Report

It took penalties to decide the outcome of a pulsating West of Scotland Match at Abbey Park where Talbot had the upper hand but failed to finish the match due to poor finishing and some excellent goal keeping by ex-Talbot keeper Adam Strain. Talbot had to re-shuffle the pack due to a call off by Ross Harvey who had picked up an injury against Lesmahagow and replaced him with Craig McCracken in the centre of defence. It was business as usual for skipper Willie Lyle who returned to the side after being rested against Lesmahagow. Talbot suffered an early setback when Dwayne Hyslop picked up a bad injury when it looked like he took a set of studs into his face, and was instantly replaced by David Waite. The youngster automatically made himself known with a number of probing runs down the right wing where he whipped a few tantalising balls into the box but there were no takers. In fact the first half was devoid of any goalmouth action except where a pinpoint cross by Gordon Pope was misread by Sean McIlroy  who headed the ball past Strain’s goal when it looked like it was easier to score than miss.

The second half started a lot brighter for Talbot when they upped the ante and Strain made a superb block at the feet of Calvin Kemp. The Talbot striker later passed up a great chance to open the scoring when he was adjudged to be onside during a Talbot attack, but made the mistake of not playing to the whistle and scuffed a hurried shot well off  target. Changes were soon made with Graham Wilson and Keir Samson replacing Calvin Kemp and Sean McIlroy.  Talbot continued to dominate the game as they swarmed around the Kilwinning goalmouth and Craig McCracken was unlucky to see his scuffed shot just slip past the post, Adam strain was definitely the busiest of the keepers, but it took the outstretched hand of Andy Leishman to parry a Monti shot past the post which kept Kilwinning from taking an undeserved lead,

As the game headed towards the 90 minute mark the large Talbot travelling support thought they had nicked the tie when Keir Samson who actually looked to have been shoved in the back got his head to a David Waite whipped cross which cannoned off the post. The game then went to penalties and straight away Andy Leishnan proved why he is one of the best keepers in the Juniors by saving Nisbet’s spot kick down at his left hand post. From then on Talbot made no mistakes from the spot with the Wilson’s Waite, Glasgow and Gordon Pope all hitting the back of the net. A hard won tie at a very difficult venue, and a place in the next round against Cumnock.