevie Campbell and and Chris Milligan. Playing front were Neil Campbell and Gary McGuiness. Sub John Semple.
The match started with Third Lanark on the attack straight from the kick off. A combination of poor finishing and an inspired Rannoch goalkeeper kept the score level. In the fifteenth minute the deadlock was broken when Gary Black dived in at the back post to volley home a Neil Campbell cross.
Thirds kept up the pressure with Rannoch camped on the edge of their box. But they were shocked when with their first real foray into the HI HIs half Rannochs number eight gave Paul Gillon in the Thirds goal no chance with a thunderbolt from the edge of the box with twenty minutes played.
This spurred Third Lanark on and they peppered the Rannoch goal with shot after shot. Then Gary McCormck finished a great passing move and passed the ball past the Rannoch keeper from eight yards on the twenty fifth minute.
Thirds continued to dominate the game but continued to be wasteful in front of goal and paid the price on the stroke of half time when poor defending allowed a cross to drift to the back post were Rannochs number 10 blasted home from close range.
Half time Third Lanark 2 Rannoch 2
The second half started with Thirds picking themselves up but again they found Rannochs keeper in great form. In the first 20 minutes of the half the keeper made great stops first from Stevie Campbell then Sean Carr had a shot from distance well saved with McCormack coming close on a couple of occasions. Some of the play from Third Lanark was excellent during this period with Scott Gemmell, Neil Campbell and Gary McGuiness always a handful for the Rannoch defence. On the fifty fifth minute Black, who was playing with an injury, was replaced by John Semple. This immediately gave the team a burst of energy. Thirds continued to press and had a good shout for a penalty when Stevie Campbell burst into the box only to be upended unfortunately the ref seemed to be unsighted. Rannoch were limited to one or two breaks but they were well dealt with by Ian Adams and Captain Iain McAlpine in the centre of the defence. Just as it looked like Rannoch were going to hang on for a draw Neil Campbell was fouled at the edge of the box. From the resultant free kick the Rannoch keeper was eventually beaten by a clinical Chris Milligan strike low into the far corner of the net in the eighty third minute. Milligan scored his second and Third Lanarks Fourth on the eighty fifth minute after great work from McAlpine, Semple and McGuiness. This gave Thirds a well-deserved 3 points.
Both sets of players are to be complemented for playing the game in the right spirit. Mr McKnight the referee takes great credit for allowing the game flow.
All in all a good start to the season for the HI HI.
As always post match celebrations were in Finlays bar all welcome.
Next game Tuesday 23/8/11 at Peter Brownlee Park 6:30pm Kick Off
