Today it was the turn of promotion chasing St Peters to visit the John Cumming Stadium for this West of Scotland league match. Carluke for their part were looking to continue their good form since new manager Thomas Devine came in.

This game was to follow a similar path to last week’s game against Saltcoats with Carluke dominating the first half but being wasteful in front of goal.

The game started quietly enough and it took till the 12th minute for the first chance to be created. A good break by Christy Lawlor through the middle saw him thread the ball to Gavin Goodall. He took one stride and hit a shot high towards the net but the St Peters keeper got a strong hand to it to direct it over the bar. Then in the 15th minute Carluke got a penalty. Jay Blair cut in from e right beating a couple of players before laying it off to Christy Lawlor. Just as he got the ball under control a St Peters defender brought him down and the Ref had no choice but to point to the spot. The kick was confidently dispatched by Josh Fullerton 1-0 to Carluke.

It wasn’t all one way traffic and in the 25th minute the St Peters No11 cut in from the left but his speculative low shot was easily saved by Lewis Sanderson at his near post. Then in 32 minutes an error in the St Peters rearguard saw the ball picked up by Jay Blair, who cut inside, passed to Goodall, who dummied to Dom Small. Unfortunately for the midfielder his shot cannoned of the post from close range to safety.

Carluke were pressing hard at this stage and created several chances to increase their lead. Firstly in the 36th minute a good break from full back by Chris Owen saw him pass to Dom Small who in turn threaded the ball to Gavin Goodall but again the St Peters keeper spurned Carluke with another great save. Then in 41 minutes Christy Lawlor pulled his shot across goal and just wide. Only a minute later good play between Lawlor and Small saw the latter have another shot which was again well saved. Carluke were trying very hard to increase their lead before the break but were being thwarted by an excellent St Peters Keeper. It was down mainly to his heroics that his team went in only one down at halftime.

The second half got underway with Carluke having the wind at their back knowing that they still had to find a second goal to make the game more secure. St Peters, on the other hand, knew they had to improve and put more pressure on the Rovers defence.

In fact that second half was to be a much tighter affair with defences in charge for most of the time but on the hour mark a blunder in the Rovers defence was to gift St Peters the equaliser. New signing at centre half Ronan Shiels, who had a very comfortable game, tried to pass the ball back to the keeper from the wide area. Unfortunately for him it was intercepted by the St Peters winger who deflected the ball past Sanderson to make the score 1-1 after an hour.

This gave St Peters a lift and the rest of the second half was a much more even affair but Carluke were still creating the odd clear cut chance. Substitute Nathan Murray cut in from the left and forced another great save out of the St Peters keeper in the 64th minute. However Carluke spurned possibly their best chance to win the game in the 74th minute when after another good move the ball was passed to Dom Small through on goal. He tried to take the ball round the keeper but he read the midfielder’s intentions and managed to smother ball and snuff out the chance.

There were a further couple of half chances and a shout for a St Peters penalty but the game finished with the spoils shared and a 1-1 final score.

This is a game that Carluke Rovers should have had “in the bag” by halftime had they taken their chances. Another game though undefeated and they look forward to next week’s home game against Lugar Boswell with renewed confidence.

Photography by Kevin Ramage