Venue: Away

TALBOT FAIL TO BEAT THE DRUM

Report: Murray Steele, Photo’s: Craig McGhee, Media: Lee Conn.

Talbot remain unbeaten but had to settle for a point after a hard fought draw away at Drumchapel

The Bot made the perfect start, taking the lead with a top quality finish in the 7^th minute. McPherson knocked the ball in from the right & Clark squared it into the path of MICHAEL WARDROPE who curled a peach of a shot inside the right post from 20 yards.

A minute later Talbot won a free kick out wide on the left following a handball that saw a Drumchapel defender cautioned but failed to make the most of the set piece.

In the 11^th minute McNiff received a yellow card for a late challenge on Schoneville with Talbot winning another free kick out on the left. This time Wardrope whipped over a quality delivery that the defence did well to head clear. It came out to Boyle whose low strike was heading on target but was blocked en route by a defender.

Drumchapel hadn’t offered much going forward but won a corner in the 16^th minute which was hit into the danger zone but headed clear by Boyd.

passed up a good chance to double their lead in the 23^rd minute. Wardrope threaded a pass through the defence to find Boyd in space inside the area. He had more time than he realised and snatched at his shot – pulling it across goal and wide of target.

In the 31^st minute Boyle lifted the ball down the right to find Boyd and he fed it out to McAvoy on the touchline. He angled over a dangerous cross but there were no takers in the centre.

Two minutes later Drumchapel won a free kick in a good area – just wide of the Talbot penalty area. Moore lifted it beyond the far post where it was knocked clear.

Down the other end Boyle won the ball in the Drumchapel half and knocked it out wide left to Gillies. His ball across was deflected behind for a corner. When Wardrope’s corner came in the defence couldn’t clear their lines with the ball bouncing around the 6-yard area before finally going behind for a goal kick.

Three minutes before the break Boyd was harshly penalised for what looked like winning a 50/50 just outside the box. He played on after the whistle and sent a lob just wide for which he received a caution.

In the last action of the half Wilson played it into the feet of Boyd who cut in off the right and dragged a left foot shot wide of target with Talbot heading in a goal ahead at the break.

The first chance of the 2^nd period went Talbot’s way after 49 minutes. Schoneville hoisted an up and under up to the edge of the penalty box where Boyd managed to lay it off wide left to Gillies whose powerful drive was saved by Scullion.

Fifty minutes in Clark picked up a yellow card for a challenge in midfield.

Talbot’s next effort came in the 53^rd minute when Boyd cut inside off the right and curled a left foot shot off target.

A minute later Gillies swept over a good cross from the left touchline that a Drumchapel defender headed back toward his own goal – nearly putting it past his own keeper.

Talbot were looking comfortable but that all changed in the 57^th minute. Slooves knocked the ball back to Armour who pinged it out to the feet of Wilson. He dallied on it too long allowing Idris to nip in and steal it. He burst forward into the area before sliding a reverse pass to MOORE who slotted it low past Armour to level the score.

The goal energised the home side and they threatened again within a minute. A long diagonal found Biabi down the left and he pulled it back to Idris who teed it up for Moore to hit but his low drive was blocked.

In the 63^rd minute Schoneville picked up a caution when he conceded a free kick out on the touchline.

Talbot had a let off in the 65^th minute. The ball was laid right into the path of Idris 16 yards out but fortunately he blazed it high over the bar.

Sixty-seven minutes in Talbot made a double change with McAvoy & Clark making way for Smith & Langan.

In the 72^nd minute Schoneville burst up the wing before knocking it inside to find Langan. He tried to play it back into Schoneville who’d continued his run but it was a touch too heavy.

Two minutes later Talbot won a free kick just outside the penalty area when Wardrope was caught. With everyone anticipating a cross Wardrope went for goal and forced a good stop from Scullion who dived low to his left to keep it out.

With 12 minutes remaining Drumchapel made a double change with Templeton & McCoist coming on.

Templeton almost made an immediate impact when he jinked inside off the left and cracked a shot off the underside of the bar that Armour gathered.

Ten minutes from time Templeton was allowed a bit too much room outside the penalty area and he drilled a powerful shot on target that was pushed wide by Armour.

Talbot now made another double switch with Gillies & Wardrope making way for Abed & Sime.

Having survived Drumchapel’s purple patch Talbot ended the game on the front foot. Schoneville’s ball up the left found Abed pacing in behind the defence and his cut back into the centre just went behind Smith. The defence could only clear it out as far as Langan who was caught resulting in a free kick 20 yards out. Schoneville laid it square for Boyle to hit but he fired it high and wide of goal.

A minute from time Schoneville played it into the feet of Smith on the left of the box. He turned and got a shot away but a defender deflected it and landed harmlessly in the arms of the keeper.

In added time Schoneville played a ball into the box that came off a defender’s head to Smith at the edge of the area. He went for the first time volley which cannoned off a defender and behind for a corner on the left. Langan delivered it into the centre where the defence failed to clear it. It broke to Sime in space 15 yards out but he leant back as he hit it and his shot sailed way over and the game finished all square.

Next up for Talbot it’s a trip through to East Lothian where they face Haddington Athletic in the senior cup.

Drumchapel United – Scullion, McLaren, McIntyre, McNiff, Mills, Nicoll, Orr, Hopkirk, Moore, Idris, Biabi

Subs – Wilde, Templeton, Narbesla, McGarvey, Mackenzie, Marks, McCoist

Auchinleck Talbot – Armour, McPherson, Schoneville, Slooves, Wilson, Boyle, Wardrope, Gillies, Boyd, McAvoy, Clark

Subs – Abed, Smith, Sime, Langan, Kerr, Walker, Cameron

Photography: Craig McGhee, Media: Lee Conn

Duncansfield Park, Kilsyth was the venue for our away league match with Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, the change of venue being dictated by the number of matches (and postponements) that Guys Meadow in Cumbernauld has been subject to due to the ground sharing agreement in place between Rob Roy and Cumbernauld United.

For Talbot, this was our second match in three days and our second match in a run where we will be required to play our final seven matches of the season within a fifteen day period.

With this oppressive schedule to contend with, squad rotation is likely to be a key factor in our run in however injuries to Aiden Wilson & Kyle McAvoy during Saturday’s match at Arthurlie further limited Tucker’s options and there were five personnel changes from Saturday plus further positional rotations which saw Ali Boyle covert to the right back position, Neill McPherson move to centre back and starting places for Ross Urquhart, Ruaridh Langan, Luke Gillies & Tarek Abed in changes from the weekend match.

The large Duncansfield playing surface afforded both sides space to play and Rob Roy created the first scoring opportunity when Taggart was picked out on the left from a magnificent 50yrd pass and twisted and turned before delivering a dangerous cross which found Pirrie in space at the penalty spot, but his header, although on target, failed to trouble Glavin in the Talbot goal.

That spurred Talbot into action, and they dominated the rest of the half causing the Rob Roy defence no end of problems. Boyd was a particular threat and three times in a short spell he was involved as Talbot chased the lead. The first in 8mins when a Gillies cut back saw him fire a shot on target from 20yds that was saved by Walker in the Rob Roy goal, the second two minutes later when he beat the offside trap and latched on to a superb pass from Schoneville, however the angle eventually worked against him, and his shot flashed across the face of the goal. The third, akin to the first, when he picked up the ball under pressure and wisely choose to keep possession to stave off the threat of an offside decision had he elected to pass. Instead, he held the ball up before passing to Langan who played a neat give and go with Abed down the right before cutting back to Boyd who first time flick was held by the keeper at his near post.

Luke Gillies was next to get in on the act when he picked up a header from Abed on the right hand side of the penalty area. There seemed no danger as his route to goal was blocked but he chose to go back to the edge of the penalty area and found space to fire a shot across goal that the keeper was pleased to see flash wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seemed only a matter of time before Talbot took the lead and this proved to be the case in the 15^th minute. Boyd again won possession in midfield before passing to Michael Wardrobe, his perfectly weighted pass into space was latched onto my Tariq Abed and when he passed the ball into the area, he found CONNOR BOYD who had continued his forward run. Despite having his back to goal, he had his bearings spot on and, without looking up, placed the ball on the turn past the keeper with a first time strike into the bottom right hand corner.

 

 

 

 

 

Talbot doubled their lead in 23 minutes. Wardrope and Abed played a short corner on the Talbot right and with two defenders chasing Wardrope on the ball, he played a reverse pass to Abed who was free on the right; his first time cross into the six yards area which was perfectly placed onto the head of CONNOR BOYD, and he gave goalkeeper Walker no chance with his well-executed header.

 

Talbot were threatening to run riot at this point, and Boyd in particular was proving too hot to handle. Again, he picked up the ball up near the halfway line and sent Gillies clean through on goal only to see him denied with a last gasp tackle from Rab’s captain Walker as he was set to pull the trigger.

 

The procession towards the Rabs goal continued with Talbot pressing high and giving their opponents no time to settle. Abed was next to intercept and latch onto the ball before using his pace to again send over a great cross which Boyd headed on target but without the necessary power to trouble the keeper.

 

The last action of the first half saw Rob Roy left back Gilday connect with a low cross from the right. He took on the difficult chance with a first time shot that he connected well with and Glavin was relieved to see it go narrowly wide at his left hand post.

Talbot started the second half on the front foot and Boyd had the first attempt on goal when the ball broke to him following a Wardrope corner, however he was unable to adjust his feet and fired his shot wide of the target.

 

Rob Roy were now playing with wind assistance, the breeze had picked up considerably and although this favoured them more than it had done Talbot in the first half, it made it difficult to control the ball, and passes that were even slightly overhit were more or less uncatchable.

 

This seemed to add to their frustration as they battled to avoid relegation. Battled at times seemed to be the right adjective and Rab’s winger Taggart was lucky to escape a booking for a lunge that floored Glavin when the ball was clearly not winnable and already in the goalkeeper’s hands. This proved to be a lucky break for the player as he was booked a few moments later for an equally poor studs up challenge on Urquhart that on another day may have been given as a straight red.

 

O’Kane & Pirrie were also booked for the hosts as they threatened to lose their discipline, and late substitutions helped to defuse the situation bearing in mind the difficult challenges they have to face in their remaining matches as they fight to retain their top division status.

Talbot made two second half substitutions with Glasgow and Lennox replacing Wardrope and Abed.

The match was played out with brief flurries at both ends with neither keeper troubled and Talbot well in control of a match they dominated. We now move on to yet another away match against Hurlford at Blair Park on Wednesday night.

 

Auchinleck Talbot – Glavin, Boyle, McPherson, Slooves, Schoneville, Wardrope, Urquhart, Langan, Gillies, Abed, Boyd.

Subs – Lennox, Glasgow, Smith, Armstrong, Kennedy, McCracken, Gillies, Henry(gk)

 

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy – Aitken, Walker, Gilday, Green, Scott, Kettings, Smith, O’Kane, Pirrie, Anderson, Taggart.

Subs – Wyles, Stirling, McKay, Ruxton, Stewart, Smith.