West Park United from Bishopbriggs were todays’ visitors to the John Cumming Stadium for this West of Scotland league match. In the reverse fixture this season Carluke ran out 3-1 winners but it was a tighter game than the scoreline would suggest and todays game was expected to be just as close.

The game got underway in relatively benign conditions and for the first quarter of an hour there was nothing much to write about as both teams cancelled each other out. However in the 16th minute as two Rovers defenders and a West Park attacker chased the ball down inside the Rovers box the West Park player went down near the bye line and the Referee deemed it a penalty pointing to the spot. It did seem soft. The penalty was duly converted by Joseph McPake as he hit it high to the Keeper’s left giving Garry Black no chance in the Rovers goal.

Carluke tried to respond quickly to this setback and indeed nearly found the equaliser in the 20th minute when Ross Steele hit a shot from 20 yards out which cannoned off the bar down onto the line but didn’t cross it.

The rest of the half was nondescript but West Park seemed hungrier than the home team and enjoyed more possession in the Carluke half but without really creating any chances and so both teams went in at halftime with West Park leading 1-0.

The second half got underway and was only 12 minutes old when Rovers Manager, Thomas Devine, made a couple of changes to try and get some more urgency into Carluke’s play. On came Kyle McAdam and James Dunlop followed not long after by Jay McInally and Ben Rennie.

The changes certainly seemed to provide the team with added impetus and Carluke were growing into the game and creating far more in the way of chances. The first of these was a direct free kick from just outside the box but unfortunately Chris Owen dragged his effort just wide of the keepers’ left hand post.

However Rovers got the equaliser their second half play had merited but in strange circumstances. The Referee stopped play in the 73rd minute and decided to restart the game with a drop ball. It appeared that West Park believed the ball was theirs and didn’t react quickly to the drop whereas Mikey Downes did the opposite and as soon as the ball bounced the big striker lashed it from 20 yards out and although the keeper got a hand to it he couldn’t stop it from going in at his far post. 1-1.

With 15 minutes still to be played there was a sense within the Carluke ranks that the game was there to be won and went after West Park creating several chances. First it was Ben Rennie who cut inside from the left wing but his shot whistled just past the left hand post. Then in 79 minutes a great defence splitting pass found Kyle McAdam. He chased down the right wing and cut a lovely ball back to fellow local lad Ross Steele but from 10 yards out Rovers top scorer skewed his effort wide of the post.

Then in 87 minutes Ross Steele receives the ball on the right wing. He manages to make some space for himself and got over a great cross where it found Jay McInally with a free header. Unfortunately though the striker didn’t get enough on it in front of goal and he glanced it wide.

This was to be the last of the action apart from a great low down save to smother the ball by Garry Black in the Rovers goal with the last kick of the game. Both teams left the pitch disappointed they hadn’t won it but a draw was probably about right.
This extends Carluke Rovers unbeaten league run to nine games and next week it’s off to Giffnock with a 2:30pm kickoff in attempt to make it ten games undefeated.

Photography by Kevin Ramage