Scottish Junior Cup Fourth Round

CARLUKE ROVERS 1

IRVINE MEADOW 0

FORMER winners Meadow crashed out of the national competition against a side who are two leagues below them.

Meadow showed their attacking intentions from the off without actually having an effort on goal.

The first break came for the hosts when a fantastic ball from Lewis McDougall sent Jonny Wilson free to attack the Meadow goal, but he was brought down by Lee McCrea, who was ordered off for his troubles in only 12 minutes. Mark Weir took the resultant free kick which brought off a fine save from Shaun Newman.

Medda were gaining free kicks on the right which were posing problems for the Rovers defence. From one of these in 21 minutes Graham Boyd got in a good header but ex-Meadow goalie Dan Tobin brought off a fine save to keep the scores level. Then Liam Madden had a driving run that ended with a shot over the bar a minute later.

In 34 minutes the visitors gained a corner that ended with a game of head tennis in the Rovers box. Boyd got a header in that came off the bar before the Rovers defence cleared.

The visitors were playing well despite being one man down and produced another chance a minute later from yet another free-kick when a header down was prodded towards goal but Tobin brought off another excellent save for the Rovers.

The last chance of the half fell to Carluke when Weir put in a free-kick that found Haddow but his header skimmed the crossbar before going over.

The first chance of the second half came the way of the hosts when a Weir shot was blocked for a corner then a Sam Biggart effort was cleared for a throw.

In 56 minutes Gary Gow was fouled, earning Carluke a free-kick. Another excellent delivery from Biggart again found Haddow but his header was just wide of the post.

The game was opening up and Meadow forged the next opening when a Boyd head down found Madden but his effort went wide.

Carluke kept up their own pressure and a corner from Weir saw Irvine’s keeper Newman take the ball well with a host of Rovers players waiting to pounce. Another good ball from Weir saw Alberto Vezza chase what looked to be a lost cause on the left finishing with a ball to the back post that Wilson connected with but his net bound header was superbly kept out again by Newman.

With the clock ticking down both sides showed their desire to win and another good move from Rovers saw Greg Fernie sent wide on the left and his great ball across goal was just missed again at the back post by Wilson.

With the match going in to the final five minutes two chances were to prove crucial in the outcome of this tie. The first came in 87 minutes when visiting striker Jared Willet went on a good run that took him right through the home defence, ending with a fine shot which hit the junction of post and bar before being cleared.

This miss was to prove crucial as Carluke worked the ball well through the middle before it was played up front to Fernie who played it to strike partner McDougall and his shimmy wrong-footed the Medda defence before he blasted home a shot from 20 yards in 88 minutes.

This fired up Meadow, who forced a succession of corners but these were all well defended by the Rovers defence with the home side holding out out to progress against a visiting side who had been heavily favoured to go through.