Carluke travelled to Dumbarton for this Scottish Junior Cup match. Not quite the excitement of the main Scottish Cup played at Carluke a month earlier but none the less a game the team wanted to win. The match was against Vale of Leven who are in the Division above Carluke.

The game kicked off with Leven having the wind at their back on a perfect grass surface and they were the team on the front foot initially. In the 10th minute a ball into the Carluke box was picked up by a Vale striker and just as he moved the ball forward he was brought down by a Rovers defender. The Ref pointed straight to the spot for a penalty. However the kick was brilliantly save by Josh McGill in the Carluke goal who dived down to his left and got a hand to the ball to divert it away.

With the wind at their backs Leven had a bit more of the ball but Carluke were dangerous on the break and it was one such instance that saw the ball picked up by Greg Miller in the 31st minute. He beat the defender and knocked the ball wide to Dom Small. He cut inside but his shot went well over the bar. It was the same combination 4 minutes later but this time Small’s shot lacked penetration and was easily saved by the Vale of Leven keeper.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 36th minute when Leven won a corner on the right. The ball was swung in and wasn’t cleared by the Rovers defence. As the ball bounced on the 6 yard line a Leven forward got his head to it and the ball looped into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Vale of Leven. This was a valuable lead that Vale of Leven were to take into the break.

The second half started with Carluke very much still in the game. In fact they carved out their best chance of the match to date in 49 minutes. Craig Rutherford brilliantly beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper but as he was pushed a little wide the keeper managed to get a hand to his effort and put it past the post.

Next it was the turn of Leven to test the Rovers rearguard. A 25 yard freekick on the hour mark was well saved by Josh McGill. He was called into action again 5 minutes later when the Vale of Leven No11 broke free on the left but this time McGill used his feet to save the shot.

At the other end Carluke spurned their best opportunity of the game in the 78th minute. Good work by Rhys Park on the right found him cutting the ball back from the byline to the onrushing Greg Miller but he managed to lift his effort over the bar from about 12 yards out.

This was to be Carluke’s last real effort on goal and apart from a speculative shot that hit the Carluke bar in the 86th minute the game petered out with Vale of Leven going through to the next round 1-0 winners.

Photography by Kevin Ramage