Carluke Rovers see off Deveronside

Carluke Rovers' Ian Watt unleashes a shot on goal during last Saturday's win over Deveronside (Pic by Sarah Peters)

Although Rovers ultimately won 1-0 thanks to Mark Weir’s first half strike, they were vulnerable to conceding a late equaliser to their Banff opponents by missing a series of chances.

“It was a nervy last five minutes or so but it shouldn’t have been anywhere near that,” said Rovers match reporter Craig Martin.

“But it was a good scalp for us beating Deveronside as they play in the Super League of the North Region.

“Our performances in the last couple of weeks have been better and we now need to take some of that form into our league campaign.”

Rovers attacked from the start with Greg Fernie playing a good ball across the visitors’ goal in the first minute that found no takers then Ian Watt saw a shot come back off the bar before being cleared a minute later.

Watt rounded the keeper in the fifth minute but his shot from a tight angle ended up in the side netting.

Stuart Mitchell shot just wide for Rovers before a Watt attempt went narrowly over.

Rovers’ Mark Haddow then had a headed effort blocked before he shot just too high.

And Weir’s driving 29th minute run ended with a shot which was well saved.

But Rovers finally opened the scoring when Watt’s low corner found Weir at the edge of the box and he took a touch before blasting the ball home from 12 yards.

Haddow and Mitchell were unsuccessful with second half goal attempts before Rovers got a warning at the other end when a rare Deveronside break ended with a shot over the bar.

The best chance for an equaliser came on 78 minutes when Deveronside’s number 10 somehow put the ball wide from only three yards with the goal gaping after a free-kick from the left.

Carluke keeper Gordon Bruce then made a fine save to seal Rovers’ place in round three.

Conversely, a poor start to Rovers’ league effort currently sees them third bottom of McBookie.com Central Division 2 with only four points from five matches ahead of this weekend’s fixture at second placed Gartcairn.

“Every game is must win for us now if we’re thinking about promotion,” Craig said.

“We have lost too many games already.

“It has taken a while for a lot of our players to settle in this season. We can only go out and try and win every game.”