Carluke travelled to nearby Stonehouse today to take on Royal Albert in a West of Scotland league game. This was the first game of the new season between the teams that finished second and third respectively in the previous season. It was all change in the Carluke ranks with new Manager David Donnelly taking the reins in his first competitive match and a raft of new faces in the starting line up.

The pitch in Stonehouse was in excellent condition and so there were to be no excuses from either team in the sunshine with a breeze blowing across the pitch.

This was always going to be a tight affair between two evenly matched teams and so it was no surprise that it took till the 16th minute for the first real chance to be created. Rovers left back Lewis Baird swung a cross field pass to Kyle McAdam on the right wing. He then turned his man and crossed a great ball to the backpost but it was just out of reach for Mikey Downs coming in behind the Royal Albert defence.

This effort seemed to invigorate Royal Albert and in the 19th minute a free kick from their own half wasn’t cleared properly by the Rovers defence and it fell to Kyle McCallum who struck a fine volley. It looked to be net bound but for a brilliant one handed save from Eoin Wallace in the Rovers goal. Next it was Carluke who went close when Connor Coyle took a quick throw that found Jamie McIntyre with an opportunity to lob the keeper but some good defending saw his effort tamely gathered by Wharton in the Albert goal.

In a game that was end to end Eoin Wallace came to Rovers rescue for a second time with another brilliant reflex save from another close range effort from Kyle McCallum.

The long throws of Connor Coyle have struck fear into the heart of defences all last season with several goals for Carluke being the outcome. It was one such throw deep into the heart of the Albert box that saw the hard working Jay Keenan rise above everyone to nod home from close range. 0-1 to Carluke Rovers in the 29th minute.

Rovers could have further extended their lead in the 36th minute when good play on the right saw Kyle McAdam square the ball to Struan Nicholson but his effort was cleared off the line with the Albert keeper beaten all ends up.

As it was Carluke went in at halftime with a 1-0 lead and looking comfortable.

As the second half got underway it was clear there had been some serious discussions in the Royal Albert dressing room as they came out in determined fashion.The second half was only 11 minutes old when they got their equaliser. Left back Scott Nicol slid a pass through the middle to Kieran McGuire, who looked offside, but play was waved on and he knocked the ball past Wallace in the Rovers goal to make it 1-1.

Carluke were rarely threatened in the match and even when they went down to 10 men with the dismissal of Connor McIntyre for 2 tackles in quick succession it did not affect the tempo of the game. In fact Carluke had two gilt edged opportunities to win the match in the latter stages but failed to take them. Firstly a great run out of defence by Callum Shanks, who hadn’t put a foot wrong all day at centre half, saw him pass to Euan McLew who then squared it to Jay Keenan at the backpost for a tap in. However the Albert keeper had other ideas and he scrambled back across the line to save the ball with his feet.

This was followed up in the 90th minute when a slip at the back by Liam Mushet allowed Rovers Dylan Watt to take the ball but his shot whistled past the far right post. This was the last of the action and the game finished with a share of the spoils in what was a pretty even contest.

On Tuesday Rovers welcome last years champions East Kilbride YM to the John Cumming Stadium in Carluke for what will be another tough match with an 8:15pm kickoff.

Match Report by Steven Kane

Photography by Kevin Ramage