Invac 2 AC Milanda 2 (HT 1-2)

IN times past a draw against Invac on their huge Cowglen pitch would have been regarded as a good result but on this occasion Milanda should have had all three points. Although the home side took an early lead from the penalty spot, they did more defending than attacking over the 90 minutes and even played out the late part of the match with 10 men following the sending-off of one of their players for a second bookable offence.

For all their pressure, though, Milanda lacked a spark to their play. Too many passes went astray, too many chances were lost because the final pass was poor or the wrong decision was made and even an opportunity from the penalty spot was squandered.
Some of the players are beginning to look tired after a testing programme of midweek games but injuries and work commitments have made it difficult to chop and change to any great extent.

Milanda certainly made a sluggish start and Invac cashed in by going ahead from the spot in the fifth minute after Jim McGowan had fouled one of their strikers in the penalty box.
But that was cancelled out after 18 minutes when Gerry Evans burst forward from his midfield slot, played a 1-2 with Ross Early and scored from 25 yards with a tremendous low shot that left the keeper helpless.

Martin Coyle shot wide, McGowan had an effort off target and Martin Johnstone, back in the team following a virus, saw an overhead kick saved following a long throw by Paul Murray as Milanda kept pressing. Seven minutes before the break, Milanda went 2-1 ahead. A Murray throw was punched out by the keeper but the ball came straight back to the left-sided midfielder and he immediately lashed it into the net. A superb strike and probably his best ever in the red and black.

When Coyle was brought down in the box by the big Invac centre-back early in the second half it seemed the ideal opportunity to gain a cushion. Murray, who had scored two penalties the previous Saturday, stepped up again but this time to the keeper dived to his left to save the shot.

Milanda continued to waste opporunities and you could almost have scripted an equaliser for Invac. They got it with 15 minutes left from a free-kick that was expertly chipped over the wall and into the top right-hand corner of Chris Preston's net.

There was still time to net a winner but the finishing didn't improve. The closest Milanda came was when Evans just failed to get on the end of a cross into the box by Scott Preston and then Murray had a right-foot shot saved when he might have played in Evans or Johnstone.

MOTM: Johnstone did a lot of good work around the Invac box despite nbot feeling 100 per cent but the award goes to Evans for another busy shift in the engine room and a super strike for the first goal.