ALBION ROVERS 2 SHIRE 3

If a weary member of the Firs Park faithful had thrown in the towel and headed to the pub after 70 minutes of this encounter at Cliftonhill few would have blamed them.

Two goals down and time was running out. And to make things worse there seemed no hint of the comeback which got Shire out of jail last month when they  went two behind to Dumbarton.

Then, after 72 minutes Derek Ure raced down the left and cracked in a shot from the tightest of angles which Rovers' keeper David Scott should have held.

Instead, he fumbled the ball over the line and threw the visitors a lifeline. The Shire players filled up with determination while the home team panicked like a frightened horse.

As soon as the game re-started the difference in confidence levels was noticable, with Shire now bossing the game. An equaliser looked inevitable although the visiting fans had to wait until five minutes from the end when John McGeogh diverted a netbound effort with his arm.

Up stepped birthday boy Gary Kelly to level the scores from the resulting penalty kick. In years gone by Shire teams in similar circumstances would probably have settled for a share of the spoils. Not this one, though.

In the third minute of injury time substitute Kevin Struthers exchanged passes with Sean Simpson on the edge of the box and it was Simpson who strode clear of the home defence to slide home the winner.

That was the cue for bedlam on the pitch and off it, although the celebrations were tinged with more than a little bit of relief.

Gordon Wylde stuck with the team which had demolished Stenhousemuir the previous week and, for the first time, they lined up in the new red away kit.

And they should have had the lead inside the opening two minutes when Kevin McBride swung over a free-kick which Joe Savage headed straight at Scott when he ought to have scored.

It was a costly miss. After five minutes a Jamie McKenzie corner was swung over to the back post and McGeogh pushed it back across the face of goal. The Shire defence should have dealt with the situation but didn't, allowing Wright to prod the ball into the net.

Craig Donaldson, Andrew Brand and Carl Thywissen all came reasonably close with good efforts but they failed to trouble Scott too much.

On the half hour mark things got bleaker when Thywissen's defensive header clear came back at him with interest from a Rovers' boot. Wright quickly latched onto the lose balland beat the advancing Hill with a clever lob.

Hill was involved in the next action on 38 minutes when referee O'Reilly controversially judged he had taken the legs from McGeogh inside the box. However, the Shire keeper made amends with a diving save to stop Wright's penalty kick.

That was the game's turning point. Rovers never dominated again to the same extent and, by keeping the lead to just two goals, Shire at least had a way back into the match.

But for long periods of the second half the visitors seemed unable to up their game or put enough pressure on Rovers to make it tell.

But that was only a matter of time, and it's very doubtful if an early-departing Shire fan would have enjoyed their extra pint in the pub as much as those who stayed to lap up the goals.

Albion Rovers : Scott, Walker, McGoan, Donnelly, Benton, Donald(Watson 30), Smith, McKenzie, Dimilta, McGeogh(Chisholm 86), Wright(Walker 67).

Shire : Hill, Doyle, K.McBride, King, Thywissen, Kelly, Donaldson(Struthers 71), Brand, Savage, Simpson, Ure.

Referee : S. O'Reilly

Attendance : 488.

 

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