BSC Glasgow v East Kilbride

BSC Glasgow 0-3 East Kilbride
Scottish Lowland Football League
Indodrill Stadium
Saturday 5th August 2018

I’m continuing to enjoy that start of the season and today was a trip to Alloa to see a “home” game for the still technically homeless BSC Glasgow. I actually saw this exact fixture towards the end of last season although there’s been some changes for both sides since then.

The Venue

As I said last time round, despite being more than forty miles away from BSC’s traditional home, the Indodrill (formerly Recreation Park) has functioned as a good home for the side. Notably, Alloa Athletic have narrowed the pitch considerably in advance of their season in the Championship. Whether this will have any bearing on BSC’s fortunes is still to be seen.

The Teams

BSC Glasgow ended last season with manager Stephen Swift leaving the club after a third place Lowland League finish. Within 2 weeks he was back at the helm and it was business as usual. The side lost last season’s player of the year Jack Smith to Spartans, but have otherwise seemed to keep a fairly settled squad. Interestingly, they have brought in two former East Kilbride players in the shape of Bryan Prunty and Adam Strachan. This will be Strachan’s first appearance against his old club since this explosive interview after being released at the end of last season.

BSC started the season with the Irn Bru Cup playoff against East Stirlingshire after the SPFL changed the goalposts on qualification to allow a couple of fifth tier English sides into the competition. They lost that game 1-0, and started their league campaign midweek with a 1-1 draw away to the same opposition.

East Kilbride’s close season wheelings and dealings can be read about here. The club started this season with a thumping 10-0 win over hapless Selkirk last weekend, following that up with a 3-1 victory away to Dalbeattie Star midweek.

The Game

The game was only a few minutes old before Paul Woods was causing chaos for BSC down the right wing. Twice in the space of the opening five minutes he made a good run and sent inviting crosses into the box that just couldn’t quite be converted. It only took seven minutes for the deadlock to be broken, when Kilby captain Craig Malcolm latched onto a wonderful through ball from Anton Brady and finished well past Ryan Marshall in the BSC goal. Just five minutes later, Woods was causing more problems for the home side and struck the post with a finely hit shot from the angle of the box.

It was a great start from the visitors, and it seemed to take the home side a bit of time to find their footing in the game. With 20 minutes gone, Stevie Murray pinged a wonderful crossfield ball to Adam Strachan, who reached the byeline before having his cross cut out. Murray looked the most likely to create anything for the home side as Strachan cut a forlorn figure who was arguing with anyone in sight, while Martin Grehan and Thomas Orr could not be brought into the game, isolated up front. Murray played a wonderful cross into the box with 25 minutes played, but the header from Josh McArthur ended up harmlessly over the bar.

Kilby were dominating possession without creating too much, despite a visable shakiness in the BSC defence, who never looked comfortable for the entire game. With two minutes remaining until half time, a beautiful footballing move from Brady and Michael Anderson played in Woods who unleashed a powerful strike from the edge of the area. The shot looked goalbound all the way but a spectacular fingertip stop from Marshall pushed it onto the post and the home side managed to scramble the ball clear to keep the deficit at one at the break.

The second half started in much the same way the first had finished, with Kilby happy to keep possession and BSC unable to find a way through when they did get the ball. Ten minutes into the second half a strike across goal from Orr caused some concern for the Kilby defence, but it was about as good as it got for the home side. With 58 minutes played, the visitors doubled their lead. Jamie Longworth picked the ball up wide on the right and cut into the box with no discernible challenge. He cut the ball back to Malcolm who rolled it into the empty net to make it 2-0.

Just after the hour, Longworth had a chance to score himself, but his shot on the turn from the edge of the area hit the side netting. With 66 minutes played, BSC’s defensive frailties came to show again when a dreadful clearing header from John Tennent fell at the feet of Graeme Holmes, who could only fire his shot wide. Three minutes later though, it was 3-0. Kilby failed to convert what had looked like a decent chance from Woods, but BSC right back Joe Irvine inexplicably dithered on the ball inside the box instead of clearing. He was robbed of possession by Malcolm who then slammed the ball past Marshall to complete his hat trick.

Kilby were content to play possession football for the rest of the game, and despite a couple of ventures up the park, BSC couldn’t find a way to get back into the game. It was a comfortable three points for the early Lowland League pace setters, and BSC will have to sort out their defensive problems if they want to challenge this year.

The Pies

As always, Alloa’s pie hut offers a wide variety of food for extremely reasonable prices. I had a roll and bacon and tattie scone today and it was fantastic. Kaitlin had a macaroni pie, which unfortunately wasn’t up to the standards she was hoping for. It was a rare miss for the food here, and I hope she has a better experience next time.

Admission: £7
Programme: £2
Pie: £1.50 – £2
Bovril: £1.50
Attendance: 130 (approx)