Carluke Rovers FC v Ellon United FC

Scottish Junior Cup
v
Sat 27 August 2022
Score: 1 - 1

Match Report

It was a break from league duty today as Carluke welcomed Ellon United from the Northern Region League. Ellon had a long trip down from Aberdeenshire and were determined to avenge the defeat they suffered when the teams last met some years ago in the same competition.

The game started quietly enough and there wasn’t much action for the first 20 minutes. The first real chance came in the 23rd minute when a corner was looped to the backpost and headed back across goal only for Ellon No9 to head over the bar when unmarked.

It was a corner for Carluke that was to present Ellon with their next opportunity. The ball broke to the Ellon No 11 on the halfway line and with most of the Carluke team up the other end he bore down on goal. Fortunately for Carluke hi shot went just wide of the far post.

Next up it was Carluke to carve out a chance. Christy Lawlor went on a good run and made space for himself coming in from the right. His shot however was easily saved by the Ellon Keeper.

It was a competitive, evenly matched game and it was going to take an error from one team for the other to make the breakthrough. In the 41st minute it was nearly Carluke who made the mistake. Their defender got caught in possession in his own half with the ball broke to the Ellon No9. As earlier though Carluke escaped as his shot went wide of the far post with only the Keeper to beat.

This was the last chance of the first half and it finished 0-0.

The second half was being played out as the first with neither team dominating the other. However there were some strange refereeing decisions being made and another of these was to have a bearing on the outcome. Carluke midfielder Dom Small went on a run beating a couple of Ellon players before putting Connor Curran through on goal. Unfortunately Curran put the ball wide when challenged by the Keeper and as the ball trundled out of play the Referee pointed to the spot giving a penalty to Carluke after the Ellon Keeper had made minimal contact. Carluke were not going to argue and the same player, Connor Curran coolly slotted the ball away to give Carluke the lead in 75th minute. 1-0

The game then started to get more frenetic as Ellon chased the equaliser and Carluke attempted to kill off the tie. Ellon should have equalised in 79th minute when a long ball out of defence was picked up by Ellon No12 but he put over the bar when it looked easier to score. It was then the turn of Carluke when a good run by Christy Lawlor down the right saw him feed the ball into Dom Small whose goalbound shot was well blocked by a despairing Ellon defender.

Something had to give and unfortunately for Carluke it was their net that would be next to collect the ball. Ellon took a corner from the right in the 84th minute and their number 4 got up well in a crowded box to head home the equaliser.

This was the final score and the game went straight to penalties.

Ellon won the penalties 4-2 and this was down to good goalkeeping rather than bad penalties by the Carluke team. There was also a great save in there from the ever reliable Josh McGill in the Carluke goal.

Next up it’s back to league duty with a home game against Vale Of Leven at the John Cumming Stadium with a 2pm kickoff.

Match Report by Stevie Kane

Photography by Kevin Ramage