Whitehill Welfare v Broxburn Ath

Report

Attendance 90

WHITEHILL WELFARE V BROXBURN ATHLETIC

                  EAST OF SCOTLAND QUALIFYING CUP 1ST ROUND       

The opening exchanges of this match were cagey and no real opportunities fell to either side early doors . Cammie Ross and Ross Allum  carved out an opportunity with the latter firing wide left from the right hand side of the box . On ten minutes Chris Cairney put a good ball in from the right but was just too high for his team mates and the ball went away to safety . Liam Ireland done well down the right before firing wide left of the target .

The hosts took the lead when a ball crossed in from the left was only punched out as far as ROBERT McKENZIE who had time to set himself up and fire into the net despite the efforts of Donaldson on the line . Good play on 27 minutes with Ross and Gillen combining down the left with Andrew Gillen firing over the bar . Greg Binnie forced a great save from Sam Capes on 28 minutes  , from the corner Cowley headed over the bar . With the half coming to a close Whitehill saw a shot go over the bar from 30 yards as they tried to increase their lead .  With a minute left Ross Allum saw a 25 yard free kick go round the right hand side of the wall but also just past the right hand post . The last kick of the half fell to Liam McCardle who saw his shot shave the right hand post on the way by .

HALF TIME WHITEHILL WELFARE 1 BROXBURN ATH 0

The second half saw Whitehill have the first good chance on 50 minutes when a lob over the defence to the on running Arran Laidlaw but his clear shot at goal went wide right . Broxburn created a good move and chance on the hur mark with Ireland shooting weakly at the keeper . The equaliser was only delayed another minute when another good team move saw LIAM IRELAND receive a neat back heel from Ross Allum to fire home from just inside the box . A couple of minutes later Arran Laidlaw  made a run down the right but his shot from a tight angle was easily gathered by Shaun Donoghue in the visitors goal . Tom Cowley saw a shot go wide left from the right on 65 minutes as the visitors went for a winner . The lead was taken by the visitors on 68 minutes when a Ross free kick in from the right was met by GREG BINNIE  to turn the ball home . A minute later at the other end Gillen made a good block from the Whitehill forward.. Ireland made a good run on 71 minutes but was thwarted by good defending in the box .

If the hosts were to turn the game around they were going to have to do it with ten men as Chris Cairney was shown a straight red card for a cynical foul on Cammie Ross as he he was running forward .

A good run and cross by Ross was cut out by Bryan Wilson in the home defence . Liam McCardle was stopped from creating a opportunity by the resolute Broxburn defence . Greg Binnie failed to get good control from a ball into the box by Allum with ten minutes to go . The third goal came 3 minutes later when CAMMIE ROSS was sent down the left and he ran into the box with the ball running away from him most thought the chance had gone but not him as he fired past Capes from a tight angle into the bottom right hand corner . The visitors were going for more with Ireland putting in a good ball for Barker but his header went wide of the target . A minute later Jackson Barker forced a great save from Sam Capes . The last opportunity came from Craig Newall who’s effort went just over the bar from 20 yards out .

With the squad depleted Broxburn’s strength in depth came through a difficult tie that sets up a second round trip to North Fife to picturesque Newburgh on a date to be arranged . Good performance from all tonight and we now concentrate on Saturday’s Premier league game at Blackburn on Saturday .

WHITEHILL WELFARE  CAPES , CAIRNEY , WILSON , KIDD , McCORMACK  , GORMLEY , WALKER , HORNIG (ANDERSON 81m) , LAIDLAW ( McINTOSH 63m), McKENZIE , McCARDLE ( O’NEILL 86m )

SUBS  CONNOR , COATS , TOLMIE ,  SCOBIE ,

REFEREE  MR J. CURRAN    ASSISTANTS  MR T. MARTIN , MR S. ROBERTSON