Rangers stretch league lead

Girvan....................... 1

Stagecoach West of Scotland Super League, First Division

ANOTHER win for Rangers, and they now head the division by six points with ten games left to play.

It was not one of their better performances though and for a long spell in the second half it was doubtful if they were even going to gain a point. Two late goals though may have made it seem easy but it was never so. Girvan will feel that they deserved at least a point from the game.

Rangers had the advantage of the stiff easterly breeze for the first half, but they did not really make use of it in the early stages. Play was generally pretty scrappy with many misplaced passes and few scoring chances made by either side.

Kelly was making a few good runs but his crosses were not finding any takers. It was almost 25 minutes in before the Girvan keeper had much to do, when he dealt well with a long shot from Carr. Kelly set off on another good run, but he was dispossesed by a desperate late tackle in the box. Then just on the half-hour mark good interplay between Dolan and Kelly saw the latter shoot home to put Rangers ahead.

Another good low shot from Carr, then at the other end Girvan finally began to make some chances and McKenna came close with a good effort.

Now with wind behind them, Girvan went straight on the attack from the restart and had Rangers pinned back for the opening quarter of an hour. Eventually their presure paid off when following on a series of corners, O’Donnell rose above the home defence to head in the equaliser. It was time for a change and Martin came on for Dolan.

It was still Girvan who had the upper hand though and the Kilsyth fans were getting restless at the poor showing of the home side. Another change was made with O’Neil, making his debut, replacing Carr and he was soon involved in the action. Rangers were finally getting back into the game and from a long throw-in McPeake hit a first time shot to the net.

With just a few minutes remaining Dempsey replaced McClung and with almost the final kick of the game he put a lovely half volley over Johnson to seal the victory and make the scoreline much more respectable.

Ten games remain, but stiffer opposition will have to be overcome before promotion becomes a reality.

KILSYTH: Duke, Waters, Carr, Doyle, Dearie, McLennan. Kelly, McPeake, Dolan, McClung, McLaren. Subs: Martin, Dempsey, Barclay, O’Neil, Dalrymple, Kidd.

GIRVAN: Johnson, Smith, Lecointe, Peacock, O’Donnell, Biggart, Ndoye, Love, Bradford, McKenna, Maitland. Subs, McQuade, Park, Adji, Patterson.