It was a welcome return to the John Cumming Stadium for Carluke Rovers after their cup sojourns to Buckie and Pollock for this West of Scotland league game. The opposition today was Port Glasgow who had been relegated from Division 3 last season.

The game kicked off with Port Glasgow playing with a strong wind at their back and it took all of 35 seconds for them to turn it to their advantage. A long ball from their defence was comfortably controlled by a Carluke defender but he then proceeded to pass the ball directly to a Port Glasgow striker who gleefully carried it to the edge of the box before dispatching it into the bottom corner. 0-1 to Port Glasgow.

This had an unsettling effect on Carluke who were behind before many of the players had even touched the ball and it also buoyed Port Glasgow who were to go on the rampage for 20 minutes punishing every mistake that Carluke made.

They only had to wait another 10 minutes for their second when another long ball went over the head of Chris Owen at right back to the lively Port Glasgow winger. He collected the ball and flighted a lovely ball to the back post where it was met by an unmarked Port Glasgow striker who calmly nodded it into the empty net. 0-2 Port Glsagow.

Carluke were struggling to get a foothold in the game and contributed to their own downfall again when another long ball was covered by the Rovers defender but instead of heading it back to the Keeper or upfield he gave it straight to Port’s Shaun Rogers who took full advantage and hit an unstoppable, dipping volley over the head of Black to increase their lead to 0-3.

This was turning into a horror show for Carluke and it got worse in 16 minutes when Dom Small got dispossessed in his own half. The ball was then quickly squared across goal where it was met by the Port striker who lashed it into the net. 0-4 to Port Glasgow.

Carluke were reeling after this start but they managed to steady the ship a bit and the next 20 minutes were relatively calm but in the 36th minute Port Glasgow added a fifth. It was a low ball in from the left this time that was met by a Port player who knocked it over the line from close range.

This was to be the last of the scoring in the first half and Carluke were more than happy to hear the halftime whistle. Although Port Glasgow had been the better team in the first half Carluke had plotted their own downfall with some bad distribution in the wrong areas and poor decision making.

In the second half it was Carluke’s turn to have the wind at their back and they nearly got on the scoresheet when a Chris Owens freekick from the right hand side was met at the backpost and headed back across goal. It found the feet of Dom Small but his shot was just wide.

Not long into the second half Manager, Thomas Devine rang the changes. First bringing on Ben Patterson followed by Mikey Downs and Connor McQueen. The substitutes made a bit of a difference and injected some urgency into Carluke’s play. These players were later joined by Jamie Henderson who came on upfront.

To their credit the team gave as good as they got in the second half and did not concede any more goals against a very good Port Glasgow side. They are back on cup duty again next week when they take on Glenvale at the John Cumming Stadium in a West of Scotland Cup tie.

Photography by Kevin Ramage