Shettleston 9–1 Saltcoats Vics — West of Scotland Cup (SJFA West Region), 19 Oct 2013

Report by keano

Saltcoats started this game full of confidence after a good victory last week at Darvel, and Jordan Stewart had an early shot on 3mins but it didnt bother the keeper, Mathew Santos was then booked on 5mins for a tackel where he came away with the ball and it looked quite fair but the ref saw different and set the tone for the match, so players would have to be careful.

The seasiders confidence lasted all of 10 mins when Doyle put the home  side in front after good work by Parker. On 17mins McEwan was given a straight red card after a leg breaking tackel on Forde, for which he could have no complaints. This tended to give Saltcoats a lift and Santos went close on 26mins with a header which was well delt with by Wallace in goal. Cunningham in goal had to look sharp on 32mins when he rushed from his goal to clear a through ball for Anson, but the big stricker was to double Shettleston's lead a min later when he scored from what looked like an offside position to make it 2-0, and the game was effectivley over on 34 mins when Parker scored a third and knocked the stuffing out the Vics. On 34min Cunningham had a good save after a shot from 18yards had him scrambling across his goal to knock the ball away. And on 44mins Parker scored his second and a Forth for Shettleston when Hercus was short with a header back to his keeper Parker rusher in and rounded Cunningham and scored from a tight angle.

HT Settleston 4 Saltcoats 0

There was to be some joy for Saltcoats at the break when young Cunningham's father won the half time draw and donated his winnings to the club, at the break Shettleston replaced Paul Martin with Kyle Robertson, but it made no differance for Saltcoats they were still the dominant side and within the first 5mins of the half Parker had 2 chances the first he put over but the second he made no mistake at the back post to score his third and the game was gone, giving the goals Shettleston had scored you would think it was all one way traffic, but Hart and Santos were working tieredlessly, and Santos was only an inch away from scoring when Hart fired a ball across goal on 51mins and the little stricker slid in. Anson up front for Shettleston got his own hat-trick with in the hour when he scored 2 further goals on 52 and 57 mins to make it 7, they then replaced the ever dangerous Parker with McLean and at the same time Saltcoats brought on Paul Monan for  Grahame Patterson, at this point Saltcoats were giving as good as they were getting all be it 7 down, and on 57 mins when they won a free kick 25yds out it was set up for Patrick and the big defender was unlucky to see his shot cilp a defender and go for a corner. Monan then produced some good play on the wing to get a cross in and again Santos was fractionally away from it on the hour mark. On 65min Shettleston replaced Anson with Brown and you hope the goals had left the field with him, but just to prove how strong a team they are Doyle added number 8 on 66mins and Brown made it 9 on 70mins. On 80mins Saltcoats replaced Michel Hart with Scott Knight after the stricker had run his heart out for the team all afternoon, and they eventually got some reward for thier efforts on 86mins when Knight turned the defence and rolled the ball to the in coming Stewart to blast it into the net and relieve some of the frustration, Santos did have one final chance for Satlcoats but his week shot was well held by Wallace in goal. Were they beaten by a better side? Yes far better. Did they play badly? No but at times left too much room. Frustrating for the fans who travelled through to Glasgow after a good display at Darvel, they were brought back to earth with a not so good display against a good team. With no game next week due to the Scottish Cup, the players will have time to get this performance out of thier system and concetrate now on the league campain, and as they are now out of both the West and the Scottish they must give everything to the league for the remainder of the season and hopefully stay in contension and with a little bit of luck maybe even a chance.

mom 3 Stewart

      2 Cunningham

      1 Hart