Albion Rovers 5 v 0 East Stirlingshire

The pics below are courtesy & © of Jane knox

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Attendance : 246

Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : McManus (41, 58), Yardley (59), McCaul (61), McBride (76). 

Were Rovers really all that good, or were Shire really all that poor? A bit of both is the obvious answer, because in patches, Rovers were certainly back to their scintillating best while the visitors, although willing horses, simply didn’t have the guile or talent to make anything count.

From a Cliftonhill point of view, this was five going on ten, but somehow the Firs Park management - and at least one reporter - felt that it was nothing of the kind, and that Rovers were somewhat fortunate to have netted the nap hand.

It just goes to show how different people watching the same game can put such a conflicting slant on things. However, as far as we are concerned, the result in no way flatters Rovers who thoroughly deserved to boost their goal tally by such an extent.

"Not only have we now won our last two matches in convincing form", said boss Peter Hetherston, but we’ve kept clean sheets in doing so. The slight problems we had been having at the back seem to have been solved, and that’s equally as pleasing."

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Rovers got going right away and took immediate control. Indeed, had Paul McManus and captain Jim Mercer been a bit more fortunate, the hosts might have been two up within six minutes. As it was, the duo’s headers were just slightly off target. Then another Mercer header floated comfortably into the arms of Shire’s Chris Todd before the ‘keeper did very well to touch a Mercer volley over the crossbar. In 18 minutes, Rovers thought they had scored when Mark Yardley’s cross to the back post was headed by Mercer who claimed that the ball had crossed the line. However, the officials were unconvinced and play continued. (It later transpired that the Shire goalkeeper admitted that the ball had indeed been over the line!).

Sweeney Booked

It was fully 25 minutes before Shire threatened to do anything positive, but Rovers’ stand-in goalkeeper Neil Bennett was quickly out to deny Chris Baldwin a scoring chance. Shortly afterwards, Rovers brought on Kevin McBride for Iain Diack who seemed to have taken a knock, then Sean Sweeney was booked for a rash tackle on Baldwin. In the 36th minute, their was a moment of concern in the home area when a low cross scuttled across the face of the goal to Baldwin who, fortunately for Rovers, was well off balance and could only loft the ball well over the top.

Then, just as it looked as if all the pressure would be unrewarded, Rovers struck. Kevin McAllister’s trickery on the right gained him sufficient space to find the waiting McManus. The wee striker cleverly spun his marker and almost casually cracked a fine left foot shot cleanly into the net. One nil at the interval - no more than was deserved.

Goal Rush

From the restart whistle, Rovers bore down on the visitors’ goal time and again, but maybe just a bit too eagerly, as they got nothing in return. However, the relentless pressure surely had to pay-off sooner or later, and it did so in dramatic fashion. In the 58th minute, a long ball from the back was nudged on by Yardley to McManus who simply outstripped the Shire defence to slot the ball into the net from around twenty yards. Barely one minute more had been played when the lively McManus was once more in the frame. An excellent overhead kick by the striker crashed off a post with Todd beaten and Yardley, following up, had a simple task to prod the ball into the empty net. Two minutes later, Graeme McCaul was lying handy on the edge of the area to pick up a poor clearance and smash the ball into the net for a splendid first goal for the club. What a way for the young man to celebrate his 19th birthday the following day!

Shire’s Jamie Mackay then became only the second booking of the day before substitute Kevin McBride rounded off a good all-round performance by latching on to a deep McAllister cross to beat Todd with a low drive at his back post. Although Rovers were unsurprisingly cruising in auto drive at this time, the last opportunities came the way of the demoralised visitors. Baldwin’s audacious 35 yard lob cleared the crossbar by not too much and strong shots by Graeme McGhee and Stuart Kelly were blocked by Bennett and John McCaig respectively.

So, the five goal Reigart demolition of Shire will work wonders for the confidence, with only he most churlish supporter unhappy that the tally was not even higher.

Rovers Man of the Match : For the second successive match, it has to be Paul McManus, whose wholehearted effort - as well as his goals - impressed all who were there.

Albion Rovers : Bennett, Paterson, Diack (McBride 27), Farrell, McCaig, Sweeney, McAllister, McCaul (Molloy 79), Yardley, McManus, Mercer. Unused Subs : Cormack, McKenzie, Fahey.

East Stirlingshire : Todd, Maughan, McAllen, Polwart (Hare 64), Reid, McGhee, Kelly, Maculae (Mace 64), Rodden (Boyle 76), Rue, Baldwin. Unused Subs : McCulloch, Morrison.

Referee : Cammy Melville

Man of the Match - Paul McManus

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