A late lob from Tom Orr secured another vital three points over the defending title holders and helped cement his side in second place.

The only change in the squad from last weekend was the return of Ross Smith allowing David Verlaque to revert to right-back, meaning Carlo Pignatiello could head back out to the right wing. On-loan St Johnstone forward Shaun Struthers was on the bench for this one.

Despite Martin Grehan attempting a sweet lob on the keeper inside the first minute, it was Spartans who looked the most likely to grab an early goal. Captain Michael Herd played a number of near-perfect crosses into the box. We were lucky Jack Smith, making his first start since the return fixture – in for the dropped Stephen MacDonald, couldn’t convert.

It wouldn’t be a Spartans vs BSC match without a bit of controversy. A corner from Declan Hughes looked to have been handled by a Spartans defender, however the ref seemed disinterested in the shouts and gave another corner after having a word with BSC coach Michael Moore.

Ross Smith and Alan Brown went up for the same ball and suffered a head knock. Luckily both players didn’t seem to have suffered too much, but Alan Brown seemed to have picked up a separate injury to his leg and was replaced by Aaron Scott. In either event, we wish Alan a quick recovery.

The rest of the first half was a real stalemate with the wind being more dominant on the ball than either team. Declan Hughes almost found the top corner from a free-kick just before the break, however the weather really worked against us as the ball squeaked inches wide.

HALF TIME | SPARTANS 0 – 0 BSC GLASGOW

It seemed certain that if BSC were to score, it would most likely come from a Hughes free-kick as another attempt went just wide of the post.

Just after the hour mark, Robbie McNab came off making way for Shaun Struthers, marking a fifteen minute period where basically nothing happened. This came to the first bit of noise from the fans as Hughes’ put in a strong standing tackle on a Spartans man, but the referee didn’t go for his pocket.

The reaction, or possibly some kind of adjustment from the bench, seemed to spur Spartans on as they flooded forward, playing some nice one touch football to set up a number of half chances (and a couple of full ones). Jack Smith fought through the defence and cut back to Blair Atkinson. The Spartans forward should have converted to put his team one up but Ryan Marshall – who seemed beaten – managed to pull off a stunning save to deny him.

Spartans were determined to grab the late goal and kept pushing players forward, working their way around the box, As the defending champions pushed forward, many would have thought we would be lucky to escape Ainslie Park with a point. Jamie Dishington fired just wide after some great play but Spartans kept pushing. Atkinson looked to be through far too easily but Jamie Mills appeared out of nowhere to make a brilliant tackle, win the ball and kick-start a BSC counter attack.

Davie Winters picked up the ball in a pocket just advanced of the halfway line, and played a gorgeous lob forward which Martin Grehan flicked on into the path of Tom Orr who outmuscled the Spartans defender and lobbed the onrushing Blair Carswell to break the deadlock in the 83rd minute.

The goal sent the BSC bench into raptures and in the melee the referee saw fit to send manager Stephen Swift to the stand for encroachment onto the field, but ultimately it didn’t matter as BSC held on throughout a nervy ten minutes where Spartans threw everything they had at us to secure a memorable smash and grab victory.

FULL TIME | SPARTANS 0 – 1 BSC GLASGOW

MAN OF THE MATCH | RYAN MARSHALL

BSC Glasgow couldn’t find a seventh consecutive victory had to salvage a point as two late goals saw Stephen Swift’s side dig out a 1-1 draw with Civil Service Strollers.

There were no changes to the starting line-up with the gaffer opting for the same squad that took the points at Rosewell last weekend. Mitchell Taylor came in to make it seven men on the bench.

It was BSC who dominated the opening minutes of the game with Tom Orr proving willing and able to break through the Strollers defence when he chose, however he couldn’t manage to slide the ball past Strollers’ on-loan ‘keeper Josh Donaldson.

Orr seemed destined to grab a goal in the first half. Some great footwork from Carlo Pignatiello allowed him to break away from his marker and play the ball to Orr whose shot was off-target thanks to Civil’s defensive pressure.

It was Civil with the biggest chance just before the break when a challenge on Martin Grehan went unnoticed by the referee allowing Strollers to break into a counter attack. Scott Clapperton hit a rasping shot from the edge of the box, but Ryan Marshall made a fantastic save keeping it even as the half-time whistle blew.

HALF TIME | BSC GLASGOW 0 – 0 CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS

Both teams continued to struggle in the second half with both keepers proving difficult to catch off-guard. Shaun Struthers made a tremendous run into the box but Donaldson made a great save to deny the forward. Robbie McNab got a booking for a tackle during a Civil attack, meanwhile, Shaun Struthers came off for David Winters.

Once again, Orr looked a favourite to break the deadlock when he got a one-on-one with Donaldson, tried to round the keeper but put too much on the touch allowing the ball to get away from him and firing his strike over the bar.

With ten minutes to go, a volley from Winters went only inches outside the post. It was one of those days for BSC and Strollers finally got the opening goal on the 83rd minute as Ian Ballantyne turned the ball home from close range, sparking wild celebrations on the pitch.

It looked like it was to be our first defeat since Kelty Hearts at the end of August, but that man Declan Hughes stepped up, leapt up, and met Martin Grehan’s header back across goal, sending the ball beyond Donaldson and sparking wild celebrations on the other side.

“It was a difficult one to take today.” Manager Stephen Swift told us after the match. “I knew straight away when I saw their set up that they were here to frustrate us and nick something on the break. They did us on a set piece down the side and at one down I think it would have been robbery for them to come away with all three points.”

“Fair play to the boys, they kept going till the last. We grabbed one with five minutes to go and it looked like we could have grabbed another to win it in the last seconds. Strollers are a good side – they’re well organised and well coached and we’ve just got to take the positives from the performance and move onto next week against Spartans.”

FULL TIME | BSC GLASGOW 1 – 1 CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS

MAN OF THE MATCH | DAVID VERLAQUE

Despite Whitehill Welfare putting up a fight, it was BSC Glasgow who took the three points on a cold festive day in Rosewell.

The only change to the side that took the points from Colts last weekend was Shaun Struthers starting, with Ross Smith being out this weekend through injury.

Despite the fixture being a battle between a top of the table side against a side fighting relegation, the game was even and if anything, Whitehill had more chances in the first half. Kyle Mitchell managed break through BSC’s defence 10 minutes in and almost gained a one-on-one with Ryan Marshall, however the pitch was his enemy as he tripped over a rough patch in the surface and lost the opportunity. Mitchell almost got his revenge a few minutes later but a great save from Marshall denied him.

The game never seemed to have a solid five minutes of continuous play as the referee made a bundle of bizarre calls that most players seemed to disagree with including last week’s Man of the Match, Ross McMillan who picked up an early yellow for dissent.

The unexpected turns continued as Whitehill dominated the rest of the first half and found an opener that had the Welfare faithful ecstatic. The ball fell to James McPartlin at the edge of the box who lobbed the ball over Marshall who couldn’t do anything about it. Whether it was an intentional lob or a lucky catch on the pitch, we’ll never know. Unless we ask him… which we won’t. 

The referee also added David Verlaque into his book in the last minute of the first half.

HALF TIME | WHITEHILL WELFARE 1 – 0 BSC GLASGOW

The second half kicked off and Welfare were the ones who seemed destined for another goal when Kieran Somerville’s attempt when just across the face of goal. On the 58th minute, it looked certain that BSC were about to equalise when a Declan Hughes free-kick found the head of McMillan but Welfare’s Paul Grant made a fantastic save to deny the Skipper.

Finally, just after the hour mark, we got our equaliser. A long ball up field by Marshall took a hit off a Whitehill defender to land at the feet or Tom Orr who sweetly slotted the ball home through the narrow channel to get us closer to a point.

Robbie McNab came off for Joe Irvine just before a winning goal looked inevitable when Martin Grehan did a beautiful pirouette to escape the clutches of Nicky Faulds but his strike sailed over the crossbar.

The last 15 minutes at Ferguson Park was incredibly tense for both sets of fans; Welfare were desperate for another crucial point to keep their chances in the Lowland League alive, while BSC were determined to continue their winning streak to stay ahead of Kelty Hearts in the top three.

David Winters replaced Carlo Pignatiello to help lend a foot in hopefully grabbing a late winner. With eight minutes to go, Tom Orr found space at the edge of the box and held the ball before a low pass picked out Shaun Struthers who hit a low sweet shot into the bottom left corner, despite the ball taking an eternity to bounce across the line when it seemed to be heading wide.

The last few minutes saw Tom Orr come off the field for Ross Lindsay, Shaun Struthers went the book for a tackle that needed to be made and Welfare fortunately never found the equaliser despite a solid performance.

FULL TIME | WHITEHILL WELFARE 1 – 2 BSC GLASGOW

MAN OF THE MATCH | ROSS MCMILLAN (again)

BSC Glasgow went in as the favourites after their 3-0 win at Kelty Hearts last weekend; however, no-one would have guessed it would be so easy, especially in the arctic conditions that battered the Indodrill during the 90 minutes.

Continue reading “University of Stirling Report: BSC Glasgow Pass Test in Stormy Conditions” →

Manager Stephen Swift was delighted with his charges after beating Lowland League form side Kelty Hearts at New Central Park on Saturday.

“We went to toe-to-toe with them.” Swifty told us after the match in audio that was as swept by the bitter Fife wind as the match was. “We matched them physically and tactically. I feel that we were the better team and I’m delighted with the boys.”

Continue reading “Kelty Hearts Report: BSC Glasgow Heartbreakers As League Leaders Suffer Attack” →