Rangers take the points

THERE was a minute's silence prior to kick off as a mark of respect for former Kilsyth Rangers player and long-time supporter Bert Hay.

The opening 40 minutes of this game were very scrappy and neither team really created any clear cut chances. The visitors did clip the crossbar inside the first 10 minutes but that was the only real incident of any note.

Both teams were struggling to come to terms with the strong wind. The closest Kilsyth had come to a goal was an overhead kick from Joe Barclay which went wide.

It looked like the game would be goal-less at half-time until Kilsyth forward Flannery made a run into the Johnstone Burgh box and was clipped by a visiting defender. There wasn't a great deal of contact but the referee decided there had been enough and pointed to the spot.

Kilsyth's Joe Barclay stepped up to the penalty spot and stroked the ball home. That's three from three for the wee striker. Kilsyth went in 1-0 up at the break.

Johnstone Burgh made a change at half-time with Chalmers replacing Yule.

Within a minute of the restart the visitors were level. A scramble occurred inside the Kilsyth six-yard box and the ball broke to Fitzpatrick on the edge of the penalty box and his strike found the net.

Then on 56 minutes Joe Barclay latched onto a flicked header from Flannery to beat the offside trap and round Doherty in the Johnstone goal. The striker's touch took him too wide and his shot was cleared off the line. The ball dropped to Flannery who coolly squared it to McPeake who made no mistake with a neat left foot finish.

The game was still a scrappy affair with not a lot of football on display. The visitors had a couple of half chances on the counter attack but the home defence stood firm. Wozencroft had a great header from the edge of the box sail just over the bar on 80 minutes.

Kilsyth were trying to utilise the pace of Joe Barclay by playing balls over the top of the Burgh defence, but no clear chances were fashioned.

Kilsyth were reduced to ten men in stoppage time when McGinty received his second yellow for kicking the ball away – a harsh booking by anyone's standard. Kilsyth managed to hold on to their slender lead and secure another three points.

KILSYTH RANGERS: Duke, Doyle, Carr, McGinty, Tough, McLellan, McPeake, D. Barclay, J. Barclay, Flannery, Kelly. Subs: McAteer, Waters, Dolan and Tait (GK).

Johnstone Burgh: Doherty, Loughlin, Ross, Donaghy, Wozencroft, Perrie, Yule, McIntyre, Brolly, Fitzpatrick, Dinnen. Subs: Lennon, Sherry, Hamilton, Chalmers, Kelly, Gallagher and Wilson (GK).

Kilsyth's next game is at home against Ashfield in the West of Scotland Cup, this Saturday, October 16. Kick-off 2pm.