Carluke Rovers were looking to continue their winning ways when they travelled away for the second week in a row. This time the trip was to Kilwinning to play Eglinton FC. The Rovers had never beaten Eglinton in the few times they had played but they were confident they could get that first win despite Eglinton having a good win themselves in midweek away to Royal Albert.

The game kicked off with the wind blowing across the field but if anything slightly in favour of Eglinton. Rovers were without keeper Garry Black but were fortunate to be able to call on new signing from Camelon, Gregor Knight.

The first opportunity of the match came in the 3rd minute when Steven Logan dispossessed an Eglinton player just outside their box. He took a shot from the edge but it just slid past the right hand post. Then in the 9th minute it was Eglinton who were to create an opportunity when Elliot O’Brien cut in from the right wing but his shot was directly at Knight and he held it comfortably.

The game in the first half was being played mainly in the middle of the park but any chances being created were being done so by Carluke but all their efforts were direct at Lundy in the Eglinton goal.

The first half ended 0-0 but Carluke could take confidence that any wind was in their favour in the second half and that they could convert their chances into goals.

They did indeed come out in the second half looking for a fast start which they got. Good one touch football saw the ball squared to striker Jacob Maceachan by Ross Steele inside the box. The striker picked his spot and knocked it over the line past the keeper maintaining his recent, impressive scoring record. 0-1 to Rovers.

Eglinton pushed hard for an equaliser but rarely threatened. Their best chance was in the 79th minute. A freekick was thrown into the Carluke box and when it dropped to Elliot O’Brien his shot was well saved by Gregor Knight who parried it into the air. Ronan Shiels missed the dropping ball which allowed Gary Brown of Eglinton to get another shot off but it was well blocked by several Rovers players.

Another Eglinton freekick into the Rovers box was to be the home side’s downfall. The flighted ball found it’s way to Rovers Ben Rennie in the left back position. He in turn played a good pass into Connor McQueen on the left wing who manage to wriggle free from a defender around the halfway line. Just at that the Eglinton Keeper, who was well out of his goal, near the halfway line also tried to intercept McQueen but was no match for the winger. This left the player with an open goal and from about 30 yards he coolly rolled the ball into the empty net to put the game beyond doubt with Rovers leading 0-2.

You could see the fight ebb out of Eglinton and Rovers should have had a third in the 93rd minute. A good effort by the impressive Ben Rennie was parried to Connor McQueen but the winger could not get it out from under his feet and it squirmed past the post from about 3 yards out.

This was the last of the action in what turned out to be a comfortable afternoon for Carluke Rovers running out 2-0 winners. The defence were rarely troubled and were well marshalled as usual by captain Olly Grenfell.

Carluke make the short journey on Tuesday of this week to play Newmains United for the penultimate game of a long season with a 7:15pm kickoff. They will be determined to keep the winning run going against Newmains with the last game of the season being against bottom of the table BSC.

Unfortunately our normal match day photographer was unavailable but big thanks go to one of our committee members who managed to provide a few shots from an excellent performance by the team.