ASHFIELD F & AC 4 SHETTLESTON F.C. 1 at Saracen Park, Glasgow





A cold sunny day at Saracen Park today, as the home team entertained Shettleson FC for this Junior Cup encounter. Both teams have been in good form recently and this was sure to be a hard fought match. Shettleston ran out in white tops and white shorts with the Springburn outfit appearing in an all black outfit with white flashes. The game started surprisingly slow with neither side playing good football. Ashfield were clearly struggling and Shettleston looked a threat upfront. Long balls looked the order of the day as both central defenders dealt easily with aerial balls. After a cagey start, Ashfield opened the scoring out the blue, a ball played behind the Shettleston defence was met be Chalmers who riggled past the defender in the box and was tripped , PENALTY for Ashfield!.

An ex-Shettleston player, James McKnight placed the ball on the spot and wrong footed the Goalkeeper, sending the ball into the corner of the net (see below ). Ashfield 1 Shettleston 0.






Ashfield then took command of the game and should have sealed the game before half time. An 'electric' chalmers was put through on the left side of the Shettleston box and was cynicallly brought down by the oncoming defender (below pic).



McKnight who had scored well with the 1st, changed his stance and decided to take it with his right foot. He struck it sweetly but it strayed wide of the goalkeepers left hand post (below)



HALF TIME:- ASHFIELD F & A C 1 SHETTLESTON F C 0



Shettleston started the 2nd half very well spurred on by the Ashfield penalty miss just before half time and equalised 5 mins into the 2nd half. A cross deep to the left hand side of the Ashfield box was stroked across the six yard line to an onrushing Shettleston player who eased it into the net to level the scores. Ashfield 1 Shettleston 1 - GAME ON!!.

The next 15 mins was very competitive and most of it was camped in the Ashfield half with Shettleston playing neat football and challenging the 'field' defence. Ashfield made some changes midway through the Second Half, which changed the game, Joe Tartgalia coming on for Andrews, Kevin Miller for James McKnight and this shored up the Ashfield midfield, with Dave Gumley going out to the left hand side of Midfield. This had the effect of strengthening the Ashfield team and all of a sudden Ashfield were playing more like themselves. A great move in the 75th minute resulted in a floating cross by Mark Thomson towards Gumley who flicked the ball across the goal to O'Donnell who looped the ball high into the top corner of the net!! - Ashfield 2 Shettleston 1....






This 'Shell shocked' Shettleson and Ashfield ran riot for the rest of the 2nd half. Ashfield were dominant and scored a great 3rd goal 5mins later with a bullet from Big Joe Tartaglia. The ball was played into the box by the man of the match - Tony Chalmers, the ball wasn`t cleared by the Shettleston defence and the ball fell to the feet of Joe Tartaglia who thundered a blistering shot high into the top right hand corner to the delight of the bench and support. Ashfield 3 Shettleston 1







And the 'field' were not finished!! - An outstanding Chalmers received the ball on the right hand side of the box, he weaved out and in and put in a wicked cross to the far post which was met by the onrushing Davie Gumley, who headered the ball low at the near post and into the net to the delight of the team.





Ashfield played out the last 10 minutes coping with a late onslaught by a brave Shettleston Team. It had been an excellent end to end cup tie with the `field`s attacking strength coming through in the end. We await the draw next Sunday to see who we are paired with, however in the meantime we head to Cumbernauld Utd next Saturday to try and consolidate our 2nd position in the League. Good Luck to Shettleston for the remainder of the season.

FULL TIME :- ASHFIELD F & A C 4 SHETTLESTON F C 1


Man of the Match:- Tony Chalmers - For the 2nd week running, Tony gave the opposition defence a torrid time.

Attendance:- Approx. 80

Photographs by :- Inga