It was back to league duty today for Carluke Rovers after a run of cup games which saw them perform admirably against top tier competition if not coming out on the right end of the results. Today the Rovers were visiting Irvine Victoria trying to keep their unbeaten start to the season intact.

The game was played on a typical junior park with all the usual bumps and on a tight pitch where time on the ball was a luxury neither team were to enjoy.

It was Irvine Victoria who started the hungrier with Carluke looking unusually lethargic from the outset Victoria went close as early as the second minute when a cross from the right was just missed by the outstretched foot of Ryan Morrow. Carluke were not to heed this warning and conceded in 5th minute from a similar move down the right knocked into the back of the net by Ryan Morrow. 1-0 to the home team.

This early goal for Irvine instilled the belief in them that they could score again against the league leaders and they did just that 5 minutes later when Dale McClelland doubled the lead in the 10th minute. It came from a long clearance which was picked up by Kevin Adam. The striker had a shot which was well saved by the feet of Eoin Wallace but the ball broke to McClelland who had the simplest of tasks to make it 2-0.

The game settled down after this and Carluke started to find their feet on a difficult surface. Carluke’s first opportunity came in the 18th minute when a Ben Rennie corner was met at the front post by the head of Gary Stewart but his glancing header went just past the far post.

It looked like Carluke had weathered the early storm and had a foothold in the game when another long ball out of defence caught them out. The ball broke kindly to Aidan Boone who ran through on goal and coolly slotted it past Wallace in the Rovers goal to make it 3-0 to Irvine Victoria.

Carluke were shell shocked by this turn of events but managed to get one back in the 47th minute when good play saw Ross Steele set up Mikey Downs and the striker’s shot managed to bounce over Rhys Russell in the Vics goal. 3-1 at half time.

This gave Carluke some hope and impetus going into the second half and they played with a determined energy that saw Irvine Vics pinned back for most of the half but still looking dangerous on the break. Indeed they managed to miss a penalty when Nicky Prentice got dispossessed in his own half and Sean McIlroy was through on goal only to be stopped by a last ditch tackle from Rovers centre half Tony Kerr. The resultant penalty was ultimately ballooned over the bar to the Rovers relief.

Despite all Carluke’s possession in the second half they rarely threatened to score as Irvine Vics defended well and when Carluke did get opportunities to get balls into the box the final pass was not up to the usual standards they have come to expect.

In short the poor start made by Carluke left them with a mountain to climb which proved just too much. However one defeat in eight is still a great start to the season and the team will dust themselves down and go again to maintain their position at the top of the league. They will get no better chance to do that when the play second placed East Kilbride Thistle at the John Cumming Stadium on 25th of the month with a 2pm kickoff.

Final Score: Irvine Victoria 3 – 1 Carluke Rovers FC

Photography by Kevin Ramage