Five alive Rovers can't score enough to step up

Despite a great start to the match the home side fell behind late in the second half before finally snatching victory.

Carluke looked dangerous from the off with John Renwick, Lewis McDougall and Ian Watt linking up to give Greg Fernie an early chance but his effort was well saved.

Rovers did break the deadlock in the 11th minute when a good ball over the Dunipace defence to Watt saw the striker settle before thumping the ball home for 1-0. Mark Weir also brought off good saves from the visiting keeper from free kicks from distance as the home side looked to get a decent lead.

This lead was in fact doubled in the 25th minute when Fernie again linked up with Watt who beat his marker before firing low in to the net.

After this great start Carluke pressed the self destruct button as they allowed Dunipace too much possession and after good build up they reduced the lead with a strike from distance. But worse was to follow for Carluke in 33 minutes when a deflected Dunipace free kick was poorly dealt with by Dan Tobin’s his poor punch which was fired home for 2-2 after 33 minutes a score that held till half time.

Carluke started the second half in the best possible way with Watt again being the driving force as he played a one two with Fernie before firing the ball home for 3-2 despite the visiting keeper getting a hand to it.

Rovers again allowed the visitors back in to the game when a harshly awarded free kick from 25 yards beat Tobin for 3-3 after 55 minutes.

Carluke created three excellent chances to regain the lead inside a minute when first a Weir free kick was headed on to the post by Stevie Murray then Watt cut inside from the left before unleashing a great shot that brought off an equally good save before Weir also saw a good shot bring off a fine save from the Dunipace keeper.

As usual Carluke were made to pay the price for these missed chances when they lost possession in the middle of the park and Dunipace took full advantage to score a fourth and take the lead for the first time.

Carluke looked devoid of ideas for a while especially after top scorer Watt limped off but they did end the match on a high when Fernie bundled the ball home from close range in 89 mins to bring the scores level at 4-4 and the same player despite picking up a knock was on hand in the third minute of stoppage time to make it 5-4.

There was disappointment all around at the final whistle considering the Lanark scoreline that depending on East Kilbride Thistle results will see Lanark go up but it was not today’s performance that caused the problem instead Carluke have to look to poor results on consecutive weeks to the league’s bottom clubs and late goals lost earlier in the season.