Rutherglen Glencairn and Third Lanark shared a point each in a ten goal thriller contested in the Glasgow and District Division 2, this could be classed as a local derby and both sides treating it as such with no love lost and plenty of fierce battles. Third Lanark knew Glencairn could be a threat even though they had been inconsistent of late but the Third's knew they couldn't slip up if they wanted to stay hot on the tail's of the top two Drumchapel and Vale of Clyde, with new Vale of Clyde had demolished Easthall 9-1 just before the game Third's were under pressure to perform.

 

Third's started off the game the more lively attacking Glens down both flanks and getting some joy at that, the midfield battle looked as if it would key in this game in the early stages and both sets of players contested.

 

It was Third Lanark who broke the deadlock when a perfectly floated corner was turned in at the front post in a scramble to the ball by a couple of players, it was clear Glens weren't organised enough from the set peice and it cost them dearly.

 

If the poor defending from a corner wasn't bad enough for Glens they then stood off Thirds midfielder Ross Greening and watched him rocket a shot up in to the top corner of the net leaving the keeper with no chance at all, Greening's fantastic strike doubled the away side's lead and gave a massive blow to the Glens defence.

 

After going two down Rutherglen then started to fight back and it got a little heated as some late tackles were flying in from both sets of players and there was a couple of yellow cards for descent, Glens knew the away team looked shaken from all the commotion and took advantage pulling a goal back, some good football led to Connor McCole firing home.

 

Thid Lanark looked to be a bit uneasy after conceding the goal, some players heads went down and it was made much worse when Glens captain James Mallon was brung down inside the box and a penalty was awarded to the Glens, it was the skipper Mallon himself who stepped up to hit it and he put his side level with a well taken spot kick.

The second half started off as lively as the first with Thirds taking an early lead as William Smith and Baboucarr Sowe played great two touch football down the right hand side which resulted in Sowe crossing the ball in to the box and Ryan Carmichael firing past the keeper.

 

It was like anything you can do I can do better at this stage because not only did Glencairn equalize they then went on to take the lead in the game for the first time, their first goal coming via skipper James Mallon then shortly after some nice football resulted in Ben Queenan playing a lovely reverse pass in to the feet of Kwaku Nyame and the substitue slotted the ball past the keeper.

 

If all that wasn't enough for a first half the last fifteen blew that out the water, Thirds equalised when their main man on day Baboucarr Sowe showed great strength to wrestle off his marker from a long ball and then run through and dink the ball over the keeper in to the back of the net.

 

In to the closing stages both sides were desperate for a winner to secure the whole three points, Third Lanark thought they had just that when Glens failed to defend properly and it lead to Callum Sharp firing in to the back of the net to give Third Lanark the led once again, seconds later William Smith had the chance to kill the game off but a wonderful save from the Glens keeper gave them a glimmer of hope. 

 

Only minutes left and a ball in from a corner from Glens caused massive problems and ended up falling to the perfect person the man with the armband James Mallon who kept his composure to complete his hat trick and grab a late equalizer for Glens who shared a point with their local rivals.