16/02/2018  |  League

Cumbernauld Colts   2  v  2  Gala Fairydean Rovers

Friday night football under the lights at Broadwood had something of an international flavour with fans from the Netherlands and Finland turning up to sample some Lowland League football.
The Colts line up saw 17 year old Community Club graduate, Liam Running, making his senior debut in goals together with recent (re) signing Scott Davidson in defence. There were also places on the bench for new recruits Scott Fergusson, Anthony Eadie and Lewis Wilson.
The Colts started brightly and were the first to create when Paul Nash went close with a shot from distance. Next up, Running was involved in a scare when he was dispossessed after being put under pressure from a pass back but Gala failed to take full advantage.
Colts were then dealt a blow when they were forced into making an early change when Kirwan appear to pull up with a hamstring injury during one of his foraging runs into the Gala half. Not long after the change Fergus tried his hand with another shot from distance but the Gala keeper Patrick Martin saved comfortably.
This spurred the Colts on and it was Davidson of all people sliding in at the back post who opened the scoring latching on to a sublime free kick from Lachlan. The lead did not last long however as almost immediately after the restart Gala were awarded a free kick in a similar position to the one they conceded. Billy Miller accepted the responsibility for the away side and promptly dispatched the ball into the top bag. The game had no further incidents and the teams went in for their half time team talks all square.
The Colts started the second half well and Wallace was first to test the Gala keeper when he was presented with a free header which he just failed to convert. This was however a warning to the Gala defence and on the 54th minute the home side retook the lead as Murray finished high into the net from a rebound after a great initial save by Martin from a fierce Nash shot.
The game then became a bit of a midfield battle punctuated with a series of substitutions with not much in the way of clear cut chances until Colts’ Paul Nash tried his luck with another long range effort.
Colts’ inability to see games out however was displayed once again when in the final minute Pascazio failed to clear his lines and was dispossessed on the edge of the box. The Gala striker, Rhys Craigie, didn’t need any further encouragement and lashed a shot into Running’s top let hand corner from 20 yards to ensure the visitors left with a share of the spoils and their large support happy.
Next up for the Colts is the Lanarkshire derby when they face East Kilbride at Broadwood in the latest instalment of the battle of the New Towns. 3pm kick off on Saturday 24th of February.