Saturday 21 December 2013
Penicuik Park
East Premier League Fixture #13
Penicuik Athletic
Starting XI | Bejaoui, Ross, McDermott (Young 86), Meikle, Cunnison (c), Lister, Gay, Barr, McCallum, Patterson (McPartlin 8), Killin (Harris 77)
Unused subs | Harris, McPartlin
Glenrothes
Starting XI | Smith, Moffat, McRae, Pearson, Grierson, Kinness, Anderson, Napier, Martin, Griffin, Hendry
Subs | Simpson, Leslie, Celetano, Wyllie, Small
Despite the heavy overnight and early morning rain the game went ahead with Penicuik starting brightly, Killin came close with a lob over keeper Smith in the 8th minute that just dipped over the crossbar. Immediately afterwards, a Ross cross into the box caused problems for the visitors, but the danger was eventually cleared. Penicuik took the lead in the 16th minute when a corner by Ryan Gay curled into the box and was bundled into his own net by McRAE. Glenrothes restarted the game, but Penicuik immediately won back possession. Gay, at the heart of the move set up McCALLUM who slotted the ball past Smith into the bottom corner of the net for his 18th goal of the season. In the 25th minute another Gay corner should have seen Penicuik increase their lead, but Cunnison's header went well wide of the target when it seemed easier to score. In their next attack, Ross came close with a left foot strike that flashed past Smith's right hand post. One minute later, an excellent diagonal pass by McDermott set Killin free with only Smith to beat, but he fail to take advantage of a great opportunity to put the game to bed. In the 33rd minute, Glenrothes's first real attack came when Napier went on a solo run past three defenders only to mishit his shot wide of the target. In the 41st minute, Lister set up Ross with an inch perfect diagonal pass, but the full back blasted the ball high and wide of the goal.
HALFTIME | Penicuik Athletic 2-0 Glenrothes
In the 49th minute, Gay broke up the right wing, crossed the ball into the six yard box where McCallum was waiting to pounce, but an outstretched boot deflected the ball inches past the post for a corner. Ten minutes later, Ross broke up the right wing again, turned his marker inside out, cut across the penalty box only to see his shot deflected and saved well by Smith low down to his left. Conditions underfoot were becoming more and more difficult making it difficult for both sides to retain possession. In the 64th minute, Penicuik created a chance, but Barr just failed to gather the pass that would have set him up to score. Glenrothes gradually got back into the game, but their final pass let them down badly and consequently the Penicuik defence were seldom troubled. The final minutes of the game saw Glenrothes earn four consecutive corner kicks, but again they could make no impression on a resolute Penicuik defence. The first 45 minutes were entertaining, but the second half fell flat mainly due to the conditions. However another three valuable league points earned by Penicuik.
FULLTIME | Penicuik Athletic 2-0 Glenrothes