It was a cracking autumn day at the John Cumming Stadium with Giffnock Soccer Centre the visitors in this WOSFL Division 4 tie.

It all started off pretty evenly as each side created a few slight chances but the game was barely 7 minutes old when some poor Rovers defending seen a ball passed across the face of the goal leaving the Giffnock striker an easy task of putting his team 1 ahead.

Carluke Rovers 0 v 1 Giffnock

Credit to Carluke to come back at Giffnock quickly as a ball across the Giffnock 6 yard box was met by Joshua Bell, a well placed header put beyond the Giffnock keeper.

Carluke Rovers 1 v 1 Giffnock

With play going from end to end it was Giffnock who struck again as a shot left Josh McGill watching the ball nestle in the side netting to put Giffnock 2-1 ahead.

Carluke Rovers 1 v 2 Giffnock

Carluke continued to press well with Joshua Bell and Greg Miller combining well, in 24 minutes a well struck Greg Miller free kick only narrowly went wide to keep the deficit at 1.

Rovers task then became a bit more difficult as a Giffnock attack resulted in a Rovers clearance that broke to Stephen Jackson who stuck an unstoppable 20 yarder into the bottom corner.

Carluke Rovers 1 v 3 Giffnock

With only minutes to go before half time it was the Rovers turn to hit the net as Paul Reid pulled the Rovers back to within 1 goal of Giffnock.

Half Time – Carluke Rovers 2 v 3 Giffnock

The 2nd half was a bit of an anti-climax as neither team produced many clear cut chances and if anything they cancelled each other out.

Carlukes chances were made more difficult when the referee saw fit to give Joshua Bell a second yellow card for a late challenge in front of the Carluke bench, none of whom agreed with the refs decision.

Giffnock had the better of the possession in the closing minutes without really taking advantage of the extra man.

The full time whistle blew with Carluke suffering another defeat albeit a narrow one in a game that could really have went either way.

Next week sees Campbeltown Pupils make the long journey down to Carluke, a match where Carluke will be hoping to see some points.

Please note this match will have a 1pm kick off.

 

Photography by Kevin Ramage