Carluke were hopefully playing their last game on their travels whilst the John Cumming Stadium is resurfaced. Today they were playing at the home of Benburb, who kindly allowed them to use their pitch, against a strong Eglinton side in this WOSFL match.

Carluke welcomed back the influential Mark Cassidy into the starting line up from a lengthy injury and he slotted straight back in to the team. Carluke got off to a fast start and took the lead in the fourth minute. The potent long throw from Connor Coyle did the damage again as his effort was met by the head of Ronan Shiels whose net bound header was knocked over the line by Mikey Downs to make it 1-0 to Carluke.

Carluke were on top for the bulk of the first half with numerous corners and free kicks but not many clear cut chances. However in the 37th minute a great defence splitting pass from Mikey Downs found Gary Stewart through on goal. The striker tried to place the ball across the keeper and into the far corner but Ross Lundy in the Eglinton goal got a strong hand to the ball to keep it out.

This was the last action of the first half and Carluke went in leading 1-0.

The second half was only a minute old when Carluke were awarded a penalty. Mark Cassidy was pulled down in the box as he tried to dribble his way through a ruck of players. The kick was taken by Ross Steele whose initial effort was blocked by the feet of the Keeper but he followed up to roll the ball into the net. 2-0 to Carluke.

Carluke continued to be comfortable in the game with Eglinton’s first attempt on goal being in the 70th minute but it was easily collected by Garry Black. However with about 15 minutes remaining Eglinton made substitutions and injected more urgency into their play. They started throwing more balls into the Rovers goalmouth but between the defence and the Keeper Carluke managed to soak it up.

However a nervy ending was guaranteed when in the 88th minute an Eglinton corner was met by Scott Dempster whose glancing header went in at the far post to make it 2-1. To Carluke’s credit though they managed to contain the play till the end of the match and gained a valuable 2-1 victory in their chase for promotion.

Next week will be another tough one away to Royal Albert where Carluke will be hoping to make it three wins in a row.

Photography by Kevin Ramage