Ardeer Thistle 2 Lugar Boswell Thistle 1
The margin of victory should have been higher as Ardeer triumphed 2-1 over a poor Lugar side at Ardeer Stadium.
Alarm bells should have been ringing in the Jaggy Bunnets defence early on as John Colligan was played through on goal within the first couple of minutes, but his first touch let him down badly and the chance was squandered. In the fifth minute, David Gregory bundled the ball home from a few yards after a mishit shot fell to him but the goal was rightly disallowed for offside. Ardeer were in firm control of the game and Greg Kean, whose trickery was causing Lugar all sorts of problems, shot wide of goal before seeing a much better effort later in the half tipped on to the crossbar by Jon Lopez.
As half-time approached it looked increasing likely that the game would be scoreless at the break, despite Ardeer's best efforts. However, this changed when the home side were awarded a penalty in the 44th minute. With regular spot kick taker Scott Reid suspended, top goalscorer John Colligan stepped up in his place. His penalty, hit low in the centre of the net, wasn't the best but it beat Lugar keeper Lopez who picked a side to dive to.
Colligan made it 2-0 ten minutes in the second half from close range to score his seventh league goal of the season, with the assist being provided by Greg Kean. A third goal for Ardeer looked as if it would kill the game and they made a couple of substitutions in the middle of the half in search of this, with Niall Kennedy replacing David Thomson and Daryl Kean making way for debutant Frank Gibson. Within this period, Lugar hit the crossbar with a long range effort but the match official had already stopped play for an earlier foul committed by Ardeer.
Greg Kean then came close to scoring the goal his fine performance deserved, being played in by strike partner Colligan the beating a defender before missing the target with his right foot shot when one-on-one with Lugar keeper Lopez. The goalie was then called into action again to stop Frank Gibson's goalbound header. Despite not being able to further increase their lead, Ardeer's victory seemed safe as Lugar found if difficult to get past the home defence. A setback was then suffered when right-back Kevin Ramsay almost ruined his birthday celebrations by conceding a penalty. It did seem a rather dubious penalty award as his foot seemed to make contact with that of a Lugar player in a 50-50 situation but referee Craig Walker adjudged it to be a foul. Scott Clelland hit the spot kick well to Scott Cochrane's right to get a goal back for Lugar but that was to be the last one of the match with the final scoreline being 2-1 to the home side.
Overall, it was a very good team performance for Ardeer who avenged their 6-1 defeat at Rosebank Park earlier in the season. They now have two victories in a row (albeit seven weeks apart) and will be hoping to extend their winning run in the scheduled home fixture against Kello Rovers next weekend. |