Three county clubs pay penalty as the crash out of West cup at the first hurdle

Sep 25 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

LARKHALL Thistle, Shotts Bon Accord and Carluke Rovers blew their chance of edging into the West of Scotland Cup second round after losing their ties at the weekend in penalty shoot-outs.

All three were level after 90 minutes at Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, Kilbirnie Ladeside and Glasgow Perthshire, respectively.

Thistle manager Bobby Crilly was in ebullient mood, and said: “Every Larkhall fan and committee member should be proud of the side.

“We were three minutes away from beating a side lying fourth in the Super Premier League, and who had just beaten Irvine Meadow a few weeks earlier.

“Things were going well for 87 minutes with us holding a 1-0 lead, but then Rob Roy equalised.

“I thought we were the better team in the first half and took the lead when Joe Shields powered in a header off a David Crilly cross.

“We also had what I thought was a good goal cancelled when Brian Watret crossed for Joe Coyle to head in.

“Rob Roy, as expected, threw everything at us in the second half but our back three of Scott Dewar, Joe Coyle and Brian Eadie were absolutely tremendous.”

Penalty taker and dead-ball specialist David Crilly took the first kick – and it was his first miss in two years!

Steve Marshall, Eadie and Billy Russell scored, but Rob Roy slotted all five kicks, which meant Joe Shields wasn’t called on.

Nine-man Shotts staged a brave backs-to-the-wall performance against Kilbirnie Ladeside which almost earned them a passport to the second round instead of shoot-out misery.

Manager Duncan Sinclair said: “I was proud of my nine players in that second-half for 30 minutes; we probably played better with nine men than we did with 11, and didn’t do ourselves justice in the shoot-out.

“We had a poor start to the game when Kilbirnie dominated the early play, but after 30 minutes or so we came into the game, started getting the ball down and passing it around – and created the best chance of the half when Kevin Barr was through on the keeper but pulled the ball wide.

“We started the second half brightly and for 10 minutes I thought we were going to go on and win the tie, but they broke up the park and scored.

“Then, just as we were about to make a substitution to give us a more cutting edge, Gary McSeveney and Jamie White were shown second yellow cards within a four-minute spell – I thought both were a bit harsh.

“But some great play by Barr and John Goodwin earned a free-kick on the edge of the box which John Boyack floated over, and Darren Ferguson got a flick at the front post to net.”

Carluke Rovers drew 1-1 away to Glasgow Perthshire, but lost 4-3 on penalties.

Manager Whitey Moffat, facing a midweek player shortage, signed four players on Friday to ensure he had enough to fulfil the fixture.

In came the Duris twins, Kevin and James, from Lesmahagow and two players from amateur football.

Rovers’ defence failed to cover a defender coming up for a corner, and he was allowed to outjump the pack to score on the hour.

Stewart Arnott equalised with 15 minutes left, with a spectacular scissors-kick.

Manager Whitey Moffat said: “Perthshire were the better team in the first half, but in the end I thought we deserved to win.”

Brian Caldwell, Andy Noble and Kris Jarvie scored in the shoot-out, but James Miller missed and Arnott had the final kick saved.