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Action from Saturday’s match at The Meadows. More photographs in our gallery.To buy: c35boy12 |
CAMPBELTOWN Boys got their season off to a good start on Saturday with a hard-fought win over Dumbarton Harp at the Meadows.
The youthful Boys side showed did well to overcome their more experienced and very physical visitors thanks to goals from John McCallum and Robert McGarrie.
After a low-key opening to the match the Whisky Macs sponsored Boys took the lead through a goal of real quality. David Gallacher did well to win possession in midfield and feed left back James Armour, who in turn moved the ball down the line to young winger Craig Lang. Lang’s fine whipped cross was crying out for a finish and John McCallum was on hand to guide an excellent glancing header beyond the Harp goalkeeper and into the net.
The goal should have given the Boys the confidence to take control of the game but instead they sat back and allowed the men from Dumbarton to dominate.
The visitors grabbed a deserved equaliser midway through the half when their number nine, who was impressive all afternoon, made space for himself just inside the penalty area and drove the ball high past Scott MacBrayne in the Boys goal.
This seemed to bring a bit more life to the local side’s play and more good build-up play saw Robert McGarrie being put clean through on the Harp goalkeeper. McGarrie’s pace took him beyond the on-rushing number one, who decided he had no other option than to bring McGarrie down 25 yards from goal and accept the inevitable red card from referee Scott McGlashan. James Armour stepped up to take the resulting free kick and the stand-in goalkeeper was forced to make a good save to tip the dipping strike over the bar to ensure the teams were level at half time.
Right from the outset of the second half it was obvious that the visitors were content to sit in and try to defend their way to a point, resorting to long balls to the lone striker. These were dealt with comfortably by the Boys defence, giving excellent protection to MacBrayne, who was rarely called upon to add to a couple of good saves he made in the first half.
With things looking tight at the back, the only question was could the Boys break down the visitors’ defence?
They had created a couple of half chances before the breakthrough finally came with 20 minutes remaining. Young full-back Kenny Galbraith’s excellent run down the right and cut back was met by Stuart McCallum and his first time shot was parried by the goalkeeper.
The rebound fell invitingly for last season’s top goalscorer McGarrie, who stabbed the ball through a crowd of legs for a deserved winner.
In the closing stages the Boys did well to keep their discipline as their opponents, who had been playing a very physical game all afternoon, resorted to sly kicks and off-the-ball punches to try to get the better of the inexperienced Boys players.
Tomorrow (Saturday) the Boys will be looking to build on the victory when they travel to take on newly-promoted Castlemilk.
