Garnethill Rovers 1 AC Milanda 1(HT (0-1)

One of the more picturesque settings for Milanda with a trip to Eaglesham to play Garnethill Rovers who were one of the teams promoted along with Milanda to Division A. The fixtures last season were always close and there was no reason to suspect this would be any different.

A slow start by both teams and the ball spends a lot of time in the air as each team tries to settle down. Milanda make the first real chance when Preston intercepts a ball on the halfway line and breaks forward. He manages to find Reid in space with his pass but before Reid can reach the ball the keeper is out to block and the chance is lost.

Nothing else of note happened until Murray thought he'd have a shot with his right foot. Not a pretty site. milanda then win a corner when a Reid cross finds the head of Evans and the keeper pushes his header over the bar. from the corner the keeper drops the ball but recovers before any Milanda player can take advantage.

Garnethill then have a chance to open the scoring when a long clearance catches out the Milanda defence and fawns is forced into making a great stop when faced with a one on one. garnethill are straight back at Milanda and a cross to the back post sees an effort hit the post before finally bering knocked over the bar.

Milanda do make the breakthrough though after 30mins. A free kick about 25 yards out on the right hand side of the box gives Wilson a chance to go for goal and he doesn't disappoint when he hits a stunning left foot shot into the top left hand corner with the keeper rooted to the spot.

It should have been 2 mins later when Reid takes advantage of a misjudged clearance and is through on the keeper but he can't get enough on the lob and it stays 1-0. Milanda were nearly made to pay just before half time when the Garnethill No 9 balloons over the bar from 8 yards with no one near him.

Milanda started the 2nd half well and Evans takes a great first touch from a Preston clearance that gave him a yard of space and gives him a chance to get into the box but a last ditch tackle means he had to settle for a corner.

A few minutes later Reid again has the chance to lob the keep but this time it was just too high. M. Johnstone was brought on for Walker to help Milanda find the killer 2nd goal and Reid again was given a half chance when a Wilson free kick found him in space in the box but he couldn't any direction on his header and it sails past. Milanda are frustrated on the hour mark when Evans is put clear only to called back by the ref for offside. One of the few decisions he got wrong all day. Milanda make a further change when Addison replaces Murray.

Johnstone has two chances in quick succession. The first was after a long clearance from Fawns gave him a chance to lob the keeper but, like Reid earlier, he couldn't keep it down. Then he showed some neat footwork in the box to get some space to get a shot away but the keeper parried and it was cleared.

Just when it looked like Milanda were the team to get the next goal Garnethill equalise with 10 mins left. They had created few chances in the 2nd half and the Milanda defence had coped with everything that had been thrown at them until now. The Garnethill number 9 made up for his glaring miss in the first half when he found himself in space on the edge of the box and dispatched a neat left foot shot across Fawns into the right hand corner.

This sparked a frantic last 10 mins as both sides looked to get a winner. Milanda had a header from Russell saved, then good work from Evans put Reid clear and his cross found Binnie on the edge of the 6 yard box but he couldn't control it and it was cleared. Reid again was involved in Milanda's final chance when his low cross was just deflected for a corner as Johnstone was ready to turn it in.

The pressure then switched to the Milanda end when garnethill won a corner that seemed to bounce about the goal for an eternity before someone finally got a foot on it and cleared. The match finished in a little argy bargy when a scuffle broke out after a free kick was awarded but the ref soon sorted it out and the final whistle ended a hard fought encounter. A draw probably a fair result over the piece.

MOM: Fawns showed a safe pair of hands and made a couple of important stops. Reid up front was always looking for the ball and created a few openings and had a few himself but the defence played well today and we didn't ship the daft goals we did last week. It was a toss up between Preston and McGowan with the latter just sneaking it.