Carluke were playing a second home game at Albion Rovers Cliftonhill Stadium while the John Cumming Stadium is being re surfaced. Today they welcomed West Park who could go top if they mamaged a victory.
The pitch was heavy due to the weather this week but flat and in good condition all things considered.

It was Carluke who threatened first in the 8th minute with a sweeping move through the West Park defence. The ball was played out wide to Kyle McAdam and the midfielder got to the bye line and cut the ball back to Gary Stewart unmarked 6 yards out. Unfortunately the ball took an awkward bounce and the striker mishit his shot into the keeper’s arms.

Carluke were to rue this missed opportunity as only 3 minutes later West Park took the lead. The ball was crossed in from the right wing and fell to Sean Findlay. The player’s shot was well blocked but unfortunately for Carluke it fell to the same player and he made no mistake at the second time of asking. 0-1 to West Park.

Matters were to get worse for Carluke when in 18 minutes West Park doubled their lead. A cross to the backpost was met by the head of an unmarked Keir Miller to make it 0-2.

The game fell into a pattern after this with neither goalkeeper tested. However in the 38th minute Carluke were thrown an opportunity to get back into the game when they were awarded a penalty. It came from a long throw into the box from Connor Coyle. The ball was headed into the air and as it dropped Ross Steele tried a bicycle kick. He was kicked in his attempt and the Referee pointed to the spot. Steele himself took the kick but the Keeper guessed right and dived to his left to save the low effort.

As so often recently when Carluke miss a gilt edged opportunity the opposition go up the park and score and today was to be no different. West Park took a throw on the left wing and the ball was collected by Kyle Thom. There looked to be no danger till the player hit an effort from almost on the touchline level with the edge of the box that went into the far top corner giving Garry Black no chance. 0-3 to West Park.
This was a hammer blow to Carluke who would have been well in the game had they scored the penalty but now went in 3-0 down at halftime.

Carluke started, and for the most part, played the second half on the front foot without creating too much in the way of clear cut chances. They were in the ascendancy when midfielder Kyle McAdam received a straight red card for a wreckless tackle. This was the end of a comeback which had looked unlikely anyway being 3-0 down.

West Park were to score two late goals to put a shine on the scoreline but it was just a bad day for Carluke when what could go wrong did go wrong. They will dust themselves down and go again next week when the team are away to St Peters.

Final Score Carluke Rovers 0 – West Park 5.

Photography by Kevin Ramage