Carluke Rovers made a welcome return to The John Cumming Stadium for this West of Scotland Leauge game against Irvine Victoria. It was a perfect day for football on the new pitch and it turned out to be an excellent game.

Carluke started the game with confidence and from the outset were playing some attractive football. They were keen to avoid the start they made in the reverse fixture when they quickly found themselves three goals down.

The first effort on goal though came for Irvine in 7 minutes. A ball to the back post was controlled by Ryan Morrow but his shot from a tight angle was saved well by Garry Black in the Carluke goal. The Rovers were looking the more likely though and indeed took the lead in the 14th minute. A ball through the middle was meant from Kyle McAdam but he was offside and cleverly stopped his run. While the Vics defence hesitated Mikey Downs did not and sped past McAdam to slide the ball under the Irvine keeper to make it 1-0 to Carluke.

It only took a further three minutes for Carluke to double their lead. Another good move through the middle of the pitch saw the ball arrive at the feet of Ben Rennie. The midfielder calmy picked his spot in the roof of the net from about the penalty spot giving Bysouth in the Irvine goal no chance. 2-0 to Carluke.

Although Carluke now had a good lead and were controlling most of the play Irvine Vics were not out of it and nearly got a goal back in the 31st minute but for a great tip over the bar by Garry Black.

At this point the match was flowing from end to end and Carluke nearly extended their lead further when a sweeping move down the right wing saw the ball played into Jamie McIntyre who in turn fed it to Kyle McAdam. The striker hit his shot but it just squeaked past the far post. The was the last action of the first half and Carluke went in with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Carluke needed to keep things tight at the start of the second half but unfortunately sloppy play at the back saw them concede a free kick just outside the box. The kick was taken by Dale McClelland and his low shot avoided the wall and nestled in the bottom corner. 2-1.

Irvine saw a way back into the game now and almost got an equaliser when a stray back pass had Garry Black scrambling out to the touchline. He didn’t win the tussle but from a tight angle the Irvine striker could only manage to put his effort out for a goal kick.

To the Rovers relief they wrestled back control in the 51st minute when a good run into the box by Kyle McAdam saw the striker pulled down in the box. The resultant kick was coolly slotted by Jamie McIntyre who sent the keeper the wrong way. 3-1 to Carluke.

Carluke were back in control of the game at this point and only excellent goalkeeping by Joshua Bysouth prevented Rovers from extending their lead through efforts from Lewis Guy and Ronan Shiels. However as Carluke were pushing they got caught out with a long ball from defence to the left wing. From there the ball was crossed to the backpost where it was met with a downward header by Sam Trousdale which bounced over the Rovers keeper into the far corner. 3-2

The remaining 20 minutes were a nervy affair with end to end football but Irvine Vics never really looked like getting an equaliser and if anything Carluke continued to look the more likely. The game finished with all 22 players in the Carluke box for a corner but it was cleared and not long after the Ref blew for full time.

A good result for Carluke albeit a lot closer than it should have been. Next week another home game beckons as Carluke welcome Rossvale hoping to continue their good run of form.

Unfortunately we have no photographs of this match due to club photographer family commitments.