Carluke travelled to their Ayrshire hosts hoping to build on last weeks excellent result against Finnart. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Despite playing well and competing strongly with their opponents in the first half, it was the home side that took the lead in the 18th minute. A throw in from the left into a crowded penalty box was headed on to the back post where it struck a Rovers player and the loose ball fell to Irvine substitute Clark who fired it into the Carluke net.

Despite this early setback the Rovers continued to press hard, and it was the visitors that looked like equalising the scoring. Josh Bell and Dom Small were causing problems with their runs on both flanks, resulting in a series of corners which put the home defence under considerable pressure.

It looked as though their hard work would be rewarded just before halftime. Another corner from the left wasn’t cleared and the loose ball fell to Josh Bell. His shot on goal was only partially stopped by the home keeper just inside his left-hand post. The ball was only inches from crossing the line when it was smothered by the relieved Vics keeper.

After the break Carluke continued to put pressure on the Saltcoats defence. Unfortunately, Carluke’s eagerness to score frequently left their own defence exposed and on 55 mins this resulted in the home side scoring their second goal. A failure by the Carluke backline to deal with a clearance from the Saltcoats defence allowed the home team to pick up the loose ball and leave Wilson in the Rovers goal with no chance of stopping the second goal.

Within two minutes the Rovers defence had been breached again to further increase their opponents lead.

These two quick goals appeared to take the fight out of Carluke and when the home team exploited the Rovers defensive weaknesses with another two-goal burst on 77 and 80 minutes. The contest was over.

It should be said however that the three points from this win put Irvine into the third promotion slot, and despite the final score Carluke had competed well for 60 minutes of this game against a side which will more than likely be promoted.

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Rovers Man of the Match
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Photography by Kevin Ramage