Troon Football Club

Recap

⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Glenafton Athletic ⚽️
Saturday 18th January 2020
McBookie SJFA West Premiership
Portland Park, Troon KA10 6QN
Kick-off 1.45pm

MATCH REPORT by Michael Connolly

Saturday 18th January saw Troon at home to a competent Glenafton Athletic side, in a crucial league encounter. The pitch was in very good condition, on what was a very cold but sunny afternoon.

Our slow start of late surfaced yet again, as the Glens took an early 15th minute lead. It was former Troon stalwart Dale “Gunner” Moore with the touch home, after the ball wasn’t cleared from a throw-in. Troon could have found themselves two down only 3 minutes later, great work from the dangerous Matthew Reilly down the Glens left & cross for Dan Orsi to rattle the post. After a tactical switch from Manager Jimmy Kirkwood, we finally settled and equalised in the 28th minute when Dean Fulton latched on to a great Gemmell flick to shrug off Craig Menzies and score past Wilson. The first half concluded and the 1-1 scoreline merited the performance from both teams.

HALF-TIME: TROON F.C. 1-1 GLENAFTON ATHLETIC

A closely-fought opener to the second half resulted in a spree of yellow cards being produced early in the second half by referee Jordan Paterson; the first given to Glenafton’s Ryan McChesney in the 50th minute, followed by Jack Sherrie and John Gemmell. Sadly, midfielder Raymond Montgomerie suffered a broken collarbone in the 65th minute, to be replaced by Evan Maley. A great pity, as “Monty” has been playing exceptionally well in recent games and according to our physio Ashley, he could be missing for at least 6 weeks. Ben Reilly was replaced by Dylan Pooler 20 minutes from time & by this point Troon were well on top and took a deserved lead in the 75th minute, when big John Gemmell scored with a scissor kick at the back-post. His celebrations showed what the goal meant to him & his team-mates! Evan Maley then became the hero, with two magnificent strikes; the first, from all of 25 yards after a mkistake by keeper Wilson, was the pick of the two before another clever finish finished off a smart move by Pooler & Fulton. Fulton even had chances to extend the lead to make it really embarrassing for the visitors.

A well deserved victory, and a crucial 3 points were achieved by a hard-working team performance.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Two on this occasion – Jack Sherrie, who was magnificent for the 90 minutes, and Evan Maley for those two memorable goals.

🛂 MATCH OFFICIALS 🛂

Referee: Jordan Paterson
Assistant Referee One: Hannah McLean
Assistant Referee Two: Craig Livingstone

📆 NEXT FIXTURE 📆

⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Rossvale ⚽️
Saturday 25th January 2020
McBookie SJFA West Premiership
Portland Park, Troon KA10 6QN
Kick-off 1.45pm