Carluke Rovers were back on league duty today when they welcomed BSC Glagow to the John Cumming Stadium for this West of Scotland League game. BSC are sitting in the bottom half of the league but have made great strides from the team who didn’t win a game last season.

The game kicked off in relatively calm conditions with Carluke hitting into a gentle breeze and both teams started the game well. There was not a lot happening however until the 8th minute when an error at the back was to cost Carluke. The ball was looped high and was allowed to bounce midway inside Carluke’s half when they were pressing. The bounce helped Ewan Valentine of BSC who nicked it off Olly Grenfell and bore down on goal before coolly passing the ball past Garry Black to make the score 1-0 to BSC.

This goal roused Carluke and they went on the hunt for an equaliser. It nearly came in the 15th minute when a corner fired in by Ben Rennie found the head of Ronan Shiels but he didn’t get enough on his glancing header and it went past the far post. Then in the 23rd minute another corner, this time taken by Robbie Dunsmore Gascoigne went to the back post where it was met by the head of Olly Grenfell but his effort rattled the crossbar before being cleared after a brief skirmish in the box.

At this stage of the game Carluke were in the ascendancy and were looking for that equaliser. A good left wing run by Ben Rennie saw him cut the ball to Kyle Mcadam who tried to lob Rory Macaskill in the BSC goal but the keeper got his hand to it and kept it out. Then seconds later a Mcadam shot from a tight angle was well saved. It was clear that the pressure being exerted by Carluke would pay off at some point and it was no surprise that it did and from a corner which had always looked a danger from Carluke. This one was taken by Gascoigne and was glanced on at the front post by Ross Steele and running in at the back post was Ross Girdwood who thumped the ball in from close range to even up the scores at 1-1.

It wasn’t all one way traffic and BSC Glasgow nearly got their noses back in front again when a speculative lob from 30 yards nearly caught out Black in the Rovers goal but the keeper managed to back pedal and tip the effort onto the bar before collecting the ball.

The teams went in at half time tied 1-1 with all to play for in the second half.

The second half was only 2 minutes old when Carluke took the lead. Good work by Nicky Prentice on the left wing saw him pass to Kyle Mcadam who ran across his marker inside the box before shooting the ball past Macaskill. 2-1 to Carluke.

With their noses now in front it was important for Carluke to consolidate their lead and push on to get more but unfortunately for them it only took BSC 3 minutes to snatch an equaliser. A long throw from the left wing was headed upwards towards the back post and there unmarked was BSC’s Leo Szolowski who fired the ball into the roof of the net to make it 2-2.

This goal lifted BSC and appeared to have the opposite effect on Carluke who seemed to run out of ideas after this setback. If anything it looked like BSC were the more likely to snatch the win but for a couple of good saves from Garry Black in the Rovers goal.

The game finished 2-2 and this was probably a fair result for both sets of players. Rovers take a break now for a couple of weeks which might allow a few of the injured players the opportunity to regain their fitness and hopefully finish the year on a high against Campbeltown on 20th December.

Photography by Kevin Ramage