LATE PENALTY WINS TALBOT THE POINTS.

Report: Jim McAuley, Pictures: Craig McGhee, Media Ross Newlands.

TALBOT: Armour, Slooves (Abed 63mins), Schoneville, Wilson, McPherson, Langan (Boyle 46mins), Sime, Wardrope (Kerr 69 mins), McAvoy (Nimmo 77 mins), Thomson, Gillies (Clark 46mins). Unused Subs: Mitchell, Hanlon.

GLENS: Markey, Holding, Willet, Allan, Rowe, McCubbin, Ross, Lindsay, Kerr, Mullen, Malley. Subs: Walker, Taggart, Fraser.

Referee Gary Handvige proved to be the biggest talking point of this feisty encounter where the rain soaked crowd were entertained to two red cards, two disallowed Talbot goals, and a dodgy penalty in time added on.

With the game being more or less a dead rubber due to the Clydebank juggernaut still rolling along in the league, the added heavy rain and howling wind coming down the Afton Valley certainly kept the crowd down and after two hours of persistent downpours the winners in this spectacle were the ones who stayed home.

It’s not to say this was a bad game because hat’s off to both teams for providing ninety odd minutes of entertainment in horrendous conditions that kept the skill levels to a minimum. Talbot had made a few changes to the side that lost to Clydebank through the week with Wardrope, Slooves and Langan replacing Clark, Boyle and the trialist from Albion Rovers.

With the gale at their back Talbot looked to have taken the lead as early as the 5th minutes when Mick Wardrope lobbed a speculative ball into the box where the unmarked McAvoy steared a header past Markey only to see the stand side linesman flag for offside much to the relief of Holding who might have been playing the striker onside.

The game raged from end to end with Malley surging through the Talbot defence only to shoot well past Armours post. At the other end Thomson dinked a useful ball into the danger area but McAvoy couldn’t get any power on his header and the ball rolled harmlessly past the goals.

On 20 minutes McCubbin pounced on some indecisive defending by Talbot where he laid the ball into the path of Mullen who’s goal bound shot was headed into the air by Slooves where Armour and McPherson combined to clear the danger. 10 minutes later Talbot had a half chance when a Wardrope free kick was headed well past the post by Slooves. However minutes later Wardrope again provided the ammunition for Talbot when his free kick outside the home danger area was headed back into the mix by McAvoy where THOMSON was the first to react and swept the ball past the keeper from a few yards.

Talbot’s lead lasted a mere 5 minutes when Jordan Allan powered through the Talbot defence to connect with a Lindsay corner and steer his header past Armour. This was a disappointment for Talbot as again they struggled against the Glen’s players’corners that had caused a bit of panic earlier in the game.

Just before half time the home side were unlucky not to have taken the lead when Mullen pounced on more Talbot indecision to charge forward and unleash a low shot from outside the 18 yard box which deceived the diving Armour and cannoned of the base of the post before being cleared.

The second half saw Clark and Boyle introduced into the match for Gillies and Boyle, but it was on the hour mark that the big talking point of the match took place. Glenafton’s Ross was on the attack but the ball was soon bundled into open space where Sime and Holding decided to challenge for the ball with the Talbot man looking favourite. However the defenders tackle was two footed and in reality if Sime hadn’t hurdled the tackle it could have been worse. Referee Handvidge had no hesitation in brandishing the red card must to the distaste of the home fans congregated in the stand.

Although down to ten men it was the home side who were having the better of the match and in 68 minutes Kerr tried his luck from 20 yards but it was easily gathered by Armour. Minutes later Kerr was presented with a golden chance when Lindsay flicked the ball past the Talbot defence but Armour robbed the big striker of a goal when he blocked his shot with an outstretched foot.

With the man advantage Talbot started to dominate proceedings and Thomson was unlucky when he latched onto a superb Schoneville pass but he hurried his shot into the side netting. On the 75th minute Talbot had another goal disallowed when the referee seemed to find a fault with Sime’s goal after Sconeville whipped in a superb corner kick.

The introduction of Abed to the fray was giving Talbot a bit of scope down the right side and it was from this position they were awarded a penalty in time added on. Sime won the ball in the middle of his own half where he laid on a superb ball to Clark. The substitute made a lung bursting run up the right before laying the ball off to Abed. The Talbot player definitely gathered the ball in the box before clashing with McCubbin and hitting the deck. Referee Handvidge who was metres from the incident blew instantly for a penalty much to the disgust of the home players.

EWAN THOMSON chose to take the spot kick and although Markey guessed where the ball was going, the youngsters penalty had enough power to fly past the big keepers hands and into the net. This was to be the last action of the match except for a bit of a commotion on the final whistle where the referee red carded another home player.

On another day this would have been a highly entertaining match, but the event was completely ruined by the weather. The injury to Mick Wardrope looked bad and will definitely give some food for thought for next weeks match against Mick Kennedy’s East Kilbride.