
In a scrappy, tight and exciting encounter, it was Cambuslang who prevailed with a last minute winner against EKFC Gold on a windy afternoon at Stenhousemuir to win the SYFA Central Region Cup. The game was set for penalties until Cambuslang’s perseverance and desire broke the deadlock minutes from the final whistle.
EKFC opened the scoring through Euan Aitken early on in the game. However Cambuslang hit back with Keiran Irwin towards the end of a quiet half. The second half was a midfield battle with opportunities few and far between, but it was Irwin again who scored the winner late into extra time to seal victory.
It was Cambuslang with the first chance of the tight match. A free kick from a good opportunity saw Declan Coleman’s hit fly wide of the left post after two minutes. Coleman was involved again minutes later when his corner found Jonathan McLean whose shot went way over the bar.
Despite the early Cambuslang pressure, East Kilbride were the team to take the lead. A misplaced pass in the Cambuslang defence saw Euan Aitken take advantage. He picked the ball up on the edge of the box and drove inward, with his eventual shot finding the top right corner of the net and EKFC were 1-0 up.
Chances were at a premium as both defences tightened. It took a moment of magic from Jack Hart to help put Cambuslang level. He picked up the ball on the left and drove towards the box skipping past two defenders in the process, his low cross found Kieran Irwin who made no mistake in putting the ball into the net despite the ‘keepers efforts.
Dylan Wilson showed great perseverance to push through into the box on a solo run and his effort went narrowly over the bar from 12 yards in what was the last chance of a tight half with defences on top.