Carluke made the short trip down the road today to take on Wishaw Juniors, who have been showing steady improvement since their new management team took over in the last couple of months.

The grass pitch was in good shape considering the recent weather and the game got underway with Carluke knowing this would be another difficult game. It was Carluke who started the better and could have taken the lead when a Gary Stewart strike from 25 yards whistled past the post. Then Wishaw missed a good opportunity when a good move down the middle found Liam Coogans but his shot was well wide of the left post.

Carluke were dominating proceedings by this point, and it was no real surprise when they took the lead in the 34th minute. Good interplay outside the Wishaw box saw the ball eventually get to the feet of Gary Stewart. The striker got to the byline and cut a great cross back to Ben Rennie, who wrapped his foot round it before volleying into the top corner.

Then, two minutes later, Carluke could have extended their lead when a through ball found Jamie McIntyre, but the midfielder’s effort was tame from just inside the box and was easily saved by Orr in the Wishaw goal.

Carluke continued to look for that elusive second goal, and Gary Stewart could have got it in the 43rd minute from a long throw-in. The Wishaw keeper failed to hold the ball, but when the ball dropped to Stewart, his effort bobbled just past the post from six yards. Half-time score 0-1 to Carluke.

The second half got underway with Wishaw fortunate to be still in the game. However, with the score only 1-0, they knew they were still well in it. The half itself was quite a turgid affair, with not a great number of chances. It was, however, a much more even half, and if anything, Wishaw were slightly the better team.

Carluke should have put clear daylight between the teams however in the 53rd minute. A Ben Rennie corner found an unmarked Olly Grenfell at the back post, but the big centre half nodded the ball just to the wrong side of the post. Carluke were to rue that missed opportunity when, four minutes later, Wishaw got a penalty of the soft variety. A long throw-in bounced in the Rovers penalty area. When Connor Coyle attempted to chest the ball down, the ref deemed it had hit his arm and pointed to the spot. The evergreen Chris Jarvie took the spot kick, sending Gary Black the wrong way and making the score. Wishaw 1, Carluke 1.

The equaliser seemed to deflate Carluke and Wishaw started to impose themselves more on proceedings. In the 72nd minute a Wishaw freekick in the centre of the park was thrown into the Carluke box. A Wishaw player managed to get his head to it and but for a great Garry Black save down to his left Rovers could have found themselves behind.

In the last 10 minutes the game was flowing from end to end but the best chance fell to Rovers Ben Patterson. He found himself unmarked in the Wishaw box but he rushed his effort slightly and pulled his shot just wide of the post with the last kick of the game. Final score Wishaw 1 Carluke Rovers 1.

Photography by Kevin Ramage