It was back to league duty today for Carluke after their exploits at Dundee North End. The opponents were St Anthony’s in Glasgow. Although The Ants are sitting at the foot of the table their recent form would suggest they are starting to pick up some decent results.

On the surface the pitch looked perfect but as the game got underway it was clear it was going to be tricky for both teams on the bumpy surface.

In a first half where the teams nullified each other there wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action. The first real opportunity didn’t come till the 25rd minute. A spell of good pressure from Carluke saw the ball looped into the box onto the head of Mikey Downs but the striker’s header shaved the outside of the post when it looked net bound.

Carluke were starting to show signs of growing into the game and from a training ground corner in the 31st minute Ross Steele made a darting run to the corner of the six yard box only to see his whipped shot fly just over the bar from a Kyle McAdam low ball in..

It wasn’t all one way traffic though and The Ants went close in the 39th minute. Livewire midfielder Paul Devlin evaded his marker on the right and crossed a ball into the back post only for it just to elude the head of Ewan Valentine and sail wide of the far post. Then just before the break a shot from St Ants inside the box was deflected but fortunately for Carluke it went straight into the arms of Eoin Wallace in the Rovers goal. This was the last action of the half and both teams went in with the score at 0-0 knowing better was required in the second half.

The second half got started and Carluke created a great chance in the first minute of the re start. A cross from the left saw Ashton Pellow climb inside the six yard box but his headed effort was straight into the arms of a thankful Damien Lorimer in the St Anthony’s goal.

Then within a minute a similar chance at the other end was nodded just past the post. After that miss, just after the hour mark the deadlock was broken. Carluke conceded a free kick on the left just inside their own half. The ball was swung towards the back post and first to get a foot to it was David Black of St Anthony’s who managed to turn it back inside the post to give The Ants the lead. 1-0.

Carluke made several changes from the bench to refresh things on the pitch and it was one of the substitutes, Mark Cassidy, who delivered a good cross to the head of Ashton Pellow but again his effort was straight at the Keeper. The big striker was working hard to get on the scoresheet and had another effort in the 75th minute when the ball broke to him but his shot whistled just over the bar.

Carluke were pushing to snatch an equaliser and it nearly came at the death when in the 90th minute the ball broke to of the Rovers players’ but agonisingly his shot was right at the Ants keeper and he blocked it away to safety. This was to be the last action of the game and St Anthony’s held on for a much needed win. Final Score 1-0

For Carluke Rovers it’s a case of brushing themselves down and making the most of no game next Saturday coming back refreshed for the following week on 10th October.

Photography by Kevin Ramage