Harmony Row

⚽️ Saint Anthony’s U20s versus Troon Development Team ⚽️
Friday 25th March 2022
Sense Over Sectarianism Lowland Development League Combined Challenge Cup (2nd Round)
Harmony Row, Glasgow
Kick-off 8pm

Saint Anthony’s win 7-6 on penalties.

Calum Nairn’s young team have been on a roll recently, back to form that matches earlier in the season & lifting us to a respectable 4th in a very competitive league.

This week, they travel to Braehead for a Combined Challenge Cup match against St. Anthony’s young team at Harmony Row’s ground, with the victors progressing to the 3rd round on Friday 8th April.

Come on down & support the Troon stars of tomorrow!

Referee: Ehsan Hoseinzadeh

(before this weekend’s matches)

⚽️ Troon F.C. Development Team versus Whitletts Victoria U20s ⚽️
Friday 1st April 2022
Sense Over Sectarianism Lowland Development League (Conference F)
QMA, Ayr
Kick-off 7.30pm

⚽️ St. Anthony’s versus Troon F.C. ⚽️
Friday 11th June 2021
Lowland Development League Pre-Season Friendly
Harmony Row, Glasgow G51 4SY
Kick-off 8pm

MATCH REPORT by Richard Henderson

Troon’s Under-20 Development Team took to the pitch for the first time this season at the gloriously named Sir Alex Ferguson Park, for their first taste of action in a very long 35 weeks.

You could see how keen the youngsters were to get back into the action right from the off, and the Troon Captain Dale Galloway was leading the charge from midfield. But tonight’s hosts were in their fourth match of pre-season already and their extra sharpness was showing after the opening stages had passed with a young Troon backline being put under pressure. Troon debutant Blair Craig was the first visitor to create a chance, but his approach was snuffed out by the experienced looking left-back. Joirdan Vernon & Mason Carson were combining well & causing problems down the Ants right, but weren’t able to find their way to goal & the impressive Reece Allen was unlucky with a driving run from midfield. Vernon was crudely chopped down when bearing down on goal which would have surely drawn something different in a competitive game, before Tyler Burns saw the resultant free-kick cleared. In fact, the first serious threat on either goal didn’t come until the 34th minute, when the Ants’ Blair Hunter struck the bar above Troon debutant Aidyn Green’s goal, but the Ants did take the lead just a few minutes later. Intercepting a pass in midfield, a tidy pass from Keir McNair split the Troon defence & Sermanni was on hand to finish from close range.

HALF-TIME: ST. ANTHONY’S 1-0 TROON F.C.

Troon kept the same XI on the park for the second half and they started the second period much brighter, having shaken off the cobwebs of the last few months but despite their bright start, the home side rightly had a second chalked off for a foul on keeper Green just a few minutes into the second 45. The impressive debutant was still dusting himself down when Ciaran Smith again smashed the ball off the underside of the crossbar, only this time it deflected off the unfortunate keeper as he dived to make the save and ended up in the back of the net in the 53rd minute.

Euan McKenna was introduced on the hour mark after his promotion from our Under-19 team, but just a few minutes later an Ants breakaway drew a foul from Galloway which the referee deemed to be inside the box, much to the surprise of the surrounding players. But Aidyn Green showed his class by superbly diving down to his left & pushing the shot round the post to safety with little more than 25 minutes remaining. Head Coach Thomas O’Ware was keen to use all of his squad and he made a triple change on 65 minutes with Reece Cunningham, Declan Macaulay & Scott McLeod entering the fray, with a few minor tweaks to the rest of the line-up. And Troon’s improvement in the second half continued, with some neat interplay from Allen & Vernon creating a half-chance which the keeper saved well from. And Troon got the goal their play deserved in the 73rd minute, winger Tyler Burns controlling the ball really well & striking home to half the deficit. Troon’s tails were up & they nearly found the equaliser with less than 10 minutes on the clock; a strong win in the middle of the park from Allen finding Vernon running clear on goal, only for the advancing keeper to deny the hard-working frontman the goal his efforts deserved on the night.

A very strong start to pre-season for the Seasiders, with many bright spots for O’Ware to savour after the match. Neilston away on Wednesday for the boys to get more minutes in their legs.

🛂 MATCH OFFICIALS 🛂

Referee: Michael McConville